Words by Smiley Team
The fashion industry has a big impact on the environment – that's no secret. But businesses are looking ways to reduce the impact on our planet when clothes are made.
One tech company making headway with this is Spinnova, which has created a fibre that saves more CO2 than it emits – making the fibre climate positive. It saves 6.5kg CO2e when replacing conventional cotton – and it's already being used by brands such as adidas and ARKET.
This positive climate impact is thanks to Spinnova’s low carbon footprint and energy reuse. The factory only uses wind power and heat recovered from its own process as its energy sources.
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The surplus energy recovered from Spinnova’s process with heat pumps is recycled into the local district heating network, reducing the local energy provider Alva’s emissions by replacing energy sources such as peat. The heat pump facility recovering and reusing energy from Spinnova’s process is being built by energy systems supplier Calefa. Valmet, the supplier of fibre drying technology for the factory, has also been involved in planning and supplying technology for the energy solutions.
"The results confirm what we have expected: that Spinnova is an extremely climate positive textile fibre," said Spinnova’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, Juha Salmela.
By scaling its fibre production using low-emission technology, Spinnova helps its brand partners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their value chains. The other key environmental benefits of the fibre include minimal water use, zero microplastics, biodegradability, and that no harmful chemicals are used in the manufacturing process.
"The carbon handprint methodology was developed to holistically evaluate and communicate positive climate impacts of solutions tackling climate change," says Sari Siitonen, CEO and founder of climate business consultancy Clonet, who calculated Spinnova’s carbon handprint. "Spinnova is setting an example with their impressive result and transparent reporting."
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