GOOD PRACTICE FROM ITALY
Orange Fiber: how to
turn citrus waste into
a sustainable fabric
Can we make a textile from citrus waste?
This is the question that came to the mind
of two Sicilian girls and brought them to
develop one of the most innovative green
startup in Italy.
Orange Fiber is a textile made by extracting the
cellulose from the fibers that are discarded
from the industrial pressing and processing of
the oranges. The fiber, through nanotechnology
techniques, is also enriched with citrus fruit
essential oil. The result is a vitaminic textile
that nourish the skin like a not greasy body
lotion. This innovative idea has the potential
to bring sustainability inside the textile industry,
tackling the environmental issue of the citrus
waste production and bring job opportunities
in a disadvantaged land.
Everything started in 2011. Adriana Santonocito,
specialized in design and innovative textile
and Enrica Arena, expert in communication
and marketing, were students in Milan when
they invented Orange Fiber. Adriana, for
her thesis, was conducting a research on a
sustainable and vitamin-enriched textile from
citrus waste.
Enrica, her flatmate at that time, embraced
the idea adding to it her communication and
marketing expertise. The thesis became a
project at the Polytechnic of Milan, after the
feasibility study the team patented Orange
Fiber.
With the financial support of Trentin