Material World: Ganni Elevates Next-Gen Materials at CPHFW, Keel Labs Debuts First Kelsun T-Shirt
Material World is a weekly roundup of innovations and ideas within the materials sector, covering news from emerging biomaterials and alternative leathers to sustainable substitutes and future-proof fibers.
Ganni
Copenhagen-based contemporary brand Ganni announced a new partnership and exhibition with Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) to elevate and support rising talent within the Scandinavian fashion scene through the CPHFW NewTalent platform.
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This month, Ganni will take a break from the show schedule to redirect its efforts toward supporting emerging artists, lending its platform to up-and-coming creatives while also shedding light on its Fabrics of the Future program, which was set up to research, develop and invest in innovative, low-carbon and preferred alternative materials. Some of those materials include Polybion’s Celium, a next-gen alternative to petroleum-derived synthetics, and Savian by BioFluff, a plant-based fur alternative.
The B Corp has commissioned works and complete looks from a group of seven creatives—five designers and two artists—who will create a bespoke design using “Fabrics Of the Future” and leftover and waste materials. Those creatives include Nicklas Skovgaard, Amalie Røge Hove and Alectra Rothschild, all of whom are part of the CPHFW NewTalent program. Additionally, Ganni has enlisted independent creatives like Sarah Stem, Sahar Jamili, Jens Ole Árnason and Sisse Bjerre.
“In the past 10 years of showing in Copenhagen, we have received so much love, and so we wanted to give some of that love back by supporting and elevating the new generation of creative talent and designers,” Ditte Reffstrup, Ganni’s creative director, said. “The past few years have not been easy conditions for emerging talent, so now more than ever feels like the right time to give way to new voices. We are excited to be able to facilitate a visual conversation with homegrown creatives and inspire towards what fashion of the future could look like.”
Skovgaard is designing a dress using Savian by BioFluff, Oleatex bio-based alternatives and Circulose. Røge will work with Fabrics of the Future, InResST, Circulose and post-consumer recycled wool yarn from the Omega yarn mill, a mill Ganni has used to produce beanies. Rothschild is also working with Oleatex bio-based alternatives and Circulose denim.
The final pieces will be showcased at the “Future, Talent, Fabrics” exhibition, hosted in collaboration with CPHFW.
Keel Labs
Keel Labs has partnered with climate activist and sustainable fashion influencer Aditi Mayer on the first T-shirt made with the North Carolina-based startup’s flagship product, the seaweed-based Kelsun fiber.
“With a brand’s material choices alone being responsible for over half its total emissions, there’s a dire need for the industry to revisit its chosen fibers,” Mayer said. “As someone who has long challenged the presence of fossil fuels in fashion and has opted for nature-based solutions instead, Kelsun’s ability to create an option that integrates a renewable source, addresses fashion’s plastics problem, while also eliminating pesticide use and agricultural land use, is incredibly promising.”
Created with the intention of showcasing Kelsun’s plug-and-play potential in replacing conventional fibers used throughout the industry, the T-shirt is the first Kelsun garment made using industry-standard knitting machines. Made with 70 percent Kelsun and 30 percent cotton blended yarn, the company wants the T-shirt to demonstrate “Kelsun’s simple familiarity” in “one of the most fundamental knit constructions.”
“This launch is about so much more than creating a T-shirt—it’s our mission come-to-life, offering the industry a product that can be produced at scale,” said Keel Labs co-founder and COO, Aleks Gosiewski. “In partnership with Aditi Mayer, we’re demonstrating to the fashion industry and consumers alike that next-gen material solutions are here, and they’re able to be implemented in brands’ and their partners’ supply chains today.”
The T-shirt also features a screen print using Living Ink’s Algae Ink, a sustainable color pigment grown from algae. And while it’s a one-off, fans of the shirt can expect purchasable products from the Stella McCartney collaborators’ brand partners in the near future.
“We’re more trying to say, ‘This is what the future can look like.’ It is not scary. It is not foreign. It doesn’t have to feel alienating,” said Tessa Callaghan, co-founder and CEO of Keel Labs. “If something so basic and fundamental to our daily lives can feel accessible, where else can we push the limits?”
Rudolf
Specialty chemicals company Rudolf has introduced bio-based innovations for its HydroCool technology. The latest additions to the moisture management product line include Ruco-Pur Bio SLB and Feran Bio ICR.
The new formulas are “just as efficient” as the traditional HydroCool products, the German group said, and offer maximum wash resistance without relying on petroleum-based raw materials.
“Ensuring that the effect on the fabric is highly performing, long-lasting and undoubtedly safe for the skin and the environment is of paramount importance for Rudolf,” Stephan Muller, business development manager at Rudolf, said. “And a philosophy that is at the very core of the bio-based advances [that] we are launching.”
Ruco-Pur Bio SLB is a bio-based (43 percent) finishing agent best suited for synthetics, cellulosic fibers and blends. Feran Bio ICR is a bio-based (87 percent) soil agent “specially developed” for polyester and poly blends.
