London’s Future Fabrics Expo curated a separate area for footwear for the first time, as companies speed up commercialisation of ‘next gen’ materials and new manufacturing process are touted.

The pendulum has started to swing on “next-generation” and lower-impact materials, as companies begin to seriously analyse their raw material selections and consider how to shift the manufacturing juggernaut in a more sustainable direction, according to the organisers of London’s Future Fabrics Expo (FFE). They say they are witnessing “huge changes” in how many  brands and companies are taking sourcing more seriously, as well as a growing number of start-ups in the sector, commercialising new materials at a quicker pace. 

The expo, launched in 2011, bills itself as a “wraparound experience”, rather than a trade show. The materials and suppliers are vetted using strict criteria, with 6,000 fabric swatches on display, as well as booths, “innovation hubs” showcasing start-ups, and educational spaces. “We exercise the ability to curate the suppliers and materials but we don't necessarily have to take the whole collection,” Amanda Johnston, curator and educational consultant of FFE, tells World Footwear. “We’re trying to get the absolute best practice because we are in a critical moment in history as regards our raw material dependencies and how they impact on environment, societies and climate change.” The incoming EU legislation around fashion, circularity and traceability have created a strong impetus for brands to learn more about materials and their supply chains, she adds. “It's all starting to create a situation where people are now, with urgency, wanting to change. We feel that although there are problems, there are also massive opportunities.”

Shoe complexity

For the first time, the show in June featured an area dedicated to the footwear industry, showing new and innovative materials, analysing shoe recycling and circular patterns of material use. The overarching theme of the show was waste - or looking at it from a new perspective, in terms of “recovering nutrients”. Working with partners, organisers set out a “waste mapping” visual for fashion products, and wanted to add a specialised one for footwear. This would address not only the mountains of waste but also look at ways of adding value, they say, sparking ideas in the designers and brands that visit. “We thought this was a really interesting area,” says Ms Johnston. “It’s not just industrial and post-consumer product waste, it’s also thinking about unique waste areas, such as start-up Arda Biomaterials, which is taking a slurry of beer waste and making a beautiful material, as well as Canopy, which is working with agricultural waste. We’ve seen lots of really interesting materials using waste streams that did not have any value attached to them.”

One such company is Authentic Material, which wanted to address waste that was left over by leathergoods makers near its hometown in France. It patented a process to turn leather offcuts into a material that can be used for accessories, interiors and footwear components. It grinds down the pieces of leather into a ‘sand’ and mixes the powder with polymers – offering recycled and biobased options – at a blend of around 50%. The resulting pellets act in the same way as other plastics, and can be moulded and shaped to offer various properties, depending on the end use, according to Noemie Dumesnil, director of operations. “Leathergoods manufacturers told us they did not know what to do with this waste,” she tells World Footwear, ”they cannot destroy the scraps any more.” The material can be used to make heels and counters, and the leather powder can also be combined with rubber to make soles. Chanel has now invested in the start-up.

Bananatex from Swiss company Qwstion uses waste from the agricultural sector. Made from 100% abacá, a native banana species grown as a commercial crop in the Philippines, the fabric is made by turning fibres into paper, which is spun into yarn and then woven in Taiwan for applications such as bags and footwear. Balenciaga created a limited-edition footwear run and at the show, Qwiston launched a 100% Bananatex denim, made by an Italian mill.

French company CORKonLINEN uses cork from Portugal and linen from France, spun in Poland and woven in France, for a new natural footwear upper. The linen and cork are bonded with a water-based glue, then there are three steps of manual sanding to get the smooth surface to create a naturally water repellent, antibacterial and breathable upper. “My background is as a designer, I wanted to make my bags more sustainable, I started searching and created this material,” founder Ronja Nielsen tells us, adding that shoes wouldn’t need a lining because the linen adds comfort. The material helps to use all parts of the plants not used in other sectors. “All the cork is used, even the dust is burnt and used to heat the machinery. The same with the linen, 100% is used, with lower-grade fibres being used by the pet industry, so it’s a completely circular story.”

Rethinking the process

One of the main aspects the Footwear Innovation Hub wanted to address was design and manufacturing, presenting companies that are rethinking how shoes are made. Twelve designs were selected that show both new materials and ways of assembly – some that are on the market, some prototype and some speculative. “That is really future-thinking because you're changing both the materiality and the manufacturing process,” says Ms Johnston. “We wanted to show that thinking, because it isn’t just a set of materials, it's the integration of design, materiality and how you make. Of course, footwear has attendant issues in that most fashion products don't have that many different materials, but between 26 and 40 materials can be in any one shoe. Designing shoes has got more in common with designing a car than it has designing a dress.”

