This plant produces the strongest fiber in the world – and the fabric of the future
We speak to Hannes Schoenegger about Bananatex’s mission, how fashion can play a role in averting the climate crisis, and why optimism is key
At Parley, we’re always thinking about the future. What can the world look like? How can it be improved? How can we not just live in harmony with nature, but learn from it? We are aware that we cannot simply recycle our way out of the plastic crisis – we need to redesign the structures and systems that pollute our planet, along with the harmful materials that we’ve become addicted to. It’s why we’re calling for a Material Revolution – we have to change the way we make things in order to create the future. This new Parley series will meet the innovators and scientists who are trying to remodel our material world.
In the background of Hannes Schoenegger’s Zoom call I can see his office that’s situated around 20 minutes away from the Austrian city of Innsbruck. It’s a building that’s made entirely of 100 percent regional wood, something that isn’t an accident but rather a working environment deliberately created to align with his company’s values – regenerative, plant-based. That company is Bananatex, the producers of “the world's first durable, technical fabric made purely from the naturally grown Abacá banana plants.”
The Abacá banana plant – also referred to as Musa Textilis – is native to the Philippines and considered to be the strongest natural fiber on the planet. Over centuries it’s been used for shipping ropes due to its robustness and resistance to salt water, but Hannes and his team at Bananatex are the first people to make a yarn using it. Alongside its incredible strength, the Abacá plant grows in the wild without any need for additional fertilizers or chemicals and its cultivation can have tremendous benefits for biodiversity. Since its launch in 2018, Bananatex has collaborated with major fashion players such as Stella McCartney, H&M and Cos, and scooped numerous design and sustainability awards. At this year’s Biofabricate in Paris, we displayed a one off Dior jacket made from the material in our Parley booth.
For the first interview in our Material Revolution series, we spoke to the Bananatex founder about his company’s work, what fashion’s role in averting the climate crisis is, and the magic of the Abacá banana plant.
Q&A
Can you explain to me why Bananatex was founded and what it was created in response to? What did you identify as being the issue in the world that meant that Bananatex needed to exist?
We started a bag brand in 2008 and we decided to use as many plant-based materials as possible. When you start a brand you can only choose what the market offers, which was cotton, basically. We tried to find better solutions because we understood how the cultivation of cotton is made. Our first step was organic cotton canvas, which we developed and we used a lot. Then it went further because cotton is actually not the best fiber for a bag, it's too soft and too weak. So we tried to find new ways and worked with linen and hemp, bamboo and some other fibers until we discovered the banana fiber. Musa Textilis is native to the Philippines and probably the strongest plant fiber in the world. It has been used for centuries for different applications, but no-one made a fine yarn out of it. This is what our challenge was. It took us three years and then we made the first weaving trials with the yarn.
I'm interested in what other ancient applications the abacá fiber has been used for?
It has been mostly used for shipping ropes because of its strength and the fact that it's quite salt water-resistant. It has also been used for paper-making, the base for tea bags for example. At a certain point, the majority of all tea bags in the world were made from that fiber or at least contained a portion of it. Meanwhile, lots of producers switched to plastic-based tea bags because it's cheaper.
It's the strongest plant fiber in the world, but what else is really great about the material?
Well, the second or maybe even as important as that is how it grows. It is a regenerative agroforestry environment. So, there are different crops and plants involved. There's no chemicals needed. The plant doesn't need fertilizer or water in addition to rain. Very often it just grows wild in the forest, and people go extracting fibers from time to time. In other cases, it's used to reforest areas that have been destroyed. So, it can have a lot of positive impact on a farming level. That is of course a great start for the development of a material.
It's native to the Philippines there, but is it possible then to scale and grow it in other areas of the world?
Yeah. I'd say 10 or 15 years back, there was an attempt to create a cultivation in Costa Rica, that I think is running quite successfully. The fiber is only used for paper-making, from my understanding. Then there's also a third area where the plant is already growing and harvested, and this is Ecuador. I believe that when the conditions are similar – tropical – the humidity is similar, then it shouldn’t be a problem to copy and paste the reforestation program that we are doing right now in other areas like India, Sri Lanka, Africa or Middle America.
Are there any kind of challenges to working with the material beyond the fact that you need a certain climate to cultivate it?
It needs a lot of manual labor. There are no harvesting machines or anything involved, so every kilo of fiber that you extract needs manual labor. The stems are chopped off and they're peeled like an onion. Then you have all those sheets. You have to strip them with a knife on site, and that's manual work to extract fiber and separate it from the liquids in the material. So that's definitely much more challenging than any other material harvesting that we know of so far. But on the other hand, if it's well paid it could be a very good base for a healthy and stable income.
