PiñaYarn

Piñayarn - a pineapple leaf fibre for fashion / Source: Ananas Anam

AfricaAnti-MicrobialAsiaBreathableEuropeFlexibleLightweightNorth AmericaOceaniaPiñaYarnRecyclableSouth AmericaTextilesVegan

WHAT WE SAY:

The world generates a colossal amount of food waste, with most estimates putting it around the 2.5 billion tons per year mark. But while it will take a lot to stem this flow of waste, designers are beginning to find ways to put it to better use. Plant-based textiles is one such emerging area of innovation, but not all plant-based, fruit-based, and vegetable-based materials are created equal.

In fact, a large proportion of them include a tiny bit of plant waste and a whole load of plastic, which is why we’re intrigued by Ananas Anam’s latest offering — PiñaYarn. While the company’s first foray into pineapple-based materials — PiñaTex — falls under the plastic category above, PiñaYarn is made from a combination of pineapple leaf fibre and Tencel. Nothing else. Created for the fashion and interiors industries, this farm-to-fibre yarn is antibacterial, mixable, and recyclable, but as it emerges from the lab we’re still yet to see how scalable it is in the long-term.

PiñaYarn

WHAT IS PIÑAYARN?

Made from pineapple leaf fibre (PALF), PiñaYarn is a 100% plant-based, recyclable, and biodegradable yarn for both the fashion and interiors industries.
Created by Ananas Anam, the yarn is made from the leaf by-product of the pineapple industry, meaning no additional land, chemicals, or fertilisers are required to obtain the raw material.
According to the company, Piñayarn reduces the amount of pineapple leaves being burnt, which saves the equivalent of up to six kilograms of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere for every kilogram of yarn produced.
The yarn is produced using either an open end or spun process and comes undyed, only available in greige, however it has been tested with both conventional and natural dyes. The dry spinning technology requires no water and uses zero harmful chemicals.
The yarn is currently available in two specifications, both containing up to 30% PALF. The other 70% is made up of either Tencel Lyocell LF/Tencel Standard or Tencel Refibra – plastic-free fibres by Austrian producer Lenzing. The latter mix is more expensive and includes recycled textile content.
PiñaYarn is versatile and can conform to thicker denim varieties, lightweight jersey, and medium-to-heavy wovens.
The yarn is suitable for footwear, apparel, and accessories, but not suitable for bedding due to its coarse nature. Prototype products created so far include: a shoe upper, heavy weight twill, and cushion covers.
Brands are advised to only combine PiñaYarn with other 100% Cellulose materials to ensure its end-of-life remains as intended, but it can be mixed with anything.
At the end of its life, PiñaYarn is said to be compostable in the food waste bin, but the company is yet to gain certification. It does say, however, that both PALF and the Lenzing materials are proven compostable.
The yarn can also be mechanically recycled, especially when it’s only mixed with 100% cellulose materials. It can be recycled up to five times before it loses its quality, but needs to be mixed with virgin PiñaYarn to do so. Each time PiñaYarn is recycled, the fibre length shortens.
PiñaYarn was first launched in 2022 with a minimum order quantity (MOQ) of 25 kilograms. Bulk options were made available in January 2023, with an MOQ of 250 kilograms and maximum of three tonnes for each order.
The first collection using PiñaYarn is set to launch in S/S23, with the company initially eyeing the European market.

KEY PROPERTIES:

Anti-Microbial
Breathable
Flexible
Lightweight
Recyclable
Vegan

INDUSTRY:

Textiles

AVAILABILITY:

Limited Orders

DIVE DEEPER:

