The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Swedish textile recycler Renewcell said Sunday it filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure sufficient long-term funding to continue operations.
The company launched a strategic review in November, after it emerged that demand for its recycled raw material was much weaker than expected. It managed to raise $10 million in short-term funding from investors and lenders (including its biggest shareholder, H&M) in December. But efforts to secure further investment have proved unsuccessful.
The situation marks a blow to efforts to introduce new, more sustainable materials to the market at scale. Renewcell, which developed technology to recycle used cotton textiles into a feedstock for yarns like viscose and lyocell, was an early mover in the space and viewed as a litmus test for others.
“This is a sad day for the environment, our employees, our shareholders, and our other stakeholders, and it is a testament to the lack of leadership and necessary pace of change in the fashion industry” Renewcell board chairman Michael Berg said in a statement.
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What’s Blocking the Rise of More Sustainable Materials?
Weaker-than-expected demand for Swedish textile recycler Renewcell’s recycled cellulose pulp has highlighted broader hurdles challenging efforts to lessen fashion’s environmental footprint.
The sector’s planet-warming emissions inched lower in 2022 thanks to revised data, but they’re still on track to grow by more than 40 percent by 2030, according to a new report.
Textile-to-textile recycling technologies could be a climate game changer for fashion’s environmental footprint. But like renewable energy, they need state support for market efforts to scale, argues Nicole Rycroft.
More than a year after the ultra-fast-fashion company said it would tackle issues of unlawful overtime, 75-hour weeks remain common in its supply chain, Swiss watchdog Public Eye found.
A study published this week found traces of cotton from Xinjiang in nearly a fifth of the products it examined, highlighting the challenges brands face in policing their supply chains even as requirements to do so spread to raw materials from diamonds to leather and palm oil.