Nowadays a lot of research going on about a better alternative to cotton. So more focus is on making Fibres out of the waste collected which leads to the Innovation and Sustainable Process. Salvatore Ferragamo is the first fashion house to employ Orange Fiber fabrics. This much-anticipated collaboration is born of a shared passion for creative innovation, sustainable design, and their beloved heritage of Italian excellence. They are committed to bringing sustainable practices to the fashion industry, shaping a new concept of luxury 3.0. The contemporary way to construct an ethical and sustainable lifestyle, that looks further than status and consider the future – most importantly, the future of our world.
Second, to oil, fashion is the most polluting industry in the world. Each stage in a garment’s life threatens our planet’s resources: It can take more than 20,000 liters of water to produce just 1kg of cotton, which is only equivalent to a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. In the process of transforming raw materials into clothes, up to 8,000 different chemicals are used. Fashion needs to adopt a sustainable and ethical business model, where the environmental and human costs are considered as important as profit. The key is to restart the fashion industry to take our world beyond the next season.
In Italy, the citrus industry discards one million tonnes of citrus fruit peels annually. While the peels are of course biodegradable, it still costs a lot of money to dispose of them properly. The start-up Orange Fiber, run by Adriana Santanocito and Enrica Arena, has developed a new kind of fabric, which is entirely made of waste citrus fruit peels.
The idea came to Santanocito while working on her thesis in fashion design. Since Sicily, where she is from, is responsible for a major amount of peels, she tried to think of a way to reduce the amount of waste. And thus the idea to make fabric from the discarded peels was born.
Manufacturing Process ;
The peels are processed with a patented method to extract the cellulose that is spun to form the final yarn. The fiber is made through a process they innovated, in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano University. In their pilot plant in Sicily, the pastazzo (citrus juice by-product) is processed to extract the citrus cellulose, which is then sent to a partner in Spain to be spun into yarn. The yarn then returns to Italy, to the fabric producer in Como, where the exclusive fabrics are ready to be used by the fashion brands worldwide. This process has the potential to transform the 700,000 tonnes of pastazzo produced annually by the Italian citrus processing industry into high-quality fabrics. Orange Fiber, which now has a team of 12 people, operates from a local juice-processing plant, where it gets its waste material for free.
The business is partially seasonal, operating during the months of the year when the juice-maker works. But once the orange rind has been transformed into cellulose, it can be put in storage for use later.
The 39-year-old found her answer in the university’s labs, and it earned her a patent.
It was already known that cellulose could be extracted from orange rinds. But Ms. Santonocito discovered that using chemical reagents, it could then be turned into yarn, which could be dyed and blended with other textiles, such as cotton or polyester.
Together with her university colleague Enrica Arena, she founded Orange Fiber in 2014, and set about selling the silk-like material to clothes-makers.
The productive process patented by Orange Fiber gives new life to the pastazzo, technical term to define what remains of the citrus fruits after squeezing. The wet citrus residual, pastazzo, is processed to be able to extract the cellulose that will form the final yarn. Cellulose is extracted from the leftovers that would normally be discarded after pressing an orange and then treated with a special process. A biodegradable material like silk is produced: soft to the touch and shiny appearance, suitable to be woven with any type of existing yarn. Inside are also positioned, with the aid of nanotechnologies, essential oils in the form of capsules that dissolve in contact with the skin, smoothening. Wearing products made out of Orange Fiber is like wearing a vitamin cream; it’s nourishing for the skin, and the effects are guaranteed for twenty washes, for now. Three prototypes are obtained from the fray with citrus fruits yarn: a lace silk black and white, a Duchesse, color-neutral between white and cream, similar to that which can be used for the summer jackets or cocktail dresses, and fabric like viscose, very slight is indicated for the daily use, to be assembled with shirts and summer clothes. The new vitamin-enriched textile would represent a brand new opportunity especially for Italian tradition in high-quality textiles and fashion.
Like Orange Fiber, the researchers obtain the raw materials they need from local juice makers. They wash the rinds to remove the bitter flavor, then dry, process, and whiten what remains.
Properties of Orange Fibres ;
Orange Fiber is the first patented material made from citrus juice by-products. The citrus cellulose yarn can be used purely to create 100% citrus, biodegradable fabric that feels soft, silky, and lightweight. It can also be blended with other materials and be opaque or shiny according to the designer’s needs
The fabric looks and feels like silk: soft to the touch and a shiny appearance. The biodegradable yarn can be spun with any type of existing yarn.
Aside from looking pretty and feeling nice, the orange yarn has an additional benefit
Thanks to nanotechnology, the material still contains essential oils and vitamin C that are present in the citrus fruit peel. The skin absorbs these oils and is nourished by them, making the fabric a wearable body cream. According to Orange Fiber, despite the oils, the fabric does not feel greasy. The oils are guaranteed to last at least twenty washing cycles, but the company is experimenting with recharging methods with special fabric softeners.
The company made three prototype fabrics. One is lace silk in black and white, the second a cream coloured satin from which clothes such as summer dresses can be made, and lastly, a viscose-like fabric, which is intended to make clothes for daily use like shirts
At the awards ceremony, Orange Fiber received the Technology and Innovation Award, presented by Derek Blasberg and Miroslava Duma, recognizing their important contributions in the fashion industry.
Projects like these mark the beginning of a new era; a bright, sustainable future for the fashion industry and the textile sector as a whole.
They used a 110 dtex filament thread blended with silk to obtain a silky twill that looks, feels, and functions the same as its silk homolog. Lastly, because Orange Fiber is a cellulose fiber, it can be used in much the same way as its man-made counterparts. Thanks to this, Orange Fiber can be dyed, coloured, and printed on to create whatever look or feel you want.
The textile is made from citrus waste and can be used for different blends. The first prototypes, a lacelike fabric blended with silk and another blend more similar to satin, were presented in 2014, during Vogue’s Fashion’s Night Out. The first part of the process takes place in Sicily, where citrus cellulose is extracted, then the raw material is sent to a Spanish spinner partner and finally it comes back to Como, Italy, where another partner transforms it into an exclusive textile.
The prototypes produced are similar to silk, with a soft, drapey, light feel. They can be colored and printed as traditional textiles — ink-jet printing and natural colors included.
Compared to existing man-made fibers from cellulose, either from wood or from hemp and bamboo, the orange fiber does not require dedicated yields alternative to food consumption but reuses a waste product, thus saving land, water, fertilizers, and environmental pollution.
Its headquarters are based in Catania, Sicily, and a pilot plant is placed within a citrus juice extraction facility in nearby Caltagirone. There are also headquarters in Rovereto, in the northern region of Trentino.
The goal is to replicate the plant in Italy and outside the country.
Now, thanks to her creative thinking, it is possible to make whole items of clothing using fibre that originated from the fruit. Could a luxurious silk foulard be made from citrus by-products, that would otherwise be thrown away or fed to cattle?
Uses of Orange Fibres ;
The famous Italian fashion label Salvatore Ferragamo used it in its spring-summer collection. The aim was to make its high-end shirts, dresses, and foulards more sustainable.
Acknowledgment
The author is thankful to Mr. Punit Makharia, MD, and Mr. Gautam Makharia, Jt MD of Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers, Mumbai for giving me permission to publish this article.
Authored by-
Dr.N.N. MAHAPATRA
C.Col FSDC ( UK),CText FTI ( Manchester ), FRSC ( UK ),FAIC(USA)
Business Head(Dyes) – Dyecol
