Spinners World: The most spiritual fabric

The most spiritual fabric -Lotus fabric

The lotus flower is adored for its characteristic of rising above the muddy water, indicating how one can rise above defilements of life. Apart from motivation for life, the plant also provides fibres which are used for making a rare kind of cloth matching with the flawless virtues of the silk. Fibres extracted from the lotus flowers of the Myanmar , Cambodia lakes are spun by hand and woven within 24 hours making a fabric similar to silk.

Extracting fibres from lotus stems have been in practice since long. Later during the 90's designers of Japan setup workshops to create a foreign market for their fabric. But due to low demand in Japan, lotus fibre fabric remained a rare and handmade textile.

Lotus plant is believed to have healing abilities and wearing a fabric made from lotus fibres is also believed to have the same effects. Lotus plants are pure by virtue, and they radiate this purity through their fibres. By wearing lotus fibre fabrics, one feels calm, peaceful and meditative. It also cures the wearer from headaches, heart ailments, asthma, and lung issues. The fabrics are 100 percent organic, and hence are environmentally friendly.

In order to understand the structure and properties of lotus fibers to provide theoretical basis for developing lotus fiber fabric, the research on chemical components, morphological structure, aggregation structure and mechanical properties of nature lotus fiber is implemented by chemical quantitative analysis, scanning electron microscope, infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction analysis and so on. The result is shown. First, lotus fiber is consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, fat waxy, lignin, ash, pectin, hydrotrope, amino acids and so on, where cellulose is the main ingredient. The lotus fiber, showing ribbon spiral revolving structure vertically, has clearly imperceptible cross striation, and is bundle fiber composed of many monofils. Then, the cross-sectional of lotus monofil is circular or similar to circular. Lotus fiber is typical cellulose structure with 48% crystallinity and 60% orientation. The density, fineness and moisture regain of lotus fiber is respectively 1.1848 g/cm 1.55 dtex, 12.32%. Lotus fiber is high strength and low stretch fiber with initial modulus 146.81 cN/dtex, breaking strength 3.44 cN/dtex and breaking elongation 2.75%.

Lotus fiber is a natural cellulose fiber isolated from lotus petiole. Botanically, the fiber is the thickened secondary wall in xylem tracheary elements. In order to obtain essential information for the preparation and processing of lotus fibers, the fine structure and properties of lotus fibers were investigated by the aid of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and so on. The results show that lotus fibers display a rough surface topography and an internal structure different from common plant fibers. The percent crystallinity and preferred orientation of crystallites in lotus fibers are 48% and 84%, respectively. Considering the average breaking tenacity and Young's modulus, lotus fibers are similar to cotton. The elongation of lotus fibers is only about 2.6% while their moisture regain is as high as 12.3%.

Manufacturing Process:

The entire process of fibre extraction, spinning it into yarn and making the fabric is completely handmade making the process time consuming. This also limits the quantity of the fabric produced. Stems of the lotus plants are collected, cut, snapped, and twisted to expose its fibres. These are thin and white filaments around 20 to 30 in number. These thin filaments are rolled into a single thread. Around 20-25 women are needed to extract fibres this way for one weaver to work with.

Fibres extracted from the stem are spun into yarn. Extracted fibres are placed in the skeins on a bamboo spinning frame preparing them for warping. Yarns are made by placing the fibres on a bamboo spinning frame and transferring the thread into winders for warping. With much care, not to get tangles, threads are made; up to 40 meters long. The threads are then taken from the warping posts, and are coiled into huge plastic bags. Yarns for the weft are wound into bamboo bobbins.

Fabrics are woven in the traditional Cambodian loom. Excess warp is stored and later released during the course of weaving. The woven fabric has a width of approximately 24 inches. During the process of weaving, threads are frequently moistened with water, as lotus fibres need to be kept cool. Around 1, 20,000 lotus stems are required to make fabrics adequate for making a costume. The fibres are very delicate and should be woven within 24 hours of being extracted so as to prevent its deterioration.

Lotus fibre fabric gets the fashion branding:

The fabric looks like a blend of linen and silk, and posse's wrinkle resistant and breathable qualities given by the molecular makeup of the lotus plant. It has a milky yellow hue. Textile baron Mr Pier Luigi Loro Piana, owner of the Italian luxury brand Loro Piana, happened to see the fabric. Impressed by the fabrics breathable, and wrinkle resistance capacities, Pina travelled to Myanmar where he learnt more about the fabric. He offered by buy around 55 yards of fabric for a month for his company. Jackets of Loro Piana made from lotus fibre fabrics cost up to $ 5,600 and have a good market in countries like Japan and Europe.

Lotus fibres have age old tradition of making robes for Buddhist monks of highest ranks, and to decorate Buddha idols. Traditional fabric weaving is difficult to be translated into mass production. Involving exclusive craftsmanship, and time consuming in its making, lotus fibre fabrics remain as a true luxury only for the privileged ones.

The Lotus fabric is the first natural microfiber and probably the most ecological fabric in the world. Like other microfibers, it has remarkable properties: it is amazingly resistant, soft, light-weight, wrinkle-free and sustainable.
The plain woven pure Lotus fabric is recommended for jackets and dresses, as it is hard wearing and soft.
The airy pure Lotus fabric is recommended for scraves, as it is especially breathable and light.

Lotus fabric has unique properties: it is naturally soft, light, especially breathable, and almost wrinkle free. It is also a very eco-friendly fabric containing no chemicals or toxic products. It’s probably the most ecological fabric in the world. We transform a stem that would have turned to waste into a quality textile, while not using any polluting energy during the entirety of the production process.

Starting with this uniquely soft and breathable fabric, we developed the first prototypes of our new collection. Our lotus fabrics are all made possible thanks to the skill of our artisans who possess unparalleled expertise, and create strikingly precise and detailed designs.

Some figures around lotus fabric manufacturing: