Innovation goes orange
In a world riddled with pollution and diminishing resources, sustainability is the key. And moving in that direction, two women from Italy-Adriana Santanocito and Enrica Arena-have come together to convert orange waste into fibre and further into fabrics. Exquisite sustainable fabrics from citrus juice byproducts that would otherwise be thrown away, representing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of precious resources, are quite a buzz in the fashion industry. Santanocito and Arena talk about the adventure in an interview with Savita Verma.
How did the idea to create fibre/fabric from citrus waste strike you?
Enrica Arena (EA): Our adventure started at the end of 2011 in Milan, when we were finishing our studies and sharing a flat. Adriana Santanocito was studying fashion design and she was focusing on innovative and sustainable products while I wanted to get a job in line with my idea of sustainable development and social entrepreneurship. We had different backgrounds but we shared the dream of changing the world starting from our country Italy and region Sicily-using our skills and passion.
Adriana with her background in design, while writing her thesis, asked the crazy question: what if we could turn citrus juice into innovative fabrics, contributing to solve two problems-the environmental and economic impact of citrus juice leftover disposal and the need for sustainable materials in the fashion industry-at a time? Just in Italy, 700,000 tonnes of citrus byproducts have to be disposed of each year. She brought me on board, and together we started searching for an answer.</div>
Is it possible to produce printed orange fibre fabric in the future?
AS & EA: Our fabrics can be printed either using inkjet techniques or screen printing. The precious designs that the Italian designer Mario Trimarchi has created for the Ferragamo Orange Fibre Collection made with our sustainable fabrics by Salvatore Ferragamo have been printed on our fabric, so they show exactly the final effect of printing on our material.
How has been the response from users? Why should a consumer opt for this fabric or a dress designed using this fabric? How do you see its fashion score?
AS & EA: From a brand perspective, we can say that our innovative and sustainable approach applied to the textiles and fashion industry, together with the high quality of our unique fabrics and the possibilities of using them as "normal" material, have caught the interest of designers and production managers. From a consumer angle, we focus on providing information of our supply chain and of the values we believe in, matching them again with a high-quality product developed for their comfort.
The very first fashion collection made with our exclusive fabric was launched on the occasion of the Earth Day on April 22 by Salvatore Ferragamo-among Italy's top fashion brands and world leader in the luxury industry-in a collaboration that represents the shared ethical values underlying the project, shaping the fabric and showcasing its potential for elegant and sustainable applications.
Broadly speaking, the project is catching more and more the interest and the appreciation of fashion industry, as showed by the recent agreement that sees Orange Fiber as a portfolio company of FTL Venture, the global venture capital fund founded by prominent fashion and digital entrepreneur and investor Miroslava Duma that helps new technologies and sustainable innovations create products and brands to evolve the fashion industry and help reduce its social and environmental footprint.
What do you mean by citrus waste? Is it the waste produced during production of juice from citrus fruits like orange, lemon, sweet lemon, etc?
Adriana Santanocito (AS) & EA: Yes, exactly. We have developed and patented an innovative process to extract cellulose apt to be spun from what remains after squeezing citrus fruits for juice. According to our industry interviews and researches, on average half of the weight of a fresh fruit entering the juicing process becomes a byproduct to be disposed of.
How does it address environmental concerns? Does it require no use of chemicals?
AS & EA: Our innovative and patented process reduces the costs and the environmental impact of pollution related to the industrial waste of citrus transformation, extracting raw material-not rival to food-apt for spinning from an industrial byproduct. Further, our solution offers the opportunity to satisfy the increasing need of cellulose for textile, thus preserving natural resources. Compared to existing man-made fibres from cellulose, either from wood or from hemp and bamboo, our fibre does not require dedicated yields, but reuses a waste thus saving land, water, fertilisers and environmental pollution.
What about the high costs? How do you bring it down?
AS & EA: While proving the market viability of our textile with the first capsule collection made by Ferragamo and developing new potential collaborations, we are also completing the research and development process aiming to optimise the costs of production, scaling up the technology and eventually replicating the technology in Italy and abroad. Italy produces just four per cent of world citrus juice, so that the opportunity to replicate the process is endless and which would allow us to lower the product price, becoming competitive with alternative and more polluting materials such as polyester and cotton.
How far have you progressed? I understand you presented the fabric at an expo in Milan. What comes next?
AS & EA: Following a collaboration with Politecnico di Milano University back in 2012, we developed a process to create a fabric using the leftovers of the citrus transformation industry, valuing just in Italy more than one million tonne a year, that otherwise would have to be disposed of.
