Spinnova

Spinnova spun fibre / Source: Spinnova

CelluloseEuropeSpinnovaTextiles

WHAT WE SAY:

Spinnova has won a host of design and innovation awards, over the past few years, thanks to its eye-catching claims.

These include being the 'world’s first' climate-positive textile fibre and being able to produce virgin quality fibre from recycled feedstocks, such as waste cotton via a closed-loop, zero-waste process. Now the company faces its moment of truth - can it live up to its hype and transform the fashion industry? If it can, we will be its biggest cheerleaders.

Commercial scale factory / Source: Spinnova

ABOUT SPINNOVA

Spinnova produces cellulosic fibres for the textile industry, using either FSC-certified wood or Cellulose-based waste resources, such as post-consumer textiles or agricultural waste.
Spinnova markets itself as producing a climate-positive textile fibre, as a result of its closed-loop, chemical-free process. It claims its fibre has a carbon footprint that is 72% lower than conventional cotton, while using 99.5% less water.
The company was founded in 2015, as a spin-out from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, by Juha Salmela, a leading expert in cellulosics. Inspired by the similarities between spiderweb’s protein and nanocellulose, he considered how wood fibre could be spun in similar ways.
In June 2021, the company raised EUR 115 million (USD 112 million) in an oversubscribed IPO, at a valuation of EUR 390 million (USD 380 million).
In December 2021, Spinnova announced that construction of its factory complex in Jyväskylä, Finland was on track to be completed by the end of 2022. The initiative is part of its EUR 22 million (USD 21 million) joint venture with the world’s largest wood pulp producer, Brazil-based Suzano.
It is planned that the commercial-scale factory complex will enable the company to produce one million tonnes of Spinnova fibre annually within 10 years, a not insignificant goal given the current global production of MMCFs is approximately 6.5 million tonnes (however, remember that we produce 68 million tonnes of synthetic fibres, 62% of the 109 million total annual global fibre market).
To date, Spinnova has collaborated with a number of brands, including Bergans, H&M, The North Face and adidas. adidas has invested USD 3 million, in return securing preferential access to the Spinnova fibre, some of which has been used in the brand’s Terrex HS1 Hoodie.
Spinnova’s collaboration with Marimekko was a finalist in Fast Company’s 2020 Innovation by Design Awards; in December 2021 it was also a finalist in Conservation X’s Microfibre Innovation Challenge.
In January 2022, Spinnova joined the UN Global Compact and it is a signatory to Canopy Planet’s Fibre Procurement Policy for Protecting Forests.