Carlos Campos x NuCycl

Carlos Campos t-shirt made from Envru's 100% Nucycl r-lyocell fibre / Source: Carlos Campos

CottonLyocellNuCyclTextiles

3 MINUTE READ

Jessica Harman

WHAT WE SAY:

Using trial products for marketing purposes is rife at a time when change at scale is so needed.

While we love Evrnu’s vision and would love to see its Nucycl regenerative fibre technology bring circularity to the fashion industry, the limited edition and high price point of its first commercial product mean that, for now, this has to remain on our ‘one for the future’ materials list.

KEY FACTS:

Designer Carlos Campos launched the world’s first commercially available product made from 100% Nucycl lyocell in April 2022.
The Nucycl Lyocell fibre is interesting for three main reasons: it uses the previously hard-to-recycle post consumer textile waste as an input feedstock, it is stronger than polyester and it can be recycled itself, with no loss in quality.
The t-shirt was sold online for USD 110, a price point only USD 10 higher than the rest of the designer’s t-shirt range. However, at the time of writing, the t-shirt was no longer available.

Model wearing Carlos Campos x Nucycl t-shirt / Source: Carlos Campos

T-shirts made from 100% Nucycl r-lyocell / Source: Carlos Campos

DIVE DEEPER:

New York designer Carlos Campos is a New York-based menswear designer, who focuses on creating timeless American styles.
Evrnu claims its technology, Nycycl, is able to depolymerise post-consumer textile waste and repolymerise it into fibres that are of an equal, or even higher, quality than its input feedstocks.
R-lycocell, its first fibre, is a recycled lyocell fibre made from Cotton waste. According to Evrnu, the Nycycl process uses 98% less water in comparison to virgin cotton production.
Evrnu currently claims fibres created through Nycycl can be recycled up to five times without losing quality, although independent testing is required to confirm this figure.
Announcing its USD 15 million Series B in November 2021, the company said it was planning to scale its Nucycl fibre regeneration platform by licensing its technology to pulp and fibre mills. The company is planning to produce 2,000 metric tons of Nucycl fibre by the end of 2023 (remember, 57 million tons of polyester was produced in 2021).
Nucycl fibre has previously been used to create one-off concept pieces for Stella McCartney x adidas and Levis.

"We have at least a 20-year push to innovate around climate change, to make up for the past 100 years of collateral industrial damage. [We] are dedicated...to outperforming and scaling textile recycling solutions, to bring our industry into balance with natural systems."

Stacy Flynn - Co-Founder and CEO, Evrnu

Key Design Considerations:

How much does Nucycl lyocell cost?

There is always a trade-off when using early-stage fabrics and it usually involves higher costs, due to their limited volumes. Carlos Campos sells USD 100 cotton t-shirts, so its USD 110 Nucycl t-shirts will not appear outrageous to its customers. But more mass market brands might struggle to use Nucycl if it is, as we assume, significantly more expensive than mainstream fibres.

When will the material be ready for high volumes?

While Carlos Campos’ t-shirt was marketed as the first commercially available garment using Nucycl fibres, within weeks it was no longer available for purchase, which to be honest suggests the volumes were more limited than we would hope.

What is the material’s supply chain?

Evrnu plans to scale up production of its r-lyocell by licensing the technology to pulp and fibre mills. While this will lead to higher volumes, sooner, it also raises the risk of licensees failing to adhere to the brand’s environmental or ethical standards.