Pina fibre: wonder yarn
Faisal Mahmud
In November last year, at the 21 APEC, one of US President Barak Obamas dresses made the headlines in fashion magazines.
It was a beautiful barong tagalog, a partially see-through, embroidered shirt sewn from pineapple fibre and silk.
Pineapple silk has long been produced in the Philippines and has been considered one of the finest products of the island nation. As far back as in 1996, during the APEC summit held in the Philippines, world leaders donned barong tagalog during the group photo.
A version of that barong tagalog or pineapple silk is now being produced in Bangladesh with pineapple produced in Srimongol, thanks to the entrepreneurial mindset of Dawood Farhan and his daughter, Umaima Jahan Dawood, who have brought this gourmet couture to Bangladesh.
Innovative partnership
Dawood Farhan is the managing director of the Fiber Resource Center (FRC) Bangladesh. He has travelled all over the country and visited many places abroad for various official purposes throughout his life and has been a pioneer in many fields in the agriculture, poultry and livestock areas.
Talking to The Independent, he said he first saw the beautiful pineapple silk in the Philippines. It was a wonderful fabric. Transparent, silky and very classy. It was not only beautiful to look at, but also very comfortable to wear.
I got very curious when I learned that it was made from pineapple waste. I immediately thought of producing the fabric in Bangladesh. Pineapple, as you know, is grown in abundance in the Modhupur, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet area of Bangladesh. I thought if such fabric can be made in the Philippines, why not here!
After that, his innovative nature and extensive knowledge of history led him to find ways to make yarn from pineapple. His personal research led him to meet the then and present day chief of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), David Hall, at a conference.
The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a North American relief, service, community development and peace agency, was, at that point, conducting its own extensive research into this topic and was looking for a like-minded individual who would lead this project commercially and also generate employment in the tribal areas and in the community of deprived and sexually exploited women.
Farhan has always supported the concept of creating employment opportunities for all, especially those who are deprived and exploited socially.
The two ideas met and merged, and FRC Bangladesh was born.
Pina fibre
For making Pina fibre, the outer, long leaves of the pineapple are preferred. In the manual process, they are first decorticated by beating and rasping and stripping, and then left to ret in water, to which chemicals may be added to accelerate the activity of the microorganisms that digest the unwanted tissue and separate the fibres.
Retting time has been reduced from five days to 26 hours. The retted material is washed clean, dried in the sun and combed.
Estimating 10 leaves to the lb (22 per kg), 22,000 leaves would constitute one tonne and would yield 5060 lbs (2227 kg) of fibre.
Farhan said making Pina cloth is a delicate process, as it is hand-loomed by only a few weavers, and is very precious and scarce, which also makes it expensive.
The major end use of Pina fibre is the Barong Tagalong, wedding dresses and other traditional Filipino formal apparel, he said, adding that it is also used for table linens, mats, bags and other clothing items.
Because it is lightweight but stiff, this sheer fabric can be used in any creative design. There are few clothing items more beautiful than those made from pineapple.
The traditional decoration for this fabric is a style of hand embroidery called calado. An embroidered pia garment is called pia calado. These hand-woven fabrics are coloured with vegetable dyes originating from the leaves and bark of different trees.
When asked whether pineapple yarn is as good as cotton, Dawood Farhan explained: It is a different material, so it is quite difficult, almost impossible, to compare these.
Pina, in its own place, is a very high-grade material and produces fabulous materials and yarn. And has a fantastic look and feel to it, in addition to being environmentally and skin-friendly.
Breezy silky fabrics
Pina fibre is often blended with cotton, abaca, and silk to create wonderful light, breezy fabrics. When woven with silk, it is called pina seda or pina silk. Pina jusi is blended with jusi (abaca or silk) for strength and sheerness and is less expensive than 100 per cent pina.
Umaima Jahan Dawood said they currently produce FRC Pina Silk, FRC Pina Cotton and FRC Pina Cotton/Silk.
Yes, this is made of pineapple, she replied when this correspondent enquired about the beautiful fine, transparent golden scarf that she was wearing at the time of their meeting.
Yes, we have made some clothes, which we have worn to many events, both daywear and evening wear! Well be making these available for all very soon.
Umaima Dawood said it is environmentally friendly apparel, a product that is used up completely and does not leave any negative footprint.
With time, consumers have become very conscious, which is great news for all of us. At the same time, consumers are also very fashion-conscious. With a fabric like thisall natural and so versatile in its usesthe prospects are many. Many styles, many uses, many benefits.
Umaima said it is a new concept in Bangladesh, so people will take some time to understand it better.
But once they do, and also know of the manifold benefits to society at large, we know they will be as excited about and interested in the FRC pina fabric and products, if not more.
About the marketing strategy for this cloth, Umaima said they want the people of Bangladesh to know that this product is coming from their own country, being made by their own people, and needs to be worn and promoted by its people as well.
