Our Brand History
Our innovative SME was born in 2014, in Catania, when Orange Fiber s.r.l was little more than an idea and a licence. In 2017, our entry into the fashion world took place with the maison Salvatore Ferragamo, which chose citrus fabric for the capsule collection “The colour of shade at noon” with prints designed by architect Mario Trimarchi.
In 2019, H&M proposes a garment in Orange Fiber in the Conscious Exclusive and, in the same year, the historic Neapolitan tailoring brand E. Marinella creates a collection of ties and scarves. Since 2021, we have been collaborating with our partners Lenzing, Pozzi Electa, Taborelli and Tessuti di Sondrio to create Made in Italy circular fabric collections. In December 2022, the 8 by Orange Fiber collection, the first homeware collection made with our fabrics, goes on sale on YOOX.
Timeline of Milestones
December 2022
LAUNCH OF 8 BY ORANGE FIBER ON YOOX
The first homeware collection made of Orange Fiber fabrics.
February 2022
NEW FABRIC COLLECTION
The exclusive Tencel Limited Edition x Orange Fiber spun by Pozzi Electa has given rise to a collection of fabrics made by the Taborelli and Tessuti textile factories in Sondrio
July 2021
TENCEL™ Limited Edition x Orange Fiber
Orange Fiber and the Lenzing Group, the world's leading producer of specialty textile fibres from wood, collaborate to produce the first TENCEL™ brand lyocell fibre made from orange cellulose and wood cellulose.
June 2021
E. MARINELLA ORANGE FIBER
The historic sartorial brand presents a collection of ties, pochettes and scarves in an all over pattern with orange tips, on the occasion of the G20. Since November, the collection has been available in the brand's shops and online, selling out in just a few weeks.
October 2020
THE NEW PILOT PLANT
In October 2020 the company completed the creation of a new plant in Sicily and produced the first ton of a new sustainable fibre contributing to craft the future of the Fashion Industry in a greener way.
July 2019
EQUITY CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN
Between April and July 2019 the company launched an equity crowdfunding campaign with the goal of collecting €250k in order to increase production capacity and meet the demand of fashion brands. The campaign was a huge success and raised over €650k from 365 investors.
April 2019
FASHION COLLECTIONS
Between April and June 2019 the sustainable fabrics from citrus juice by-products have been included in the H&M Conscious Exclusive Collection and have been used to create a limited edition of ties by the artisan brand E. Marinella.
April 2017
MARKET LAUNCH
In April 2017 the first fashion collection created with the exclusive Orange Fiber fabric by Salvatore Ferragamo is presented.
December 2015
FIRST PILOT PLANT
In December 2015, thanks to the funds of Smart&Start by Invitalia, the first pilot plant for the extraction of citrus pulp opened in Sicily and the company completed the first fabric production.
September 2014
THE PROTOTYPE
In September 2014 the first prototypes of fabric from citrus cellulose were presented at the Expo Gate of Milan at Vogue Fashion's Night Out.
February 2014
THE COMPANY WAS FOUNDED
In February 2014 Orange Fiber was formed as Italian Innovative Startup with headquarter in Catania. Two Business Angels, Trentino Sviluppo, and a lawyer financed the project.
August 2013
THE PATENT
From the feasibility study with Politecnico di Milano, the two women patented in August 2013 the innovation, then extended it in international PCT in August 2014.
October 2012
THE IDEA
In Italy every year, more than 700.000 tons of citrus juice by-products are produced, the disposal of which has high economic and environmental costs. Seeing an opportunity where others only saw a problem, Adriana Santanocito and Enrica Arena worked to develop a disruptive technology that creates an innovative fabric out of industrial by-products.
