Is Orange Fiber Vegan? Material Facts & Alternatives
Also known as: Citrus cellulose fibre, Citrus silk
Vegan
No animal products or byproducts are involved in the production of this material.
Origin
Common Uses
Durability
Environmental Impact
Low Environmental ImpactUses industrial waste from the citrus juice industry — approximately 700,000 tonnes of pastazzo is generated annually in Italy alone. The fibre itself requires no dedicated agricultural land. Production is chemical-free.
Editorial Notes
One of the most innovative next-gen materials. The fabric can be infused with citrus essential oils during production, providing a subtle natural scent. Currently very limited production and high cost. Fully biodegradable. A compelling waste-to-fibre story.
In depth
How Orange Fiber Is Made
Orange Fiber starts with pastazzo, the wet mixture of peel, pulp, and seeds left over after citrus fruit is pressed for juice. The Italian juice industry, concentrated in Sicily, generates large volumes of this byproduct every year, and disposing of it is a recognized cost for processors.
The patented process extracts cellulose from this residue. The extracted cellulose is then converted into a spinnable yarn. The company has not published full technical details of its process, but the material belongs to the broader family of man-made cellulosic fibers, alongside viscose and lyocell. The resulting yarn can be woven or knitted on its own or combined with other fibers.
Orange Fiber, the company behind the material, was founded in Catania, Sicily, in 2014. It later partnered with the Austrian fiber producer Lenzing to make a lyocell fiber that combines citrus cellulose with wood pulp.
How to Spot It on Labels
Orange Fiber is a trade name, not a generic fiber category, so it rarely appears in the fiber-content line of a garment label. Textile labeling rules in both the EU and the US require generic fiber names, which means citrus-based fabric would generally be listed under a generic name such as viscose or lyocell, with the Orange Fiber name appearing on hangtags or in marketing materials instead.
Composition matters for vegans. The fiber itself is entirely plant-derived, but finished fabrics have been produced both as pure citrus cellulosics and as blends. Some early luxury fabrics combined citrus fiber with silk to achieve a particular drape and sheen, and silk is not vegan. A garment promoted as Orange Fiber is therefore not automatically animal-free; the composition label is the deciding document.
Because production volume remains very small, encountering the material outside limited designer collections is unlikely.
Vegan Alternatives and How They Compare
For a silk-like drape without animal fibers, the closest widely available options are man-made cellulosics: lyocell (often sold under the Tencel brand), modal, viscose, and cupro. All are plant-derived and share the smooth hand and fluid fall that make Orange Fiber attractive, and all are produced at vastly larger scale, so they are easier to find and far less expensive.
What distinguishes Orange Fiber within this family is its feedstock. Conventional cellulosics start from wood pulp or, in the case of cupro, cotton linters, while Orange Fiber uses a food-industry byproduct that would otherwise require disposal. In that respect it belongs to the same waste-to-material category as Piñatex, a pineapple leaf fiber positioned as a leather alternative, and various banana- and hemp-based experiments.
For most shoppers the practical comparison is simple: lyocell and modal offer a similar feel today, while Orange Fiber remains a limited-production material seen mainly in capsule collections.
Frequently asked questions
Is Orange Fiber vegan?
The fiber itself is vegan — it is cellulose derived from citrus juice industry byproducts, with no animal inputs. However, some finished fabrics made with it have been blended with silk, which is an animal fiber. Check the garment's composition label rather than relying on the Orange Fiber name alone.
What is Orange Fiber made of?
It is made from pastazzo, the peel, pulp, and seed residue left after citrus fruits are industrially juiced. Cellulose extracted from this waste is spun into a soft, silk-like yarn. No dedicated crops or farmland are needed, since the raw material is a byproduct that would otherwise be discarded.
Is Orange Fiber the same as silk?
No. It resembles silk in drape, softness, and sheen, but it is a plant-based cellulosic fiber, closer in nature to viscose or lyocell than to silk protein. No silkworms are involved in producing the fiber itself, though some fabrics have blended it with conventional silk.
Which brands have used Orange Fiber?
Salvatore Ferragamo released a capsule collection using the fabric in 2017, and H&M featured it in a Conscious Exclusive collection in 2019. Fiber producer Lenzing has also made a limited-edition Tencel lyocell incorporating citrus pulp. Availability remains limited to occasional collaborations rather than everyday retail.