Green fashion companies are taking the next leap in terms of using eco-friendly materials. A host of brands have found innovative ways to use skins from salmon and eels, fruits, like pineapples, and even spiders to make clothing fabric.
Telegraph reports that by-products from the food industry, namely the aforementioned salmon and eel skins, are being used as an alternative to leather by fashion start-ups. A company called Heidi & Adele has found that fish skins are just as sturdy as other leathers and dye easily—plus the new material is much more humane that using the actual snake skin that it replicates.
Brands like Puma and Camper are also experimenting with a leather alternative composed entirely of pineapple leaves called Pinatex. The leaves are a by-product of the food industry and, according to the material's developer, Carmen Hijosa, can be made into "bags, shoes, and hats, as well as furnishings and interiors."
A Japanese university is creating a fabric using genes from spider silk named Spiber. The developers wants to make clothes, but because silk from spiders is tougher than Kevlar, Spiber is also being used for body armor and protective materials.
[via Daily Telegraph]
