Vérabuccia, new bio-based materials from fruit peel for the fashion and design sector.
You will think you are touching a soft hide but you will only touch Vérabuccia. We create the first Made in Italy pineapple peel leather, Ananasse, from the reuse of the peel that originates from the processing of the fruit. Thanks to the innovative production process (patented) which does not transform the aesthetics of the vegetable product, the material unlike of other alternatives to leather on the market, maintains the texture of the pineapple and becomes a high-performance material sheet.
Cross-border/international
Italy
Italy
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Using the peel of fruit rather than that of exotic animals in an entirely Made in Italy, circular and plastic free production process is the basis of the idea, now concrete, of the designer and entrepreneur Francesca Nori, who after graduating in 2017 undertook a long journey, generating starting from the study of the pineapple fruit and with the support of a well-known Italian chemical company and the visionary Fabrizio Moiani, an innovative production process (patented) capable of transforming unused food waste, such as peels, into aesthetic, functional and stable materials over time. The peculiarity is in the production process, which compared to that of the other alternative material productions present on the market today, allows the material to maintain the initial visual appearance of the peel, operating without flattening or transforming the aesthetics of the starting vegetable product. The first result of the project is Ananasse, the innovative bio-based material created from the reuse of the peel of the pineapple fruit, hence the name. 70% of the pineapple fruit is naturally made up of inedible waste elements for humans, including the peel, very often left to rot on the ground with continuous emissions of harmful gases into the air. A technique fortunately not used in Italy, where the peel of the fruit, especially in large quantities, is mainly disposed of in landfills with high disposal costs for companies. Vérabuccia is the result of Italian visionary and creative talent combined with the desire to develop a project made of innovation, beauty, circular economy, sustainability and based on the ennobling of waste that becomes a resource. The project does not intend to limit itself to the recovery of the pineapple peel only but to extend itself to further vegetable peels, focusing on those that are difficult to reuse and have a long biodegradation.
Circular economy
Recovery of unused agri-food waste
New aesthetics
Innovation
Plastic Free
Vérabuccia's key sustainability objective is the circularity that goes from the material used to all production processes. Every year nearly 30 million tons of pineapples are harvested for the food and beverage industry and an equal amount of pineapple waste is released for disposal, including the peel.
Vérabuccia's thought is to be able to establish a new industry over time for the benefit of fruit processing companies, starting right from the pineapple fruit both in Italy (about 130,000 tonnes each year) where it is the second most exotic fruit consumed, with vast processing of ready-to-eat and ready-to-eat products to extend abroad as well, in the agricultural communities dedicated to the cultivation (about 24.8 million tons per year) and processing of the fruit. Data which, combined with the growing sensitivity of a part of consumers towards the planet and the habitat, have led to an exponential growth of alternative materials to animal leather and to open up a potential waste on some fruits such as pineapple towards circular economy.
The production of the Ananasse material comes from the recovery of the peel which originates mainly from the processing of the fruit for IV and V range products of today Italian companies, the discarded peel is recovered and relocated in a production scenario even before it becomes a waste to be disposed of, saving to the environment a residue and harmful gas emissions caused by the natural fermentation process. The production does not require the breeding of animals and any consumption of new soil and does not generate new waste as well as preferring the use of organic substances in its process, many of which are made with production waste from other supply chains. Vérabuccia is able to significantly optimize resources and waste, bringing waste to almost zero.
One of the key objectives of Vérabuccia's concept is to make the fashion and design sector concretely more sustainable without people renouncing the aesthetic component and tactile pleasure, through a possible new frontier of circular design in a team up with nature. With our process, a by-product of one sector becomes a raw material for another. In this way we give it a new value, generating profit for each player in the supply chain, and saving the earth from further waste. At the same time we help companies to reduce their impact on waste and therefore to achieve their sustainabilityl objectives and at the same time we offer a possible response to the constant consumer request for new materials and products that are more positive than living, offering them that tactile and precious sensation that it is when you touch an exotic leather simply from fruit skin retrieval. This is a possible key to helping society embrace the values of a circular economy with low carbon emissions, contributing to progress and definitively clearing the convention that materials must necessarily be copies or imitations in terms of aesthetic appearance and leather parameters and/or to other fabrics in order to be accepted in the system and used stably. Because if in the past, materials were chosen basically for their technical properties and physical characteristics, in the present one more characteristic is added, the experiential prerogatives, that is, those that the user experiences when he comes into contact with the material.
The Vérabuccia concept has among its key objectives the inclusion in the fashion and design sector by flanking leather and the new ecological alternatives leatherette, specifically it wants to address those brands that want to affirm their commitment to the planet and its species but stand out from the other competitors in the use of the raw material employed thanks to the use of innovative materials, such as Ananasse. The new material alternatives to leather present themselves with a very promising panorama, the forecast is that they will reach a value of 100 billion dollars by 2030 with an annual growth rate (CAGR) increasing exponentially year after year, affecting various sectors including those at the Vérabuccia addresses. Vérabuccia supplies materials that recall the skin without the sacrifice of the animal, the Ananasse material for example recalls the leather of a reptile, exotic leather, which unlike those of breeding has a limited selection and destined, as already for the furs, to disappear and contrary to the new ecological alternatives on the market, it does not need to imitate the appearance of the leather while simultaneously limiting the creation of part of new waste from the agri-food sector. To date of the pineapple fruit later also of other fruits. The partnership strategy for further developments is both in collaborating with research institutes in order to continue to invest continuously in development and research, and in signing pineapple peel supply agreements with companies that work tropical fruit in Italy and subsequently to an increase in the demand for the material, extending to the fruit-producing countries, as well as in co-branding activities with fashion and design accessory brands. In the longer term, the creation of new production chains in other areas of the world.
