Startup produces textiles made from potato harvest waste

Fibe, a London, England-based materials science startup, has created fibers and yarn made from potato harvest waste using its patent-pending fiber-extraction technology.

The fibers give new life to potato harvest waste, including stems and leaves, that is inedible. The fibers have similar properties to cotton and polyester, with a diameter close to cotton, and outperform bast fibers such as hemp and linen. This allows them to
be used in a variety of applications, from heavy canvas to lightweight clothing.

Fibe’s patent-pending technology removes fibers from agricultural waste without chemicals and requires less water than extracting cotton. The technology shows the potential to be useful in taking out fibers from other waste streams and can improve hemp and linen extraction.

Founded in 2022 by Hazel Gonda, David Prior Hope, Idan Gal-Shohet and Premal Gadhia, the company aims to bridge the sustainable textile industry and the potato farming industry for mutual benefit. For example, once commercialized, Fibe plans to compensate potato farmers for the waste to make the industry more profitable.

“We are aiming to create an alternative that looks like conventional fibers, feels like conventional fibers and would one day cost the same as these fibers, all with substantial environmental saving and promoting staple-food production,” says Gal-Shohet, CEO and co-founder of Fibe.

In July, Fibe won the 2024 Fashion District Manufacturing Futures Innovation Challenge, where the company was awarded £15,000 ($19,556) to grow its business. Fibe has also received multiple Innovate UK grants totaling £785,000 ($1,023,456). In April, the company closed its pre-seed investment round of a million euros, which was led by Tin Shed Ventures, Patagonia’s corporate venture arm.