Materials
High-quality products require high-quality materials.
All of our materials come from renewable raw and recycled materials, regardless of whether it is a biodegradable leather substitute or a sustainable fabric. We want to create the best possible products without causing unnecessary damage to the environment. Nafilia does this by taking up the challenges of sustainable development and providing materials for creating and maintaining a sustainable world
In the age of global conservation, we are currently witnessing a change in our lifestyle. At Nafilia, our focus goes beyond the origin or aesthetics of materials. We understand their true value within a greater holistic narrative, with sustainability driving all aspects of the process — from production, application through to distribution. Below, you can learn more about all the materials that we are working with.
Discover our sustainable riding equipment
Piñatex®
Piñatex® is an innovative material made from waste pineapple leaf fibre, a by-product of existing agriculture. The material is natural, sustainably-sourced and cruelty free.
As the second most consumed fruit in the world, pineapples are harvested by chopping the fruit from its base of leaves. Typically those leaves have no value and are burned or left to break down.
Instead, Ananas Anam, the company that creates Piñatex®, pays pineapple farmers in the Philippines for the leaves, generating an additional source of income for these farming communities
The fibres are extracted from the leaves through a process called decortication, which is done at the plantation by the farming community. The fibres then undergo an industrial process to become a non-woven textile, which is the base of the material. The final step is finishing the fabric which is done by a company in Spain.
Desserto®
At the end of 2019, Mexican startup, Desserto® succeeded in producing a leather-like fabric from the local nopal cactus. The nopal cactus is used in Mexican cosmetics as well as in Mexican cuisine. It needs little water and is a very sustainable material due to its regional distribution.
For the production of the vegetative leather, Desserto® applies the nopal fibers to cotton. The label states that the leather substitute is durable and breathable for up to ten years: another advantage over synthetic leather.
In 2020 Desserto® received both the Green Product Award for material and the sustainability award at the Monte-Carlo Fashion Week for the cactus leather. This material from Desserto® is used in making our leather riding boots, halters, and other leather equestrian products. Therefore, our products are of the highest quality and are safe for humans, animals and environment.
Vegea
VEGEA is an innovative material characterized by the high content of vegetal, renewable, and recycled raw materials: grape leftovers from winemaking, vegetal oils, and natural fibers from agriculture.
The result of this a biomaterial for furniture, fashion, and equestrian products. We also use this material for making some of our products.
VEGEA started in Milan in 2016 and sought to bridge the gap between agriculture and technology for the production of sustainable and eco-friendly products. The company also opted for the use of renewable resources over conventional fossil fuels. As a result, it has embodied a sustainable and ethical production system, a value that aligns perfectly with Nafilia’s.
Hemp
Cannabis sativa (the industrial hemp plant) is by nature very robust and resistant, even against insect infestation or plant diseases. Therefore, no insecticides or pesticides are required for their cultivation.
Since hemp grows extremely quickly and also extremely dense, leaving hardly any light to the ground and so little room for additional plants to grow, no herbicides have to be used – neither chemical nor biological, in contrast to cotton, for example, whether organically grown or not.
The advantage of hemp textile compared to other materials is the relative robustness of the starting fiber, which allows many embroidery forms. Hemp has special skin-climatic properties. Its fibers naturally regulate temperature.
These properties make hemp probably the most residue-free, untreated (raw) material on the market and the perfect companion for horses, especially as winter and sweat rugs.
AppleSkin™
Appleskin™ is a vegan and cruelty-free bio-based leather alternative.
This natural waste product, grown for the food industry, in the region of Bolzano in Northern Italy, is used to substitute other raw materials of chemical origin in the product, lowering the emissions and consumption of energy through the entire product chain.
Appleskin™ was founded in 2009 with the idea to provide a sustainable material with high technical specifications, composed up to 50 % of retrieved industrial waste that would have been otherwise destroyed with all annexed costs and damages to the environment.