We have patented and produced an innovative fabric from citrus waste, thus working on establishing the product as a recognisable and added value material, apt to be used for different textile blends. We have registered the trademark and established partners through the supply chain in the yarn and textile industry.
Thanks to the funding by Seed Money of Trentino Sviluppo (Granted funding on the operational programme FESR 2007-2013 of the Provincia Autonoma di Trento and the support of European Regional Development Fund) and private investors, in 2014 on the occasion of Vogue Fashion's Night Out we presented the first prototypes of our fabrics.
In December 2015 - thanks to the funding by Smart&Start Invitalia (Ministero Sviluppo Economico) - we have opened our first pilot plant in Sicily to enjoy savings in product logistic and to produce the material for our first order.
The first fashion collection made with our exclusive fabric has been recently presented by Salvatore Ferragamo and we have officially entered the operational phase of the project.
Since we strongly believe that "the future is not a place we're going to, but a place we create," we will continue our research & development on our products and new raw materials, working on industrial scale-up and improving our process according to circular economy principles.
Our aim is to establish Orange Fiber as the Italian first mover into sustainable textiles industry through a "green" production from renewable sources, representing a valid and more sustainable alternative to traditional textiles from wood-of which demand is estimated to increase (due to oil and cotton price volatility) -and contributing to create a greener fashion industry.
We will continue to invest in innovation because we believe that it is crucial in the industry's products, supply chains, and business practices as in consumers' habits and behaviour.
How do you convert the waste into fibre?
AS & EA: We have developed and patented an innovative process to extract cellulose apt for spinning from citrus juice byproducts. We extract cellulose in our pilot plant in Sicily, then send it to a partner in Spain which is in charge of spinning it, then the yarn comes back to us.
How do you then convert fibre to fabric? I read that nanotechnology and citrus oil are used in the process? Could you elaborate a little?
AS & EA: We extract cellulose from citrus byproducts, that is to say, from the leftovers of the citrus juice industry and we spin it, thanks to our Spanish partner. Then our yarn comes back to Italy, in Como, to our selected fabric producer, where our exclusive fabrics are finally ready to be used by the most important fashion brands in the world.
At the very beginning of our project we tried to micro-encapsulate citrus active principles-such as vitamin C and other components, naturally contained in citrus essential oils-together with a moisturising cream, and apply it on the textile with a finishing technique.
The idea was to create a textile from oranges that could release on the skin of everyone who wears it, oranges' 'active' principles. Lately, we decided to focus on the textile production optimisation, so we are currently not using micro-encapsulation on our textiles.
How do you see the relevance of this technology for a country like India?
AS & EA: According to a research conducted by the Italian FAO-Food and Agriculture Organisation-in 2012, India ranked fourth in citrus fruit production and generated about 7.8 million tonnes of waste annually while world average is about 119.7 million tonnes.
Our innovative process not only can contribute to reduce the cost and the environmental impact of citrus waste disposal, but it can also contribute to develop a sustainable textile industry in India, with obvious advantages for the local economy.
I understand you add silk to the fibre produced from citrus waste. Why is the need for this adding of silk?
AS & EA: Our citrus cellulose yarn has a silky feel that can be blended with other yarns and materials while being transformed into a textile in order to satisfy fashion designers' creative needs. If used pure, so developing 100 per cent citrus textile, the resulting fabric will have a soft and silky feel, and will be light weight, opaque or shiny according to the designer's needs.
Is it possible to add material other than silk like cotton or wool to the fibre produced from citrus waste?
AS & EA: Our yarn can be used for weaving any textile and it can be mixed with any kind of yarn compatible with its weight and characteristics. We have already developed fabrics adding cotton, jersey adding elastane and our twill either pure or blended with silk.
How is the fabric produced by this technology, different from other fabrics in terms of characteristics like strength, softness, durability, and washing requirements, etc?
AS & EA: Orange fibre is a cellulosic man-made fibre. For the Ferragamo Orange Fiber Collection, for instance, we used a 110 dtex filament thread blended with silk, to obtain a silky twill that has the same look, feel and function of its silk homologue. Orange fibre has the same peculiarities of cellulosic fibres and it can be used to create different look and feel according to designer's needs, as we can blend it with other natural and sustainable fibres to create new fabric design. In terms of quality, it can be dyed, coloured and printed as existing fabrics.
How are different colours produced in the fabric?
AS & EA: Our fabrics can be dyed as traditional fabrics, even using natural pigments, and for the moment we produce the yarn in a natural white colour.
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