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Alternative Fibres / TreeToTextile Interview
Collection: Sea Change

For the Trees and the Forests: Swedish Initiative Processes a New Biobased Textile

Swedish gamechanger TreeToTextile was recently awarded the ITMF Start-up Award for creating a biobased textile fibre through an innovative chemical process that refines cellulose from wood and other cellulosic sources. Chief Executive Officer Roxana Barbieru talks alternative fibres.

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11 December 2023

 4 minutes
Long Story, Cut Short
  • Still under active development, the TreeToTextile technology is a new innovative chemical process using renewable forest raw material and regenerating the cellulose into a textile fibre by spinning the dissolving pulp.
  • The new fibre promises to cut emissions by 70–90% for key textile fibres such as average cotton, viscose, and polyester.
  • The award-winning technology will see commercial production in a few years.
TreeToTextile is built on a common vision: Better textiles in harmony with nature, to all. By combining the entrepreneurial spirit of Lars Stigsson, the cellulose expertise of Stora Enso and the customer and textile knowledge of H&M Group and Inter IKEA group, TreeToTextile has created the possibility to put a new sustainable textile fiber on the market.
Output of a vision TreeToTextile is built on a common vision: Better textiles in harmony with nature, to all. By combining the entrepreneurial spirit of Lars Stigsson, the cellulose expertise of Stora Enso and the customer and textile knowledge of H&M Group and Inter IKEA group, TreeToTextile has created the possibility to put a new sustainable textile fibre on the market. TreeToTextile

TreeToTextile was founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Lars Stigsson, H&M Group and Inter Ikea Group. Five years later, Stora Enso joined the company as its fourth partner. The partners share the vision of developing and commercialising a more sustainable process for textile fibre production.

The TreeToTextile technology is a new innovative chemical process using renewable forest raw material and regenerating the cellulose into a textile fibre by spinning the dissolving pulp. It uses less chemicals, allowing for a more sustainable and cost-efficient process compared to conventional technologies and fibres. There are no sulphur emissions during production and the water and chemicals used are recycled and reused.

The innovation is still under active development, and the company is now ready to scale up production, with the aim of bringing the fibre to the market.

texfash.com: H&M Group, Inter IKEA Group, Stora Enso and LSCS Invest. Now, that's a very diverse and interesting bunch of owners. So, how did it happen to work out in the first place? 
Roxana Barbieru: We are very fortunate to have such strong and engaged owners, who can all bring added value to TreeToTextile. The company was founded in 2014 by Lars Stigsson, a serial entrepreneur, who now sadly has passed away. He and H&M Group and Inter IKEA Group jointly had a wish to accelerate the development of a more sustainable cellulose-based fibre at a lower climate impact than conventional cotton and viscose. 

This led to a joint venture, TreeToTextile AB, which was established with the objective to develop a low-climate impact textile fibre production process and commercialise the fibre as rapidly and widespread as possible. Later, in January 2019, Stora Enso joined as its fourth partner. The vision of the company is “Better textiles to all”.

TreeToTextile received the (ITMF) award for their work in creating a biobased textile fibre through an innovative chemical process that refines cellulose from wood and other cellulosic sources: says the press release. How environment-friendly is the chemical process? Could you please explain it for those who are not experts?
Roxana Barbieru: The new fibre production process is from cellulosic sources. The process has low climate impact as it has low demand for chemicals, energy and water. Our fibre will cut emissions by 70–90% for the key textile fibres such as average cotton, viscose, and polyester. In addition, our fibre has strong technical features combining qualities from cotton and viscose. 

We believe its unparalleled environmental footprint and unique functionality will establish the fibre among the top choices on a global scale across several categories in apparel and home textile segments while helping the textile industry to accelerate the transition to net zero.

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Today, the demand for transparency is much more strident than it was even five years ago. It is expected to grow even more strident, backed by law. So, how transparent is this process? What can a potential buyer expect to see? 
Roxana Barbieru: A potential buyer will have insights into the environmental performance of our fibre including among others , type of feedstock pulp and energy used. Upstream and downstream impact will be shared to the extent LCA value chain data will be available.

But broadly speaking, how does TreeToTextile ensure a low environmental footprint? We would like to know by what percentage and what are the steps that ensure that? How much of this can a potential buyer ascertain for himself/herself? 
Roxana Barbieru: The TreeToTextile Technology has low demand for chemicals, energy and water, and thus has a low CO2 footprint. According to third-party verified LCA, the TreeToTextile fibre has a climate impact of 0.6 kg CO2 eq / kilo fibre, compared to cotton's 4.0 kg CO2 eq / kilo fibre and viscose's 3.2 kg CO2 eq / kilo fibre. The data comes from Ecoinvent 3.8. The fibre originates from bio-based and traceable resources and is biodegradable.

Could you please elaborate on the use of scalable technology with low manufacturing cost? 
Roxana Barbieru: Its unparalleled environmental footprint and unique functionality will establish the fibre among the top choices on a global scale for many across several categories in home textile and apparel segments, while helping the textile industry to accelerate the transition to net zero.

The new fibre is a regenerated cellulosic fibre, produced from renewable and sustainably sourced raw materials from the forest — which forests are these and what steps are taken to ensure that the forests continue to grow dense? 
Roxana Barbieru: The forests from which TreeToTextile source the pulp, are sustainably managed. Sustainable forestry helps to secure the long-term availability of wood. Sustainably managed forests are always regenerated, and their biodiversity is preserved, for example by protecting valuable areas and species. Sustainable forest management safeguards forest health and productivity and protects biodiversity – whilst securing the long-term availability of renewable resources.

By when do you expect to begin commercial production? Apart from the owners, which other brands are you looking to supply? Also, what quantities would we be looking at? 
Roxana Barbieru: We expect to begin commercial production in a few years. We are looking at brands with a strong sustainability agenda committed to scaling material innovations and that share our values of meaningful, bold and collaborative.

Roxana Barbieru
Roxana Barbieru
Chief Executive Officer
TreeToTextile

Its (the technology's) unparalleled environmental footprint and unique functionality will establish the fibre among the top choices on a global scale for the many and not for the few, across several categories in home textile and apparel segments, while helping the textile industry to accelerate the transition to net zero.

Subir Ghosh

Subir Ghosh

SUBIR GHOSH is a Kolkata-based independent journalist-writer-researcher who writes about environment, corruption, crony capitalism, conflict, wildlife, and cinema. He is the author of two books, and has co-authored two more with others. He writes, edits, reports and designs. He is also a professionally trained and qualified photographer.

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  • Last modified: 11 December 2023
 
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