After the 1937 Forlì conference about National Textile Fibres, the fascist regime established in Italy the Ente Tessile Nazionale (National Textile Body).
The latter had to promote the so-called autarchy, that is self-sufficiency, in textile production.
The Ente had indeed to establish a policy on the production of fibres and promote the use of new textiles in the garment manufacture industry.
The regime even issued a decree that regulated the blending of imported fibres with autarchic fibres.
The list of autarchic fibres included rayon, ramia (China grass), linen, hemp, rayon-fiocco, rabbit angora and lanital.
The latter - a synthetic wool that combined in its name the words "lana" (wool) and "Italia" - was considered as the most national of Italian fibres.
First developed in 1916 by a German chemist and improved by Italian engineer Antonio Ferretti in 1935, lanital was obtained from milk casein and had a molecular structure very similar to that of wool (it was also as warm and soft as wool).
This fibre was also mothproof, one of its advantages actually, but also had very low tensile strength which meant that it was a difficult material to sew and iron since threads came out of it when it was ironed (early Italian designers used to say that ironing lanital was a bit like ironing mozzarella cheese...).
Lanital production skyrocketed in the late ‘30s: Snia-Viscosa (Società Nazionale Industria Applicazioni Viscosa), the main manufacturer of artificial and synthetic fibres in the '30s in Italy, produced at the time roughly 10,000,000 pounds of lanital a year and, at the 1937 Forlì conference, a textile competition gave the first prize to a black lanital and viscose fabric.
Futurist poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti celebrated lanital in his "Poema del vestito di latte" (The Poem of the Milk Dress – followed by "Il poema di Torre Viscosa" - "The Poem of Viscose Tower" in 1938): illustrated by Bruno Munari, the poem, enhanced by photographic collages, graphic compositions and cellophane pages, belonged to the genre of the “poema non umano dei tecnicismi” (non−human poem of technicalities).
The essay, published by the Snia-Viscosa propaganda office in 1937 to launch lanital, was an early proof of the Futurists’ skills at writing modern adverts: Marinetti's text perfectly mixed poetry, fashion and technology in a new avant-garde form celebrating industrial poetry and experimentalism.
In Marinetti’s poem milk was transformed into a fibre in a rather adventurous way: the poet used compound and evocative words, avant-garde experimentations and metaphors to describe the journey of milk from its liquid state to a casein thread with a new consistency and tactile quality ("T'impongo o sacro latte di stringere le maglie d'una viscosità re-si-sten-te").
Snia-Viscosa sold the lanital patent to Germany, England, France and Belgium and, after the war, it re-launched lanital under the name Merinova. The Atlantic Research Associates Inc. also produced a fibre in the U.S.A. derived from casein (in America "lanital" was actually called "aralac"). Yet, when further synthetic fibres were developed at the end of the war, casein-based textiles disappeared from the market.
Believe it or not milk-based fabrics are back in fashion: while a couple of years ago an Italian brand called Milky Wear launched a line of T-shirts derived from milk, yesterday I got in my email box a newsletter from Anne Valérie Hash that seemed to have some connections with lanital.
The newsletter featured tops from the Spring/Summer 2011 collection in milk jersey fabric (apparently there's 40% of milk in the fabric).
"Made from casein, the main protein found in milk, this fibre is known for its natural antibacterial properties," the newsletter says, "the milk yard creates a lovely silk and delicate look that conveys a chic yet relaxed look."
It's interesting to note how the Fascist regime had first started manufacturing these fabrics to create and promote a national fashion, yet, in those years, early Italian designers and dressmakers kept on looking at (and copying...) Parisian houses, still considered as the epitome of elegance.
While at the time France remained the main inspiration for Italian designers, France is now looking back at something made in Italy a long time ago and taking it to the next stage (note that milk-based fabrics in Italy have been used for T-shirts so far and not for chic designs...), correcting and eliminating the early disadvantages of this product to create new and experimental materials. Could this be the right time to come up with more innovative fabrics, moving maybe from those early experiments from the '30s?
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