A New Natural Fiber that offers an alternative to Linen
Cotton, Linen & Silk are the popular natural fibers used for apparel textiles over the centuries. These have been adapted to meet the requirement of modern day high volume production machinery making them the preferred choice even today.
In mankind’s quest for alternative natural fibers, the production of Apparel grade yarn and fabric on a commercial scale has been one of the major stumbling blocks.
In the quest for new sources of natural fiber for apparels, the Banana plant holds much potential. The fiber from Banana stem has unique physical and chemical characteristics that hold the potential to make fine quality fiber. It is light weight, highly strong with low elongation and has good moisture absorption and release characteristics.
Organic banana cotton fiber offers better fineness and spinnability in extraction and conversion to yarn and fabric by the manufacturing process. This Banana yarn and fabric produced matches Linen in its feel and texture thus making it an alternative acceptable to consumers as an apparel fabric a reality.
The adoption of Banana fiber-based apparels reduces the demand for bringing more acreage under cotton farming a highly water hungry crop. Further, it is a fabric that is biodegradable with no negative effects on the environment and thus an eco-friendly.
Additionally, the Banana stem raw material is an Argo waste by product generating an additional source of revenue for the farmer who till today had to cart and discard this Argo waste into landfills.
Source: Anandi
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