New York homeware brand Buffy has launched a comforter made entirely of eucalyptus pulp, reducing its ecological footprint while also making it suitable for vegans.
The Breeze duvet uses the natural eucalyptus wood pulp for its case, stuffing and threading, meaning it is fully biodegradable. This simple plant-based formula also means it uses no animal products, so is vegan-friendly.
The product is designed to be soft and breathable, but also to regulate temperature, resulting in a comfortable sleep.
Buffy is the brainchild of Leo Wang, whose family has been producing textiles in China for decades. The brand launched in 2017 with the Cloud comforter, which combines eucalyptus fibre with an inner made from recycled plastic bottles.
Breeze is its second product, but is the first fully plant-based design.
The Eucalyptus pulp is sourced from Lenzing, Austria. Here, pulp is spun and bound into yarn to make the exterior and thread for the comforter, while the fill is made from loose eucalyptus fibres.
The materials are then shipped to China, where the quilt is cut, sewn and assembled at partner mills of the Wang family.
"When you take the pulp and turn it into a liquid, you can make a fibre of any shape you please," Wang told Dezeen. "We chose to model it on perfect silk fibre."
One of the ecological benefits of using eucalyptus is that it requires 10 times less water than cotton.
Buffy claims to have helped conserve over 100,000,000 gallons of water to date, by using a significantly less resource-intensive material.
"Traditionally comforters, bedding and textiles, in general, are not very sustainably made and they eat up an incredible amount of source footprint, particularly in the form of water," Wang said.
"It is about 90 per cent less water-intensive to cultivate," he said.
The brand also claims the eucalyptus fabric is naturally softer than cotton, as well as being antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory.
"If you pluck out one of the fibres from our comforters and put it under a microscope, you'll see that it has no strange irregularities or coarseness," said Wang. "That's what makes it so soft."
The product offers an alternative to traditional vegan bedding, which is often made from polyester, instead of the feathers of slaughtered birds. It is lightened with a chlorine-free bleach, decreasing the number of toxins emitted.
A wavy stitch pattern is added to prevent fibres from clumping together – a common problem in gridded comforters. The pattern helps to give the duvet greater structural integrity, while also referencing a form found in nature.
Breeze by Buffy comes in three sizes for twin, queen and king beds.
It is the latest in a series of vegan products to launch, as designers increasingly try to make their work cruelty-free.
Other recent plant-based designs include shoes made from pineapple leaf fibres and palm leather rugs.
Photography is courtesy of Buffy.
The post Buffy uses eucalyptus fibres to create biodegradable and vegan-friendly bedding appeared first on Dezeen.
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