Interview with Alissa Sandra Baier-Lentz & Billy McCall
Alissa Sandra Baier-Lentz & Billy McCall
Co-founder and COO / Co-founder & CEO Kintra Fibers
Typically, our fibres break down in 49-90 days
New York-based Kintra Fibers has developed a proprietary bio-based and compostable polymer that offers brands versatile and strong performance, while retaining manufacturability through the synthetic textile value chain. Kintra materials provide an alternative to fossil-fuel based textiles, which represent 70 per cent of the global fibre market. Co-founder & CEO Billy McCall and co-founder & COO Alissa Sandra Baier-Lentz speak to Fibre2Fashion about Kintra’s products and how they can transform the textile industry.
The term ‘renewable synthetics’ is relatively new. What exactly does it mean?
Billy: We produce a bio-synthetic polymer, which means that we use monomers derived from renewable sources (biomass) and a synthetic process to make a material that looks, feels, and performs like traditional polyester (PET) and nylon.
Labelling a product as renewable can be confusing since oil derived synthetics like PET and nylon can be recycled, chemically or mechanically, thus making them ‘renewable’. But this misses the mark in terms of the impact that fossil fuel derived products have on the environment. Additionally, chemically or mechanically recycled PET and nylon still shed microfibres, and because PET and nylon are non-biodegradable, they will cause persistent microfibre pollution, and textile waste.
As a solution for microfibre pollution and textile waste, at Kintra, our material has an inherently compostable structure. This means that similar to a natural fibre, we have designed our material to safely return to the environment with no harm within wastewater treatment and industrial compost facilities.
What are the raw materials that Kintra uses for its products? How are they different from the ones used in normal textile value chain?
Billy: We use different monomers, or building blocks, than PET or nylon. Our monomers are also derived from bio-based sources, not from fossil fuels. Our product also differs in that we’ve designed our material with a compostable chemistry as a way to align with the biological cycle in addition to the technical cycle.
Your inputs are derived from agriculture. So, won’t it lead to decrease in availability for food items?
Billy: This really depends on the choice of feedstock and the scale of our production. For some context, about 1.2 billion tons of corn was grown globally last year and about 57 million tons of PET fibre were produced. It might take something like 2-3 kg of corn to produce 1 kg of our polymer.
If we were to completely replace all of the PET fibre out there, we would consume around 14 per cent of the global corn capacity. I will pause here and point out a couple of things, number one being that corn is one of many feedstocks that can be used to produce our polymer. Two, is that many crops aren’t grown for human consumption. For example, around 40 per cent of the corn grown in the US is converted into ethanol (which is another topic in itself).
A final note on food scarcity is that many global food shortages happen not because there isn’t enough food to go around, but because the food isn’t distributed equitably. With all that being said, we plan to source our inputs from feedstocks that are less sensitive to natural disasters and geo-politics.
How long do you think it will take for the fashion industry to be free from fossil fuels?
Alissa: We can look at the commitments that the world’s leading brands have made as an indicator for the future of the fashion industry. In looking at the 2021 results from the Textile Exchange Material Change Index, which is an annual survey of ~ 150 of apparel brands and retailers on their fibre purchasing practices and sustainability commitments, we see strong progress towards sustainable supply chains. 87 per cent of participating brands reported that they have plans to switch 100 per cent of at least one fibre category to a preferred fibre over a conventional, and 46 per cent of companies reported one or more circularity target. In looking at the polyester fibre category, 42 per cent of companies reported that they had publicly available commitments to switch to a sustainable polyester. Most companies have commitments to take these steps by 2025 or 2030. While scaling new technologies does take time, these commitments indicate that the demand is there and that brands, and their supply chain partners, are ready and willing to take the first steps to a cleaner, circular industry.
What is the difference between ‘sustainability’ and ‘circularity’? Which of the terms will you choose for your company and why?
Billy: Both terms get thrown around excessively in the fashion industry, but I don’t want to discourage people from thinking critically about these concepts. Ultimately the consumers, the brands, the material producers, and everyone in between needs to shift towards a ‘circular’ mentality when it comes to production and consumption. True sustainability or circularity can only be realised when everyone is on board and doing their part.
As a material producer, it is our role and responsibility to design our products to enable downstream circularity. We offer multiple pathways for circularity, as Kintra materials can fit chemical and mechanical recycling schemes, and industrial compost.
From which countries/regions do you source your materials?
Billy: We source our raw materials from North America and Europe.
Who are the customers of Kintra products?
Alissa: Our customers include brands across the luxury, ready-to-wear and athletic apparel categories, and textile mills. In some cases, our customers can be more vertically integrated partners who purchase our resin and spin yarn themselves.
What is the story of Kintra Fibers? How has the journey been so far?
Billy: Kintra started as a concept four years ago and really started to take shape in the last few years. Our thesis is simple: design high performance materials using renewably sourced chemistry and reduce the environmental burden that traditional synthetic materials have placed on society. I think I can speak for the whole team by saying that the journey has been very gratifying so far. We are barely scratching the surface of what we are capable of, and we are extremely excited to grow.
Which all products do Kintra make? Where are they made?
Alissa: Kintra makes proprietary bio-based and compostable polyester resin and yarn. We make these materials in-house at our lab and have production partners who help us make larger quantities for customers.
Do Kintra products naturally degrade both in soil and in oceans? How much time would it take for complete degradation?
Billy: We have proven that our products degrade in industrial composting schemes and have plans to study the biodegradation of our products in soil, ocean, and wastewater treatment facility environments. Degradation times in compost are influenced by parameters such as temperature, soil acidity, moisture content, and carbon to nitrogen ratio, which can differ from facility to facility. Typically, our fibres break down in 49-90 days.
How do your products compare in energy consumption with other textile products?
Alissa: In a recent 3rd party life cycle analysis (LCA) comparing the cradle-to-gate production of 1 kg of our polymer versus virgin PET, we see a 20 per cent reduction in energy consumption. Our product also takes advantage of lower processing temperatures in yarn spinning and fabric dyeing processes, which we anticipate will result in additional energy reduction for downstream processes, which will be quantifying in the near future. In terms of overall GHG emissions (Global Warming Potential) this 3rd party LCA shows that we have a ~95 per cent lower impact as compared with PET.
What are the near-term plans and goals at Kintra?
Alissa: We are hyper focused on making fabrics with select brand partners and understanding our product market fit. We will always be improving our product, so it is nice to have input from our customers early on. Our biggest goal for 2022 will be launching a small collection with PANGAIA.
Published on: 06/05/2022
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.
