Fashion

Is fish skin the new frontier for eco-friendly fashion?


After 25 years
working with luxury names like Moschino, Christian Dior, and Diane von
Furstenberg, Elisa Palomino believes that a vital step in sustainability
involves targeting seafood waste for the development of fashionable leather
articles. She has just completed a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in the
US, is currently a senior lecturer in the BA Fashion Print program at
London’s Central Saint Martins, and delivers presentations around the world
to inspire and educate designers, creators, and consumers on why the future
of fashion lies in fish.

How did you get interested in fishskin as a material for the fashion
industry?

The research project emerged as a result of my design practice
creating fish leather garments and accessories at John Galliano and
Christian Dior in 2002. We used fish leather from the Icelandic tannery
Atlantic Leather incorporating it into the context of the luxury
Industry.

What is the history of fish skin products?

Fish leather draws on indigenous heritage and traditions shared by
Arctic societies along rivers and coasts for the construction of garments
and accessories, specifically the Inuit, Yup’ik and Athabascan of Alaska
and Canada; Siberian peoples, such as the Nivkh and Nanai; the Ainu from
the Hokkaido island in Japan and Sakhalin Island, Russia; the Hezhe from
northeast China, and Icelanders. The Atlantic Leather tannery has processed
fish leather since 1994 based on the Icelandic tradition of making shoes
from the skins of catfish, growing this Nordic tradition.

Is fish skin the new frontier for eco-friendly fashion?Is fish skin the new frontier for eco-friendly fashion?

What are fish skin’s properties and why is it a more eco-friendly
alternative to leather?

Fish leather is a by-product of the seafood industry and recycling the
waste minimizes landfill and keeps resources in use for longer. Atlantic
Leather uses fish from Nordic governmentally regulated sustainable farms, skins
are sourced locally from nearby fisheries. Sourcing and processing happens
close to home which shortens transport routes, lowers carbon footprint and
increases transparency across the supply chain. Fish leather does not
require the resources or leave the carbon footprint associated with raising
cattle, and does not use endangered species that could threaten
biodiversity. Geothermal energy from Icelandic volcanoes is used to power
the production processes and production has provided new job opportunities
for coastal dwelling communities. Plus, as a material it possesses
strength nine
times that of regular cow leather of similar thickness owing to its
criss-cross arrangement of fibers.

Discuss the experience of the Fulbright Fellowship and particular
highlights.

I received a Fulbright UK US scholarship to develop an educational
research project from June through August this year entitled “Indigenous
Arctic fish skin clothing: Cultural and ecological impacts on Fashion
Higher Education.” I was lucky to work with William Fitzhugh, director of
the Arctic Studies Center at the National Museum of Natural History,
Smithsonian Institution, and his team to understand fish skin’s cultural,
environmental, social, spiritual and technological significance traced back
to the Arctic indigenous peoples. I carried out extensive fieldwork beyond
DC, traveling among Alaskan state museums where I was immersed for three
months in unparalleled circumpolar collections, studying the origins and
traditions of Arctic raw materials for fashion, and local subsistence
by-product materials such fishskin, gutskin, birdskin, grasses, wood and
birch bark.

As well as gaining insight you were able to pass on some of what you
learnt?

During my tenure in the US I created and taught two workshops. The first
was a four-day workshop at Parsons for students and faculty along with
Alaskan Keniatze craftsperson, Joel Isaak, on the production of fish skin
artifacts using traditional skills of the Athabascan peoples. The focus
was on examining the design practice within contexts of social innovation
for sustainability, tanning processes, and sewing techniques with
an objective to preserve local traditions in the development of boots, bags
and protective coats with unique cultural characteristics. And to offer
Parsons students a wider perspective as they discover their individual
approach to more sustainable practices.

The second was a Fashion Sketchbook workshop at the Arctic Studies
Center, Anchorage Museum, where seven Alaskan artists took part in a
two-day process of collecting personal research from diverse sources,
documenting it through drawing, photography and collage in order to create
a unique sketchbook to help them on their personal creative practice. The
workshop took place within the Arctic Studies Center exhibit:”Living Our
Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska.”

