Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard’s imaginative act of moral courage is uplifting, but it would be naive and even harmful to expect many others to follow his example by voluntarily choosing a purpose other than the pursuit of profits.

Away from petroleum-based fabrics, comes an innovation — a fibre made from polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic made from corn, under the brand name Highlact. Could it be the best material to replace polyester in terms of quality, cost and supply? texfash.com explores.

Polybion creates Celium, a premium, high-performance biomaterial from fruit waste. A leather alternative available as fabric, albeit a lot more expensive, the company claims that Celium’s performance is almost equal to cowhide leather. Gabriela Irastorza Dragonné, Head of Communications & Culture at Polybion, tells texfash.com why investment, scaling and deployment are imperatives to help zero-carbon biomaterial companies to offer lower costs as time goes by.

When cutting-edge technology is applied to fruit waste it creates an all-new world of revolutionary, premium biomaterials — where performance meets possibility. The technology, modelled on nature’s own design, aims for an animal-free, more sustainable future — one cell at a time. And doing this is Mexico-headquartered Polybion as it moves from linear to circular, leftover to constructive, and from leather to Celium. texfash.com talks to Gabriela Irastorza Dragonné, the Head of Communications and Culture at Polybion to know more.The first part of an interview.

The Futurescan 5 conference last week was organised with the theme of 'Conscious Communities', revolving around environmental and resilient communities, societal and political communities, cultural and ethical communities, material and technological communities, and collaborative and participatory communities. A first-person account from the event.

The founder of outdoor clothing brand Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, has given away his company in an effort to do  more for the planet. The Chouinard family has transferred ownership to two new entities: Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective. Every dollar not reinvested back into Patagonia will be distributed as dividends to protect the planet.

Clothing retail chain H&M and sporting goods retail chain Decathlon have made commitments to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) promising to adjust or no longer use sustainability claims on their clothes and/or websites. The two chains have committed to informing consumers more clearly in order to minimise the risk of misleading practices involving sustainability claims.

The Taiwanese leather sector dates back to more than 70 years and it was in the 1990s that the tanneries began to relocate and set up factories in Thailand, Vietnam, Mainland China and other Southeast Asian countries. Today it produces about 45-60 million square feet of leather per month, exporting almost 98% to some of the best-known footwear makers. Thomas CJ Yu, President of the Taiwanese International Leather Association (TILA) in conversation with texfash.com.

The urge to gift an enduring piece of Punjab’s legacy, and the lack of it, led to the setting up of Aab Label, a contemporary brand that draws inspiration from the hand-embroidered heritage craft of phulkari. Founder Shreya Mehra shares her story.

Dutch design studio Raw Color has created a collection called 'Temperature Textiles', which is embedded with climate-change data. The collection features blankets, scarves and socks knitted with infographics about either temperate change, sea-level rise or greenhouse gas emissions. Raw Color Co-Founder Christoph Brach talks about the idea.