Off the Grain is an innovative upcycling project born thanks to the collaboration between ALBINI_next, the Think Tank of the Italian textile company Albini Group and Riso Gallo, one of the oldest rice industries in Italy. It is a new type of dye, obtained from a by-product derived from the processing of a particular variety of black rice grown by Riso Gallo. Thanks to this circularity project, ALBINI_next gives new life to a by-product that is no longer valuable for the food industry.
Regional
Italy
Piedmont, Lombardy
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-02-09
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Cotonificio Albini S.p.A. Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Giorgia Last name of representative: Carissimi Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: Innovation Manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Dr. Silvio Albini, 1 Town: Albino (BG) Postal code: 24021 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 035 777111 E-mail:anext@albinigroup.com Website:https://www.albinigroup.com/en/
Off the Grain is an innovative and ambitious upcycling project born from the research work done at ALBINI_next, the Think Tank of the Italian textile company Albini Group and thanks to the collaboration with Riso Gallo, one of the oldest rice industries in Italy founded in 1856.
It is a new type of dye, obtained from a by-product derived from the processing of a particular variety of black rice grown by Riso Gallo.
Off the Grain Literally it refers to «what comes out of the grain of wheat / off the grain of wheat», hinting to the production process used to obtain the dye. Furthermore, the grain, in technical jargon, indicates the direction of the warp and weft threads in the construction of a woven fabric, therefore a clear reference to the world of textiles.
The key moment of the whole process is the hydrothermal treatment of the rice. Since is a variety of black rice, during the treatment, the water takes on a deep burgundy colour due to anthocyanins, vegetable pigments that cover every single grain of rice. Once the boiling is complete, the now “dirty” water is discarded.
At this point ALBINI_next intervenes, recovering the wastewater. Thanks to its know-how, ALBINI_next transforms the by-product into a natural dye, used by the Albini Group to dye various sustainable textile fibres. Furthermore, the dyeing process is characterized by its considerable water saving of between 30% and 40%* compared to traditional processes.
The experience and technical knowledge developed by ALBINI_next have made it possible to create a palette consisting of 4 different shades, using only natural and sustainable processes. The result are yarns and then fabrics of a unique appearance, made with full respect for the environment and people. Thanks to this circularity project, ALBINI_next gives new life to a by-product that is no longer valuable for the food industry. Combining technique and creativity, ALBINI_next transforms waste into a new and precious raw material.
RICE
CIRCULAR economy
BY-PRODUCT
YARN dyed
Industrial SYMBIOSIS
One of the key objectives of this project was to create a system for upcycling in collaboration with the food industry. Upcycling, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless or unwanted products into new materials or products that are perceived to be of higher quality.
Unlike recycling, upcycling does not reduce the value of the old / waste, but gives it new life, extending its life cycle and making the product more interesting from an economic, aesthetic, emotional and functional point of view.
In this case, this project’s goal was to transform a wastewater into a performative dye that could be used for industrial production meeting commercial standards.
Another objective was to design the final textile product following the principles of eco-design. That is, avoiding the use of other toxic chemicals during the process and ensuring that all other processes from the selection of the raw, organic cotton, through to the subsequent processes of weaving and finishing of the dyed yarn with other bio-based products.The result is a fabric of a unique appearance, made with full respect for the environment and people. Albini Group realizes a proposal of diversified fabrics, in compositions and colours, studied in exclusive collaboration with the Customer.
Thanks to the research taken forward by Albini, it became possible to obtain a yarn dyed with a by-product from the food industry in two shades of colour, burgundy and ochre.
The key objective of ALBINI_next in terms of aesthetics has been to create a beautiful selection of textiles that can cater for the taste and budget of different client groups, being premium and luxury fashion group Albini’s target. Albini’s design team created a selection of fabric bases made with linen yarns for the new S/S collection. Thanks to the know-how of the style department, with the two-coloured linen yarns it has been possible to obtain several fabric bases with different patterns.