The founders behind US start-up Simplifyber are on to this, having patented both a new material stream and way of manufacturing. The feedstock is a cellulose-based slurry made from waste from the wood industry, but can include everything from recycled paper to waste wool or materials, such as hemp. Co-founder Maria Intscher-Owrang worked as a high-end fashion designer for more than 20 years, but was unhappy with the level of impact she was having. “I wanted to find a way to make natural fibres cost competitive, so this system shortens the supply chain so that it’s more efficient and more automated, and that cuts the cost of the manufacturing,” she explains. “We use the materials when they’re at the beginning of the supply chain, so they’re the cheapest they’ll be. That combination makes our unit economics work better than plastic when you hit the thousands of products. Even taking into account the cost of moulds and tooling, it becomes cheaper. I really think that’s the only way we’re going to change the industry.” The company works with footwear factories and sole suppliers near its base in North Carolina, US, to offer a full shoe. The uppers can be coated with various finishes to make them durable and waterproof. It aims to provide its slurry and machinery to manufacturers globally, so local supply chains can be set up and use waste from different industries to create the upper.

Nature’s garden

The desire to move the fashion industry away from petrochemicals was one of the main themes of the show. US company NFW (Natural Fiber Welding) finds its solutions in nature. Its Mirum upper material is described as a “plastic-free alternative to leather”, made from natural rubber, plant-based oil, natural pigments and minerals and is created using a patented plant-based curative. Outsole material Pliant is derived from the sap of the Hevea brasiliensis tree from certified responsibly managed forests. When cured, the material is naturally circular and mechanically recyclable, says NFW. The company counts Stella McCartney among its supporters.

Other companies in the Hub included Vivobarefoot and its tie-up with French company Balena, which supplies a bio-based material to create a 3D printed shoe, custom made from a scan of a customer’s foot (see World Footwear Issue 1, 2024). The bio-based sources are from castor plants and polysaccharides, bound with a biodegradable polymer.

A bit further away from commercialisation is Modern Synthesis. The company was founded in 2019 by former adidas designer Jen Keane, and has since grown to employ 22 in its London headquarters. The company works with bacteria that naturally produce nanocellulose, with the aim of growing the top of an athletic shoe. It has backing from Ganni and has won awards including the Mills Fabrica Techstyle prize and the LVMH Green Trail award.

Show curator Claire Weiss, who looks after innovation and technology, comments that the fact they can show 50 fresh start-ups in the Innovation Hub each year demonstrates the willingness of investors to support nascent technologies. “In previous years, there has been  a bigger focus on earlier-stage companies, whereas now they seem to be getting to a solid proof of concept a lot quicker,” she tells us. “The rate of innovation is speeding up and ideas are coming to market relatively quickly. These are the companies that are asking all the right questions to make sure that what they’re doing is actually best practice and what they're considering, when scaled, is going to have the positive impact that they aim to have. Chemical and technological advancements have also allowed quicker implementation of certain technologies.”

High-end impetus

Exhibitors who we spoke to commented on the high number of luxury brands that had attended the show, with some viewing the sector as being the driver of “next gen” material adoption, with more flexibility to invest in innovation and higher margins that can absorb some of the cost that is inevitably associated with new materials and processes. LVMH curated a section to demonstrate some of its collaborations with new products and companies, including a tie-up with Parley for the Oceans, Bananatex and Nature Coatings, which makes a black dye from wood waste. The group presented its first “eco designed-shoe”, the LV Charlie, made of what it describes as 90% sustainable materials: the outsole is made of bio-sourced plastic, the upper from recycled polyester and materials made from non-food corn, while the labels are made from Econyl, a recycled nylon.

Ultimately, the changes need to come from deep within companies, starting with the CEO and board, as trying to pull the footwear-making sector away from petrochemicals and towards natural or lower impact materials and processes will need both investment and action. Remaining on the path of the status quo would be easier, but observers comment it will not be viable in a business sense, with changing regulation and attitudes – notwithstanding the moral impetus to move away from non-renewable resources or polluting practices. A report launched at the show by Quantis, Boston Consulting Group and Textile Exchange, ‘Sustainable Raw Materials Will Drive Profitability for Fashion and Apparel Brands’, suggested not switching to new raw materials could impact a company’s profitability by up to 8%.

Many brands have also set ambitious targets for using recycled or lower impact materials. Adidas, for instance, said in 2021 that nine out of 10 products should be ‘sustainable’ by 2025, including reducing its CO₂ footprint per product by 15%. Retail giant Inditex has said by 2030, 100% of its textile products will be made exclusively from materials with a smaller environmental footprint. Currently, polyester makes up 54% of global fibre usage, according to The Textile Exchange, with nylon and other oil-based synthetics 11%, cotton 22%, man-made cellulosics 6%, other plant-based 5% and protein-based 1%. “Companies can change their supply chains but it needs to come from the CEOs, then all the designers and product development teams need to be on board,” adds Ms Johnston. “We've got the solutions there for them to change and we are looking towards the next generation, or those materials that are on the cusp of becoming commercially relevant. If everybody gets on board, that will tip that needle and change our raw material dependencies. We trying to change hearts, minds and practice in the fashion industry, that drives everything that we do.” 

FFE 2024 is growing year on year. This summer, it attracted 2,000 visitors, who were able to view 6,000 materials swatches and speak to 70 exhibitors.

Credit: FFE

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