Trending: Could Food Waste Be the Future of Fashion?
A recent study analyzes agricultural waste streams in Asia and charts a roadmap for establishing alternative textile value streams at scale; while Lenzing puts this into practice with a lyocell fiber made from orange pulp and wood
fibers.
Ag waste-based textiles a sustainable fashion solution poised for growth
A farmer gathers rice straw | Image credit: DoDo Phanthamaly/Pexels
As the circular apparel market is projected to reach $77
billion
in the next five years and new circular textile
innovations
seem to pop up weekly, a recent study shows that there are enough usable
agricultural residue streams from South and Southeast Asia alone for
widescale production of upcycled natural fiber textiles.
Spinning Future
Threads
— a joint report from the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the World
Resources Institute (WRI) and Wageningen University and Research
(WUR), commissioned by the Laudes Foundation — analyzed large quantities
of agricultural residues in eight countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia,
India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and
Vietnam. The research focused on South and Southeast Asia, because these
regions are known for both their production of crop waste and textiles.
As the report points out, current textile production processes have disastrous
effects on the environment. More than 60 percent of fibers used in apparel are
oil-based and place a burden on natural resources due to unchecked,
unsustainable production. Similarly, natural fibers such as conventional
cotton
— the second-most widely used textile fiber — rely on intensive agrochemical