Runway Models Rocked Vegan Streetwear Made From Goya’s Rice and Beans

Students from Miami International University of Art & Design recently made a vegan fashion statement with Goya Foods products.

In early November, in a unique plant-based fashion show at The Setai Hotel in Miami Beach, the students unveiled their collection of Latin-inspired clothing, which, according to Niche Magazine, was a“one-of-a-kind, high-couture collection of garments.”

The show was in response to a request from Goya Foods itself, which asked students submit original design concepts for the prize of a $2,250 scholarship.

The students worked for several months to create 13 clothing items for the show. The young designers ended up using more than 20 cases of the brand’s canned beans, 50 cans of juice, and an additional 100 packages of dried beans, rice, and grains.

Two notable plant-based fashion pieces include “a trendy high-waisted red dress” that was “hand-beaned” with white beans and an “avant-garde” chain mail armor top made from more than 5,000 guava juice pull tabs.

Student Judith Cabrera won the contest by creating a “figure-fitting floral evening gown made entirely of white, brown and black beans, lentils and split peas,” an homage to her native Cuba, where the ingredients are popular. Cabrera’s dress also was adorned with Hibiscus flowers, also known as “Mar Pacifico” flowers.

The plant-based fashion show didn’t create any food waste, either. All leftovers and cans were donated to local charities, the Sisters of Charity and Hope for the Homeless, which provide hunger relief to homeless and food insecure individuals in the Greater Miami area.

This isn’t the first time that the clothing and food industries have used plant-based products to make a vegan fashion statement. Many emerging textile brands are creating cruelty-free alternatives to materials like leather and silk using food. 

Last month, California-based Bolt Threads, the creators of cruelty-free MicroSilk®, announced it was launching a commercially available vegan leather made from mushrooms. The material is called Mylo™. The product is made from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms.

German brand Zvander also makes a vegan mushroom leather, which was used to make sneakers in a collaboration with high-end footwear company, nat-2. Other animal-free options include coconut water leather, pineapple leather, and kombucha SCOBY leather. Outside of cruelty-free leather, Italy-based textile brand Orange Fiber has created a lightweight fabric made from the byproducts of the citrus juice industry.

The Goya-themed runway show was part of Miami-based organization Funkshion’s The Future, an interactive event created to spark conversations about conscious and sustainable living.