Fashion's next big trend - chicken feathers

LONDON - First organic food, now "sustainable" fashion. Scientists are investigating natural sources for artificial fabrics, which would save fossil fuels and be biodegradeable.

Within a decade the major fashion houses could feature the latest designs made from chicken feathers and rice straw. The new fabrics will look conventional but will have one big advantage: they will not be made from oil.

As designer Katherine Hamnett prepares to launch her organic, environmentally friendly fashion range, the idea of ethically sourced sustainable fashion is growing.

Hamnett's online store features her classic designs made in cotton grown organically without using any pesticides.

But scientists at the University of Nebraska plan to go one better, developing fabrics from agricultural waste to replace synthetic materials derived from petroleum. In place of nylon and acrylic we could see "chicken wool" and "rice cotton".

Millions of tons of chicken feathers and rice straw are discarded every year. Research presented to the American Chemical Society conference in San Francisco this week shows that fabrics made from them could be an abundant, cheap and renewable alternative to nylon and acrylic.

The chicken feather fabric will resemble wool and the rice straw fabric will be similar to cotton or linen. Chicken feathers are composed mostly of keratin, the same type of protein found in wool, and their lightweight resilient structure could mean fibres derived from them would be an improvement over wool, the researchers say.

Rice straw, composed of cellulose, has already been made into fibres which studies suggest could be spun into fabrics similar to cotton or linen.

Both fabrics are still in the early stages of development but researchers say they could be a boon to farmers as well as being kind to the environment.

Two years ago, the university's Professor Yiqi Yang, who led the research, helped develop a method to turn corn husks into fabrics but those based on feathers and straw could be even better, they say.

- INDEPENDENT