Plastic-free, fake fur made from nettle, hemp and flax fibres envelops these special edition bags that Danish fashion brand Ganni has unveiled at Copenhagen Fashion Week.
The one offs are a riff on Ganni's classic Bou bag made in collaboration with materials company BioFluff, which claims to have developed the "world's first plant-based fur".
Unlike existing faux furs, the shaggy textile contains zero plastics or petrochemicals, according to the manufacturer. Instead, its hairy fibres are extracted from plants and agricultural waste using special enzymes that are also plant-derived.
Ganni unveiled special editions of its Bou bag at Copenhagen Fashion Week
"We source the fibres in Europe and create the fur in Italy using our patented process," BioFluff co-founder and CEO Martin Stübler told Dezeen. "We use a combination of existing textile technologies, science and the savoir-faire of the Italian fur industry," he continued.
"The fur 'hairs' are genuine plant fibres, meaning we do not process the fibres into yarn, which avoids the energy-intensive yarn spinning process."
The fluffy bags are enveloped in plant-based fake fur
Although a full lifecycle analysis is still in the works, early estimates suggest that BioFluff produces 50 per cent fewer emissions than plastic faux fur while cutting out the issue of microplastics.
BioFluff also estimates that its fur produces up to 90 per cent fewer emissions than real animal fur by eliminiting...