In recent years, a new citizen profile has emerged, seeking greater guarantees both in the quality of the materials used and in the traceability of the supply chain and more sensitive and inclined towards animal welfare, indirectly leading to an exponential growth of alternative materials to animal leather and / or to traditional fabrics. The concept of Vérabuccia is based on the objective of reducing the use of natural resources in an overall way, generating new materials without the use of new ones, but from the reuse and enhancement of those already existing for the entire process. In this way the consumer assumes a leading role, being able to become the engine of sustainability. This happens when he buys, sending waste to the form of valorisation for which they were designed and recognizing the environmental properties of the product.
The concept was born among Francesca Nori's university benches with the aim of telling new innovative stories given by the synergy between her origins made of creativity, beauty with Italian research. The development of the concept is immediately associated with a national chemical company that experiments and then self-produces the innovative material, now called Ananasse, to arrive at the results set by the designer; generate a possible new alternative material response to animal skin, aesthetically beautiful and that has the same sensation to the touch but less weak on an environmental level and capable of adapting to the new and sophisticated needs of living. The current step towards expanding the applicability of the Ananasse material currently involves other national Italian research companies with possible industrial partners soon. While in the valorisation of waste, to date the peel of the pineapple fruit, the project has involved Italian companies in the HO.RE.CA sector, each year around 130 thousand. of tons of pineapples are important in Italy which, with a total commercial value of 97.7 million euros, in volume, is the fourth importer in Europe, as well as the second most consumed exotic fruit, to continue towards Italian fruit processing companies and then extend abroad, in the agricultural communities dedicated to the cultivation (about 24.8 million tons per year) and processing of the fruit.
In the development of the concept, the design of a production process that dialogued with nature but which at the same time allowed to give continuity to the life cycle in the case of the Ananasse material, of a pineapple peel, was immediately reflected, also making it acquire those characteristics of applicability typical of the materials but with the difficulty of being able to keep the unique character of the fruit recognizable and the harmony of its texture, aesthetics. This was possible thanks to the combination of chemistry and the famous beauty and well-made of Made in Italy. The multitude of "Green Thinking" chemical product houses present on the Italian territory specialized in the creation of new substances, from the reuse of production waste from other supply chains has made it possible to introduce the use of circular substances in the process. In this way, both for the reused raw material and for the production process itself, what is usually perceived as a disposal cost has become a new resource both in environmental and economic terms. While the chemical knowledge and then the engineering knowledge of the Italian textile were of fundamental importance to lay the foundations on experimental machinery to be able to produce the innovative Ananasse material as well as to adapt existing ones, for the subsequent phases.
The years we are living in are increasingly characterized by an exponential increase in processed and packaged foods with a consequent growth in the production of waste from the fruit and vegetable processing industries and related causes of disposal due to the high costs for the industries and the environment. Vérabuccia was born with the intention of rethinking to these waste considering them no longer as waste but resources, not only as a moral duty towards current and future generations but as a possible solution to find new uses for materials that would otherwise be lost and in parallel thanks to the material Ananasse, proposing a possible concrete response to the constant request for more eco-compatible materials and solutions for the fashion and design sector. New sustainable and circular materials not as a passing trend but as a value that wants to remain over time, demonstrating greater attention to the environment and living beings, without having to make the consumer give up the aesthetic component and tactile pleasure. This is thanks to our innovative, patented production process which, in compliance with the circular economy, makes it possible to improve the characteristics of the starting by-product used, the peel, currently of the pineapple fruit, also preserving its aesthetic appearance, unlike the well-known processes on the market in which the processing of the starting vegetable product is so strong as to completely transform its exterior by flattening it on that of any ecological leather. Preserving the aesthetic aspect of waste provides a solid basis for producing without the use of plastic substances or derivatives, often used by other players to give stability and durability to materials and makes it possible, like for leather, to actually use the epidermis of the peel of fruit.
The concept provides an innovative production technology that can be replicated in other countries of the world with a positive economic and social impact capable of generating new value prospects from waste in environmental, social and employment terms in Italy and abroad. Adding value to this waste creates a new source of income on waste items spread all over the world, peels. Ananasse, for example, is obtained from the reuse and processing of pineapple peel, a by-product of the fruit industry that is inedible for human use and traditionally discarded.
The concept mainly addresses the issue of resource scarcity and waste management. The search for alternative materials to those of animal origin has become a necessity, not only due to the constant demand of consumers but also due to the growing difficulty in finding leather, new resources parallel to the management of new waste. Only the processing of fruit and vegetables creates considerable waste with consequent disposal costs for industry and the environment which encourage unregulated use or abandonment on the ground with consequent CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. A concrete example is the pineapple fruit, with an annual harvest of approximately 30 million tons. of pineapples for the food and beverage industry, huge amounts of pineapple waste are released, consisting of only 30% edible parts for human consumption and remaining 70% including the peel, from scraps. Vérabuccia thanks to the innovative production process is able to recover the waste peel from the processing of the pineapple fruit and to place it back in a production scenario before it becomes a waste to be disposed of, contributing to the reduction of the impact on the waste of Italian companies in the sector HO.RE.CA and processing where there is a vast consumption of IV and V range products and at the same time creating a new source of income on waste elements. The material that originates, Ananasse is 90% bio-based, as well as plastic free and clean label because it is mainly composed of renewable inputs of ingredients present in nature and produced in compliance with the circular economy.
