FTC Approves First New Fiber in 25 Years — and It Wants Cashmere's Job

By Nathan Brooks

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has approved the first new fiber classification in 25 years — a cashmere substitute called renoa, made from waste protein by New York startup Everbloom.

The approval matters because the FTC regulates fiber labeling in the U.S., and no new fiber category has cleared that bar in a quarter century. Everbloom has spent three years developing renoa and is now scaling up production. The company built its own AI model for material science, and a cashmere substitute is its first commercial product.

Why the market needs an alternative

Cashmere is everywhere. Brunello Cucinelli sells a $7,900 cable knit cardigan; Quince offers a $50 crewneck. Loro Piana has made cashmere a cornerstone of its lineup, helping drive its LVMH division's valuation above €11 billion. There are even cashmere running shirts.

But the fiber has real problems. It's still relatively expensive and hard to care for. It's also environmentally fraught: the goats that produce cashmere have been degrading rangelands across Central Asia.

How renoa is actually made

Everbloom sources waste protein — cashmere and wool scraps, plus down and feather "lint" left over from the bedding industry. The company processes that waste into a powder and blends it with a biodegradable biopolymer. The combination is then extruded to a specific length and diameter to mimic particular natural fibers.

The pitch for shoppers is straightforward: the cashmere feel at a lower price point, and machine-washable. That last feature is the genuinely novel part.

What does the washability claim look like in practice?

At Everbloom's headquarters — 15 floors above 5th Avenue in New York City, kitty corner from Bryant Park — co-founder and CEO Sim Gulati walked a reporter through products knit from renoa: a crewneck sweater, knit gloves, and a scarf.

The scarf was the standout. It had endured months of Gulati wearing and washing it, including a trip through the tumble dryer. A pure cashmere scarf typically wouldn't survive that treatment. This one showed no pilling, and Gulati said it hadn't shrunk either.

The sweater and gloves, for their part, were soft and light.

The 80/20 blend strategy

Don't expect 100% renoa on shelves first. Everbloom is working with a range of companies to get the fiber into consumer products, and the earliest items will likely use renoa as a blend — roughly 20% of the material in a cashmere sweater, for example.

An 80/20 cashmere-renoa blend felt extremely close to the real thing in a hands-on test. Gulati said additional finishing that accompanies commercial garments should eliminate any remaining differences without compromising the garment's washability and stability.

For apparel brands, that blend approach is the practical entry point. It stretches scarce cashmere supply, cuts cost, and lets a label keep the fiber's name on the tag — assuming labeling rules are worked out under the new FTC classification.

When can you buy it?

The first renoa product is expected to hit the market in the second quarter of 2027, Gulati said.

That's a long runway, and it gives competitors and incumbent mills time to respond. But if Everbloom hits its timeline, the arrival of a washable, waste-derived cashmere substitute would mark the first genuine test of whether the FTC's first new fiber category in 25 years can shake up a luxury materials market anchored by an €11 billion LVMH division.