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Plants & Fashion

Everything we wear depends on plants somewhere along the line.

Some are very obvious. Cotton is spun from the fibres attached to the seeds of the cotton plant. Linen is made from the woven fibres of the stems of the flax plant.

Some are not so obvious. Silk comes from silk worms. But silk worms eat only the leaves of the white mulberry tree and without this plant, the silk industry would not exist.

And you only have to look at a field of cows or sheep grazing on lush, green grass to find the source of wool and leather!

But what about man-made fibres? Well, fabrics such as acrylic and polyester are made from processes that have crude oil as a raw material. Crude oil is formed from the compression over millions of years of tiny marine animals and plants!

Plants have also played an important role in the colour and design of fabric. Blue jeans owe their colour to a plant called indigo, and fabric designers from Laura Ashley to Orla Kiely and Kenzo have used plants as inspiration.

See the top 10 plants that we think have made the biggest difference to this category.