As the era of fast furniture fades away and consumers become more focused on sustainability and reducing their environmental impact, home goods companies have developed new materials and processes to make their products more earth-friendly. Have started to innovate to find. While materials such as organic cotton and sustainably obtained wood are well known, a range of new and unexpected, nature-derived materials hold the potential to transform the way home furnishings are made.
“There is growing interest in sustainability and circularity in the home market,” said Marcia Weiss, director of the Fashion and Textiles Futures Center at Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University). “Clients are requesting more sustainable, natural, organic materials for their homes for the health of their families and new materials are being developed from many interesting sources.”
The ocean has been one of the most fertile sources of potential materials that can be fashioned into clothing, with textile manufacturers looking to underwater vegetation as the next frontier in organic fibers.
“We’re seeing a lot of seaweed and algae because it grows like bamboo,” said J Anna Mies, vice president of home and lifestyle at trend forecasting agency Fashion Snoops. “We are looking at high-end applications of kelp yarn, weaving it into blankets. It’s not really out in the US yet – we’re seeing it in most European markets.”
Mize said that with the United Nations announcing the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in 2021 running through 2030, we should expect to see the application of more ocean-harvested materials in fashion and home furnishings in the coming years.
“We’re in the decade of the ocean, and with it, we’re looking at a lot of new materials like seagrass and seaweed,” Mies said. “Seaweed was valued as a $15 billion industry in 2021, and is expected to grow at a rate of 7.5 percent between now and 2028 because the plant itself grows really fast.”
According to a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, seaweeds and kelp are widely available not only because of their proliferation rates, but also because these plants naturally sequester about 175 million tons of carbon worldwide. Mies said the added benefits have prompted some ingredients companies to innovate and incorporate these seaweeds into new products.
“They’re doing extensive studies right now and growing kelp and seaweed farms on a large scale, with the idea that they’ll be the new alternative solution to your everyday clothing,” he said. “We are seeing this becoming an alternative to wood composites. They’re really pushing the boundaries of where they can apply it.”
Sea plants aren’t the only marine source entering the home. Seafood waste, especially oyster, clam and lobster shells, is being salvaged from the trash and reused in composite hard materials for the home.
“We’re seeing a lot of new initiatives to buy back food waste and recombine those shells into new materials for things like decorations, sand applications, and concrete applications,” Mies said. “The shells make the composite a little more interesting, and I think that in the next few years, instead of marble, granite, etc., we’ll see a lot more shell composites.”
New organic alternatives to leather have been a major contributor to home furnishings as well as fashion. Cork, which has long been used in fashion for shoes and handbags, has made its way to furniture, with companies such as Portuguese Cork upholstering furniture in the material. Food waste also comes in handy for leather substitutes.
“Vegan leather can come from pineapple leaves, cactus, coconut husks, and many other sources,” Weiss said. “Sometimes, fiber is derived from a byproduct of the food-industry, reducing the demand for new resources.”
The way of dyeing clothes is also changing. Mize said he has also seen an increase in food waste, along with natural dyes developed from flowers and plants. And at Dutch Design Week, they saw the debut of perhaps the most futuristic-sounding dye process – living pigments that use bacteria to add color to fabrics. The project, still a work in progress with designer Julia Moser and the Vienna Textile Lab, introduces certain bacterial strains into the fabrics, producing a durable, long-lasting dye.
Mize said such innovations are being led by the next generation of textile designers, who aren’t afraid to experiment and push the boundaries of what’s possible.
“Some of the greatest innovations are coming out of student experimentation,” Mies said. “You go to SCAD [Savannah College of Art and Design] or RISD [Rhode Island School of Design]And these kids are working on it with bacteria and mycelium and other organic matter.
Whether it’s seaweed fabric or bacteria-dyed textiles, Weiss said these material innovations will allow the home furnishings industry to create a more sustainable future.
“Ongoing and future innovation can result in responsible production and consumption, and the creation of products that embody a truly circular life cycle,” Weiss said. “This can happen through innovation in the internal product development sector, where products keep changing throughout their life cycle. It can also happen through the development and support of regional communities of manufacturers, who essentially produce farm produce for textiles and furnishings. Either way, it’s an exciting time in the textile design and home furnishings industry.
Source: wwd.com