Taking the toxic chemicals out of the dyeing process allows for better practices and safer use of the final textile products which after all, are in contact with our skin. Furthermore, the designs developed by Albini’s textile design team, have been created following an eco-design logic: the natural colour is used to dye linen which are then woven into beautiful fabric that are then finished using a biobased softener made with natural hemp seed oil substituting traditional silicon-based softeners. All in all, the experience and technical knowledge developed by ALBINI_next have made it possible to create a colour palette consisting of different shades, using only natural and sustainable processes and non-petroleum based dyes. The result is a fabric of a unique appearance made with full respect for the environment and people.
One of the main problems related to the use of natural dyes apart from the lower performances in terms of fastness’ is their higher cost. This makes the uncompetitive for the wider fashion marker as well as unsuitable for high volume productions, which reduces their use to a more artisan-based production and consequently to a niche in the fashion market.
Thus, one of the key objectives of this project was to overcome this barrier, making the project sustainable from an ecological and economical point of view. It was key to render the project economically accessible to a wider market share. It is the only way in which it will have a positive impact in fashion industry beyond reputational and marketing purposes. So, all dye recipes, weaving structures and finish cycles were developed having this consideration of economic efficiency in mind. Natural dyes today are very expensive raw materials because they require fields to be cultivated and subsequent processes to be transformed. Also, they have low efficiency in dyeing processes. With Off the Grain, on the other hand, ALBINI_next was able to dye its yarns in a natural way by reusing a by-product as a secondary raw material, which did not require cultivation and/or any transformation. Furthermore, in this way it was avoided to dispose of waste that would normally have been sent to landfill. Therefore, the dye coming from this project has a lower cost than the natural ones on the market and therefore, the fabrics that Albini creates using Off the Grain have a cost that is accessible to most of Albini's customers. With Off the Grain, ALBINI_next has given many brands the opportunity to offer naturally dyed products at a price in line with the market and with good light fastness performance.
The Commission had already included industrial symbiosis as part of the EU's industrial and environmental policy in the 2015 EU action plan. Industrial symbiosis is a cooperative approach between companies for the valorisation of resources and for the prevention and recovery of waste from a circular economy perspective. It is a strategy for optimizing the use of resources that involves industries, to generate competitive advantages for companies through the transfer of resources, such as materials, energy, water and know-how. The impacts of the industrial symbiosis between companies are of an economic, environmental, but also social nature. In fact, this allows not only to reduce the costs of procurement of raw materials and/or disposal for companies, the prevention of waste, the optimization of resources and the reduction of pressure on the environment, but it also allows to: create new business opportunities, therefore new skills and new professional figures (i.e. resource managers), increasing the job offer; reduce the social costs related to waste disposal and start a process of cultural change, based on sharing economy. Industrial symbiosis is becoming a widespread issue and projects like Off the Grain are useful to demonstrate its feasibility. This project has been presented to many students in different national and international schools, to sensitize students on this issue. This helps both to train young people with a different perspective based on sustainability (so that they can one day exploit this knowledge at a professional level) and to educate them as consumers of the future (so that they can choose their purchases in a more informed way). Furthermore, the project has been covered by many newspapers and media such as Corriere della Sera, Elle, Il Sole24Ore, La Spola, Fashion Network and Vogue. This large diffusion has made it possible to reach final consumers and to raise citizens' awareness of what the concept of sustainable fashion industry.
Due to the work taken forward in industrial symbiosis, the main stakeholders have been our partners at Riso Gallo, having the chance to give new life to their waste and shifting the paradigm from having to pay for the disposal of that waste to selling that same waste to a new partner Cotonificio Albini. Albini, from its side, took advantage from the upcycling of this wastewater and harnessed its properties as a naturally pigmented broth. This way, Albini by-passed the high costs related to the harvesting of dye plants and the costly production and labour intensive processes for the extraction and production of those natural colours. All in all, this collaboration reduced the social costs related to waste disposal and start a process of cultural change, based on sharing economy.
Inside the textile supply chain, different stakeholders were involved in the development of the right chemical recipe to apply the natural dye. The scope of the initial investigations into the dye recipe and cycle were to combine artisanal know-how with industrial methods to render the whole process sustainable also from an economical point of view.
