There’s a subtle shift occurring in the fashion industry, according to the experts – and it has been happening for some time. Now, however, it’s gathering momentum as consumers across the globe embrace the change with gusto. Green is the new black.
Sustainable fashion – fashion which aims to sustain the environment and preserve human and animal rights – and natural and organic fibres are quickly becoming the way of the future, spurred on by technological advances, discovery of innovative techniques and new research.
“I think nowadays designers are aware of sustainable issues and do their best to adopt eco-friendly and sustainable fibres where they can,” explains Alana Clifton-Cunningham, a lecturer in Fashion and Textile Design at the University of Technology, Sydney.
“What we are also doing at an educational level is teaching students to understand what sustainability is, plus also the importance of sustainability, without inhibiting creativity,” she adds.
It’s the melding of these two factors – sustainability and creativity – which has also recently introduced a range of new fibres and fabrics to the global market, some of which have now also started to garner popularity in the Australian market.
Cocona, a trademarked fabric made from tough, fibrous coconut husks, is one example. The durable material is made from coconut-husk waste disposed of by the food service industry, and the fabric – lightweight and breathable – is currently used by brands including Puma, New Balance, The North Face and Adidas.
Recently though, the demand for Cocona in Australia has also been increasing, according to a spokesperson from its Colorado-based manufacturing company.
“Australia is a promising market for Cocona products as the number of inquiries from Australian brands continues to grow for product categories such as active wear, outerwear, work wear and bedding.”
Rip Curl is just one of the local brands which has already given Cocona its tick of approval.
“We use Cocona in the Ultimate range (high end) of our mountainwear,” says Rip Curl marketing operations manager Arrna Campbell.
“It’s a fantastic material for this clothing as the immense surface area of the active particles reacts to the body heat to accelerate the evaporation, meaning mountain goers stay drier, less clammy and more comfortable in a wider range of weather conditions and activities.”
Bamboo fibre, although it has been in the Australian market for some time now, also seems to be becoming more popular with consumers, says Clifton-Cunningham.
The mechanical way of processing bamboo involves crushing the woody parts of the bamboo plant using natural enzymes to break down the bamboo fibre. The natural fibres are then mechanically combed out and spun into a yarn.
“Bamboo is becoming popular. Customers are looking for fabrics that are soft against the skin and often these fabrics are also infused with therapeutic properties. It took a while to take off, but it seems to be flooding the market a lot more nowadays,” she explains.
This is something Keshia Abeysekera, creative director of Melbourne-based label Cylk can attest to.
Cylk started using bamboo in its collections around 2007 and Abeysekera says the fabric is now becoming more mainstream.
Cylk maintains its point of difference, however, by primarily using bamboo knitted on a seamless Santoni machine, which it incorporates into its seamless shapewear and yoga wear.
“Being a natural fibre, adding bamboo means the garment has an exceptionally soft hand feel, wicks moisture away from the skin and breathes with the body when compared to other more synthetic blends that are available on the market,” she explains.
“Bamboo fibre is also a sustainable and renewable resource and has a lower impact on the environment than conventional cotton farming methods, using less water and does not require pesticides and fertilisers to grow.”
However, there are other, lesser known, fabrics which are still emerging but are well-placed to take off in Australia on the back of the sustainability boom.
These include fabrics such as Qmilch, a fabric made from protein found in soured ‘secondary milk’ (casein), soya protein fibres, created from regenerated proteins in soya beans, PLA , a biopolymer polyester derived from 100 per cent renewable sources (presently corn), and palm leather.
Palm leather in particular is turning heads internationally, following its win at the prestigious Dutch Design Week Green Design Competition Award just last year.
The Palm leather project is a material innovation by Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven who started experimenting with Areca Betel Nut Palm leaves in 2010.
Six months of research has created a final product which sees palm fronds soaked in a special biological solution which leaves them soft and pliable, permanently – offering an alternative material to the synthetic plastics and rubbers, and most importantly, animal leather.
In addition, Veenhoven explains that the fully biodegradable solution is also simple and cheap, with its ingredients available throughout the world, making the permanent softening of natural fibres possible and accessible to most.
To date, Veenhoven has designed a range of products to show the materials potential, from throw away flip-flops to book covers and bags, and also recently inked a partnership with NGO Industree to establish the first Producer Owned Palm leather Unit in Gadag, South India.
With these foundations in place, Veenhoven is now looking to expand further and will soon bring the palm leather innovation to Australia.
“We are constantly developing the material and, indeed, I feel we can develop it to such an extent that we can implement it [palm leather] more in fashion. For now we focus on single season footwear but next year we launch the bag collection and apparel,” he says.
“Retailing in Australia will take another year but we are hoping to speed this via our crowd-funder on Indigogo at the end of May.”
These innovations are just the beginning.
Another very strong and promising direction in the ‘eco’ fibres and fabrics arena is new cosmeto-textiles, according to associate professor Olga Troynikov from RMIT University School of Fashion and Textiles.
“The cosmeto-textiles trend is not only driven by technological innovation but also by strong consumer interest in wellness and well-being. These fibres and fabrics include a wide range of microencapsulated ingredients such as aloe vera, vitamin E, retinol, caffeine which are touted as ‘wearable skin care’ offering moisturising, firming and other cosmetic benefits.
“These are well suited to lingerie, next to skin garments and to ‘wellness’ apparel and activewear. Some of the fibres and fabrics could be ‘encapsulated to order’ with scents, cosmetics skin care substances or utilitarian functions such as insect-repellents, and re-loaded when needed through a process similar to washing,” she says.
Examples of this include Clariant developed Quiospheres Moist, which provides hydrating and moisturizing properties and Quiospheres Slim, which offers firmness and wellness. Eurojersey S.P.A. offers a range of Sensitive Bodywear fabrics loaded with silver for natural anti-microbial properties which also adjusts to the level of activity and body heat generated.
