This work aimed to fulfil one of the great consumer trends related to ethically and environmentally sustainable attitudes. The main concept was to develop an alternative material to natural and synthetic leather by creating new bio-coated textile structures with improved environmental credentials, and to use vegetable wastes and by-products from agroforestry industries, as well as biopolymers. Different residues, such as sawdust and pine bark were successfully incorporated in polymeric aqueous formulations and applied as textile coatings. The Life Cycle Assessment of these new textile products showed that they present a lower environmental impact in comparison to natural leather used for clothing and shoe applications. Overall, the alternative material developed here is a favourable sustainable material. The use of by-products to create bio-based materials comprises a great potential for a broad spectrum of applications in other fields in the Textile and Clothing Industry such as fashion, eco-design, sports and protection apparel, furniture decoration, home textiles, footwear, fashion accessories, in addition to others.

The development of a new generation of coated textile solutions based on the incorporation of industrial natural leather waste from automobile cutting operations, conferring new functionalities with eco-design and fashion effects was studied. This work provides new insights to major consumer trends, including ethical, environmental, and sustainable attitudes, focusing on sustainability from a circular economy and industrial symbiosis perspective. Herein, leather wastes from the automobile industry were transformed using both mechanical and chemical processes. Subsequently, the recycled residues were used to develop new coating formulations and applied as textile coatings, to obtain a new generation of more sustainable-coated textile solutions. The coated substrates were fully characterised and a series of normalized tests were conducted to determine and assess their mechanical and functional properties. The newly developed solutions met and even exceeded the performance standards and specifications of the fashion, shoes and accessories, furniture and home textile sectors. With the elaboration and application of novel coating formulations, a series of prototypes were developed with enhanced and innovative material. The Life Cycle Assessment of these new textile products demonstrated that they hold a lower environmental impact in comparison to natural leather used for clothing and shoe applications. Hence, the valorisation of hydrolysed natural leather wastes by textile coating applications was successfully achieved.

The textile industry is progressively shifting towards more sustainable solutions, particularly in the field of printing technologies. This study reports the development and evaluation of water-based pigment inks formulated with bio-based pigments derived from intermediates produced via bacterial fermentation. Two pigments—indigo (blue) and quinacridone (red)—were incorporated into ink formulations and applied on cotton and polyester fabrics through valve-jet inkjet printing (ChromoJet). The physical properties of the inks were analyzed to ensure compatibility with the equipment, and printed fabrics were assessed as to their color fastness to washing, rubbing, artificial weathering, and artificial light. The results highlight the good performance of the bio-based inks, with excellent light and weathering fastness and satisfactory wash and rub resistance. The effect of different pre-treatments, including a biopolymer and a synthetic binder, was also investigated. Notably, the biopolymer pre-treatment enhanced pigment fixation on cotton, while the synthetic binder improved wash fastness on polyester. These findings support the integration of biotechnologically sourced pigments into eco-friendly textile digital printing workflows.

The development of bio-based inks represents a promising strategy to reduce the environmental impact of digital printing technologies. This study investigates the formulation and performance of water-based inks incorporating two renewable pigments: a fermentation-derived indigo pigment and a plant-extracted yellow pigment. Special attention was given to dispersion optimization of the poorly water-soluble indigo pigment. Extended mechanical dispersion (115 h in a ball mill) proved critical to achieve colloidal stability, enabling the preparation of inks that met standard rheological and physicochemical criteria for inkjet printing with piezoelectric printheads. Both inks were applied on a variety of substrates, including cotton, polyester, leather, and kraft paper, pre-treated, in the case of the textiles, with either a cationic biopolymer or a synthetic polyurethane-based binder. Colorimetric evaluation confirmed effective deposition and uniformity, with the indigo ink producing deep blue hues and superior overall fastness than the yellow ink, particularly in washing and rubbing tests. The yellow pigment ink showed good stability but once applied to the fabric, the resulting print exhibited poor fastness, particularly against light exposure, indicating limited durability of the coloration on the textile. Shelf-life analysis of the indigo ink revealed a decline in viscosity and surface tension over time, though the colour and particle size remained stable, particularly under room temperature conditions. These findings confirm the potential of fermentation-derived indigo as a robust bio-based alternative to synthetic dyes and its superior performance in relation to other nature extracted pigments, which, although facilitating ink preparation due to their higher water solubility, result in lower-fastness prints.

The textile industry is progressively shifting towards more sustainable solutions, particularly in the field of printing technologies. This study reports the development and evaluation of water-based pigment inks formulated with bio-based pigments derived from intermediates produced via bacterial fermentation. Two pigments — indigo (blue) and quinacridone (red) — were incorporated into ink formulations and applied on cotton and polyester fabrics through valve-jet inkjet printing (ChromoJet). The physical properties of the inks were analysed to ensure compatibility with the equipment, and printed fabrics were assessed as to their colour fastness to washing, rubbing, artificial weathering and artificial light. The results highlight the good performance of the bio-based inks, with excellent light and weathering fastness and satisfactory wash and rub resistance. The effect of different pre-treatments, including a biopolymer and a synthetic binder, was also investigated. Notably, the biopolymer pre-treatment enhanced pigment fixation on cotton, while the synthetic binder improved wash fastness on polyester. These findings support the integration of biotechnologically sourced pigments into eco-friendly textile digital printing workflows.