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Biodegradable and carbon neutral textiles, engineered from food waste.
ALT TEX is a Toronto-based biomaterials startup that has developed the world’s first biodegradable and carbon neutral fabric, engineered from the world’s largest landfill contributor - food waste. Polyester alone makes up 60% of the $2.5 trillion fashion industry and is the biggest blocker preventing brands from meeting sustainability mandates. The patent-pending ALT TEX fermentation technology creates a polyester alternative that works with the existing infrastructure to supply a sustainable, high performance and cost competitive polyester replacement to fashion brands, at scale. The product solves key problems for fashion brands, consumers, and the environment: (1) Fashion brands: ALT TEX sells fabric to fashion brands, allowing them to differentiate via sustainable options (sustainable fashion growing 11% CAGR) and hit sustainability targets, without sacrificing performance or changing their current supply chain. (2) Consumer: The ALT TEX fabric is projected to be half the price vs. other specialized sustainable alternatives (due to low-cost input and scalability), meaning greater accessibility. (3) Environment: A single shirt produced with ALT TEX fabric can divert 1 kg of food waste from landfills, 9 kg of carbon emissions from the air, and 4 g of micro-plastics from our waterways. Co-founders Myra and Avneet have worked together managing teams and projects for six years, with backgrounds in serial entrepreneurship, corporate sales at Fortune 500 companies, textile manufacturing and biochemistry. To date, ALT TEX has created their first fabric prototype that’s 70% stronger than cotton, secured $1M in LOIs and raised $2.3M.
ALT TEX creates biodegradable and carbon-neutral textiles by converting food waste into a bioplastic fiber that can be melt-extruded like polyester. Their process aims to provide performance similar to synthetic textiles while reducing environmental impact.
ALT TEX uses a patent-pending food-to-fabric technology to reengineer food waste into a bioplastic fiber. The resulting polymer behaves like polyester and is melt extruded, delivering mechanical benefits such as high durability and versatility for textile applications. The material is designed to be biodegradable in industrial digestors and carbon-neutral due to landfill-emission capture and a manufacturing process that uses significantly less energy than traditional polyester production.
Who it’s for: Apparel brands and fabric manufacturers seeking sustainable, high-performance, biodegradable textile materials produced from waste streams
mentions of media coverage and partnerships; a focus on research and commercialization suggests early traction and ongoing outreach
Hey, I'm Myra - Co-founder and CEO of ALT TEX. Coming from a family background in textile manufacturing, I'm disrupting the $2.5 trillion fashion industry with better and more sustainable materials. Prior to ALT TEX, I held corporate roles in sales and marketing at Fortune 500 companies, before founding fluidic – a direct to consumer lifestyle brand. Prior to fluidic, I built FarmBox, a Hult Prize backed, AI micro-farming technology that enabled food sustainability in refugee camps.
Hi, I'm Avneet - Co-founder and CTO of ALT TEX. I left medical school to build ALT TEX. With education and research background in biochemistry & environmental science, I lead the R&D behind ALT TEX’s food waste to fabric mission. Prior to medical school & ALT TEX, I founded Approaching Zero, a non-profit dedicated to reducing plastic pollution through production of reusable cotton produce bags. Continuing that vision, I am now building a global solution for fashion's polyester pollution.
Biodegradable, carbon neutral, cost competitive and high performance fabrics, engineered from the world’s largest landfill contributor - food waste.
ALT TEX develops a fabric made from food waste as a biodegradable, carbon-neutral polyester alternative. It targets fashion brands seeking sustainable materials and consumers, promising lower cost than other sustainable options while plugging into the existing polyester supply chain; claims include cradle-to-cradle capabilities and environmental benefits per shirt.
From the original launch (Aug 2022) — may be outdated.
Decarbonizing the fashion industry
Makes guilt-free plastics from food waste
