Italian researchers are seeking to combat the greenhouse effect by developing clothing textiles made from the fibres of homegrown stinging nettles and hemp.
Textile experts at the National Research Council (CNR) in Florence, along with four clothing firms from nearby Prato, have already come up with a range of jackets, skirts, trousers and made-to-measure suits.
The point of the project is firstly to promote textiles produced locally so as to eliminate all the environmental damage caused by the transportation of cheap cotton from Asia.
Every ton of clothing fabric imported from the Far East has an impact on the planet's atmosphere that is eight times higher than it would be if the cloth were produced locally, said CNR researcher Giampiero Maracchi.
"Throughout the world we need to transport fewer goods. This means we have to think about cultivating things locally so as to fight the greenhouse effect".
But there is also another point to the research project.
"We want to bring back some of the textiles that were used in the past, such as those made from stinging nettles, broom, hemp and linen and also wool from native sheep," Maracchi continued.
"These clothes don't cause allergies, they let the skin breathe better and are very comfortable to wear," he said, adding that many skin irritations can be linked to pesticides used in the mass cultivation of cotton abroad.
The Italian project is organised around two hectares of land near Prato, where the new crops from which textiles can be made are grown organically, hence without pesticides.
The clothes being produced are the latest achievement by Italy's environmentally-conscious textile scientists, who recently also presented the world's first biodegradable wedding dress made out of maize.
