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Fashion industry's future could be saved by unlikely vegetable

Brit boffins have worked out how to make clothes from potato waste in a move that could potentially save the fashion industry

[Potatoes, butter, steam, black background, sliced, melt, fry.]

Potatoes could save the fashion industry(Image: Getty)

The future of fashion could be saved - by spuds. Brit boffins have worked out how to make clothes from potato stalks.

And the tech could help keep the world clothed as cotton - the mainstay of the global textile industry - is struggling in the face of climate change and drought.

Half of cotton-growing regions are expected to be hit by 2040 creating a shortage of fibre to make clothes.

But Brit firm Fibe has found a solution. Formed in 2022 by four Imperial College London students the firm has worked out how the stalks from potato crops can be used to make clothing.

[Potatoes]

Potatoes can be used to make clothes(Image: Jam Press)

The method uses part of the plant's foliage that is poisonous to animals and so usually composted or burnt.

Fibe co-founder Idan Gal-Shohet, 25, said: The idea was to take this waste product from the fifth-most grown crop in the world and find a use case for it.

Cotton requires vast resources to service textiles around the world. A single t-shirt requires 3,000 litres of water to make.

The hot climates cotton needs to grow are increasingly facing drought. Gal-Shohet said their alternative uses 99.7% less water.

Potato stalks contain a relatively low fibre content.

That meant Fibe had to develop a process to mechanically separate the fibres which the team believed was four to five times more efficient than traditional methods.

Investors are backing the companys idea. Tin Shed Ventures, part of the Patagonia private investment fund, is among those who have put up 1m million towards developing the tech.

The Royal Academy of Engineering has given a 3m grant via the Green Future Fellowship to establish a pilot plant.

A Fibe spokesman said: We make clothes from potato harvest waste. Through proprietary processes and machinery, Fibe extracts durable, soft natural fibres with minimal environmental impact.

[Potatoes in field]

Potato stalks could be the new cotton(Image: Getty Images)

Our non-toxic process is scalable, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible. Our fibres are a drop in solution for the textile supply chain, easily integrating into existing spinning and weaving infrastructure.

Brands can use our fibres to make natural textiles liken to cotton and linen.

At the same time the company said it works closely with farmers to give value to their waste and increase the profitability of their business.

It comes as some potato growers have moaned they have been left with spud mountains as weight loss drugs have slashed demand for chips and mash.

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