Partners for CTF25 will be announced soon
For more than 50 years, Arauco has been developing products based on renewable forest resources, allowing it to offer a wide variety of sustainable and quality solutions that improve the lives of millions of people worldwide.
Our products are part of a value chain for the paper, apparel, construction, packaging, furniture, and energy industries.
With a presence in the forestry, cellulose, wood, panels, and clean and renewable energy sectors, we are a globalized company with a presence on five continents, reaching more than 4,000 customers around the world.
Södra was founded in 1938 on the idea that we are stronger together. Södra is now the largest forest-owner association in Sweden, with over 50,000 family forest owners as members. Together, the members of Södra own a world-leading industry that processes forest raw material into renewable products such as paper and dissolving pulp, liquid bioproducts, energy, timber and building systems.
Founded in 1973 and after a few decades, the IMPETUS Group has become one of the world’s leading companies in the textile sector. What started with six people, four machines, and a family dream, has become the launchpad for an industrial and commercial presence with a global dimension.
Driven by nearly half a century of experience and a commitment to customers and the community, IMPETUS’ management remains solidly based on a family basis, backed by a new generation that shares the same values.
Currently, the IMPETUS Group is one of the most complete integrated vertical structures in Europe, supported by several departments, which, in addition to the production process, include R&D, Design, Quality, and Logistics. The improvement of this structure guarantees the flexibility and capacity to offer customers a service of the highest quality and adjusted to their needs.
Although it started by producing only underwear and loungewear, the experience and know-how acquired over the years, together with the significant investment in new technologies, allowed it to expand the portfolio to a wide range of technical products, such as workwear and sporty, with and without seams.
OnceMore® from Södra is the world’s first large-scale process for recycling blended fabrics. The process combines post-consumer textile waste with wood from responsibly managed forests to produce high-quality textile pulp.
– An industrialized solution that is commercially available, at scale.
– A drop-in quality solution performing as well as traditional viscose.
What was once waste becomes new products made from OnceMore® material and it’s the forest that makes it all possible.
Nanollose’s innovative fabrics begin life in a facility where microbes naturally ferment agricultural wastes and by-products into microbial cellulose, a cotton-like alternative to wood pulp. This is then transformed into the company’s Nullarbor™ fibre using the lyocell process by its partner, Birla Cellulose. The production of microbial cellulose requires very little land or energy and doesn’t contribute to deforestation. Moreover, the production cycle for microbial cellulose is just 12-18 days, compared to 12-18 years for the trees required for wood pulp. Nullarbor is also stronger than conventional lyocell made from wood pulp.
More information at www.nullarbor.com
Spinnova transforms the raw material base of the global textile ecosystem. Based in Finland, Spinnova has developed breakthrough patented technology for making textile fibre out of wood or waste, such as leather, textile, or agricultural waste, without harmful chemicals or direct pollution.
The easily scalable Spinnova fibre technology is based on circularity and is designed for zero waste. SPINNOVA® fibre is quickly biodegradable and recyclable, and its CO2 emissions and water consumption are minimal. SPINNOVA® fibre has a natural look and feel, offering a scalable solution for the natural fibre gap.
Spinnova has received awards from e.g., the Fast Company, ISPO, Scandinavian Outdoor, ANDAM and Monocle.
Circ is on a mission to power the clean closet with patented technology that recycles global fashion waste back into textiles, over and over again. We are protecting our planet by reducing the need and demand for petroleum, trees, and other materials harvested from nature to manufacture clothes. Circ is building a truly circular economy for the fashion industry. Headquartered in Danville, Virginia, a former epicenter of textile production in the United States, Circ is an Earthshot Prize Finalist and a Certified B Corporation revitalizing the future of material technology and manufacturing. To learn more about Circ, visit www.circ.earth
Infinited Fiber Company is a Finnish technology and fashion company with a patented technology that turns cotton-rich textile waste, such as worn-out t-shirts, jeans, and production scraps into Infinna™, a virgin-quality, versatile textile fiber with the soft and natural 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, enabling circularity in fashion. Learn more: www.infinitedfiber.com
The HeiQ AeoniQ™ yarn has uncompromising performance due to its continuous filament property that assures high resistance and tenacity values compared to other cellulosic yarns such as viscose and Lyocell. Choosing HeiQ AeoniQ™ over conventional alternatives creates a smaller environmental footprint. While synthetics are made from fossil fuels, HeiQ AeoniQ™ yarn comes from cellulose, a renewable raw material.
MAS Holdings is a global leader in apparel manufacturing, with sustainability driven innovation and co-creation at the heart of its business model. The partnership with HeiQ AeoniQ™ is testament to its commitment to create products and solutions that are better for the wearer and better for the planet.
PYRATEX® is an R&D and supplier of natural performance materials. Their expertise lies in the production of knit fabrics and knitwear made with natural, biobased, and recycled compositions. Some examples of the fibers used in PYRATEX® compositions are kapok, seacell and banana agri-waste, the properties of the raw materials used are carefully preserved, throughout the different production processes. The company has production facilities in Southern Europe for European customers and in Mexico for the American market. PYRATEX® designs their fabrics from raw materials, providing traceability of their supply chain and are GRS, OCS, GOTS, and B Corp certified.
Altri is a Portuguese producer of cellulosic fibers, listed on the Euronext Lisbon and a member of the PSI since 2005.
The company manages more than 90,000 hectares of certified forest, 10% of which are conservation areas. Its three mills – Celbi, Caima and Biotek – have a production capacity of more than 1 million tons of cellulosic fibers per year.
