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29 Need-To-Know Sustainable Textiles For Your Next Bodywear Collection

29 Need-To-Know Sustainable Textiles For Your Next Bodywear Collection

At the beginning of the year, the London Contour Experts team attended Première Vision in Paris, an event designed to facilitate sourcing with a complete panorama of raw materials and specific services.

Première Paris has everything you need to develop your collections throughout the show’s 9 areas, from yarns to manufacturing, fabrics, leathers, designs, colours and accessories. With more than 1200 international exhibitors selected for their creativity, talks with international experts to share the industry’s challenges, inspiration forums with the season’s key highlights and an exclusive colour range and cutting-edge fashion information. We’ve put together our ideas and research from our favourite exhibitors to help you choose the best company for your brand. 

If you feel inspired to create your next innovative bodywear collection, make sure to head to Bodywear Lab to learn more about our wide range of design, sourcing, and production services. 

Make sure you keep up to date with all the events our team attends, as well as any industry news and trend insights by signing up to our newsletter!

MIRUM

MIRUM is a categorically new plant-based material that is 100% plastic-free and ideal for upholstery, accessories, cars, fashion, and shoes. Its incredible customizability allows it to resemble anything, even carbon fibre or leather. For designers and brands who want to reduce their footprint. It’s recyclable, bioneutral, highly durable and easy to clean and also offers a high-performance option. 

 

VEGATEX

VEGATEX created 3 bio-based leathers with a wide range of applications across industries such as automobile seats, furniture, apparel and fashion accessories. AppleSkin™ and LemonSkin™, which are upcycled by-products of apples and lemons from the beverage industry, and BarleySkin™ made from brewer’s spent grains in collaboration with Budweiser, a world-famous beer company.  VEGATEX has also patented the technology of removing sugar from apples to become fabric.

 

VEGEA

VEGEA is a material characterised by the high content of vegetal, renewable and recycled raw materials: grape leftovers from winemaking, vegetal oils and natural fibres from agriculture.

VEGEA delivers a sustainable alternative to fully oil-based and animal-derived materials without compromising performance and style.

 

DESSERTO

DESSERTO was developed for the fashion industry, it is a sustainable, durable, fully customizable, cactus-based leather replacement The fundamental principle is to offer cruelty-free, sustainable alternatives, without any toxic chemicals, phthalates or PVC. 

DESSERTO also offers high resistance to abrasion, rubbing, tearing, tensile and great durability.

Karl Lagerfeld and Givenchy are some of the iconic brands that use DESSERTO.

 

BEMBERG

Bemberg is the brand name for the CUPRO material, a “regenerated cellulose” fibre made from cotton waste. It’s made using the teeny tiny silky cotton fibres, that stick out of the cottonseed and are too small to spin. CUPRO is solely manufactured by Asahi Kasei in Japan and it can also be called “ammonia silk” and “cuprammonium rayon”.  

 

PANGAIA

PANGAIA is a materials science company and to help reduce over-reliance on cotton created FRUTFIBER, a blend of bamboo lyocell combined with pineapple leaf and banana leaf fibres, two natural materials that are usually considered agricultural waste. It feels and drapes just like cotton and is biodegradable.

NOVA KAERU

NOVA KAERU is a Brazilian company and the first 100% organic tannery in the world.

beLEAF is one of the textiles they have created and is a leather-like material made from the elephant ear plant (Alocasia macrorrhiza), a plant with very big leaves. The CO2 emissions of its manufacturing process are compensated by the carbon absorption of planting and leaf growth. Unlike most other vegetable textiles, the leaf leather is not mixed with other fibres, polymers or chemicals.

 

EMM SUSTAINABLE

EMM Sustainable is an Italian company that was inspired by the virtuous activity of their region, olive growing and gave the core of the olives a second purpose. Given that olive trees can absorb up to six times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted and the olive stone is the ultimate CO2 fixative. ByCore is made by using the stone of the olives after the production of EVO oil and it has a total biomass content of 70% and is 100% vegan.

 

EVRNU

EVRNU is on a mission to unlock the true potential of textile waste. The textile waste is shredded, liquified, purified and transformed into Nucycl fibre, whose appearance and performance are identical to a virgin fibre: softness, good absorption and enhanced resistance.  

