What you see above isn’t in fact leather made from animals- it’s made out of pineapples.
””It was one of those coincidences of life,” said Carmen Hijosa, founder of Piñatex, a new sustainable textile made from pineapple leaf fibres. Hijosa was speaking of her trip to the Philippines that led to a career change, which involved going back to university to get a PhD from London’s Royal College of Art, starting her own business, Ananas Anam, and patenting her own textile.
A small coincidence, and a big change.
Hijosa had been working in the leather industry for over 15 years in Ireland, when she was invited to consult on the exportation of leather in the Philippines. When Hijosa arrived, she was exposed to the poor quality of the materials, the working conditions and the toxic impact of leather on the environment. Hijosa advised, rather than try and export leather, why don’t you work with what you got, and what the Philippines has is an abundance of natural fibres.
She began to explore different fibres and came upon the pineapple leaf. “I realized they are very strong and flexible,” she says. “I wanted to see if I could make them into a non-woven mesh textile [like leather] and to do that I had to do full research and development that only a degree could provide.”
“Piñatex is a byproduct of the food industry,” explained Hijosa. “Once the pineapples are harvested the plants are left to rot.” Instead of letting that happen, pineapple farmers gather the leaves, extract the fibres and degum them in closed tanks. Once they have been degummed, the fibres become soft and breathable and can be put through a mechanical process that turns them into a non-woven mesh material that ends up feeling much like felt.
The entire process does not use any extra water, pesticides or fertilizer beyond what is used to cultivate the pineapples. By comparison, to produce 1kg of cotton – enough for one t-shirt and a pair of jeans – it takes up to 20,000 litres of water.”
This demonstrates that not only is the leather industry cruel, but it is also unnecessary. This product will hopefully be one of the future; one that manufactures waste to create something fashionable and hopefully successfully overtakes and thus eradicates the current industry.
Brinens and Things 