At Patine, we have innovation and curiosity as our driving forces. The change in parameters and the complexity of outcomes linked to the environment and the evolution of society require us to be agile and to constantly innovate. However, changing alone is not enough, so our mission is also to share our advances with the sector so that more people can benefit from it and exchange knowledge, always with humility because we are not inventing THE new recipe. but one recipe among others.

In February 2022, we launched the Donna jean: a spandex-free stretch jean. This is a major innovation because the overwhelming majority of jeans worldwide contain elastane, a synthetic fiber composed of “at least 85% segmental polyurethane, a non-biodegradable molecule derived from petroleum”

(source :Wedressfair). The blend of cotton and elastane contained in “traditional” stretch jeans cannot be recycled, does not biodegrade and releases plastic microparticles with each wash which then end up polluting the oceans. Making stretch jeans without elastane is therefore an important innovation: we owe it to our Italian denim partner who, after 4 years of R&D, patented this very first 100% biodegradable stretch technology in the world called Coreva.



Coreva™ stretch yarn is made from organic cotton wrapped around a core of GOTS-certified natural gum, itself extracted from trees found in Thailand and Malaysia. Its manufacturing process uses 100% renewable energy and does not involve any chemical components dangerous to the environment or health. Once manufactured, Coreva™ stretch denim fabric has the same elastic properties as elastane but does not contain any plastic material and above all, it is 100% biodegradable and compostable. Tests carried out by our partner (tests carried out at Innovhub following the criteria of EU Standard EN 13432) show that Coreva™ stretch denim decomposes in less than 6 months without releasing toxic materials, plastics or microplastics and compost that it generates has fertilizing effects for the soil. It is therefore an innovation designed over the entire life cycle of the fiber, in a circular manner.

Because wool firstly poses a problem in animal breeding: the overwhelming majority of specialized farms are located in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Much too far for the carbon footprint we want to leave, not local enough, and operating conditions too obscure. Then, the carbon emissions linked to the manufacture of a sweater which are far too high due to intensive breeding, and which thus causes the impoverishment of the soil. This is without mentioning the issues of animal abuse, which are often difficult to trace because the wool passes through numerous intermediaries from the breeding stage, shearing, cleaning, carding, spinning, dyeing, lifting, etc. All these operations are managed by companies. different and located throughout the world.



In short, making a beautiful sweater that does the least possible harm to the planet is very complicated. After a lot of research, meetings and late nights in front of tables of "pros and cons", we made the choice in 2018 to develop a recycled wool sweater project knitted locally to limit its footprint as much as possible. A profitable choice in terms of CO2 savings but extremely complicated to develop!



Only the mesh (Patina) suits me



We thought we could achieve it in 2019 with recycled cashmere which looked sublime but did not pass our quality tests. The yarn wasn't finished enough and the sweater was aging too quickly. Ecology cannot function without quality, since the real clothes are the ones we keep. We had to start all over again.



In 2023, we finally released the Wooly!