Saltyco Bets on Revolutionizing Outerwear With Bulrush — Retail Bum

London-based material science company Saltyco is aiming to help the outerwear industry turn the page on animal cruelty by replacing down feathers with fiber made from bulrush.

Bulrush, also known as reedmace, is a plant that grows a brown sausage-shaped spongy head, commonly grows in marshes and peatlands across the U.K. Saltyco is using it for manufacturing a new material called BioPuff, which offers the same light weightiness, warmth, and water-resistance associated with down feather.

The company, along with the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester, and North Merseyside, a local farmer, and a land owner are teaming up to grow the plant on a 12-acre site in a first trial of its kind. The project has received a £400,000 (approximately $509,000) grant from the U.K. government.

Last year, BioPuff won the H&M Foundation Global Change Award and was also used in a small collection by YOOX. In the long term, if the project is successful, it has the potential to revolutionize how outerwear is made around the globe.

Making a single puffer jacket requires just 20 bulrush heads, making it a much cheaper and sustainable alternative to down feathers.

“The bulrush has an amazing high-volume structure,” said Finlay Duncan, co-founder of…