Textiles are evolving to meet consumer demand for sustainability. Companies want to be seen as being environmentally responsible. It’s about reducing waste during textile production and reusing or recycling waste to produce other products. Rugs and outdoor fabrics, for instance, are increasingly being made with recycled materials instead of new plastics. One effort to help consumers reliably identify more eco-friendly companies is a new level of Oeko-Tex certification, called Made in Green, certifying that no harmful chemicals have been used in the manufacture of a certain product.

A lot is happening on the fashion-design front, too, to explore new, sustainably sourced and even compostable types of textiles. An exhibit of textile innovations in the US included a dress made by a Japanese design team that features naturally glowing silk, made from silkworms injected with a green fluorescent protein derived from jellyfish. There was a prototype for Adidas sneakers made entirely of ocean plastic. Another prototype of sneakers was entirely compostable. There was textile made from algae. Fashion design students are experimenting using milkweed and flax to create luxurious fur from 100 per cent plant material. Another student design team has come up with the idea for a spandex-type elastic fabric using a protein found in oysters.