Interview with Tomi Amberla, João Cordeiro & Lucja Wanicka
Tomi Amberla, João Cordeiro & Lucja Wanicka
Senior Principal, Senior Principal & Consultant AFRY
Well-Established Fibres Are Extremely Efficient to Produce
AFRY is a leading engineering, design and advisory company. The company is present in over 50 countries with more than 17,000 experts in a variety of industrial segments. The management consulting arm has been assisting clients in the transformation of the textile fibre industry in line with its vision "Providing leading solutions for generations to come - Making Future". Senior Principal João Cordeiro, Senior Principal Tomi Amberla and Consultant Lucja Wanicka talk transformation with Subir Ghosh.
There have been widespread calls for a green recovery of the fashion industry from the destruction caused by the covid-19 pandemic. Many feel this recovery should start from the fibre stage itself since it lies at the core of textiles/fashion industry. I have seen a flurry of activities more in terms of fibre innovation than fibre development in the last one year. What is that you have noticed, have there been more activities or is it more of a clutter?
João Cordeiro: I think covid-19 has accelerated some of the trends we had seen already happening for many years. The last year was an exceptional year; so, some of the trends got accelerated. It is still early to say, but perhaps the conscious effort is more towards more sustainable fibres. The pandemic has highlighted the issue of controlling your value chains. It has changed the way people procure fibres. They are more concerned about securing the procurement of sustainable fibres than earlier. I don't think covid-19 in itself changed those trends; it's just accelerated them.
Lucja Wanicka: When it comes to fibre innovation, there are years of work that goes into it. What we are seeing in news publications is a fruit of that hard work and it can take really a long time to get to this point. The pandemic has put things into light and perspective. For some companies, it's been an accelerator to get things into the market. But for others there has been a bit of delay tying into the sourcing issues that they may have. Though this topic is on fibres, but let's not forget that there are plenty of opportunities to address in the manufacturing of yarns and textiles and garments as well which can also be improved in terms of material efficiency and more sustainable production.
Tomi Amberla: Textiles recycling will have to be a part of that (green recovery) sooner or later. At the moment, the development of textile recycling and utilisation of recycled materials in production have been challenged by covid-19 itself because one of the good sources of recycled textiles are hotels and business travelling have been fading close to zero. Much less raw materials are available which have been challenging some of the new initiatives which were announced just before the pandemic. The circular economy will be a big thing as part of the green recovery funding and should actually be starting from this year.
Linen was once very popular. Do you see it making a comeback as well?
João Cordeiro: We have been talking to many of the innovative, young designers who are interested in linen. We see a comeback, but you have to bear in mind that the economies of scale will always play a role with these agricultural fibres and they will have their niche, bigger one than today. Maybe they will double or triple in their size than they are today. But they will never become real mainstream fibres in my opinion because of limitations on the agricultural side. It is not easy to have those on a large scale. They have the space for becoming niche; their qualities and appearance will improve. Consumers will recognise linen as a nature-friendly fibre.
Lucja Wanicka: Coming to designers that Joao mentioned, in Europe we have a trend for slow fashion, all-natural fashion and this is really coming from-I guess-consumer demand and designers launching products or lines specifically catering to this niche kind of market. There is certainly a demand for something like that. So, this is where the all-natural fibres like hemp and flax and all other type of similar fibres can really find their pocket.
In which areas of fibre development/innovation do you foresee the maximum activity: sustainability/ circularity, performance, longevity, affordability?
João Cordeiro: From our discussions with many of the top brands and retailers, their top agenda is sustainability-it is the flagship of their strategies. But then when you dig up and try to understand their cost structures and how concerned they are with the performance of the different fibres, they would immediately classify or put these new fibres into a separate basket. They are very conscious about this portfolio: "Look, we will need the mainstream fibres for mass products and for achieving the cost and performance issues. In the meanwhile, we will develop these alternative fibres first with the sustainability agenda and improving their performance in the long term". I don't think you can separate them. But the first layer will be sustainability-that's where they sell their thinking.
Lucja Wanicka: On top of sustainability, there would be different aspects that could, for example, focus specifically on functional properties or enhanced performance in something, but overall it is on the existing sustainability umbrella.
Tomi Amberla: I think the durability factor is picking up now. That's coming up well, maybe as part of the sustainability agenda.
João Cordeiro: This is an excellent point to me. They come with this idea of moving towards longer usage-you can afford to pay more for a garment because it's going to last longer. It is a very slow process because you have to change the mindset of the consumers: "Look, I will buy this shirt now, I will pay double the price, but I will use three time more. I will not discard it next year".
Lucja Wanicka: Not everyone has the paying capability to be able to afford a much more expensive t-shirt.
