The idea behind start-up Orange Fiber was to create a sustainable fabric using food residues from citrus processing, so as to preserve natural resources and support the circular economy. The very same thing Favini does with Crush paper.
For a long time, food and agricultural production waste was considered nothing more than refuse to be disposed of, sometimes through practices that were costly for companies. At a certain point, however, someone saw an opportunity in it, approaching it from a circular economy perspective. Today, for the Meet the Makers column, we tell the story of Orange Fiber, an Italian company that, much like Favini which in 2012 created Crush, the line of papers made from agri-food industry residues that replace up to 15% of the cellulose, uses citrus by-products to produce fabrics.
The idea came in 2011 to Adriana Santanocito, a native of Catania: "During a Fashion Design course at AFOL Moda di Milano I sensed that the clothing sector was also moving in the direction of sustainability, and I began to think about creating a fabric from the waste produced by citrus processing — a product typical of my homeland."
In 2012, working with the Politecnico di Milano, Adriana discovered that the project was feasible and, together with her friend Enrica Arena, also from Catania and a graduate in International Development Cooperation and Communications, in 2013 patented the process in Italy, later extending it to an international PCT in 2014. In 2015, the first pilot plant in Sicily was inaugurated, enabling Orange Fiber to enter the market.
The first stage of transforming citrus waste takes place in Sicily: here, cellulose is extracted from the citrus fruit and then shipped to Spain to be turned into yarn. The yarn then returns to Italy, where it is processed by a weaving mill in Como: by weaving the exclusive yarn together with Como silk and cotton, a satin and a poplin are produced.
The company's product range also includes a 100% Orange Fiber fabric, impalpable and lightweight, similar to viscose. All fabrics are naturally white and can be dyed, printed, coloured and washed just like traditional fabrics.
"From mandarin to orange to bergamot, we take the "pastazzo" directly from those who juice the citrus fruits," explains Enrica. "For now we use a small portion of the 700,000 tonnes of citrus by-product produced every year in Italy, but we hope that volumes can keep growing."
According to Orange Fiber's philosophy, extracting a raw material from an industrial by-product does not compete with the food supply, offers the possibility of meeting the growing demand for cellulose for textile use — driven by the volatility of cotton and oil prices — preserving natural resources (unlike existing artificial cellulosic fibres derived, for example, from wood or hemp) and without generating industrial waste.
Over the years Orange Fiber has won numerous awards, including the National Innovation Award "Premio dei Premi" 2016 (Italian Design) — Repubblica Italiana, ADI, Associazione per il Disegno Industriale; the Technology and Innovation Award 2017 — Green Carpet Fashion Awards Italia (Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, Eco Age); and the first edition of the Global Change Award from the H&M Foundation, which awarded the company a contribution of €150,000. In 2017, the Ferragamo Orange Fiber Collection was presented, the result of an exclusive collaboration between the start-up and the celebrated Florentine fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo to create a fashion line that was also included among the 300 works in the exhibition "Fashion from Nature" at the V&A Museum in London.
"We deal directly with companies," explain Adriana and Enrica, "but what we have been able to observe is that over the past year there has been an increase in demand for our samples. This reflects a shift in consumer awareness: a revolution that began with reflection on what we eat and that, in our view, will increasingly extend to what we wear."