Nettle & cypress fabric

Company Grado Zero Espace developed blended fabrics containing stinging nettle and cypress fibre.

Thanks to a special procedure, the cypress is turned into yarn with a count of 36/1 and containing 38% of cypress fibre. The yarn is turned in a mixed fabric containing 50% cotton, which has the same anti-bacterial, anti-mould, relaxing, deodorising properties of the cypress yarn. Specific tests, performed by a qualified external laboratory following the UNI EN ISO 20645, proved the antibacterial efficiency of a Cypress/Cotton fabric against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, with a reduction of the bacterial growth up to 60% and 85%, respectively.

The fabrics made with nettle fibres are a useful alternative to the use of other natural fibres such as hemp, linen and cotton, and will play an increasingly important role in the years to come. The nettle fibres have a special feature: thanks to their hollow structure, they are natural thermal insulators. The stinging nettle is a perennial plant that thrives in highly nitrogenous and fertilised soils, making it a viable solution that could create a new scene in Central Europe. Nettles are resistant to diseases and pests (being themselves a weed), so they do not need harmful chemical treatments and, growing undisturbed, can also host more than 40 species of insects, some of which (such as the Red Admiral and the larva of Small Turtle Shell) are entirely dependent on this plant for their survival. The fabric shown on the photos is a denim blend of 50 per cent nettle yarn and 50 per cent cotton.