Everything started in 2011 when two Sicilian girls in Italy came to know that over 700,000 tonnes of citrus juice by-products were getting wasted every year. They came up with an idea of how to convert this waste into something useful.
Two students in Milan, Adriana Santanocito, specialized in design and innovative textile, and Enrica Arena, an expert in communication and marketing invented orange fiber by extracting the cellulose from the fibers that are discarded from the industrial pressing and processing of the oranges. This Green startup is based in Catania and Rovereto of Italy which was financed by Trentino Sviluppo became Orange Fiber in 2014. In September of the same year, they presented a prototype at the Expo Gate of Milan.
They developed three prototypes during Vogue’s Fashion’s Night Out :
- Black and white lace silk
- Cream colored satin for summer clothes
- Viscose-like fabric for daily use clothes like shirts
The yarns produced from citrus juice by-products are 100% biodegradable fabric that is lightweight feels soft to touch and has a shiny appearance. Through the use of nanotechnology techniques, the fiber is also infused with essential oils and vitamin C that are present in the citrus fruit peel. This makes the textile rich in vitamins that nourish the skin like a non-greasy body lotion. The oils on these vitaminic textiles last for at least twenty washing cycles. The yarns can also be blended with other materials to produce products as per designer needs.
Orange fiber has patented the production process which they innovated, in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano University. The raw material for their fabric is citrus juice by-product, the so-called “pastazzo”. Pastazzo is processed to extract the citrus cellulose, after which they are spun into yarn in Spain. From Spain, these yarns are sent back to Italy to the fabric producer Como, which converts these sustainable yarns into exclusive fabrics.
The first fashion collection created with orange fiber was by the Florentine Maison Salvatore Ferragamo in 2017. Orange fabric has won several awards at the national and international levels such as the UNECE Ideas for Change Award in April 2015, H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award in 2015, the Technology and Innovation Award, presented by Derek Blasberg and Miroslava Duma, etc. This innovative idea has a lot of potential in the sustainable textile market which not only targets environmental issues of citrus waste production but also brings job opportunities in a disadvantaged land.
What do you think of Orange Fiber? Share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
REFERENCES:
Tales of the Apparel World 