Clients have also participated as stakeholders in this project by collaborating with Albini’s design team in the development of exclusive fabrics intended for capsule collections containing shades of the Off The Grain colour palette.
Thirdly, the media, fashion journals, magazines and newspapers like Corriere della Sera, Elle, Il Sole24Ore, Fashion Network and Vogue, have fuelled the resonance of the project. This allowed Albini Group to reach a wider audience, surpassing its final B2B client to arrive directly to the final consumer. This has had an enormous impact on the reputation of Albini as a company who is investing great efforts in making a change for our planet, but also, has raised consciousness in the wider public and served as an example that testifies to the fact that new circular models can be integrated in industrial realities.
Off the Grain involved a wide variety of knowledge fields throughout the different stages of the project. First, ALBINI_next and the Waste Management teams of Albini had consult with our legal teams to properly operate withing the legal framework around Circular Economy since it concerns moving industrial waste from one company to another. Albini’s food industry collaborator, Riso Gallo, had to declare the substance as a by-product of their production process, and then a symbolic value was given to this waste and then sold to Albini.
Once at Albini, different technical roles where involved in testing the substance at a laboratory scale, to better understand how the different pH parameters influenced the colour-change. Dye experts and chemist studied the substance, how it behaved on different fibre substrates and which were the most performing binders to allow the affinity with each fibre.
Contemporarily, the quality control teams tested the performance of the resulting colours dyed on different fibres in order to narrow down the selection of yarns to be developed for this project.
As the industrialization was ongoing, the design teams collaborated with ALBINI_next to evaluate textile proposals designed in an eco-design logic that suited the project, giving preference to mono-material textiles that allow a better recycling of the textile at its end of life.
Marketing teams were also involved in the creation of a short film that told the story from the rice fields to the woven fabric. All the content creation was intended for both B2B and B2C purposes. In order to tell this story, teams from both companies collaborated to capture the right environment, sounds, energy and atmosphere that surrounds each process.
Finally, the commercial teams collaborated with the marketing teams and ALBINI_next in order to put together a product offer that effectively represented the work behind the project and had the right appeal in terms of beauty and aesthetics.
The main outcome of this project is the validation of a new system for yarn dyeing which involves the creation of a circular economy for upcycling waste in industrial symbiosis. The project testifies to a successful cooperative approach between two companies for the valorization of resources and recovery of waste from a circular economy perspective. Serving as an example to other companies and the fashion industry at large, that new models and operating systems are possible.
The application of a natural dye originating from wastewater inside Albini’s collection has raised awareness amongst the internal teams at Albini and third-party stakeholders regarding the value of waste by seeing the beauty that came out of it in the shape of fabrics. Furthermore, the use of natural pigments also fuelled discussions around the disadvantages of using synthetic dyes. Another key outcome was the validation of the industrialization of a naturally pigmented wastewater, making its use sustainable not only from an ecological point of view, but also, from an economical point of view. Consequently, all dye recipes, weaving structures and finish cycles were developed having in consideration economic efficiency. Rendering traditionally ‘artisanal’ practices like natural dyeing, industrial, has been the main outcome of this project. Adapting the technique into an industrial context which requires consistency, reproducibly and standardisation for a very demanding market has been a great challenge to overcome. Since the wastewater is a by-product of the hydrothermal treatment of rice, and thus of organic origin, the pigment content can vary from one production to the next, which was tacked by tweaking the dye recipe if necessary. Also, the wastewater has a specific shelf life before it goes to waste unlike standard dyes.
Furthermore, democratizing the Off The Grain project by including a selection of fabrics inside the collection of the Group has been another great result.
