The Latest in Fashion Design: Corn Clothing?

by Joe Cooper
joe.cooper@fashiondesignschoolreview.com
Fashion Design School Review Columnist

Who'd have thought the small town of Benson, MN, would produce an innovation in fashion design? Using natural resources and a little creativity, a local fashion design company has thought of something brand new.

Future Products Incorporates, a fashion company based in Benson, MN, has launched a clothing line made from not cotton, or silk, or polyester -- but corn. It's called "Renew Apparel," and has been pretty successful so far in Benson.

The corn is harvested and made into fabric in Nebraska. It's made by transforming kernels of corn into tiny beads. These beads are then pressed to form a thread. The threads are made into fabric, then sent to Benson.

Future Products boasts that the new corn clothing line feels like cotton, behaves like higher-tech fabrics, and doesn't wrinkle or shrink. And the best part is -- it doesn't smell like corn!

Corn Clothing is Eco-Friendly

Another source of pride for the owners of Future Products is that the manufacturing of their corn clothing line leads to the production of around 50% less gases that are harmful to the environment than that of other synthetic fabrics. The fashion company also advertises the clothing line as being biodegradable, breaking down into carbon dioxide and water once thrown away.

Creative Fashion

Future Products' latest innovation goes to show that you don't have to design $500 handbags or celebrity gowns to be successful in fashion. Future Products makes casual clothing, targeting a more relaxed fashion market.

Being educated through a fashion program is the best way to gain the functional background you need, allowing you to put your creativity -- farm-based or not -- to work.

Sources
WCCO

About the Author
Joe Cooper writes fashion and design articles and edits medical literature. He holds a bachelor's in American Literature from UCLA.

Posted on April 28, 2006 at 11:29 AM