Fibral Material Alliance to bring together plant-based textile industries

Three plant-based textile companies, Ananas Anam, Bananatex, and Circular Systems, have partnered and founded the Fibral™ Material Alliance.

The FIBRAL Material Alliance is an international organization established by three founders: Dr. Carmen Hijosa of Ananas Anam, Hannes Schoenegger of Bananatex®, and Ricardo Garay of Regenerate Fashion.

It was created to bring together three firms and individuals working with ancient and underrepresented plant-based fibers, as well as novel plant-based fibers, to provide a strong voice and assist find a solution to what the alliance refers to as the “textile crisis.”

According to the new alliance, the textile industry is dominated by a material mix that relies on fossil-based resources or fibers associated with extensive water, chemical, and land consumption. In the face of global climate change, there is an increasing demand for alternative materials as the earth’s finite resources shrink and natural systems continue to degrade.

The Fibral™ Material Alliance seeks to unite plant-based fibers under a common umbrella in order to provide support and foster solutions to heal the earth’s ecosystems and address the textile industry’s negative impacts by increasing the use of renewable resources such as abaca, pineapple leaves, oilseed flax/hemp, novel agricultural wastes, and by-products.

Dr. Carmen Hijosa, founder and chief creative and innovation officer for Ananas Anam Ltd said that Fibral is the outcome of a fellowship of like-minded people whose vision, work, and life purpose is to inspire change by raising knowledge of plant-based fibers, regenerative systems, local and indigenous communities and culture, and the value of biodiversity. With this association, they hope to foster a sense of community, sharing, and collaboration by focusing on plant-based solutions, particularly the market potential of underrepresented fibers today.

The three companies that comprise the alliance are experts in the plant-textile industry. Ananas Anam, which manufactures the material Pinatex, which is comprised of pineapple leaf fibers, was awarded B Corp certification in 2020. Bananatex is a technical fabric made entirely of Abacá banana plant fibers.

Circular Systems, on the other hand, is a materials science firm that provides revolutionary solutions for the most efficient management of textile and agricultural waste streams through waste-to-fiber platforms Texloop, Agraloop, and unique Orbital Hybrid Yarn technology. Circular Systems signed a licensing agreement with Nishat Mills in December of last year.