The North Face and Spinnova team up for textile partnership

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Aug 24, 2021

The North Face announced on Friday a partnership with sustainable textile material company Spinnova to develop new sustainable, high-performance textiles for the outdoor apparel category.

As part of the partnership, the outdoor apparel giant will commercialize sustainable products using Spinnova materials as it gains access to the first commercial volumes of Spinnova fibre.

Together, they will provide the outdoor segment with a sustainable alternative to conventional textile materials without compromising technical quality. The aim of the partnership is to reduce impacts of the textile industry on the environment and the planet’s resources.

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"The North Face is a leader in sustainable outdoor apparel. This is a great opportunity for us to continue pushing the limits of our material together with The North Face," said Spinnova’s CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen.

"Our goal is to set a new standard for the industry in sustainability and high performance."

The benefits of Spinnova fibre is that it is produced without harmful chemicals, with minimal water usage and with minimal CO2 emissions. It is equally free of any microplastics and is 100 percent circular.

"It’s our over-arching goal to build more circular products, constantly develop innovative materials and to further reduce the environmental impacts of our products. Spinnova is the ideal partner on that journey," added global VP, product development for The North Face, Oliver Lang. 

Globally textile material demand is estimated to be as high as 146 million tons annually by 2030. Spinnova added in a statement that it anticipates that the agreement with The North Face could be a “significant contributor to its market entry,” and added that it did not expect any material impact on Spinnova’s financial performance in 2021-2022.

Most recently, in February, Spinnova shared plans to build its first commercial factory in Finland to meet the growing demand for sustainable materials from global textile brands. The factory producing Spinnova fibre is expected to begin production at the end of 2022, along with Spinnova’s strategic partner Suzano, the world’s largest cellulose producer.

Long term, its goal is to reach one million tonnes of annual Spinnova fibre production capacity in the next 10 to 12 years.