São Paulo – A small company from the city of Maringá, in the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil, launched, one month ago, a sustainable jeans fabric for sale in Brazil and abroad. The material is made out of fibres produced from PET bottles, as well as cotton and silk from rejected chrysalises. The factory, called “O Casulo Feliz” (The Happy Chrysalis), produces threads and fabric in silk and uses only silkworm chrysalises that, for one reason or another, cannot be used by weavers that work on industrial scale. At the factory in Marigná, all labour is done by hand.
According to the O Casulo Feliz designer, Glicínia Setenareski, the company exports to England, but sales there are not even 10% of production. She believes that the new release has good potential on the international market. . The “warp”, longitudinal threads through which the fabric is weaved, is 25% composed of PET bottles, 25% cotton and 50% silk. The woven threads, in turn, are pure silk. “Those who use it don’t abandon it,” said Setenareski, regarding the noble and smooth texture of the product.
The fabric, according to the designer, has silver appearance, greyish. Setenareski does not yet know what use clients will make of the product, but she says that it was presented in the shape of a curtain at Casa Cor Paraná 2012. Apart from threads and fabrics, O Casulo Feliz also makes finished products for decoration and homes, like carpets, curtains, table mats, bed spreads and wall facing, among others. Release of the fabric was during the Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on sustainability, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, in June.
Sustainable jeans was developed in partnership with the National Service of Industrial Education (Senai). Before the release, O Casulo Feliz produced fabrics from PET bottles, to be added to wool, or even to silk, but for use in sofa covers. This is the first time the company produces PET jeans. According to Setenareski, the factory buys processed fibre and develops the whole process, from spinning to fabric. Before that, the PET bottles are crushed and become flakes, from which the fibre is made. The flakes, in fact, are also used by the company for stuffing of cushions and seats.
O Casulo Feliz was established 25 years ago by Gustavo Augusto Serpa Rocha and currently employs 70 people. The company focussed on sustainability at a time in which the topic was not in fashion. Its practices in the area range from the use of PET, the use of silkworm chrysalises that are rejected and vegetable dyeing of the material so as not to pollute the environment and consume less water.
The company also uses looms of the 18th and 19th centuries, which require labour and, if were not being used there, would be disposed of. Another sustainable principle was installation of its unit in an impoverished region of the city. The chrysalises are also sought in the vicinity, in Londrina, some 100 kilometres away, so they do not generate great emissions for transport. The few emissions take place when the product is transported for distribution to clients.
Contact
O Casulo Feliz
Site: www.ocasulofeliz.com.br
Telephone: (+55 44) 3226-1580
*Translated by Mark Ament