Lenzing, the manufacturer of Tencel regenerated cellulose fibre, has also developed Tencel “oceanic care” with micro particles of chitosan from crab shells, which they claim reinforces skin moisture barriers and combats ageing of the skin.
But while many of these cutting-edge fabrics and technologies hail from overseas markets, Troynikov reveals that there are also visionaries on the home front that are breaking the mould.
“There is extensive research being carried out at the RMIT School of Fashion and Textiles on developing fabrics infused with chitosan both for well-being and therapeutic applications – not only for fashion and apparel applications, but also for bedding, wound dressing and other categories,” Troynikov says.
“Conceptually the technology is ready for dermatological and medical applications but current regulations require longer trials and research-supported claims, so it’s in the process.”
Designer Rachel Rodwell, created Podtex for her 4th Year Textiles Collection – a sustainable textiles range based on up-cycling components of used Nespresso coffee pods to create fashion garments and accessories.
The gruelling process, inspired by a trip to India, involves collecting used Nespresso pods, “shucking” them, then cutting, reconfiguring and pressing the pods into patterns.
The final result is a rich tapestry of colour and fashion pieces which merge architecture and geometric design and challenge pre-conceived notions of eco textiles.
UTS graduate Gemma Anastasiou is another new generation designer and has developed a unique method of colouring cloth with fresh pressed flowers and incorporating them into her garments.
Inspired by environmentally friendly approaches to colouring cloth, her entire project was developed over an eight-month period, from research to experiment and production, Anastasiou explains.
“My fabric developments stemmed from research into sustainable design practice and from this research I came across many alternative dye methods. One in particular which I ended up using for my final pieces was a method I found in India Flint’s book; Eco Colour which used fresh flowers smashed onto the cloth to create an imprint of the plant. From here I look at other ways of incorporating plant matter into the garments as a way of not only using the natural colour but also to integrate the lifecycle of the flower with the garment.The final result was using a method of heat bonding fresh petals to the cloth so that they become part of the garment.
“The fresh petals are bonded to the fabric, using a similar material to what’s used for fusing. They are then put in an industrial heat press so that the glue melts and the petals stick. Apart from this fusing I don’t add anything else to persevere them, they aren’t meant to be too ‘permanent’. The idea behind the garments is that they too have a natural lifecycle, like plants, and so as these garments are worn and age the colours will change, petals will drop off and eventually they will decompose back to nothing. What is really special is that this process is reflective of the individual wearer and their lifestyle, it depends on how they wear and care for the garment, its also gives the wearer an alternative way to discard them as well, something more sustainable than the common solution; landfill.”
But while these graduates are undoubtedly trailblazers for fibre and fabric innovations, there are also established designers which are constantly raising the bar when it comes to creating new materials to work with.
Local designer Michael Lo Sordo is one which has pioneered new techniques in fibres and fabrics for some time and has seen success from his innovations.
He was recently named 2012 QANTAS SOYA 365 Fashion Winner, a finalist in the LMFF National Designer Award in 2012 and 2013 and was invited to show in both New York and Milan during 2012.
One of Lo Sordo’s most notable achievements also includes discovery of a new technique to fuse gold leaf onto wool, which peppered his autumn/winter 2012 range and showcased an application never before seen in local fashion collections.
“It all started from the concept of gold and the lack of suitable fabric options available to me at the time. I wanted to develop and create a fibre manipulation that was going to better develop my collections’ theme,” he reveals.
“After researching different fabric galleries and agents nothing even remotely resembled what I was after so with my textile background I decided to create the fabric myself.”
Following a raft of testing trials to acheive the right consistency and effect, Lo Sordo nailed an effective three-step process.
“Paste, print, and heat,” he says, each process requiring the precision in temperatures and pressure for consistency using a specially made foil from a German manufacturer he sourced.
Taking the technique to the next level, further testing gave way to a rippled gold nugget effect to be used throughout his collection. “This was achieved by using the textured wool base and the process or light burning of the foil to create the crumble broken effect,” Lo Sordo explains.
Lo Sordo’s fabric experiments have not ended there.
His spring/summer 2013 collection gave birth to bonded silks, while his autumn/winter collection pioneered a blend of marbled wool and silk.
Both techniques were borne from a frustration with the lack of sufficient inspiring fabric available in the market with which to craft his garments and, again, both required rigorous testing to get them right.
“I used a similar process for the autumn/winter 2012 collection, of layering and heating, to create bonded silks,” he explains.
“Instead of a paste we sourced a specially made product of pin dot which is like glue on paper that transfers to anything with heat application. Once this is applied to a base cloth you simply remove the backing of the pin dot quickly before it dries and bond it to another material using the heat process a second time.”
The marbled wool and silk process saw Lo Sordo adopt an ancient Turkish tradition normally used for silk and lighter fabrics.
“Part of its appeal is that each print is a unique monotype and one-off. I used a method of aqueous surface design, which can produce patterns similar to smooth marble or other stone. The patterns are the result of colour floated on either plain water or a viscous solution known as ‘size’, and then carefully transferred to an absorbent surface, such as paper or fabric.
“In the same way you would marble a piece of paper, we marbled fabric. Using aqueous dyes the fabric was then dipped into the dye and allowed to dry.”
Despite the arduous processes and challenges, however, Lo Sordo says the reward of a final product that is unique and breaks the boundaries of traditional textiles is worth it.
“The difficulty in the idea of creating textile manipulations, really is the work that goes into the development stages, the testing over and over again, until the correct finishing is achieved,” he says.
“But once that’s organised, the production process is easy as one, two, three.”
Cheers to that.