The Orange Fiber Fabric Collection By Ferragamo

Ferragamo isn’t yet a sustainable brand. But their Orange Fiber Fabric is a step in the right direction

By Arwa Lodhi

When Fashion Revolution Week rolls around, it seems all brands want to show themselves to be a bit greener and Fur King of the Catwalk, Salvatore Ferragamo, is no different.

Following the path of other high-end fashion designers such as  Stella McCartney, Stella Jean and  Maiyet, the Italian luxury has now launched an eco-friendly collection made from the fibres derived from oranges.

Ferragamo is  the first major fashion house to make use of these Italian threads, created by Adriana Santanocito, who also showed what her beautiful, sustainable textiles could do at Green Fashion Week in Milan and Los Angeles recently.

She was inspired by the 700,000 tons of orange peels discarded when making juice in Italy each year.  While working on her dissertation in fashion design, Santanocito decided to develop the project with Enrica Arena, an International Communication and Cooperation student, with the support of the Polytechnic University of Milan.

The duo launched and patented  Orange Fiber Fabric in the hopes of making a difference in the fashion industry. Little did they know that one of Italy’s biggest fashion houses would be inspired to create a beautifully constructed capsule collection based on their eco friendly threads.

Ferragamo has produced a limited edition capsule of beautiful, breezy pieces just in time for summer. Their lightweight blouses, scarves, dresses, trousers and foulards look and feel as though they’re made from silk, but unlike that material, this fabric is vegan friendly.

Drawings by architect/artist Mario Trimarchi decorate the garments with exclusive images inspired by the Mediterranean coast. In particular, stories of Sicily – the island’s nature, and fruits and flowers – are told through abstract etchings.

Whilst we laud Ferragamo for using this sustainable, sensorial fabric to help us reshape our sartorial experience, unfortunately this Italian fashion giant still has a long way to go before we could consider it ethical or ‘green’, given the vast amounts of leather – especially ‘exotic’ ones – and fur it uses. But perhaps this Orange Fiber Fabric collection signals a step in the right direction for the fashion house. And that is something.

All images: Ferragamo