With the improvement of living standards, human‑being consumption has grown year by year, driving rising demand for textiles. In contrast, the Earth’s arable land is gradually shrinking. This creates mounting supply pressure on cotton — the primary raw material for textiles — and the supply gap may keep widening in the future.
According to insiders, over the past three years, prices of grain crops such as wheat, corn and rice have climbed continuously, while cotton planting areas have kept shrinking. Within two years, the national cotton planting area has fallen by roughly 14 million mu. Therefore, it is particularly critical to develop cotton‑alternative textile raw materials to fill the cotton supply gap. Developing energy‑saving, eco‑friendly new technologies and materials represents an irresistible trend for the textile industry. Quite a number of new materials have been developed so far. Reporters from this newspaper collected information on some of these materials and conducted a joint survey with First Textile Network. Professionals from the textile and apparel sector rated these new materials with star ratings. Bamboo fiber won the “Creativity Star” and “Prospect Star”; new‑type plant hemp fiber received the “Eco‑friendly Star” and “Low‑cost Star”.
★
Corn Fiber & Seaweed Fiber
Environmental‑friendliness: ★★
Creativity: ★
Low‑cost Performance: ★★★★
Development Prospect: ★★★
Overall Assessment: biodegradable, UV‑resistant
Six to seven years ago, the anti‑cotton movement gained momentum overseas. People gradually reduced their use of cotton products and turned toward plant‑based alternatives. Corn fiber (polylactic acid fiber, PLA fiber) has become an excellent substitute for cotton. Many domestic enterprises in China have also developed new bio‑based fibers and fabrics derived from corn.
Corn fiber is a synthetic fiber produced by using starch from corn, wheat and other crops as feedstock. The starch is fermented into lactic acid, followed by polymerization and spinning. It features a complete natural material circulation cycle. The fiber is biodegradable. It is soft, smooth, high‑strength, moisture‑absorbent and breathable. Finished products boast a silk‑like luster, comfortable skin feel and good drapability. It also delivers decent heat resistance and UV‑shielding performance for apparel applications. Since no petroleum‑based chemical feedstocks are used, its waste can be decomposed into carbon dioxide and water by microorganisms in soil and seawater without polluting the environment. Its starting material is starch with a short regeneration cycle of about one to two years. Carbon dioxide generated during its lifecycle can be consumed by plant photosynthesis to lower atmospheric CO₂ levels.
Seaweed fiber, another textile fiber, possesses many unique properties absent in conventional fibers. Its flame‑retardant performance exceeds international standards by 10 percentage points, and it will not sustain open flame in air. Compared with traditional land‑sourced fibers and synthetic fibers, it saves land resources and helps purify the environment, with a fully low‑carbon and green production process. It also delivers certain radiation‑shielding, antibacterial and moisturizing effects, enjoying broad application prospects in biomedicine, high‑end apparel and environmental‑protection‑related fields.
Bamboo Fiber
Environmental‑friendliness: ★
Creativity: ★★★★★
Low‑cost Performance: ★★
Development Prospect: ★★★★★
Overall Assessment: premium quality yet high price
Bamboo fiber is a regenerated cellulose fiber manufactured from naturally grown bamboo widely distributed across China. Different from raw natural bamboo fiber, it falls into the category of chemical fiber. On China’s domestic market, an ordinary graphic T‑shirt made of bamboo fiber sells at around 33 US dollars, while a bamboo‑fiber suit in Japan can cost from 500 to 1000 US dollars. Developing regenerated bamboo fiber and advocating “bamboo for cotton” can not only ease the shortage of natural fibers, but also open up new avenues for the rational utilization of China’s abundant bamboo resources.
The natural antibacterial, bacteriostatic and UV‑blocking properties of bamboo‑fiber fabrics remain intact after repeated washing and sun exposure. High‑tech production processes preserve the functional components responsible for these characteristics, giving it noticeably better antibacterial performance than many competing products. Unlike fabrics finished by adding antibacterial or UV‑resistant agents in post‑treatment, it triggers no allergic skin reactions. Instead, it delivers skin‑care and bactericidal benefits, qualifying it as a genuine skin‑friendly functional material with wide‑ranging applications.
Nevertheless, extraction technology for bamboo fiber raw materials is less mature than that for cotton, and its production locations are geographically limited. Its raw‑material cost is therefore far higher than cotton, which translates into higher retail prices for finished garments.