Is fish skin the new frontier for eco-friendly fashion?Is fish skin the new frontier for eco-friendly fashion?

How has your passion for fish skin craft grown as a result

Finding ways to give back to the Arctic communities to which fish skin
knowledge belongs is of high importance to me. The workshops have been
envisioned as the beginning of a continuing and expanding discourse on the
future of fish skin craft. Collaboration with indigenous partners has
enriched my understanding and the experiences gained continue to guide and
inform the methods and attitudes I use to work with native communities.
Most of the workshoppers use fish skin already but were glad to learn new
tanning, dying and printing techniques to incorporate into their own
practice.

When both luxury and fast fashion are turning their backs on
everything from mohair to cashmere, animal fur and skins, how do you
respond to those who question fish skin as a viable material option?

Aquaculture or fish farming has steadily increased over the last decade
due to the world’s shift to a healthier diet replacing meat with fish.
However, more than 50% of the fish caught for human consumption is
discarded resulting in almost 32 million tonnes of waste. A substantial
amount of this is the skin, but improved usage of fish by-products could
help meet increasing demand for seafood without further stress to the
ecosystem. Fish skin requires less energy and resources to cultivate than
conventional materials, so developing processes to transform post-consumer
and industrial waste into new materials takes the pressure off cotton and
polyester production and minimizes landfill.

The Icelandic fish leather model has proved reliable and sustainable for
over 20 years and it can be duplicated around the world to encourage a
resurgence in artisanal craft in coastal areas which rely on fish for their
diet. Indigenous fishing communities which used to subsist and dress
themselves with fish skin leather could reach agreements with nearby
fishing plants, and resume their ancient crafts, supplying, tanning and
developing production that will positively implement their economy.

Is the luxury industry taking notice of fish skin?

Yes. With brands like Chanel and Prada banning the use of exotic skins
in their collections and PETA battling against the use of reptile skins in
LVMH brands, Rick Owens and Courrèges for their S/S 20 collection swapped
exotic skins for the skin of the pirarucu fish, a staple of the Amazonian
diet whose skin would be otherwise discarded. It could become an
alternative to endangered species such as crocodile and python.

Do you see fish skin’s adoption in students’ or emerging designers’
work?

These workshops have offered techniques, methods and knowledge bases
which can contribute to sustainability education in fashion courses in HE
Institutions. Consequently, students will then inspire the fashion houses
they go on to work in to consider the humble fish skin as an alternative
sustainable material. Some students, such as Foning Bao who incorporated it
within knitwear, are reshaping our general thinking about its
possibilities, transforming it into unique fashion items linked to both
aboriginal people and place, often in unforeseen ways.

What happens next in the field of fishskin?

I am currently the University of the Arts London leader of an EU funded
project, “FishSkin; Developing Fish Skin as a Sustainable Raw Material for
the Fashion Industry,” part of the Horizon 2020 RISE (Research Innovation
Staff Exchange) funding call. Academic partners include Shenkar University
in Israel, Iceland University of Arts, Kyoto Seika University in Japan
among others. We aim to integrate the mariculture and fashion industries by
emphasizing circular economy principles combined with state-of-the-art
technology and changing consumer tastes, and to challenge existing fashion
assumptions for a market take up of fish leather on an industrial scale.
Through network training events we will generate knowledge across the
disciplines of fashion design, material science and marine biology.

But the possibilities are endless. Iceland, pioneering in the fishing
industry, has been developing a wide range of other uses for fish waste:
enzymes, pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, cosmetics. A fresh dermal
tissue has been created; FDA-approved bandages which reduce inflammation
and speed up healing for chronic wounds through its omega-3 fatty acids and
collagen. Textiles infused with vitamins and healing powers from discarded
fish skins which contain the type of collagen and keratin protein that
makes up human skin. These cosmetic and healing properties could be
processed back into the skins to create a new Bio intelligent material.

Fashion editor Jackie Mallon is also an educator and author of Silk for
the Feed Dogs, a novel set in the international fashion industry.

Photos Elisa Palomino



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