Vérabuccia ®, from waste vegetable peel to material

Published on: 9 months agoAuthor: Teo Sandigliano

Vérabuccia ® was born from the idea of the designer and entrepreneur Francesca Nori, an intuition had in 2017, following the observation of some waste vegetable peels including that of pineapple, a by-product that originates from consumption and generates disposal problems for industries and the environment.

The annual production of pineapple for the food industry is estimated at around 30 million tons of which only 30% is used. The remaining 70%, including peels, is waste (Fresh Plaza 2022). Italy is the fourth-largest importer in Europe with a vast and growing processing of fresh-cut and fifth-range products. Furthermore, climate change is modifying our (Italian) agriculture, opening up to the cultivation of tropical fruits (e.g. pineapples) in areas such as the Amalfi Coast and Sicily. Added to this factor is the growing unsustainability of the fashion industry which has led more and more Maison to notice the interest of consumers in new materials and products of plant origin, which guarantee, in addition to respect for the environment, the indispensable aesthetic component.

Inventiveness and desire to experiment led Francesca to create the first collection of accessories, “Fruit Leather”, which paraded in 2017 in Alta Roma among the talents selected by the Academy of Costume & Fashion. Supported by her family, after graduation she invested her savings to give concrete voice to the project; at the end of 2017 she validated the idea together with an Italian chemical company, she reached the first results of the material (AnanasseTM) and an innovative production process. In 2018 she filed the patent, which was then extended to an international PCT. While the designer followed the validation of further processing techniques to diversify the texture of the material, with the help of Fabrizio Moiani the first production machines were born. This is how Vérabuccia ® started, in 2020.

AnanasseTM, the first material of Vérabuccia ®. Starting from the enhancement of one of the pineapple fruit waste and imagining a new economy, the first result is called AnanasseTM. A new material alternative, intended for high-end brands (fashion & design) and comparable in terms of tactile sensation and performance to the animal skin of a reptile, but which unlike traditional material has better social, ethical and environmental costs. AnanasseTM is flexible, soft, robust and can be pierced, sewn and colored in various shades.

The recovery of the peel, even before it becomes waste to be disposed of, avoids the production of greenhouse gases generated by the fermentation process. On the other hand, the ability to work on the enhancement of the entire natural element (the peel) avoids the introduction of substrates of other substances such as PVC or PU. The duo is working to achieve the goal of being able to enter today’s circular economy as well as being able to introduce Vérabuccia ® to the fashion and design sector and later introduce additional materials of the same typology as AnanasseTM.

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