SINGAPORE — The Dole Sunshine Company has partnered with Ananas Anam, the London-based company behind Piñatex, an innovative, vegan and natural alternative to leather made from sustainably sourced pineapple leaf fibres.

Through the collection and extraction of fibre from pineapple leaves from its farms in the Philippines, Dole is taking another step toward its Promise of zero fruit loss by 2025 and contributing to a world where sustainable material alternatives are becoming increasingly important as global lifestyle brands look for these alternatives for their products.

Dole, which launched its six-prong Promise in June 2020, is committed to making an immediate and lasting impact when it comes to food waste, eliminating processed sugar and plastics, and improving nutrition access globally. In addition to its partnership with Ananas Anam, Dole is working toward a more circular economy and finding new packaging solutions for its products to reduce not only food waste but plastics overall.

"At Dole, we believe purpose – and therefore our Promise – must permeate everything we do to address these global challenges head-on. Addressing food waste is absolutely important to us, as it is connected to our business and our lives in so many ways," said Pier-Luigi Sigismondi, global president, Dole Sunshine Company. "I believe to create tangible solutions and real systemic change to address this issue, we need to converge our purpose with creativity, innovation, and technology. Our partnership with Ananas Anam coupled with global lifestyle brands' use of this innovation truly bring this convergence to life in a new way."

Ananas Anam's Piñatex® has been used by global lifestyle brands including Nike, Hugo Boss, H&M, Paul Smith and the Hilton Hotel London Bankside for the world's first vegan suite. Through this partnership, Piñatex is made of fiber extracted from Dole's harvested pineapple plant leaves, which when dried and processed create a non-woven mesh to form the base of the sustainable material.  

"At Ananas Anam, we aim at meeting the challenges of our times by developing innovative products in which commercial success is integrated with, and promotes social, ecological and cultural development," said Dr Carmen Hijosa, founder and chief creative & innovation officer at Ananas Anam.By connecting on a deep level with the people we work with, we build ecosystems that are bound together, symbiotically grow together in order to bring about positive changes into the world",