Farm to cloth: Banana fiber could shape Taiwan’s next textile wave

Entrepreneur Nelson Yang is drawing inspiration from Taiwan’s historical past to remodel the standard banana plant into an unlikely sustainable textile.

Taiwan is now the world’s dominant producer of superior semiconductors, however the yellow fruit, nonetheless extensively grown on the island, was as soon as a supply of patriotic satisfaction.

Yang’s Farm to Material, headquartered within the central Changhua rural belt, is popping banana fiber into textiles he hopes will sooner or later provide international sneaker manufacturers.

“Back in 2008, European (sneaker) brands told us that they were hoping to find a way for food and materials to be produced in parallel, meaning that food and materials are yielded from the same land,” he instructed Reuters.

“So we’ve been working based on that concept. What we’re doing now is ensuring that all our material sources come from food or leftovers from the agricultural or food industry. We then transform those leftovers into usable materials.”

Under Japanese colonial rule from 1895 to 1945, Taiwan was famend for its fruit, particularly pineapples and bananas. In the Nineteen Sixties, the island branded itself the “banana kingdom” to enhance exports — a title lengthy since overtaken by the tech trade.

Yang’s firm takes the center part of the banana plant, often known as the pseudostem, which is often deserted within the discipline after harvest, after which crushes and dries it to produce fibers that can be utilized to make clothes.

Some of the fibers are became yarn that may be blended with cotton for socks and may also be used to create vegan leather-based.

The enterprise continues to be in its infancy, with no orders but from attire firms.

Similar sustainable materials ventures are underway elsewhere. For instance, Spinnova, a European fibre innovation firm, is producing eco-fibers from wooden or waste and partnering with manufacturers similar to Adidas and Bestseller. Meanwhile, lab-grown cotton startups, similar to Galy, are exploring methods to scale back cotton’s environmental affect via managed, much less land-intensive strategies. These developments recommend Taiwan’s banana fiber initiative is a part of a wider shift within the vogue‑materials panorama.

“Banana fiber actually performs better than regular cotton in terms of water consumption, absorbency and supply stability, making it highly promising for future applications,” stated Charlotte Chiang, director of the innovation and sustainable design division on the Taiwan Textile Federation.

“Banana fiber could become a new highlight for Taiwan in the field of biomass fiber in the textiles industry.”

FashionNetwork.com with Reuters.