Materials Research company Pangaia and Natural Fiber Welding (NFW) have unveiled the world's first commercially available apparel made from MIRUM®, a new plant-based and plastic-free material designed as a solution for footwear, fashion, automotive, accessories, and upholstery.
The companies have teamed up to develop the world's first MIRUM®-based garment, the Pangaia Air Gilet. Mirum® is NFW's leather alternative, and the gilet uses Pangaia's FLWRDWN™ technology to cushion and fill the MIRUM® outer material.
This latest innovation brought to market by Pangaia Lab is an air vest that combines Pangaia's organic cotton, signature fleece lining, and Flwrdwn filling, which is a combination of wildflowers, a biopolymer and cellulose aerogel, with an exterior made from reformulated and thinner leather-like version of Mirum.
The result is a luxurious, lightweight, functional, and animal-free garment. The MIRUM® used for the vest is a reformulated, thinner, and leather-like version that is perfect for flexible garments.
Luke Haverhals, founder and CEO of NFW, commented on the collaboration in a statement, that the fashion industry is at a crucial turning point, and brands need to abandon their unnecessary reliance on toxic materials that harm our bodies and our planet. NFW has created an entire ecosystem of plastic-free, easily scalable material solutions for textiles, foil goods, footwear, and other products.
Mirum by NFW was designed to be both 100 percent recyclable and 100 percent renewable. Because it contains no petrochemicals or plastics, Mirum can safely return its nutrients to the earth at the end of its life when the only material is disposed of in the proper waste stream.
Pangaia: the First Startup that Merges Science and Fashion
The origins of the brand can be traced back to Future Tech Lab, an incubator specializing in responsible technological innovations. A team of seven people realized that big brands in the fashion industry don't usually own all the manufacturing processes of their garments and that design and materials research and development are two separate worlds.
As a B Corporation brand, Pangaia’s initial goal was to create a brand that would bring the two worlds together, always with sustainability at its core. Forbes magazine wrote that Pangaia is a hybrid company, apparently the first of its kind, that will bring together materials science through its research and development facilities, and demonstrate its textile prowess through its private-label fashion collections.
Pangaia stands out for its simple design collections, but with a complex and profound spirit. Consulting on user forums, the firm is recognized for its creations in the niche of minimalist unisex sportswear. The collections alternate hooded and non-hooded sweatshirts, sneakers, denim garments, and much more. But the design is only one of the surprising parts. In addition, the manufacturing process follows very complex processes and materials that ensure maximum utilization and recycling of production garments.