Zalando Invests in Textile Regeneration Technology Group Infinited Fiber Company
Zalando Invests in Textile Regeneration Technology Group Infinited Fiber Company
- Infinited Fiber Company’s technology turns cellulose-based raw materials into regenerated textile fiber, Infinna™
- Funding used to prepare for building Infinited Fiber Company’s flagship factory and boost pilot plant output
- Investment tied to Zalando’s sustainability goal to extend the life of fashion products
BERLIN / ESPOO, SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 // Zalando, Europe’s leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle, invests in the circular fashion and textile technology group Infinited Fiber Company. The investment completes a funding round recently led by H&M Group, in which adidas and BESTSELLER’s investment arm Invest FWD A/S also took part. Infinited Fiber Company will use the proceeds to prepare for building Infinited Fiber Company’s flagship factory in Finland in response to the strong growth in demand from global fashion and textile brands for Infinited Fiber Company’s regenerated textile fiber Infinna™.
Infinited Fiber Company’s technology turns cellulose-based raw materials, like cotton-rich textile waste, into Infinna™, a unique, premium-quality regenerated textile fiber with the natural, soft look and feel of cotton. Infinna™ is biodegradable, contains no microplastics, and at the end of their life, garments made with it can be recycled in the same process together with other textile waste. Both companies are also signing a letter of intent that includes Zalando providing raw materials to Infinited Fiber Company in the future and Zalando using the regenerated Infinna™ fiber for its private label production.
Infinited Fiber Company co-founder and CEO Petri Alava says: “We are delighted to welcome Zalando as a new strategic investor into our circle of partners, and see their commitment as further indication of the fashion industry’s strong belief in our innovation. Zalando’s vast brand portfolio and circularity initiatives provide a great basis to deepen our collaboration and to secure feedstock for our flagship plant.”
As part of its sustainability strategy, Zalando has committed to apply the principles of circularity enabling circular choices and driving behavior change towards circular products and experiences. An important step to reach Zalando’s circularity ambition to become a fully circular business is collaboration with experts and partners to test and scale circular services and solutions to support systemic change within the industry.
Zalando Co-CEO David Schneider: “We want to be part of the solution for a more sustainable fashion industry. With the investment in Infinited Fiber Company, we initiate a collaboration with a circular technology innovator to grow the industry share of textiles recycled into new textiles, which currently sits at only one percent.”
Zalando has previously teamed up with sustainable fashion innovation platform, Fashion for Good, and the Berlin-based startup, circular.fashion, to develop the redeZIGN for Circularity capsule collection and with the Ellen MacArthur foundation to accelerate a circular economy in fashion.
More than 92 million metric tons of textile waste is produced globally every year and most of this ends up in landfills or incinerators. At the same time, textile fiber demand is increasing. Textile Exchange estimates the global textile fiber market to grow 34% to 146 million metric tons by 2030 from 109 million metric tons in 2020. Infinited Fiber Company’s fiber regeneration technology, which can use multiple cellulose-rich waste streams as its raw material, offers a solution both to stop waste from being wasted and to reduce the burden of the textile industry on the planet’s limited natural resources.
Infinited Fiber Company’s technology illustrated
(from left to right) After buttons and zippers have been removed, the process begins with mechanically shredded textile waste. The cellulose (think cotton) in the feedstock is captured for further processing. The magic happens when the cellulose reacts with urea in the carbamation phase to create a cellulose carbamate powder. This is dissolved to form a honey-like liquid, and new fiber filaments – Infinna™ – are born when the cellulose crystallizes in a wet-spinning process.
About Infinited Fiber Company
Infinited Fiber Company is a fashion and textile technology group on a mission to bring joy and hope back to closets by making circularity an everyday reality. Our breakthrough innovation turns cellulose-rich materials – like worn-out clothes, used cardboard, and wheat straw – into Infinna™, a premium textile fiber that looks and feels soft and natural like cotton. Infinna™ is biodegradable, contains no microplastics, and textiles made with it can be recycled in the same process. We are headquartered in Espoo, Finland.
Learn more: https://infinitedfiber.com
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About Zalando
Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is Europe’s leading online multi-brand fashion destination. We are building a pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce, along two growth vectors: Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). In B2C, we provide an inspiring, high-quality multi-brand shopping experience for fashion and lifestyle products to more than 50 million active customers across 25 markets. In B2B, we leverage our logistics infrastructure, software, and service capabilities to support brands and retailers in managing and scaling their entire e-commerce business, both on and off the Zalando platform. Through our ecosystem vision, Zalando aims to enable positive change in the fashion and lifestyle industry.
Contact Corporate Communications
Corporate Communications
press@zalando.com
Infinited Fiber Company
Laura Vinha, Communications director
laura.vinha@infinitedfiber.com