★
Chicken‑Feather Fiber
Environmental‑friendliness: ★★★
Creativity: ★★★
Low‑cost Performance: ★★★
Development Prospect: ★★★★
Overall Assessment: superior warmth retention, versatile applications
The development and utilization of chicken‑feather fiber has become a hot research topic among scientists. In China, down products such as duck down and goose down have long been widely adopted in apparel and home textiles. However, research and development on poultry contour feathers, especially chicken‑feather fiber, is still in its early domestic stage.
China’s large‑scale chicken farming industry has expanded rapidly in recent years, yielding massive volumes of chicken feathers. Yet poor collection systems mean large quantities of chicken feathers are simply discarded as waste. According to Zhu Baoyu, an expert from textile research institutes, overseas development of chicken‑feather fiber has covered sectors including national defense and fashion apparel. Poultry feathers contain over 85% keratin, together with 18 kinds of amino acids and multiple mineral elements, making them a valuable natural resource.
Chicken‑feather fiber promises bright development prospects. Carbonized chicken‑feather fiber can serve as hydrogen‑storage material. Experiments show that carbonized chicken‑feather fiber for hydrogen storage can greatly improve existing hydrogen‑storage technologies and may remove bottlenecks restricting hydrogen‑powered vehicles, trucks and other machinery. Notably, hydrogen storage using carbonized chicken feathers is eco‑friendly, and the natural protein‑based fiber is biodegradable.
Pheasant feathers can be used for next‑generation bulletproof vests. In recent years, the UK Ministry of Defence has developed highly effective bulletproof vests made from pheasant feathers. These new vests are considerably lighter and cheaper than those made from Kevlar fiber. Pheasant feathers feature distinctive properties and high utilization value. They can be processed into high‑grade damask, satin, brocade and silk garments, as well as feather fans, feather paintings, toys and handicrafts.
Chicken feathers are also raw material for high‑grade air‑filter paper. Paper blended with chicken‑feather fiber contains 51% chicken‑feather fiber and 49% wood pulp, demonstrating obvious environmental merits. Tests indicate that air‑filter paper produced from this blend can reach a thickness of merely 5 micrometers. Its ultra‑fine filtration capacity traps airborne allergens and dust particles, lowering the incidence of sick‑building syndrome and suiting household and office environments. Furthermore, chicken‑feather‑based paper can be made into diapers: 20% lighter than ordinary diapers yet twice as absorbent. Chicken‑feather fiber can also be processed into lightweight, dense, high‑strength composite materials for office equipment, automotive interior parts, ship hull outer panels and sleeper facilities on railway passenger carriages.
New‑type Plant Hemp Fiber
Environmental‑friendliness: ★★★★★
Creativity: ★★★★
Low‑cost Performance: ★★★★★
Development Prospect: ★★
Overall Assessment: breathable and natural, yet lacking comfort
Hemp products are well‑received by consumers for their natural texture, breathability and antibacterial properties. Variants such as pineapple fiber and banana fiber satisfy modern people’s pursuit of natural lifestyles.
Pineapple fiber, also known as pineapple hemp, is extracted from pineapple leaves. After separation, drying and other treatments, the resulting fiber produces fabrics easy to dye and print, sweat‑absorbent, breathable, crisp and wrinkle‑resistant with decent wear comfort. Pineapple fiber consists of tightly bound fiber bundles, each assembled from 10‑20 single fiber cells. Its surface is rough, with longitudinal fissures, cavities and transverse nodes, and no natural crimp. Its spinnability is superior to jute yet inferior to flax. Appropriate degumming before spinning can further improve its spinning performance.
Pineapple fiber blended with cotton can produce denim fabrics; blended with silk, it yields high‑grade formal‑wear fabrics. 100% pineapple‑fiber yarn made by rotor spinning can be used as weft yarn and interwoven with other yarns to create decorative fabrics and upholstery textiles. Blends with wool are suitable for suits and outerwear. Blended with cotton, it can be woven into curtain fabrics, bed sheets, upholstery cloth, towels and carpets. Blends of polyester/acrylic and pineapple fiber can be used for knitted women’s outerwear and hosiery. Pineapple‑fiber yarn boasts higher tensile strength and more hairiness than cotton yarn, making it ideal for tire‑cord fabric and V‑belt core cords for rubber conveyor belts. Canvas made of pineapple fiber achieves higher strength than cotton canvas of the same specification.
Banana fiber is obtained from soft fibrous inner bark of banana stems through drying, refining and fiber opening. It is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Its cellulose content is lower than flax and jute, leading to sub‑optimal luster, softness, elasticity and spinnability. Single banana fiber has a length comparable to jute but shorter than flax. Chemically‑degummed banana fiber can be applied in cotton‑system spinning.
Post time: Aug-25-2026