5 materials you probably wouldn't expect in fashion
Rubber, paper, wood: Fashion doesn't need to stick to the usual suspects. Here are five unexpected materials that are used to make clothes and accessories.
Rubber bags
Instead of letting the inner tubes of bicycles, motorbikes or trucks evaporate into smoke at an incineration plant, the Berlin designer and passionate motorcyclist Katja Werner upcycles this resistant and durable material into bags and cases for glasses or cell phones. The curves of the rubber tubes predetermine the shapes of her models.
Paper dresses
The shapes of these dresses are created through intricate folds. The designer Jule Waibel needs over 10 hours and three meters (10 feet) of paper for a short dress. Although it might not survive a rainstorm, the design definitely attracts the eye. Waibel has also started using her folded designs on materials suited to everyday wear.
Fire hose accessories
A fire hose can withstand about 20 times more pressure than a car tire, so these bags designed by Kerstin Klockow and Kai Rudat are more than ready to face everyday wear and tear - though the sewing machines also have to withstand the resistant material. They have designed different bags - and even the occasional corset.
Wooden purse
Cross the professions of carpenter and model and you'll get a designer who creates fashion with wood: The South Tyrolean Norbert Öttl elaborately saws, bends and glues wood to create his luxury handbags, briefcases and trolley suitcases, as well as elegant clutch bags that have made their way to the world's most glamorous catwalks.
Milk garments
Cleopatra already knew it: Milk is good for the skin. The microbiologist and designer from Hanover Anke Domaske turns leftover milk residues into fibers for the apparel industry, creating entirely natural material. She won a Gründerpreis (founder's prize) for the concept in 2010, and since then, her unusual idea has become a real and sustainable business.