Stora Enso joins H&M to industrialise TreeToTextile

"We are excited to welcome our new partner, Stora Enso, and to share more of the innovative work that we are doing at TreeToTextile. With the help of our new partner, we will be entering an industrialisation phase. The new fibre that we have developed is both sustainable and produced at a lower cost," said Annica Karlsson, chairman of the board, TreeToTextile AB.

The four partners have an equally big stake in TreeToTextile and share the belief of a strong market for a fibre with good sustainability performance at attractive cost levels.

TreeToTextile’s process takes renewable forest raw material and regenerates the cellulose into a textile fibre. This production process uses less energy and chemicals, allowing for a much more sustainable and cost-efficient process compared to conventional technologies and fibres.

The technology has been tested in a pilot line in Sweden and is now to be scaled up with the construction of a demonstration plant at one of Stora Enso’s Nordic facilities. Inter IKEA group and H&M group plan to use the fibre in their products, but the aim is that the entire industry should benefit from this sustainable fibre since it can be used in conventional supply chains.

"We’re very happy to join this partnership and contribute to a more sustainable textile production. Stora Enso produces dissolving pulp for textiles based on renewable and fully traceable wood from sustainably managed forests. It will be exciting to participate in the industrialization of this technology at one of our facilities to meet growing demand," said Markus Mannström, EVP of the Stora Enso Biomaterials division.

"We welcome Stora Enso to this partnership. For us, TreeToTextile is a long-term investment as we strongly believe it will contribute to offering our customers even more sustainably produced products at affordable prices," said Erik Karlsson, investment manager for Sustainable Fashion at H&M group’s investment arm Co:Lab.

"With Stora Enso as a partner we now add industrial knowledge and deep competence within the cellulose field. This together with existing consumer and textile knowledge as well as an entrepreneurial spirit brings us one step closer to our goal of introducing a new sustainable low-cost fibre for the many people," says Lena Julle, category area manager textiles at Ikea of Sweden.

"It’s fantastic to see how the idea of utilizing forest resources for a more sustainable textile has developed from lab stage to a commercially viable product in just a few years," said inventor and entrepreneur Lars Stigsson. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India