Dive Brief:
- Swedish sustainable tech company Renewcell has launched a circularity initiative called the Circulose Supplier Network to create a steady supply of Circulose, a dissolving pulp used to make rayon fibers, the company announced July 4.
- The network features an initial group of 47 yarn and textile producers located in 12 countries, including the Albini Group, Cone Denim, Linz Textiles and Cyclo Recycled Fibers.
- Renewcell received a Recycled Claim Standard certification last month, which accredited its proprietary Circulose material to be produced at a larger scale. Renewcell opened its first textile-to-textile recycling facility last year in Sweden.
Dive Insight:
Some fashion brands and retailers have used the material in their products. Levi’s introduced its first circular jeans last year, made with Circulose blended with cotton. The materials have also been used in H&M products as well as in PVH Corp.-owned brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, according to Circulose’s website.
Circulose is a raw material created from the recovery of cellulose found in textile waste and production scraps.
After it’s been extracted, this pulp can get turned into part of the material that makes up different types of “regenerated fibers,” including viscose, lyocell, modal, acetate and other man-made fibers, according to Renewcell. The resulting fibers can then be spun into yarns, or woven or knitted into fabrics.
With the Recycled Claim Standard accreditation, the company says its Circulose production is now scalable,and its new recycling facility has an initial capacity of 60,000 metric tons. Eventually, according to a company statement, that can be scaled up to reach 120,000 metric tons of pulp, which Renewecell said was equivalent to 600 million t-shirts.
“The implementation of the [Circulose] Supplier Network is integral to continue scaling the [Circulose] product,” Patrik Lundström, CEO of Renewcell said in the release. “With availability across the textile supply chain, fashion brands now have numerous circular options to design and create clothing with [Circulose].”