According to the app Too Good to Go, 42% of the 2.5 billion tons of food waste generated each year comes from fruits and vegetables, equating to 1,400 million tons a year. In fact, 46% of fruits and vegetables are wasted, meaning we only consume 54% of the ones we create. A pretty startling realisation.
To put this into context for PiñaYarn, only 52% of a pineapple is eaten, while the remnants are dumped as organic waste.
These remnants, especially the leaves, are rich in lignin and cellulose, the two ingredients that allow the leaves to be transformed into fibres for the textiles industry.
Lignin is a complex plant-derived polymer found in the cell walls of almost all dry land plants. It is antibacterial and gives rigidity to whatever it resides in. These properties can be transferred to materials, and PiñaYarn’s dry-spinning process ensures lignin remains intact to create a naturally antibacterial yarn.
Due to the delicate nature of PALF, however, one kilogram of pineapple leaves only produces between 15 and 18 pieces of fibre, at 60 centimetres in length. This is low in comparison to one abacá (banana) plant producing 12-30 leaf stalks at 12-20 feet in length.
The manufacturing of PiñaYarn is all done within Europe, but Ananas Anam's three PALF suppliers are based in Bangladesh, the Philippines, and the African continent. Due to distance, its Philippines supplier only provides PALF for the company's other material, Piñatex – a non-biodegradable leather made from PALF, PLA, and petroleum-based resin that’s considered a Transitional Material by PlasticFree.
To create PiñaYarn, the PALF must be washed and then decorticated to remove the outer layer of the leaf. It is then sent to the company’s Spanish factory to be purified - using a natural enzymatic process - and cut, after which it’s sent to a spinner in Portugal and combined with Tencel fibres to turn into PiñaYarn. It’s then shipped back to the factory for fulfilment and shipping.
Because the pineapple fibres aren’t pulped, PALF is quite coarse and keeping it at staple length - which varies from 0.5 to one metre - means it is also quite stiff. Mixing it with Tencel fibres makes it flexible and soft for use in the fashion industry.
The company has received requests for PiñaYarn to be mixed with GOTS-certified cotton and told us it is open to changing the specifications, but will only mix PALF with 100% cellulose fibres.
To ensure transparency throughout its supply chain, Ananas Anam and its CEO Dr. Carmen Hijosa visits its Philippine-based farms every month throughout the year and its spinner three times a year.
Brands using PiñaYarn can use certifications for all stages of the development, including a certificate of origin for PALF.
Ananas Anam has had conversations with Worn Again regarding chemical recycling of PiñaYarn and is aware that it can be done, but is yet to carry out any trials. It pointed out to PlasticFree that the key blocker to this is a lack of global infrastructure.

Woven and jersey fabrics made with PiñaYarn / Source: Ananas Anam

Raw pineapple leaf fibre / Source: Ananas Anam

KEY FACTS:

52%

of a pineapple is used for edible purposes, with the remnants dumped as organic waste

60cm

A kilo of pineapple leaves may produce up to 15-18 pieces of fibre — about 60 cm long

6kg

PiñaYarn saves the equivalent of up to 6 kilograms of CO2 emissions per one kilogram of yarn produced

Key Questions to Ask:

Is price point a dealbreaker?

The price of PiñaYarn is not currently available, and is expected once it's fully launched. Tencel fibres, however, tend to sit on the pricier end of the material spectrum, so bear this in mind when determining how and when you use it.

How scalable is PiñaYarn?

With one kilogram of pineapple leaves only able to produce between 15 to 18 pieces of fibre, the speed at which PiñaYarn can scale is limited. Consider if this level of production matches your output. If not, can you see it as a challenge and find new ways to reduce the amount of material you use in your designs? Look to Qwstion for inspiration.

Do you need to mix PiñaYarn with other fibres?

Ananas Anam's preference is for PiñaYarn to only be mixed with other cellulose fibres, so if you’re thinking of mixing it with synthetics instead, think again. PiñaYarn is a specialised material at present, and should be kept as pure as possible to cement its longevity in the fibre basket. Mixing it with synthetics not only makes it impossible to reuse and recycle effectively, it also undermines a brand’s messaging to its consumers, who will see the use of pineapple leaf waste as a step in the right direction.

Have you considered other end-of-life solutions?

As much as Ananas Anam says PiñaYarn is recyclable, and theoretically compostable, the yarn isn’t likely to end up in the right waste stream, especially when mixed with other fibres. Its end-of-life, if used without further circular design practices, will be the bin. This is where your creativity comes in, combining better materials with better design that ensures the life of a garment spans generations. Dive into the principles of modular design and designing for disassembly - both of which allow products to not only be more easily disposed of, but repaired throughout their lifetime too.

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