Developing Fish Skin as a sustainable raw material for the fashion industry

Project Information

FISHSkin

Grant agreement ID: 823943

DOI

10.3030/823943

Project closed

EC signature date 26 October 2018

Start date 1 February 2019

End date 31 January 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 552 000,00

EU contribution

€ 552 000,00

Coordinated by

SHENKAR ENGINEERING.DESIGN.ART (PBC)
Israel

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FISHSkin (Developing Fish Skin as a sustainable raw material for the fashion industry)

Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2024-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Global production of fish has been steadily increasing over the last decade and is expected to continue. Aquaculture has grown substantially over recent years, and it is an economic development in remote areas where alternative employment is limited. However, more than 50% of the total fish capture remaining material is not used as food, resulting in almost 32 million tons of waste. A substantial amount of this waste is the skin of the fish; only a neglected percentage of these skins is processed into leather although the knowledge exists. Fish waste management has been a problem; to date, the European Environment Protection agency allows seafood processors to dispose fish skins in marine waters, this is expected to change as the decomposing organic waste can suck up available oxygen from marine species or introduce disease to the local ecosystem. Consequently, a technology for sustainable processing of fish leather at an industrial scale can be of great environmental benefit as well as economical profit. This RISE project aims to achieve this goal by forming a group of academics and industry professionals from the entire possible value chain related to fish skin in order to study ancient traditions, learn from existing state of the art practices and develop new technologies while addressing specific challenges that will arise from augmenting the use of fish skin leather for the fashion industry. These challenges include:
• Maintaining a balanced fish population
• Keeping the environment clean by creating non-toxic tanning methods for fish skin
• Demonstrating the use, value and sustainability aspects of fish skin leather compared with exotic leather and other possible alternatives
• Elevating the quality and range of finishes of fish skin in non-polluting techniques; and:
• Helping the fashion industry assimilate and accept this raw material according to its high standard and desirable qualities

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. Learning about the state of the art of aquaculture – work included collecting information, visiting facilities and documenting the information. Identifying potential research areas for the RISE project included: identifying chemical components in algae that would be relevant for leather tanning and processing, documenting growth protocols that might change for the inclusion of fish skin as a valuable by product of fish aquaculture, identifying new relevant fish types, data relating to energy and material consumption for material flow analysis purposes.
2. Learning about traditional vegetable tanning processes through hands-on practical experimentation. Documentation of the process, documentation of the materials involved including recipes, amounts and sourcing possibilities.
3. Performing preliminary material tests with an emphasis on surface manipulation using traditional techniques for leather finishing:
a. Dying attempts– with local natural dyes from Iceland, traditional silk dyes from Japan, Indigo and Shibori dyeing techniques.
b. Laser cutting
c. Embossing
d. Gold leaf application
e. Digital printing – inkjet
f. Adhesion between separate pieces of leather
4. Performing preliminary material tests with an emphasis on 3D form making and pattern making for various possible applications using existing fish leather pieces:
a. Garments
b. Swimwear
c. Accessories – bags
5. Preliminary tests for connecting remnant pieces, small scraps, from the production process (as opposed to complete whole skins) and integrating them together into a continuous usable surface using various artistic manipulations, adhesion techniques and layering.
6. Conducting initial chemical and physical characterization tests for existing commercially produced fish skins
7. Preliminary data collection for the purpose of working on a material flow diagram for fish skin production. Work included interviews, data collection and visual documentation.
8. Initial digital scanning of fish skins and integration of the scans in existing 2D and 3D software

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

1) Using traditional state of the art tanning techniques used in processing exotic leather for the tanning and dying fish skins – preliminary results achieved
2) Development of transparent flexible surfaces using gelatin extract from fish and fish leather production waste and algae extracts – initial results produced in lab scale tests
3) Surface treatment of fish leather for achieving hydrophilic properties using natural and sustainable processes – initial results produced at lab scale tests
4) Initial digital scanning of fish skin vertex outlines for the purpose of developing 2D automatic distribution and nesting strategy designated specifically for the challenges of the size and geometry of fish skins.
5) Documentation of intangible cultural heritage practices related to fish skin : ancient traditions shared by Artic communities historically settled on rivers and coasts - Yup’ik and Athabascan (Alaska and Canada); the Nivkh and Nanai peoples (Siberia); the Ainu (Japan); the Hezhe (China); and the Icelanders.
6) Material flow analysis for the use of fish skins for the production of leather
7) Completing a comprehensive portfolio exemplifying techniques for dying and finishing for fish skins

Dying experiments

Digital print made as part of a fishskin bag design

Industrial fishskin tanning process: stretching the skins before drying

Process balance for LCA

Indigo dying for a clutch

Waterproof surface treatment development

Variety of fishskin samples

Learning the traditional fishskin tanning craft