Vegan puffer coat is stuffed with flowers

A new vegan, cruelty-free puffer coat uses a stuffing developed from flowers, biopolymer and an aerogel made from paper

Spotted: Clothing brand, Pangaia, has developed a puffer coat which uses flowers as an alternative to tradition duck or goose down stuffing. The vegan coat instead uses Flower Down, which is derived from fibrous wildflowers.

To create the stuffing, Pangaia combines the wildflowers, which are shredded and combined with a biopolymer made from vegetable waste, with aerogel, a non-toxic porous solid foam made of 85 per cent paper. The result is durable thermal insulation as warm as most high-end feather down jackets.  The company claims that jackets made with Flower Down will keep the wearer warm in temperatures as low as minus-20 degrees celsius.

The wildflowers used are not farmed but are grown in a process that involves ecosystem recovery and preservation. The flowers do not require any external irrigation when grown and utilise habitat restoration to conserve a species of local butterflies.

The Flower Down manufacturing process creates a water repellent filling that is completely biodegradable, and the shell is made from 100 per cent recycled polyester.

As awareness continues to grow of the huge environmental cost of fashion, manufacturers have begun creating plant-based alternatives to animal and fossil-fuel-based products such as leather and polyester. Recent innovations in this space have included a raincoat made entirely of algae and leather made from cactus.