 

EASTMAN

EASTMAN is a material innovation company that produces Naia. Naia is produced from 60% sustainably sourced wood pulp and 40% recycled waste material, it creates value from hard-to-recycle waste that would otherwise go to landfill. This cellulosic fibre is sourced from sustainably managed pine and eucalyptus forests. Tested and certified for its biodegradability in soil and freshwater, and its compostability in an industrial environment.

 

HYOSUNG

HYOSUNG is a fibre manufacturing company that created the world’s largest spandex brand Creora. Creora is elastane with 30% corn-derived bio-sourced content and is made by replacing 30% of petroleum-based resources with bio-based raw materials derived from industrial field corn, which is also called dent corn. According to a recent third-party life cycle assessment (LCA), the manufacture of creora® bio-based spandex reduces its carbon footprint by 20% as compared to the production of regular spandex. 

CELYS

The world’s first compostable polyester fibre has a 95.4% decomposition in just 179 days. Certified in EU & NA markets. It is compostable under industrial composability conditions, has a cotton-like texture, and is anti-pilling, it is breathable, fast-drying, and low-temperature dyeing. 

A mix of cotton and Celys is used for sportswear and fake furs.

 

FULGAR

Fulgar is an international leader in the man-made fibre market.  One of the fibres created by Fulgar is AMANI SOUL ECO. The secret of the fibre is its enhanced polyamide 6.6 formula – developed by the Solvay Group and produced by Fulgar, which allows the fibre to decompose in an anaerobic landfill at the end of the garment’s life.

 

OLEATEX

Oleatex is a solvent-free polyurethane finish formulated with 63% olive extract and is 100% vegan material. Oleatex obtain all the waste and raw material, from local sources. All these make Oleatex the strongest material in the market by overcoming the problems regarding sustainability, cost and production capacity.

 

MYLIUM

Mylium uses fungal growth to upcycle waste streams into biobased and plastic-free textiles. They use mycelium, the root structure of fungi, transformed into a supple leather-like material, tanned and finished with a 50% bio based polyurethane. By-products from Mycel production are recycled by the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

 

SORONA

Sorona is made of polylactic acid (PLA), developed 37% from renewable resources such as corn or sugar cane. It is soft, breathable, crease-free and has good natural elasticity. Because Sorona polymer is partially plant-based, it reduces reliance on fossil-based materials. The revolutionary Bio-PDO compound turns a formerly chemical process into an eco-efficient biological one.

BIOWORKS

Bioworks created PlaX a carbon-neutral material with improved quality and function, composed of bioplastic Polylactic Acid (PLA), a plant-derived material such as sugarcane, and additives exclusively developed by Bioworks. PlaX™ can not only replace existing synthetic fibres and plastic products but also be used to actively develop new applications.

 

SEAQUAL

Seaqual yarn is a high-quality 100% post-consumer recycled polyester yarn containing approximately 10% Seaqual marine plastic from Seaqual Initiative and the remaining 90% is post-consumer PET from land sources. This yarn is almost identical in physical properties to virgin polyester and is available in a variety of sizes and finishes and is used in a multitude of applications including apparel and accessories, contract and automotive upholstery, home furnishings and technical textiles.

 

NEWLIFE

NewLife is a traceable recycled polyester filament obtained through the mechanical recycling of PET bottles, with no chemical addition.

NewLife yarn guarantees the same level of performance and quality as virgin yarn. Thanks to its unique production process, it contributes to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions which impact global warming, while also ensuring water and energy savings.

 

NYLSTAR

MERYL SKINLIFE created my Nylstar is a high-performance sportswear textile containing 50% recycled resources. It is breathable, thermoregulating and has anti-odor properties. 

Meryl Skinlife is bacteriostatic, a fibre which maintains a natural balance on the skin, regardless of activity level. Fabric and garment manufacturers find no difficulties in working with Meryl Skinlife. 

 

UNIFI

REPREVE is wholly owned by Unifi, Inc. one of the world’s leading textile manufacturing innovators. Repreve is the world’s leading brand of recycled performance fibre and has transformed billions of recycled plastic bottles into sustainable polyester. It delivers better comfort, durability and functionality. Trusted by brands worldwide to power their sustainable commitments, for example, Nike, The North Face, Asics and Patagonia.

