Spinnova & Suzano to open a commercial factory in 2022

Material
innovation company Spinnova and the world’s largest wood pulp producer Suzano
will make an estimated 22 million euro investment to build the first commercial
scale SPINNOVA®production facility in Finland. The total investment, including
all needed infrastructure such as real estate, is estimated to be some 50
million euros. Spinnova’s sustainable fibre, created out of wood and waste
without the use of harmful chemicals, will be available for global textile
brands in 2022.

The
new, industrial scale production unit will be located in Jyväskylä, Finland,
home of Spinnova’s R&D hub and pilot facility. Production will be managed
and operated by a new joint venture company owned 50/50 by Spinnova and their
partner and investor, Suzano.

The
joint venture investment is estimated to be 22 million euros in size. According
to Spinnova, the total investment, encompassing all needed infrastructure such
as real estate, is some 50 million euros. The real estate will be built and
rented for the joint venture by the Jyväskylä real estate development company
Jykia.

“Every
leading textile brand is looking for ways to minimise their emissions and
ecological footprint, and build a circular material foundation for their
products,” says Spinnova’s CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen. “We feel humble
and proud that soon we will be able to provide brands our new, disruptively
sustainable fibre and fabrics.”

Suzano
is a world leader in the production of eucalyptus pulp and has expanded its
operations to create sustainable and innovative solutions derived from trees to
the challenges faced by society. In the joint venture, Spinnova will be the
exclusive technology provider, while Suzano will ensure the supply of
sustainably produced micro-fibrillated cellulose obtained from eucalyptus
planted by Suzano in Brazil. The fibre produced will be sold under the
SPINNOVA®trademark.

“Suzano
uses only planted trees in its production processes. This renewable raw
material is being combined with Spinnova’s technology for producing fibres that
are more sustainable than the options currently available in the textile
industry, which is aligned with the demands of contemporary society”, says
Fernando Bertolucci, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Suzano.

With
a process that uses no harmful chemicals and 99% less water than the cotton
value chain, the SPINNOVA® fibre can be considered the most sustainable textile
fibre there is. Fibre produced this way creates minimal CO2 emissions, is
quickly biodegradable and contains no microplastics. The fact that these fibres
can be recycled into a new fibre again and again makes the SPINNOVA® fibre
disruptively circular. The Spinnova technology enables textile fibre production
out of wood but also from textile waste or agricultural waste such wheat or
barley straw.

H&M
Group in collaboration with SPINNOVA

Spinnova
materials have been developed in collaboration with leading fashion brands such
as Danish clothing company Bestseller, Finnish fashion house Marimekko, and
Norwegian outdoor brand Bergans. Today, the H&M Group announces it has
joined this group of brands in a partnership with Spinnova.

“
The H&M Group’s ambition is to become fully circular, and we are
continuously testing and actively looking to further integrate the use of
sustainable materials through our group’s brands. We see Spinnova as having
great potential to address several of the sustainability challenges we face
today,” comments Mattias Bodin, H&M Group’s Circular Innovation Lab Lead.

Most
leading apparel brands are are committed to cut greenhouse gas
emissions by 30% by 2030. Since Spinnova materials’ cradle to gate emissions
are considerably less than those of cotton, it’s a radical improvement to
existing textile fibres. Spinnova’s fibre already works well in blends with
other natural fibres, especially cotton. In big volumes, Spinnova blends alone
can have a big positive environmental impact.

Spinnova
will be announcing a number of new brand collaborations and products later this
year. The company expects to fill the new factory’s production capacity during
this year.

“We
believe that the SPINNOVA® fibre will be the breakthrough that the textile and
fashion industry has been waiting for,” Poranen adds. “We have all the needed
components in place: a good quality product that can replace cotton in end
products, proof of concept from our production pilot, scalable technology and
ample, sustainable raw material supply.”

To
speed up the company’s further growth, Spinnova is now actively exploring
multiple substantial financing alternatives.