João Cordeiro: We have lot of young people in Europe and the US who buy a shirt and may use it only once, sometimes twice. Sometimes it stays in wardrobes for years. That is a challenge. We don't see that in some of the emerging economies. But here in Europe, it is still very common. This is going to need a change so that you can use garments longer, thereby slowing down fast fashion.
Cotton has been under pressure because of anthropogenic activities, climate change, etc. Polyester is in the dock for oceanic pollution as well as being a fossil fuel fibre. Do you see the world breaking away from these two any time soon? Are we going to see new fibres that are sustainable/circular as well as affordable? Or, are we are caught in a trap as it is difficult for manufacturers to shift overnight from one kind of fibre to another?
João Cordeiro: It is an excellent question. It is impossible to substitute cotton and polyester to a degree of economic sense, and also it doesn't make sense even from an environmental perspective to substitute those two major mainstream fibres, but indeed there is space for novel fibres. Many of the brand owners are promoting the introduction of novel fibres into the fibre system where there is space for something else apart from just cotton or polyester. Cotton and polyester are exceptionally good fibres. Cotton has some unique properties and so it will stay as a main fibre for many decades.
Same is the case for polyester-it is extremely competitive economically. It has some properties which are unbeatable. But a combination of novel fibres with a possibly better environmental and social profile and improvement of sustainability of polyester and cotton will be a kind of solution. So, we will have a portfolio of fibres in the future which includes many of those fibres. There is space. Rather than a competition, these fibres will complement each other in the future.
Lucja Wanicka: It also ties down to the inherent properties of cotton and polyester. If you look at a rain jacket you want it to be water repellent. So, if you want to use a different type of fibre, you have to develop it in a way so that it has the properties that you desire in your final garment. And at least at this point, if you want something waterproof you would probably go for something synthetic.
João Cordeiro: We should emphasise on the brand owner and the retailer's pull for these new developments. They are really pulling this. They would like to have a much broader portfolio of solutions to offer their clients. They would like to have in shops shirts which read: this is 100 per cent recycled or 100 per cent sustainable, based on wood. They would like to broaden the portfolio of fibres so that they can segment their customers. I think this is the kind of vision they have. Many of these novel fibres are just in the beginning stage-it takes many, many years for those fibres to be developed. For example, viscose. It is already a well-recognised fibre, it is a 6-7 million tonne market-a third or so of the cotton market. But still, it is growing well. Lyocell is being developed by many new players, not only the traditional ones. It will grow fast in the next 5-10 years and gain a lot of market share. These are examples of fibres gaining space from cotton and polyester, but complementing rather than competing with them.
If we talk of other natural traditional fibres like hemp, jute or even nettle, why is it that those never really held sway? Was it because of economies of scale, or did they have problems competing with, say, cotton and polyester?
João Cordeiro: These natural fibres are also experiencing a rebirth. The reason they have not become mainstream so far is exactly for the reason you mentioned-it's about economies of scale. They are produced in very small amounts, in regional pockets if you will. But during the last few years, we have been busy with hemp and some of these fibres are trying to industrialise the process from the whole chain perspective- from agriculture to yarn. So, all the way from the agricultural side of the issues to the yarn making, we have been seeing a lot of developments now exactly for the reason we elaborated.
Lucja Wanicka: When it comes to hemp, there has been a lot of restrictions in terms of cultivating that plant. In the US there were lot of restrictions with that and in Europe as well, although we see it changing and we expect that to continue to grow in the future.
So, do you think the pandemic can have that effect on this throwaway culture?
Lucja Wanicka: The pandemic has been a good opportunity for people to take a step back and think exactly what they are doing and their impact (on the environment). Shortly after the pandemic, you saw news articles which reported about whales returning to this part of that sea never seen in quite some time. At least, I took some time and realised the impact that I and my choices have on the environment. I guess a lot of people have done the same-the impact that their choices have on the environment. The repercussions (of all this) I hope would be in a positive direction-towards a more sustainable society.
João Cordeiro: We should understand the economic issues behind it. Some of the wellestablished mainstream fibres are extremely efficient to produce. Those are very cost-efficient and duplicating that model will take time. I think covid-19 may have some temporary consequences and boost such initiatives. Maybe, we will reverse a little bit to the old-fashioned style in a while.
João Cordeiro: I would like to add about recycling. Often, this aspect is underestimated in legislations, particularly here in Europe. We will see more initiatives both at the R&D and pilot testing stages, and also on the commercial side. We will see recycling of traditional textile fibres playing a bigger role in the future which will be good news for everybody. Recycling chains will be established; we don't have collection for recycling at a scale which is needed. This needs to be established. The technology for coping with the mix of fibres is being developed little by little. The redesigning of garments too-so that it is easier to recycle them later will also happen. So, we will shift this whole chain towards circular modelling. This is a big phenomenon we see coming.
This article was first published in the March 2021 edition of the print magazine
Published on: 01/04/2021
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