I was just about to say that – there are job creation benefits…
Yes. And it is mostly job creation for those in the Philippines. For those who are on the lower end of the wealth scale of population, because it's the Indigenous people that own the land, they are the ones that are also allowed to plant, cultivate or harvest there. What happened for many centuries is that a family of maybe 200 people or so, from time to time they would lock a part of their woods, sell the wood, and pay for healthcare or whatever they needed at that point. But if you do that too often then the rainforest is lost entirely. And if you offer them an option now to let's say replant different crops, higher trees that are needed for our banana plant for example, then you offer them an option which is both good for them and for biodiversity.
“The biggest barriers are in the system we're operating in at the moment, which is clearly supporting non-sustainable solutions.”
Hannes Schoenegger — Bananatex Co-founder & CEO
With regards to Bananatex and what you guys are doing, have you had positive reports of the impact that your operation is having on biodiversity?
Yes, definitely. 80% of the rainforest has been destroyed in the Philippines and if you don't have a good idea what to do with that land, then it erodes further from rain, typhoons and so on, then you lose it forever… or for a very long time at least. The local communities and government are very interested in finding reasons for people to plant new stuff there. That is actually an area in which we want to play a bigger role in the future.
The fashion industry is said to be responsible for around 10% of global emissions. How soon do you see that industry becoming sustainable or circular? And what do you perceive to be the barriers to that?
I think the biggest barriers are in the system that we're operating in at the moment, which is clearly supporting non-sustainable solutions. If you produce or work irresponsibly, then you can be rewarded at the moment. That is the biggest problem because if materials were to come at their real cost then the major challenge for Bananatex, being a higher price, would be eliminated.
Do you think enough progress is being made?
Eventually, it has to happen anyway, and I think there are some dynamics now coming from politics, like the New York Fashion Act and smaller regulations that are coming up in the European Union. I think it will happen. I hope it's going to be fast enough.
How long have you personally been concerned with environmental issues?
I think that was already the case when we started our bag brand. It was 2008 and it was just coming out of the fact that we had small kids. And once you have them, you think about the world and the future and maybe more than just the next 20 years. Then it was already obvious that the world is full of plastics and it could not go on in that linear way. We didn't create the brand as a green company in the beginning but we all had the same mindset, that it must be responsible, and that's why we worked towards the same direction.
Do all of your fabrics biodegrade?
Everything biodegrades, it's just a question of time. We did some quite expensive tests with the German lab. There are a few who are actually entitled to make a compostability test and it's really the compostability that counts. As far as I understand, the question is how fast does it disintegrate and in which environment? And does it leave something behind? Our general fabric can be composted in industrial compost as well as ocean water within the timeframe, which is a little more than 100 days. It's a complex topic because a piece of wood would probably not pass that test, or a leaf from a walnut tree would leave behind too many toxic substances. All our materials… no… because it depends how you dye or finish the material. So, the basic Bananatex material, yes. And the ones we have tested with dyes as well, black and gray. But let's say you print something for Balenciaga, then you have to look into the dyeing color, like the printing ink and what does it do? So, the compostability would have to be tested again then.
I guess also when you're working with Balenciaga, people are less likely to want to throw that away.
I guess so too, yeah.
You are working so closely in this field every day – are there any other inventions or developments outside of Bananatex in the biofabrication space that are really exciting?
I think it's interesting to see the development and speed of that whole field. A few years back it was quite a small community and now every year there are new startups and innovation coming to life from the protein-based developments to mycelium. There is a lot of great work being done at the moment, but I think it's a matter of urgency too. Many have challenges to scale, like everyone has when you start something. Others might need more time to make their invention work on a broader platform. So, I'm a little excited when I see all those ambitious people. And I'm a little worried too when I see that it always takes more time than one expects.
“Optimism is very key. Humanity has always proven to be quite elastic when it comes to real challenges, and this is of course a real challenge ahead of us.”
Hannes Schoenegger — Bananatex Co-founder & CEO
Bananatex backpacks & accessories
Dior x Parley jacket made using Bananatex
Specifically on Bananatex, are there any products that you're working on that the world hasn't seen yet, that you are really excited about and you can tell me about?
We have created the first fabric for our backpacks and that was a heavy canvas, which then could be adapted quite easily for footwear, for more casual sneakers rather than for running performance. It can also be used for other accessories like a hat or for furniture. There are other applications that need a higher performance or a very specific performance, like the automotive industry – these are more long-term projects that we work on. However, I am hopeful that we will see Bananatex in some of those industries in the near future too.
How optimistic generally are you that we can solve the huge issue that's facing us with the climate crisis? How optimistic do you remain and how important do you think optimism is?
I think optimism is very key. Humanity has always proven to be quite elastic when it comes to real challenges, and this is of course a real challenge ahead of us. It could also surprise us on the upside, how fast people adapt at some point when they see more impact on their own lives and in their own region.
Do you think fashion has a key role to play in that?
The negative impact is huge, so it must play a role and do its own homework, just like transportation does and the whole energy sector. Innovation will play a big role and I think everyone needs to contribute. Otherwise, it's going to be impossible.
Images courtesy of © LAUSCHSICHT
Video footage stills courtesy of © LAUSCHSICHT / QWSTION
READ MORE
