Milkweed floss is full of largely untapped potential as a sustainable material that will be a key part of a sustainable future for the textile industry.
As Fashionista writes in the article The Future of Sustainable Material: Milkweed Floss, after its use in lifejackets during in WWII, Milkweed Floss “largely fell out of use after the war and the plant regained its status in the public consciousness as a pesky weed. But there are a few reasons to challenge that attitude toward milkweed: One is the crucial role it plays in supporting the lifecycle of monarchs, the iconic orange species of butterfly known for migrating from Canada to Mexico and back again. Another is that milkweed floss is bursting with largely untapped potential from a sustainable material standpoint.
“It has all these amazing properties,” says textile artist Alayna Rasile. “It’s really warm, it’s shiny and slick and super lightweight, it’s hypoallergenic … I spun it into yarn and wrapped it around a rock and then realized it could float. It became like, ‘this is magic!'”
As the textile industry struggles with sourcing sustainable material, Milkweed Floss is getting a lot of attention for its exceptional qualities. After all, Milkweed Floss is:
- Six times warmer than wool.
- Hypoallergenic.
- More buoyant than cork.
It is also a cruelty-free alternative to goose down. As consumer interest moves away from animal products such as fur and down, Milkweed Floss is becoming a sought-after alternative. After all, geese aren’t sheep – if you’re using or purchasing goose down, there’s a whole lot of dead geese in that supply chain.
Buying and working with Milkweed Floss, on the other hand, is being an active part of supporting an ecosystem, not putting the end to one. Harvesting Milkweed Floss is only done after the Monarch butterflies are done feeding and laying eggs; and the more people use Milkweed Floss as a sustainable material, the more demand there will be to plant Milkweed, which means for habitat for Monarchs.
Interested in using Milkweed Floss? You’re in luck!
You can buy Milkweed Floss directly from us here.
