Mississippi State students model clothing made from cotton-kenaf blends. The jacket and cap at left and the jeans at right are made with fabrics resulting from textile research at the university.
It's a relative of okra whose fibers yield strong and durable rope.
Now, two Mississippi State researchers say the fibers they've derived from kenaf—a plant native to Africa—can produce clothing that could grace the pages of some of the nation's most popular fashion magazines.
And they have the garments to prove it. Gita Ramaswamy and Catherine Boyd of Mississippi State's home economics department have produced kenaf-cotton blends that have been made into vests, jeans, jackets, and caps, among other items.
They hope the results of their work will be textiles that can be commercially produced and marketed.
Kenaf fibers are strong and resist mildew and rotting, the two researchers said. Fabric made with kenaf also has a luster that makes it attractive for apparel use and it can be economically competitive with cotton.
Ramaswamy and Boyd are part of a research group in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station investigating the commercial viability of kenaf for Mississippi farmers. Kenaf grows well in tropical climates. The bark yields a naturally strong fiber that is popular around the world for making ropes.
Since 1989, nearly 20 Mississippi State researchers have been exploring the opportunities kenaf could offer Mississippi. Using plants grown in the Mississippi Delta, they have studied kenaf's row crop potential and uses for the plant's fiber and discarded parts.
As a result of the research, two companies have located in Mississippi, one making a kenaf product that can be used for sod and one producing animal bedding and absorbent products.
Ramaswamy and Boyd, meanwhile, have worked to develop a value-added product from kenaf's outer bark. Using a separator designed by Mississippi State agricultural engineer Lung-Hua Chen, they were able to de-core the plant while it was still green.
Their first challenge was developing a process to separate fibers from the long green ribbons the process yielded. They found that a low-concentrate alkali-acid treatment would create no environmental problems and would allow them to extract quality fibers.
"Once fibers were extracted, our next challenge was determining how to use them," said Boyd. "We wanted a good domestic fabric. That required that we make it soft enough to be blended with cotton."
They decided to mechanically soften fibers using a wool carder. "This worked beautifully because it required no processing," Ramaswamy said. When they did larger scale tests at USDA's Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans, they were able to use a large mechanical carder.
Ramaswamy and Boyd knew that their fibers would have to be woven on a cotton-processing system, designed for the short cotton fiber. Kenaf, which has a much longer fiber, was combined with cotton and made into a yarn. In early tests, the yarns were knit into jersey.
"We also sent fibers to local spinners, who made fabrics by hand. So we thought we could also weave the fibers by machine," Boyd said.
About a year ago, they began experimenting with woven fibers. After a number of experiments spinning kenaf/cotton fibers, they had several kinds of yarn. The yarn was then woven on a regular 60-inch loom using the kenaf/cotton blend in the crosswise direction and cotton in the lengthwise.
"We have developed two kinds of weaves because we want to meet the needs both for apparel and industrial uses," Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy and Boyd also are developing nonwoven fabrics. They have done preliminary work to select the products for larger scale production. Possible industrial uses for nonwoven kenaf products include wallcovering backings, furniture underlays and disposable shoe covers for medical and other purposes.
"We've shown that kenaf can produce what we believe is a commercially viable textile," Boyd said. "We'd like to see a commercial investment that can lead to a new opportunity and a new product for Mississippi."
They are forming a coalition between the textile industry and Mississippi State to take the product to the next step of commercialization.
This World Wide Web version of MSU Memo was modified and updated by Chris Brown.
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Last modified: Friday, 14-Jun-2002 15:59:05 CDT.
URL: http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/msu_memo/1995/7-10-95/kenaf.htm
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