Stora Enso Partners with Inter IKEA Group and H&M Group to Industrialize TreeToTextile

Furniture World News Desk on 12/28/2018

Inter IKEA Group and H&M Group announced the addition of Stora Enso as a new partner in the joint venture of TreeToTextile AB. Created in 2014 as a partnership between Inter IKEA Group, H&M Group, and innovator Lars Stigsson, Swedish company TreeToTextile aims to develop the technology and industrialize a new, innovative fiber in order to provide sustainable textiles at an attractive cost.
 
“We are excited to welcome our new partner, Stora Enso, and to share more of the innovative work that we are doing at TreeToTextile,” says Annica Karlsson, chairman of the board, TreeToTextile AB. “With the help of our new partner, we will be entering an industrialization phase. The new fiber that we have developed is both sustainable and produced at a lower cost.”
 
TreeToTextile’s process takes renewable forest raw material and regenerates the cellulose into a textile fiber. This production process uses less energy and chemicals, allowing for a much more sustainable and cost-efficient process compared to conventional technologies and fibers. 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.
 
“We’re very happy to join this partnership and contribute to a more sustainable textile production,” says Markus Mannström, EVP of the Stora Enso Biomaterials division. “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.”

Inter IKEA Group and H&M Group plan to use the fiber in their products, but the aim is that the entire industry should benefit from this sustainable fiber since it can be used in conventional supply chains.
 
“We welcome Stora Enso to this partnership. 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,” says Erik Karlsson, Investment Manager for Sustainable Fashion at H&M Group’s investment arm CO:LAB.
 
“With Stora Enso as a partner we now add industrial knowledge and deep competence within the cellulose field,” says Lena Julle, Category Area Manager Textiles at IKEA of Sweden. “This together with existing consumer and textile knowledge as well as an entrepreneurial spirit brings us one step closer to our goal of introducing a new sustainable low-cost fiber for the many people.”

More about IKEA: Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered home furnishings of good design and function at low prices. The IKEA Group operates 363 IKEA stores in 29 countries, including 48 in the U.S. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment. For more information see IKEA-USA.com.