Tencel Refibra

OnceMore as used in Tencel Refibra / Source: Södra Skogsägarna

AfricaAsiaBreathableCelluloseCottonEuropeLyocellNorth AmericaOceaniaRecycledSouth AmericaTencel RefibraTextilesUpcycled

WHAT WE SAY:

Even sustainable fibres, if made from virgin feedstocks, still exist within a linear system where it is estimated that less than 1% of textiles are recycled. Attempting to address this, Tencel Refibra is a lyocell fibre that combines cotton textile waste with wood pulp.

While it is a welcome step towards circularity, we also have to remember the bigger picture - Lenzing aims to process 25,000 tons of textile waste by 2025; a mere drop in the 40 million ton ocean of textile waste the world generates each year.

Tencel Refibra

WHAT IS TENCEL REFIBRA?

Tencel Refibra is a Lyocell fibre made from a combination of virgin wood pulp and upcycled Cotton scraps.
Launched by Austrian producer Lenzing, in 2017, the fibre’s 30% recycled content portion is a mix of pre-consumer waste and up to 10% post-consumer cotton waste.
Tencel Refibra is already being used by a number of leading brands. These include Hanky Panky’s ECO Rx underwear range, denim dresses and blouses from Ganni, jeans from Kings of Indigo, and t-shirts by Timberland.

KEY PROPERTIES:

Breathable
Recycled
Upcycled

INDUSTRY:

Textiles

AVAILABILITY:

Commercially Available

DIVE DEEPER:

Lyocell is a more sustainable type of rayon than Viscose. Instead of using carbon disulphide and sodium hydroxide at the dissolving pulp stage, a non-toxic NMMO solution is used as the solvent in a closed-loop process.
Lenzing is considered one of the most sustainable fibre producers and achieved a platinum EcoVadis CSR rating in 2021 (putting it in the top 1% of assessed companies).
Its Tencel Refibra fibre is a blend of 70% virgin Cellulose (with 99% of Lenzing’s wood and dissolving wood pulp, either certified to FSC or PEFC standards or "inspected in line with these standards") and 30% cotton waste.
Currently the bulk of the cotton textile waste input is pre-consumer waste (production offcuts), while up to 10% is sourced from post-consumer waste (used clothing).
In 2019, the company announced that it planned to raise this to 50% post-consumer cotton waste within five years, in an effort “to make textile waste recycling as common as paper recycling.”
To help achieve that goal, in June 2021, Lenzing partnered with pulp producer Södra to produce Oncemore, a dissolving pulp formed of 50% recycled textile material and 50% wood, which will be used to manufacture Tencel Refibra.
Launching the partnership, the two companies said their goal is to process 25,000 tons of textile waste per year by 2025 (remember: 40 million tons of textile waste is produced each year globally).
Unlike some mechanically recycled cotton, Tencel Refibra fibres are pure white and can be used to make bright coloured clothing.
Genuine Tencel Refibra can be identified in finished products due to its fibre identification system.
Looking to the future, Lenzing has filed a patent on the recycling of lyocell for use as a raw material for lyocell production.

Recycling material for Refibra / Source: Tencel

Lyocell production / Source: Lenzing

KEY FACTS:

30%

The fibre’s 30% recycled content portion is a mix of pre-consumer waste and up to 10% post-consumer cotton waste.

50/50

Oncemore is a dissolving pulp formed of 50% recycled textile material and 50% wood.

25,000tn

Lenzing and Oncemore aim to process 25,000 tons of textile waste per year by 2025.

Key Questions to Ask:

Would a fully recycled fabric reduce your impact even further?

30% recycled cotton waste input is certainly admirable, but raises the question as to why it is not higher. Patagonia and Mud are already pushing above that number. With that said, Tencel Refibra is on an upwards trend of recycled material, going from 20% to 30% in two years and with an ambitious 50% goal. Furthermore, Lenzing’s patent to use recycled lyocell in the fabric points towards its ambitions to produce fully circular materials.

How can you ensure a benign end-of-life for your products?

While both lyocell and cotton will break down in the environment, the same is not true of all the fabrics they may be blended with in the production process, nor any fastenings, trim or coatings that you add. You should consider the holistic makeup of your product and how this will impact its biodegradability.

What is the cost premium of using Tencel Refibra?

While Refibra is available at mass volumes, it is not clear how much more expensive it is when compared to conventional lyocell fibres. However, a recent initiative saw 80,000 prison workers in Belgium receiving uniforms featuring Tencel Refibra, which indicates that it is not overly cost prohibitive.

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