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.
The companies have backed Infinited Fiber Company, a Finnish recycling firm that turns textile waste rich in natural fibres such as cotton into a biodegradable and recyclable material known as Infinna, as part of its latest funding round led by existing investor H&M Group.
The recycling company secured €30 million (about $36 million), with other participants including investment companies Nidoco AB and Security Trading Oy, and Sateri, the world’s largest viscose producer.
Bestseller and H&M Group have also signed multi-year sales deals to use the Infinited Fiber Company’s Infinna fibre, the company said. Infinited Fiber Company is preparing to increase production with a new flagship factory.
This move comes amid growing interest and investment from brands in textile-to-textile recycling, as fashion players look to act on sweeping commitments to adopt more circular production methods and business models that reduce waste and keep materials in circulation for longer. Last year, Ralph Lauren took a minority stake in material science start-up Natural Fiber Welding. Meanwhile, H&M Group doubled down on its investment in recycled textile innovator Renewcell and launched a machine developed with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel that processes and re-spins old clothes, with plans to install the machine at a handful of manufacturing suppliers.
France is pressing ahead with a ‘game-changing’ bill that would impose a ‘sin tax’-style penalty on fast-fashion products as high as €10 per item by 2030.
In the weeks since one of the industry’s most promising recycling start-ups filed for bankruptcy, big brands have put more money and more commitment into bringing innovations to market.
Thirty years of providing the world’s finest wool to the fashion house Loro Piana has done almost nothing for the Indigenous people of the Peruvian Andes.
The fast-fashion giant has joined Vargas and TPG to back a new polyester recycling venture following its failed bet on Renewcell.