Fabric From Corn: Ingeo

A company has figured out how process corn into FABRIC.

From Wikipedia:

"Ingeo™ is a trademark for the first commercially viable man-made fiber made from 100% annually renewable resources. The process to create Ingeo makes use of the carbon naturally stored in plants by photosynthesis. Plant starches are broken down into sugars. The carbon and other elements in these natural sugars are then used to make a biopolymer through a process of simple fermentation and separation. The resulting resin, called NatureWorks® PLA, can then be spun or extruded into Ingeo for use in textiles.

Like other synthetic fibers, Ingeo has a number of advantages over natural fibers. Examples are high strength, high dimensional stability, and high resilience. In addition, PLA is more resistant to ultraviolet light than most other synthetics. It has relatively low flammability and smoke generation. Because it is more hydrophilic than common polyester fibers, when blended with cotton and wool, Ingeo results in lighter garments that wick moisture away from the skin."

That's pretty sweet. After you've worn your clothes until their end, (and they were far too gone to go to Salvation Army, too gone even to use to sew a quilt,) you could COMPOST them.

Most synthetic fabrics are made with oil. Oil from who knows where.
Now we can make synthetics fabrics from renewable, domestic corn.

I like their mission statement: Change the world by not changing it at all...




Here's their site: Ingeo

And the site of a nice textile company that makes products with Ingeo.