Business

Stora Enso Partners With H&M, IKEA To Industrialise TreeToTextile

TreeToTextile AB is a joint venture between H&M group, Inter IKEA group and inventor and entrepreneur Lars Stigsson, launched in 2014 with the aim of developing new textile fibres in a sustainable way at attractive cost levels. Last month, TreeToTextile announced the next step in bringing its sustainable textiles to market, with the addition of Stora Enso to the partnership - to help support the industrialisation of TreeToTextile's production process. The Finnish materials innovator will set up a demonstration plant at one of its Nordic facilities. "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," says Annica Karlsson, chairman of the board of TreeToTextile AB. TreeToTextile's process takes renewable forest raw material and regenerates the cellulose into a textile fibre. This production process uses less energy and chemicals, allowing for a much more sustainable and cost-efficient process compared to conventional technologies and fibres. "It's fantastic to see how the idea of utilising forest resources for a more sustainable textile has developed from lab stage to a commercially viable product in just a few years," Stigsson says. The technology has been tested in a pilot line in Sweden and is now to be scaled up with the construction of a demonstration plant at one of Stora Enso's Nordic facilities. Inter IKEA group and H&M group plan to use the fibre in their products, but the aim is that the entire industry should benefit from this sustainable fibre, since it can be used in conventional supply chains. "We're very happy to join this partnership and contribute to a more sustainable textile production. 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 industrialisation of this technology at one of our facilities to meet growing demand," says Markus Mannström, EVP of the Stora Enso Biomaterials division.