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NEXTILE challenges students to create soy textiles

U.S. Soy’s new textile design challenge is awarding college students for creating innovative multifunctional fabric using soy-based products.

United Soybean Board director and Michigan soybean farmer Carla Schultz served as a judge this year.

“It’s been incredible to see how those soybeans come to life in the creative hands of these students, and I think there’s a future ahead for soy products that not only these students made, but that we haven’t even seen yet,” she says.

Schultz tells Brownfield textile manufacturers want to use more sustainable materials and she hopes some of the entries will be used in the marketplace.

“The top winner was a moth-inspired design and it was incredible to see that it represented life, sustainability, and then it could be used as something in a broader scale,” she explains.

Students from the University of Arkansas, North Carolina State University, Kansas City Art Institute, Pratt Institute, Savannah College of Art and Design, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison competed in this year’s contest.

AUDIO: Carla Schultz