Pineapple Fabric

TRANSCRIPT
Pineapple Fabric

NARRATOR:
Pineapple leaves, once just farm waste, are now being transformed into something surprising: eco-friendly fashion. In Kenya, local design house Pine Kazi is turning discarded pineapple leaves into a sustainable textile. For farmers, this means a second income from material they used to throw away. For the environment, it’s a way to reduce harmful waste. 

SOUNDBITE - Olivia Awuor:
"Pine Kazi is a new and innovative social business venture that recycles waste pineapple leaves into a biodegradable textile that is friendly to the environment.”

NARRATOR:
The process starts with sorting the leaves. Their fibres are then removed, cleaned, dried, and woven into a strong natural fabric for shoes and bags. The idea began as a university project, when co-founders Olivia Awuor, Mike Langat and Angela Nzomo noticed piles of pineapple waste being burned, releasing gases that contribute to global warming. They wanted to turn that waste into something useful.
Pineapple fibre has existed for centuries but lost popularity when cheap cotton and synthetics took over. Now, with a growing demand for sustainable materials, it’s making a comeback. Pine Kazi has already gained international attention and investor support. It also raises awareness of Kenya’s ‘fast fashion’ problem. Every year, thousands of tonnes of second-hand polyester clothes are imported, and much of it ends up in landfills or pollutes rivers. Natural fibres like pineapple leaf could be part of the solution. The founders hope their idea will spread beyond Kenya and help tackle waste in other countries too.

SOUNDBITE - Olivia Awuor:
"With our solution we hope to scale to other countries that produce pineapple waste as well, so that we can be able to solve this problem at a global scale."

NARRATOR:
A new kind of fashion - turning waste into something useful and inspiring change around the world.