Ep. 123: Pangaia introduces bio-based fabric

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Ep. 123: Pangaia introduces bio-based fabric

The Textile Innovation Podcast speaks with Chelsea Franklin, head of advanced concepts at PANGAIA.

WTiN: Hello and welcome to textile innovation hosted by WTiN. My name is Abi and I'm the Features Editor and your podcast host. Each month, we will be joined by a special guest to join me and my colleagues as we deep dive into what's new, what's interesting and what admissible innovations have hit the market recently, we cover everything on the podcast, from sustainability to startups and the latest research and development, plus we quiz the experts in the field about their products and ideas across the huge spectrum that is the textile industry. So no matter what your interest is, WTiN have you covered, and we can connect you to everything you need to know right here from our central hub in the UK.

In this episode, Chelsea Franklin, head of advanced concepts from Pangaia, speaks to me about the company's use of Fulgar’s EVO, bio-based yarn which is obtained from castor oil. Pangaea is a material science company which seeks sustainable solutions for the textile industry to save the environment. In this episode, Chelsea speaks about Pangaia mission, its use of sustainable materials, and delves into the company's near shoring efforts and traceable supply chains.

Well, hi, Chelsea, thank you for joining me on today's podcast. And please, could you tell me about Pangaea as latest push forward with fabric innovation, and how you've used Fulgar EVO 100% bio-based fabric. How does that advance your brand's mission, and what attracted you to the material.

Franklin: Hi, Abi. Thank you so much for having me today. Well, let me start by saying at Pangaia, our mission as a business was to accelerate an earth positive future, and what we mean by that is to try and build a business that is better for the planet than if it did not exist. And a lot of that comes to a concept of kind of research and responsible innovation focus areas that we have as a business, where we've mapped essentially the industry landscape in terms of problem spaces, and we see innovation as a brand, as potential solutions to those problems. Now one of these pillars is diverting the industry away from fossil fuel derived materials, so typical synthetics, polyester, nylon, elastane, are petroleum derived and evil by fulgar is a renewable version of a nylon. So what we've done is use a bio-based alternative that's made from both Castor and corn, and this is essentially renewable from the raw material input. So as opposed to fossil fuel derived material, which is a nonrenewable resource, we've really supported an innovation, scaling into a product and designing into what the future of biosynthetic can look like.

WTiN: And can you tell me how fulgar has developed the high-performance polyamide you just touched upon. How you know it's castor oil derived. Could you tell me more about the process, and why did you turn towards these monomers?

Franklin: Yes, of course. I mean, as a team, we've reviewed many biosynthetic materials over the past few years at Pangaea. We've explored biosynthetics also through our active wear product range, but what we saw from the mill almanex was a quality of material that felt really premium. It felt it had really durable. It had a performance and kind of characteristic to it, in terms of the hand feel and the drape that we felt gave a kind of new take on what performance product could look like that was a bit more refined, a bit more elevated. And I think given the obviously premium price associated to a biosynthetic versus a typical synthetic, we wanted to ensure that the material had that property within it.

WTiN: Just looking a bit further at that material. Why did you choose to focus on the implementation of a plant-based alternative to nylon? Why not elastane or polyester? For example.

Franklin: As a brand, we are quite premium in terms of our positioning and pricing, so it made more sense for our audience and our consumer to pursue nylon because it's a more premium synthetic than polyester. We also pursue bio-based elastane options. These exist within our active wear so our seamless stretch product, and this was a woven capsule, so we were looking specifically at replacing polyamide,

WTiN: And obviously just touched upon then, like, you know, premium product. Why have you introduced this as a limited range, and what has the feedback so far been, and would you in the future plan to expand the range of Evo.

Franklin: We decided to produce this in London because we wanted to explore with the manufacturer how the material was performing in production. I think we realize pursuing different types of innovative materials, that there's a lot of unpredictability in the process. Because in some of the these instances, we're piloting a new material for the first time, it maybe hasn't reached the stage of production quite yet, and when materials are newer to market, we want to ensure that we create a really tight feedback loop with the factory, who's responsible for the end product, so that we can really share that information with the innovator or the material developer, who's able to then improve the material iteratively over time. So for us, local production, or a more close to home model, where we're working directly with those who are making the actual end product has been really helpful for us. So this is something that was very much a pilot. In that way, we were testing for the very first time as a brand, what it meant to produce a small product range in London, but this is something that was actually very successful. So the product was made at maze London, who are a wonderful luxury kind of women's wear manufacturer, and they're just based in Tottenham Hale, so we spent a lot of time on site, working directly with their team. And it's really a celebration of kind of craft and collaboration and the possibilities of bringing production back into London,

WTiN: That sounds great. And can I just ask you, Chelsea, what benefits have you seen from nearshoring and manufacturing in London?

Franklin: Like you said, I think in a lot of ways, we're able to again, create that tight communication loop with the factory, we can see a lot of the challenges ourselves, and I'll be in a WhatsApp group, and there'll be an issue, and I'll be able to go up that afternoon and see it in person and troubleshoot directly with the team. And I think that level of close collaboration has been really helpful for us, especially when we want to work in a smaller scale so we can fail quickly. We recognize the risk involved in scaling innovation, but we want to make sure that we can take those learnings and implement them as quick as possible. So we don't want to make big bets and decide on producing 1000s of units overseas when material is not proven. So this is simply a way for us to really create a bit of a test bed for ourselves as a brand, to be able to also develop stylistically into the product, designing details and fit and really evolving how we're treating some of the actual finishes of the material as well, in terms of how we're doing the hem and the sleeves and the collar, these types of details, and being able to really play into the material, how it sounds, how it drapes, how it feels against the skin. This was a really nice way to work so close with those who are making it.

WTiN: That sounds really interesting. Thank you, Chelsea, please. Could you further expand on how near shoring affects Pangaia supply chains?

Franklin: I don't think in any way that this capsule production run is a replacement for our supply chain. This is simply an additive relationship where we're actually able to do something in a different scale, in a different timeframe than we would with our existing supply chain. So I see it as an expansion of our supply chain, where we're really creating a separate kind of testbed, like separate skill set in a way as well, behind the kind of relationship that we're building with the manufacturer, who are also able to do development and prototyping with us alongside the actual production units.

WTiN: Amazing. Thank you. And looking closely at Fulgar’s EVO, again, how have you managed to achieve strength, durability and versatility within the garments in this range?

Franklin: So the fabric was, as I mentioned, sourced from olmatex, who are a really premium Italian mill, and the fabric itself is really beautiful. And this allowed for us to have an inherent kind of great starting point from a garment creation perspective. So designing into it, the fit, the way it drapes. This was all achieved through kind of playing and exploring with that fabric itself in in this, you know, small, almost Atelier-esque setting in Tottenham, hail. And I think what we understand from the material is that it's quite light in comparison to petroleum derived nylon, this particular quality had a lightness to it. It was less dense than conventional synthetics, but also very durable. So we were able to achieve this level of refined performance wear that we were kind of going after.

WTiN: Could you tell me a little bit more like looking more broadly? Could you tell me about Pangaea mission to find solutions to problems posed by the fashion industry?

Franklin: Of course. So in 2025 we're continuing on our mission to accelerate an earth positive future, as I mentioned before. Now this comes down to a responsible innovation strategy based off of diverting the industry away from fossil fuel derived materials, protecting and preserving biodiversity, sourcing ethically So, diverting the industry away from anything connected to the death of an animal. For example, as a business, we use recycled cashmere, regenerative Merino, but we don't use anything. We don't use anything. There, for example, we've explored alternatives in this space. So these are all based off of our impact and our innovation pillars as a brand. We also look at preserving water health. So these are things such as our peppermint treatment, which reduces the number of times you have to laundry at home a garment, which is where a lot of the water consumption happens. And we also look at circularity, so reducing waste, using everything from mechanically to chemically recycled fibers within our our material and product ranges. These problem spaces allow us to explore innovation, again, as I mentioned, as solutions to problems. But I think what becomes really interesting is when we have the chance to really design solutions for our consumer as well, to design into ways to solve their everyday problems with product. So I think what we're seeing now is a lot more versatility required from products, people buying less, but wanting more from a single garment. So for example, in our cropped nylon jacket, you can remove the hood. There's a versatility built in, but it still remains quite discreet. It's not performance, where at the level of something that is Uber functional, we're not a performance driven brand. Of course, we're still lifestyle. But this allows us to start to explore some of these features through product.

WTiN: And how seamlessly Do you think what you're working on and all these various aspects that Pangaia is doing to make a more sustainable and ethical future. How seamlessly Do you believe that will be adopted? Could be adopted, sorry, into the wider textile and apparel industry?

