Founded in 2014, the sustainability initiative takes renewable forest raw material and regenerates the cellulose into a textile fibre. The technology uses less energy and chemicals than other textile production processes, resulting in a fibre than can be used for either clothing or soft furnishings.“We are excited to welcome our new partner, Stora Enso, and to share more of the innovative work that we are doing at TreeToTextile. With the help of our new partner, we will be entering an industrialisation phase. The new fibre that we have developed is both sustainable and produced at a lower cost,” said Annica Karlsson, chairman of the board of TreeToTextile AB.

The process, already tested in a pilot line in Sweden, is to be scaled with the construction of a demonstration plant at a Stora Enso facility. The four partners, which will have an equally big stake in the joint venture, will aim to encourage the adoption of the new sustainable fibre by other fashion and homeware brands.“Stora Enso produces dissolving pulp for textiles based on renewable and fully traceable wood from sustainably managed forests. It will be exciting to participate in the industrialization of this technology at one of our facilities to meet growing demand,” said Markus Mannström, EVP of the Stora Enso biomaterials division. “For us, TreeToTextile is a long-term investment as we strongly believe it will contribute to offering our customers even more sustainably produced products at affordable prices,” added Erik Karlsson, Investment Manager for Sustainable Fashion at H&M group’s investment arm CO:LAB.