Off the grain is an innovative project for several reasons. ALBINI_next had a goal: reduce the use of materials of fossil origin and replace it with renewable raw materials or secondary raw materials. ALBINI_next has studied various possibilities, including the use of natural dyes from dyeing plants and waste from the food industry. However, these require fields to be cultivated or processes to be transformed, thus reducing their sustainability performance. Furthermore, in Albini's industrial process, which uses autoclaves for dyeing, these substances are not efficient. Therefore, after careful studies and evaluations, ALBINI_next decided to direct its research towards waste or by-products that could be used as they are, without having to be transformed. This is certainly a first innovative concept that comes from long research and which has made it possible not only to avoid preventive transformations of the secondary raw material, but also to reduce the use of water by 30% during the dyeing process, because the water from rice waste is used as it is and no addition of pure water is needed.
Furthermore, the project includes the concept of industrial symbiosis. For this reason, ALBINI_next also had to work on the creation of a new supply chain between companies in different sectors that apparently have nothing to do with each other. Finally, it took two years to improve the dyeing process. After several tests, ALBINI_next in collaboration with the Albini dyeing team has created a dyeing process that uses green products, which is efficient and which allows to obtain quality yarns with a good color retention performance. As it is a different dyeing process, ALBINI_next has decided to patent it with a positive result.
The methodology used follows ALBINI_next intent towards innovation. That means, an open innovation approach which champions cross-discipline collaboration and sharing of knowledge.
This way, ALBINI_next chooses to collaborate with different partners in pilot projects which are structured in three different phases: research, industrialization and commercialization.
The first phase includes the selection of the partner, the signature of the different contracts like NDA or MTA agreements and the preliminary testing phase in the laboratory to validate the technology at small-scale.
Once the technology has been approved at laboratory scale, the second phase starts testing the technology at industrial scale, starting with the minimum industrial capacity and following with more significant industrial tests. Along this process, several quality controls are made to approve or discard certain parameters or processes and finally, the limitations of the technology are defined.
Once all the different quality controls have been approved, the project arrives to its last phase of commercialization. During this phase, the commercial team works really closely with the design team, COMM’s and the ALBINI_next to build the story around the project in order to better communicate it to all stakeholders.
This projects is replicable in other locations and even types of companies within the food industry.
The model can be totally replicated in another geographic location with the right filed research that individuates a pigmented wastewater, or more precisely, the wastewater from the production of the same variety of black rice elsewhere in the word, and then, pair match that waste product with a local dye house that is equipped with the right machinery for yarn or piece dye.
The recipes then can be transferred and adapted to the specific machinery. Following the dye-cycles and recipe determined during this project, including the auxiliaries needed for varying the colors in the palette should guarantee a successful implementation of the project everywhere.
In fact, the project ‘Off The Grain’ is pending for patent. The end goal of acquiring a patent for the project is in fact being able to transfer the patented technology to other geographic locations.
ALBINI_next develops sustainable innovation projects starting from some strategic focuses from Agenda 2030. Specifically, goal 9 "Resilient infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization and innovation" and goal 12 " sustainable consumption and production patterns". With this logic, ALBINI_next aims to reduce as much as possible the use of raw materials from fossil origin, which take millions of years to regenerate and are considered scarce resources. ALBINI_next studies their replacement with renewable alternatives or using secondary raw materials. Among the renewable alternatives, ALBINI_next initially identified the possibility of using natural dyes from dyeing plants or food scraps. After careful study, it was understood that these products require fields for cultivation and subsequent stages of transformation. Furthermore, in Albini's production processes in which yarns are dyed in an autoclave, these products do not give efficiency and performance. Therefore, ALBINI_next evaluated other alternatives. Off the Grain is a project of industrial symbiosis in which a substance considered waste for a food company becomes a resource for a textile firm. Through this project ALBINI_next has given new life to a by-product replacing the classic synthetic dyes of fossil origin. The wastewater is used in the dyeing process as it is. This means that no intermediate processes are needed to transform the substance into a dyeing product. Furthermore, using the wastewater from the rice as it is the consumption of pure water decreases by 30% in the dyeing process. Obviously, the color palette is limited and the project cannot solve sustainability issues, but this is a first step and an example of how innovative and sustainable alternatives can be studied. Thanks to this first challenge which has given positive results, ALBINI_next is continuing the search for by-products and waste which can be used as they are for dyeing and which can expand the color palette.