Franklin: I think it's all dependent on the particular solution that we're talking about in this instance, with a biosynthetic evil by fulgar. It is absolutely commercially viable in many ways. I think this industry is unfortunately dependent on an economy of scale in many instances. So as next generation materials become more available, more used by brands, I think it's those brands that are taking on the risk of the early stages, recognizing that there is a cost associated they are more premium price than there may be ubiquitous counterparts, but I think by implementing them, by telling the story to a consumer and an audience, and allowing them to start to understand the value of these materials, we're starting to see a step change In the adoption, and I believe that with that will come the scale required to really get price parity with some of those ubiquitous alternatives that we're trying to replace.

WTiN: That makes complete sense. And looking closely at Fulgar’s offering, how scalable Do you believe it could be?

Franklin: We could produce this range of product in a much higher quantity today, I think again, we are testing the market. We're testing the price positioning of it. We are testing the product execution. So for us, we pilot innovation for a reason, and that's really to gain learnings before we bet at a higher scale, so that we're also not over producing or falling into some of the same kind of patterns of behavior that most brands face into when certain products do well. So for us, testing and learning is a really big part of our culture here at Pangaia.

WTiN: Could tell me what the main barriers preventing the adoption of bio-based materials are into the industry from, like the industry perspective, consumer perspective, and similarly, what opportunities do you foresee for this area?

Franklin: In regards to challenges, I think, as I just mentioned, the cost parity with the synthetic the fossil fuel derived iteration of the same material, and also the availability across different constructions and colorways and fabric weights, these types of properties that are very inherent to a material, and therefore the garment that is created from that material, these are very important things to achieve, in terms of being able to replace existing petroleum derived materials with these versions. And it simply takes time for mills to be able to build those material portfolios off of the back of an innovation such as Evo. I think what we're seeing in terms of a price challenge is also, again, that notion of economies of scale. As these become more available, they will become more price competitive. And I think that's true for many innovation in this space, the opportunities in this space, I think come down to, I think many brands could be adopting biosynthetics today. Again, it's around availability, economies of scale, and these types of challenges. And I think, I think consumers are being educated on these materials for the first time, like they're just being brought to market in a more substantial way. I think some brands are taking the approach of even launching these types of materials without really telling the story, because it's almost something that's happening in the background. It's at the end of the day. It's still a nylon to a consumer. So do they need to understand one versus the other? I think there are many different perspectives and ways of approach. This. I think for us, we've always been a brand focused on telling material driven stories, so for us, it's very important to tell that story to our consumer, but that might not be the case for everyone, and I think it's also interesting to see how different brands will take on biosynthetics as a solution to this problem.

WTiN: Thank you so much. And thinking about that, is there anything else that Pangaea has in the pipeline that you'd be able to tell me about today?

Franklin: I won't specifically mention any innovations that we're working on, just simply to get you know, keep the mystery alive, but I will share that we are producing more locally, so we will be launching more pilot runs that are all produced in London and developed here, because there was a lot of success behind that way of working for us as a business. And we're excited to see how we can continue to move forward with that.

WTiN: I'm very excited to see more of that in the future. And finally, could you tell me what the vision for Haggai is moving forward and in light of these aims?

Franklin: Yes, I mean, as mentioned, I think, you know, we have a, we're a very mission driven company who has a kind of very audacious goal of this idea of building a business better for the planet than if it didn't exist, right? It is a complete North Star, but I think for us, it just gives us something to really clearly strive for and work towards as a business. And I think for us in the future and as we move forward, if we continue to look at this industry problems landscape, which I described previously, and look at innovation as solutions to those problems, but we also are starting to think a lot more around our consumer and how we can marry the industry problems with the problems of our consumer to make sure that the product we produce and the stories we tell are also serving what's top of mind for them. So how can we focus on really the properties, the characteristics, the functionality of these materials, and as they become more on parity in terms of performance with the other versions. So nylon, for example, or alternatives to leather, we can really speak about the performance and durability of the material itself, and this is a really exciting kind of conversation to be having with our audience.

WTiN: Amazing. Thank you so much, Chelsea, thank you for coming on the WTiN Textile innovation podcast. Super excited to see what comes from Pangaia in the future.

Franklin: Thank you so much, Abi, for having me.

WTiN: Thank you so much for listening. If you have any questions or want to learn more, you can follow us on LinkedIn at World text on Information Network, or you can contact me directly at content@wtin.com if you are interested in sponsoring an episode of the podcast, please email sales@wtin.com thank you, and we'll see you next time you.