Material World: Forward-Thinking Textiles Shine at Milano Unica

Material World is a weekly roundup of innovations and ideas within the materials sector, covering news from emerging biomaterials and alternative leathers to sustainable substitutes and future-proof fibers.

European Cotton Takes Center Stage in Milan

Industrial Summit Technology (IST) Corporation

Industrial Summit Technology (IST) Corporation debuted Platinum Wool at Milano Unica . The Japan-based company, which primarily focuses on high-resistance plastic for aerospace, automotive, and electronic industries, has taken its years of R&D experience and applied its patented technology to natural materials , focusing specifically on wool .

“We wanted a challenge, something [like] a natural, raw material; we chose wool because it already has high standards in place so we could skip the research [phase] and focus on adding our technology to make something completely new with this natural fiber ,” Toshiko Sakane, president and CEO of IST Corporation, told Sourcing Journal. “After choosing wool, we needed to define how we could make it unique, so we came up with the idea of removing the itchiness . We defined why people get itchy, where the itchiness comes from on the wool, and we noticed wool’s rough scale caused the itchiness. We figured out a method of smoothing out that scale on the fiber.”

Think of it like a nail buffer, Sakane continued. The buffer removes ridges, smoothing the nail without causing damage. The wool fiber’s surface is essentially buffed, eliminating itchiness while providing a shiny finish. This process reshapes the wool fiber into a “moderately oval round” structure. The resulting Platinum Wool has a fine fiber diameter that’s soft to feel and surprisingly cool to the touch. Because each fiber has been smoothed, it’s less likely to pill.

“It’s the perfect collaboration of Japanese technology and Italian fashion ,” Sakane said.

While IST will sell this natural material as yarn, the company will also collaborate with CM Tessuti, a fabric manufacturer based in the Biella region of Italy, to combine the best of both worlds and distribute it to European brands. Full-scale production will start soon, and the company aims to reach 5 billion yen (about $32 million) in sales in the near future.

“So we can create the material, and then we can create the method of how to manufacture that material, and then we also have the technology to make the standard of the inspection,” Sakane said. “We do everything in house and have all those mechanical designers, everybody, in house.”

Iris Co.

Japanese apparel accessory maker Iris embraced the concept of “ mottainai ,” a philosophy that conveys a sense of regret over waste, as inspiration for its use of fish leather.

Considering that the fishing industry is a big business in Japan , Iris has utilized the industry’s side streams with a collaborator to develop fish leather for buttons and buckles. The resulting “blessings from the ocean” bio-leather is fully traceable through complete aquaculture (also known as aquafarming).

Iris also displayed its “Naturis” Corozo buttons , which are made from tagua nuts—the fruit of the tagua palm—produced in Ecuador. By removing the outer skin of the nut, an ivory-like material with a wood grain and glossy finish is revealed. The “Biomass Button” is a plastic button containing discarded rice bran, bagasse , pulp and more. Both buttons are Oeko-Tex certified.

Manteco

Italian textile company specializing in sustainable luxury fabrics, Manteco , showcased its Recype technology during Milano Unica.

Through this process (which stands for Recycled Wool Color Recipe), the raw material department artisans can create new wool colors simply by mixing numerous and different shades of recycled wool fibers—developing actual “recipes” of no-dye colors that are then archived and adapted to the specifications of the yarns that need to be produced. Essentially, colors are created through a mechanical process without using chemicals or dyes, as pre- and post-consumer garments are already dyed from their former life.

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This exclusive technique has led to the development of more than 1,000 MWool —the next generation of recycled wool by Manteco—colors. There’s also the environmental benefit. On average, Manteco saves 19,000 kg of dyestuff, 11,000 kg of chemical auxiliaries, 722,127 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, 10,641,878 megajoules of energy and 122,707,000 liters of water every year.

Curelabo

Fiber manufacturers Curelabo upcycles unused sugar cane waste produced in the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan into fabric.

Curelabo said it sources the bagasse generated in the region before drying and crushing it before the fermentation process begins. The company processes the paper into washi yarn using traditional Japanese washi manufacturing techniques. The paper containing the bagasse is cut into thin pieces and twisted together to form thread.

The warp threads are then dyed using electrolyzed water during refining and washing to reduce the amount of chemicals used and CO2 generated. The resulting material is lightweight, absorbent, quick-drying and antibacterial. It is then knitted into fabrics—like denim and jerseys—in the Senshu area, the birthplace of knitting.

Asahi Kasei

Bemberg by Asahi Kasei presented its Velutine Evo brand, representing an additional “smart choice” finishing refinement treatment developed by the Japanese laboratories of Asahi Kasei for Bemberg, which is the brand name of Cupro , a regenerated cellulose fiber.

Velutine Evo offers a new way to generate fibrillation , featuring a more “quiet, relaxed” appearance combined with a “delicate, sensitive” touch. The Japanese fabric firm’s latest debut allows manufacturing partners to choose their fibrillation technology based on the look, touch and environmental elements. It also has a low environmental impact, as the technology reduces water consumption by 40 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent, according to a life cycle assessment (LCA) carried out by Centro Tessile Serico Sostenibile. The study

The rollout of the evolved Velutine Evo technology will be introduced through a partnership with Infinity, an Italian textile manufacturer in the Roverteo region.

Mainetti

Retail solution provider Mainetti showcased its Spring/Summer 2025 collections at Milano Unica, focusing on ethical production that prioritizes recycled and innovative materials.

The standout project was BlueDust, a process that recirculates old pre-consumer jeans or processing waste transformed into flock powder for a second life.

The process consists of three stages: collection (recover), pulverization (pulverize) and regeneration (recreate). The pulverized denim is used as an ink that can be screen printed onto a myriad of products, such as boxes, shoppers, labels and tags in the expected indigo color.

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