These Designers Are Making Items Out Of Things You’d Never Expect

I did a double take when I heard Loewe made a T-shirt out of orange peels. Yes, actual leftover Sicilian orange peels, the kind that usually end up in a compost bin, not on a runway. They teamed up with Orange Fiber and Pyratex to turn juice pulp and wood pulp into this breezy little number that’s part of their Paula’s Ibiza 2025 collection. 

It looks like your regular cute summer top… until you realise it used to be someone’s snack. Oh, and it’s also thermo-regulating and UV-resistant. Sustainable and slinky? Count me in.

I’ve got to hand it to Stella McCartney, she was way ahead of the curve on sustainable fashion. A few years ago, she took things in a seriously unexpected direction: mushrooms. She teamed up with Mylo, a leather alternative made from mycelium (basically mushroom roots), to create pieces that look and feel like leather but are totally animal-free and biodegradable. 

In 2018, she even made a prototype of her iconic Falabella bag from the stuff for the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Fashioned from Nature exhibit. I mean, she really made fungi in fashion cool before anybody could think of it. 

I still think about how wild it was when Adidas made sneakers out of ocean trash. Back in 2015, they teamed up with Parley and unveiled the concept sneaker at the United Nations.Back in 2015, they unveiled a concept sneaker at the United Nations with an upper made from recycled marine plastic and illegal deep-sea gillnets—aka ghost nets, which are responsible for over 100,000 marine mammal deaths every year. 

The prototype was made in just six days, with help from Sea Shepherd, green chemist John Warner, and designer Alexander Taylor.

I didn’t expect to be this impressed by a basics brand, but Pangaia fully got me, because once I got into the details, it turned into a full-on science class. 

I was honestly surprised to learn their hoodies and sweats are dyed using actual food waste—beets, basil, turmeric (basically your fridge leftovers, but make it fashion). And their FLWRDWN™ puffer jackets? No feathers here. They’re filled with wildflowers instead. Yep, real ones. I didn’t think “plant-stuffed outerwear” would be a thing I’d get excited about, but here we are.

I used to think the coolest fabric innovations were happening in Europe, but honestly? Altmat proves India’s farms are where the real magic is happening.

It is one of those brands that makes you do a double take, in the best way. They’re turning banana stems, hemp, crop stalks, and even discarded flowers into fabric that looks and feels runway-ready. And I'm not talking theory, designers like Anita Dongre and Abraham & Thakore are already using their materials. 

Nanushka’s been quietly doing something super cool with vegan leather, and honestly, I’m into it. 

They developed their own material called Okobor, made from recycled polyester and polyurethane. It looks just like leather but uses way less water to produce (like, up to 80% less), which is wild. It first popped up in their Pre-AW 2022 collection, and now it’s kind of a signature.

I had no idea corn waste could look this good until I found out what Veja’s been up to. They've become the cool-girl sneaker brand, and their materials go way beyond canvas. 

Some of their models are made using C.W.L., a bio-based material made from corn waste, sugarcane, and recycled polyester. The soles? Wild rubber sourced ethically from the Amazon. Honestly, you’d never guess they started out as food scraps.

I didn’t think “fermentation” and “jacket” belonged in the same sentence until now. Spiber’s “Brewed Protein” is a lab-developed fiber made through fermentation. Think of it like brewing beer, but instead of a pint, you get fabric. 

The North Face Japan even used it to create their futuristic Moon Parka. It’s the kind of innovation that sounds like sci-fi, but it’s already hanging in closets.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from something made out of seafood waste, but the results are honestly kind of stunning. Who knew shrimp shells could clean up this well? 

This NYC-based startup, TômTex, is turning shrimp shells and used coffee grounds into leather alternatives, and no, it doesn’t smell like your kitchen bin. The material is soft, durable, and totally biodegradable, which makes it a dream for designers who want to ditch plastic-based faux leather. Big names like Peter Do and Dior have already experimented with it on the runway. 

I’m lowkey obsessed with how weirdly smart Ganni’s getting with fabric. The brand has been on a serious material glow-up lately, and I’m so here for it. They’ve been experimenting with fabrics made from agricultural waste and even mushroom leather through their Fabrics of the Future program. 

They’ve tried out stuff like Celium™, a material made from fruit waste that somehow still looks runway-ready. Scandi style, but make it science-y.