Circularity in Fashion – The Vision & Values Behind Our Brand
In Italy every year, more than 700.000 tons of citrus juice by-products are produced. The disposal of which has significant economic and environmental costs. Up until a few years ago, no one had developed a viable alternative to disposal.
Today, we are facing an ever-increasing number of consumers demanding sustainable materials and of fashion brands seeking green innovation.
It is for these reasons that we have worked to unite oranges, which are typical of Sicily, and world-renown Italian excellence in textiles, developing a disruptive technology that creates an innovative material out of industrial by-products.
"In Italy every year, more than 700.000 tons of citrus juice by-products are produced."
Seeing an opportunity where others only saw a problem, we envisioned a new life for these by-products and following a collaboration with Politecnico di Milano University back in 2012, we developed an innovative process to create a sustainable fabric using the leftovers of the citrus transformation industry.
Our innovative and patented process has the potential to reduce the costs and the environmental impact of pollution related to the industrial waste of citrus transformation, addressing the need for sustainability and innovation in the fashion industry – the second largest industrial polluter in the world, second only to oil.
We developed and patented an innovative process to create a fabric from citrus juice by-products. We process the leftovers of the citrus juice industry (the so-called ‘pastazzo’) in our pilot plant in Sicily, extracting the citrus cellulose apt to be spun, then we send it to a partner which is in charge of spinning it, then the yarn goes to our selected fabric producers, where our exclusive fabrics are finally made.
The result is a cellulose yarn with a silky feel that can be blended with other yarn and materials while transformed into a textile in order to satisfy all the fashion designer creation needs. If used pure, so developing an 100% citrus textile, the resulting fabric will be with a soft and silky feel, lightweight, opaque or shiny according to the production needs.
