22 Examples of Natural Fibers

John Spacey, updated on January 23, 2024

Natural fibers are fibers derived from plant or animal materials. These include traditional fibers with much history and culture of use such as flax, hemp and cotton. Natural fibers also include engineered natural fibers such as bamboo rayon that are made with natural materials but heavily processed. The following are common examples of natural fibers.

Abaca	Alpaca Fiber
Bamboo fibers	Banana Fiber
Cashmere	Coir
Cotton	Flax
Hemp	Jute
Kapok	Kenaf
Mohair	Nettle Fiber
Pineapple Fiber	Raffia
Ramie	Silk
Sisal	Sunnhemp
Wool	Linen

Abaca are fibers from banana plants.

Alpaca is the fleece of the domesticated South American animal of the same name that looks something like a llama.

Jute are fibers from a jute plant that are commonly cultivated in the Indian subcontinent and other tropical regions.

Kapok is a fiber obtained from seed pods of the kapok tree.

Kenaf is a plant native to Africa that can be used to produce textiles.

Raffia fiber is obtained from palm trees.

Ramie is a plant that has been used for thousands of years to produce coarse textiles.

Sisal is extracted from the leaves of the agave plant. As with many of the lesser known fibers on the list above, sisal isn't particularly soft and is used to produce coarse things such as rope.

Linen is made from flax fibers.