Vegan Wool Alternative- innovation from FABORG and Infantium Victoria

We are happy to announce our collaboration with FABORG, innovative company that patented Weganool, plant based alternative to wool.

The first commercially available line of Weganool products is already to be launched on our website! This Capsule will include the Weganool Hoodie, the Weganool Baby Jacket and festive Weganool Gown for girls

Our Weganool Hoodie is the first commercially available product made of a cruelty-free, plant-based cashmere wool alternative. This innovative fabric is a mix loom of organic cotton and the Calotropis Gigantea plant. Calotropis is a weed that thrives on drought-prone and depleted soils and requires virtually no water or pesticides to grow. This weed is a pioneer plant that restitutes microclimate and soil fertility for other crops to flourish. Furthermore, the byproduct of fiber extraction is transformed into natural fertilizer. Processing Weganool is a scaleable community project that is zero waste, restitutes biodiversity, fights poverty in rural areas of India.

Finding a material that gives structure to a collection that will keep warm and cozy without synthetics is the most prominent design challenge for us. The solution came from India, from a small company FABORG. They were able to patent the technology of creating the plant-based wool alternative – Weganool. Our discovery of this innovative material is a game-changer for vegan and sustainable fashion design. This fabric could potentially replace synthetic fibers and become the staple fabrics in future sustainable fashion design.

Weganool is a stable fabric made woven from 70% organic rain-fed cotton, 25% Calotropis Gigantea stem fibers, and 5% Calotropis Gigantea pods. Stem fibers are incredibly durable and are almost impossible to break, traditionally were used for nets and bows. Pod fibers are incredibly soft and give a very luxurious cashmere touch to the Weganool fabric.
The material drapes like the finest wool and is very light, floaty, and warm. Cross-section images in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) show that both pod and stem fibers are hollow inside, which is similar to known Alpaca wool protein fibers. Tests also confirmed the antimicrobial properties of the textile, confirming stopping the growth of Staph bacteria.

Calotropis Gigantea is abundantly present in wild form from west Africa to East Africa, India, Madagascar, Arabian Peninsula, and Southern Asia.
It requires almost to water to grow, is suitable for drought-prone territories. In many cultures, it refers as a nurse crop, Calotropis creates microclimate for other plants to flourish, while providing shade and nutrients. This plant converts dry unusable terrain into productive land for farmers.

Because Calotropis is weed requiring no water or fertilizer, the production of 1kg of Weganool yarn saves 9000 liters of clean drinking water.
Fiber extraction is intense manual labor, which could be scaled to a community level, providing extra income for farmers and their families.
FABORG selected only safe, cheap, socially, and
environmentally acceptable technologies that could be developed
and promoted in the many other countries where Calotropis is
widespread. It was vital to find solutions that require little
investments from communities if they want to start consolidating
what already grows around them.

FABORG came up with a zero-waste system for their cooperatives. The biomass created by fiber extraction is turned into a natural pesticide, which also boosts soil fertility. This natural product promotes the switch from conventional farming to organic farming, benefitting soil quality, the health of communities, and the quality of drinking water.

With this products, we would like to show how the switch to a sustainable vegan material can give a long-lasting and profound change in the quality of life of farmers, their communities