Salvatore Ferragamo launches sustainable collection based on citrus fruit fibre

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Apr 20, 2017

For the Spring/Summer 2017 Salvatore Ferragamo has created a capsule collection with a Mediterranean flavour, both in the design motif and the fabrics' composition. The collection is in fact manufactured using squeezed orange residue! To concoct this ecological collection, the Florentine luxury label has joined forces with Orange Fiber, a company specialised in innovative, eco-sustainable fabrics.
 

A press release issued by the innovative Italian company set up by two young entrepreneurs from Catania, Sicily, Adriana Santanocito and Enrica Arena, explained how every year the squeezed orange industry generates, in Italy alone, more than 700,000 tonnes of waste, whose elimination is both highly costly and impactful on the environment.

Starting from this premise, in 2012 Orange Fiber worked with Milan's Polytechnic University to perfect "a patent for the transformation of [citrus fruit] residue in an innovative, high-quality fabric," a sort of twill with a silky feel. The first pilot plant for the extraction of cellulose from citrus fruit became operational in Sicily in 2015.

The Ferragamo Orange Fiber Collection consists of shirts, dresses, trousers and scarves featuring printed motifs designed by architect Mario Trimarchi and inspired by the Mediterranean landscape. The collection will be launched on 22nd April to coincide with World Earth Day, and will be available at selected Ferragamo stores.