Spotted: As innovators create new sustainable fibres, the options available to those working in the fashion industry are expanding, making it easier to design and produce products with lower carbon footprints. The new fabrics are exciting, bringing with them increased options and challenges for designers. Additionally, many of the companies behind the latest offerings have broader social goals embedded into their working philosophy. 

Uganda’s Mawejje Creations, for instance, is a socially minded company that produces textiles made from waste banana plants, fabric offcuts, secondhand clothes, and organic cotton. The business’s Commune Fabric is made for use in fashion and consists entirely of banana crop biowaste. Much like hemp, when grown as part of a sustainable, mixed agricultural crop, the banana plant requires little to no maintenance, making it an excellent replacement for water-heavy cotton crops.  

Easily grown in Uganda, the banana plant requires no fertiliser or pesticides, and the production process of the fibres ensures that the final fabric is chemical-free. Mawejje Creations also trains young people in the fabric production process and encourages local farmers to use sustainable methods for the highest quality plants. Importantly, part of the training process includes learning certain styles of weaving as a means of preserving and passing along some of the area’s heritage skills.  

The banana plant is proving to be extremely useful, with Springwise spotting innovations that include leather made from banana fibre and a banana-based growth enhancer being used to reduce chemical use in industrial production processes.

Written By: Keely Khoury