It is the only traceable and certifiable eco-performance polyester.

 

AGROLOOP BIOFIBRE

The Agraloop refines natural fibres derived from crops into a textile-grade fibre called Agraloop BioFibre.  With their specialised wet processing technique, cellulose fibre from stems and leaves is purified into soft fibre bundles ready to spin into yarns. The Agraloop processes leftovers from various food and medicine crops including, oilseed hemp/flax, CBD hemp, banana, and pineapple.

 

CORK-A-TEX

Cork-a-tex is a yarn developed from cork residues mixed with cotton, with hypoallergenic, breathable properties and high resistance to rubbing.  In projects led by Sedacor (Cork Industry), together with Têxteis Penedo (textile industry) with years of knowledge in the fields the two of the most important Portuguese traditional sectors, they developed an innovative and high-performance product that simultaneously incorporates the properties of textile substrates at the level of comfort, touch and appearance and functional cork surplus value. Also with an international patent, this product can be used in applications in the form of fabrics or knitwear for sectors such as home textiles, clothing, footwear and fashion accessories, upholstery, mobility and others.

ORANGE FIBRE

Orange Fiber is the world’s first brand to produce sustainable fabrics from citrus juice by-products. Orange Fiber together with the Lenzing Group, a leading global producer of wood-based speciality fibres, created the first ever TENCEL™ branded Lyocell fibre made of orange and wood pulp. Produced using the same closed-loop production process as standard TENCEL™ Lyocell fibres.

 

ANANAS ANAM

Anam PALF by Ananas Anam is made from waste pineapple leaves. After the pineapples have been harvested for food, the leaves of the plant are considered a waste product and are often burned, releasing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. It has been developed using its own technology and traceable supply chain. Anam PALF is traceable from plant to product and comes with a Certificate of Origin. It is strong and durable, and the composition is mostly cellulose meaning it is easily dyeable using natural or conventional dyes. 

 

TENCEL REFIBRA

TENCEL branded lyocell and modal fibres are produced by environmentally responsible processes from the natural raw material wood sourced from controlled and certified forests. They use Refibra technology, which consists of transforming the remains of cotton and wood from consumer textile waste, into recycled pulp, which is going to originate new Tencel Lyocell fibre.

 

LENZING ECOVERO

Lenzing Ecovero is a viscose fibre company producer focused on both fashion and environmental sustainability. A viscose fibre that was optimised for processing and had water and CO emissions cut in half when compared to regular viscose.

 

SMARTFIBER

Smartfiber has created two fibres Smartcel and Seacell. Smartcel is a cellulose fibre enriched with a vital zinc oxide which has protective and nurturing effects on the skin. In textiles, this fibre has unique and excellent properties. These properties have a positive effect on people with sensitive skin or those with skin conditions such as eczema or neurodermatitis and it also protects the skin against harmful UVA and UVB rays. It is antibacterial and has odour-minimising properties. Seacell allows your skin to harness the power of nature as its fibres are rich in minerals, antioxidants and vitamins and have limitless applications in textiles. The fibres are suitable for a broad spectrum of uses in sports and leisure textiles – from underwear and loungewear to soft furnishings. 

 

KAMITO

Kamito is a fabric derived from a material called “WASHI”, a traditional Japanese paper, manufactured according to the ancient Japanese method and made from sustainable resources like thinned timber and abaca. Washi paper is one of Japan’s most fundamental artisanal products. Kamito utilises 100% of harvested trees as useful and sustainable products.

It has excellent water absorbency, is antibacterial, and anti-odour also regulates temperature and humidity. Maintaining this naturally porous texture makes Kamito fabric extremely lightweight and breathable, keeping the body cool even in unusually high heat.

 

Advances in environmentally friendly fashion materials are propelling the sector towards a more eco-friendly future. It is our duty as customers, retailers, and fashion fans to embrace these innovative materials and stand by the companies that are improving the world, one cloth at a time. It appears that the future of fashion is bright and sustainable. Check out our extensive range of sourcing services with our in-house sourcing specialist to learn more about the range of sourcing choices that are accessible to you. 

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Meet Bodywear Lab

Our family has expanded to include a two new companies. Head to HYSCULPT for all your marketing needs and get to know Bodywear Lab for design and production support!