New Eco-Friendly Fabrics

In the promotional products industry we are familiar with eco-friendly fabrics such as organic cotton, bamboo, and Polyethylene fleece. These are a few of the new recycled and eco-friendly fabrics that we can look forward to in the future.

CORK
Cork is an eco-friendly and renewable material. Once the cork is removed from the tree, it renews itself after harvesting. The new alternative fabric made with cork is still in its infancy. Cork fabrics have already been presented at the 2006 Fall Fashion Week . Look for cork fabrics and accessories at your local retailer soon.

RECYCLED P.E.T.
The common soda bottle has been the most mainstream recycled fabric in the promotional and retail industries. It is commonly known as polyester fleece. Once the bottles are broken down to little polyester chips, they can be spun with a spinaret, creating soft microfibers. Newer technology has created even smaller and softer fibers which will be used to create finer fabrics such as sheer chiffon or polyester georgette.

CORN HUSKS
A new yarn created from corn husks has been developed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Yiqi Yang, Ph.D. This corn husk yarn is strong and is great supply and can easily be dyed in a variety of colors.

SEAWEED
Smartfiber AG, a German corporation, has developed a sea-weed based fabric, SeaCell. This new fabric is controversial with claims by the New York Times that it contains no sea-weed, however follow up tests by the manufacturer proved the opposite.

MILK
Cyran, a Chinese textile company has made luxurious fabric from Milk. The Milk proteins are separated and concentrated after extensive fat removing and curdling. The protein fibers harden and then can be wound and spun. The resulting fabric is soft and delicate and is compared to cashmere.