Altri remains committed to building a more renewable world, with biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of resources as priorities, creating added value for its people.
Woodspin is the exclusive producer and seller of wood-based SPINNOVA® fibre, a sustainable and recyclable material made from trees. Woodspin is a 50/50 joint venture between the world’s largest hardwood pulp producer, Suzano, and Spinnova, an innovative Finnish materials technology company. Woodspin’s unique product fuses the responsibly grown eucalyptus hardwood of Suzano with the pioneering technology of Spinnova. In our process we use radically less water and generate less CO2 than conventional textile materials, requiring no harmful chemicals, and leaving no waste by-products or microplastics.
Sappi is a leading global provider of powerful everyday materials made from woodfibre-based renewable resources. As a diversified, innovative, and trusted leader focused on sustainable processes and products, we are building a more circular economy using every part of the tree. Sappi works closely with customers to provide relevant, everyday solutions. Our dissolving pulp branded as Verve, are used worldwide by converters to produce viscose fibre, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of household and consumer products. Verve is the Fibre of Choice.
TextileGenesisTM is a pioneering supply chain traceability platform for the fashion and textile industry, enabled by blockchain technology. Our award-winning FibercoinTM traceability technology creates real-time traceability at article level from fiber-to-retail for brands and retailers. The platform is custom-built for all sustainable fibers in the fashion industry such as man-made cellulosic fibers, sustainable cotton, responsible wool, and recycled polyester.
TextileGenesisTM is partnering with 50+ global brands that collectively drive $250bn+ apparel sales. The cloud-based delivery model ensures easy accessibility from any device and is available globally in three different languages. The TextileGenesisTM platform builds on the product traceability to create strong business incentives for textile suppliers to pro-actively share supply chain traceability data, and assesses the environmental and social credentials of the entire supply chain. TextileGenesisTM has won prestigious innovation awards in the fashion industry. It won the Global Change Award 2020 from H&M Foundation, Accenture and Swedish Royal Institute of Technology from among 6000+ innovations across 175+ countries.
Suzano is the world’s largest producer of market pulp, and our history goes back over 100 years. Our responsibly grown raw materials are used in products reaching over two billion people in more than 100 countries, including tissue and toilet paper, books, printing and writing paper, diapers and period products, packaging, textiles, and a range of innovative applications that can replace products made from fossil fuels.
Our pulp is made from farmed eucalyptus trees, offering a biodegradable, renewable and recyclable raw material for consumer and industrial use. We plant 1.2 million trees a day and only harvest what we plant. We manage around 26,000 km2 of land and around 40% of this is protected for permanent conservation, with a zero-deforestation policy across all of our operations.
Learn more at: suzano.com.br/en
Accelerating Circularity is a nonprofit that catalyzes new circular supply chains and business models to turn used textiles into mainstream raw materials. ACP envisions a world where textiles are no longer wasted. Its approach is to research, map, model, and test circular, textile-to-textile systems from collection, sorting, preprocessing, and recycling through the conventional supply chain at standard commercial scale. The work demonstrates that textile-to-textile circular systems are feasible and worth engaging in for the entire supply chain. Because textiles are too good to waste.
Cellulose Fibres – A Response to the Growing Demand for Eco-Fibres
The success story of the Cellulose Fibres Conference continues on 13-14 March 2024 in Cologne, Germany (on-site and online). The growing demand for renewable fibres meets bio-based and biodegradable cellulose fibres as a breakthrough solution for the future.
The place to be for innovators will showcase the most successful cellulose-based solutions currently available on the market. It will cover the entire value chain from lignocellulose, pulp, cellulose fibres such as rayon, viscose, modal or lyocell and new developments to a wide range of applications. This fits perfectly with the current trends of circular economy, recycling and sustainable carbon cycles.
More information and registration: www.cellulose-fibres.eu
(ohne Überschrift – 104 Wörter)
Healthy forests help life on Earth thrive. The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) – a nonprofit organization that covers more than 150 million hectares of certified forests – provides the world’s most credible sustainable forestry solution, trusted by NGOs, consumers, and businesses to help promote healthy and resilient forests, for all, forever.
Equally governed by environmental, social, and economic perspectives, FSC helps forest managers, smallholders, and governments ensure thriving forest ecosystems and safeguard the livelihoods of forest communities. FSC’s forestry standards, linked to a strict chain of custody certification, are a proven solution to fight the climate and biodiversity crises. The FSC logo – found on millions of products worldwide – is the most recognized mark for responsible forestry.
PEFC is the world’s leading forest certification organization, dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management. With a robust framework and rigorous standards, PEFC ensures that forests are managed responsibly, preserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and supporting forest communities. PEFC’s certification provides assurance to organizations that forest-based products originate from sustainably managed sources.
By sourcing PEFC-certified MMCF materials, brands and retailers get assurance that forest-based products originate from sustainably managed forests that contribute to a forest-positive future and align with brands’ deforestation-free, biodiversity and climate commitments.
CTF 2024 introduced a significant evolution with the relaunch of the CTF Award, a talent competition challenging designers to create looks made from man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCF). The competition was designed to promote and encourage a switch to biobased and/or recycled materials. Open to emerging designers in business for up to three years, the CTF Award recognizes the innovative use of MMCF fabrics and textiles.
A group of eight finalists was selected and challenged to create one look each together with a CTF Innovation Partner. All eight finalists looks were showcased as part of an exhibition during CTF in Milan on May 14 and 15, designed as a black void and audio experience, leaving ample room for each designer to express their unique look and share their experience and process of creating the look and working with their partner and MMCF material.
CTF Award finalists included ABRA, Karoline Vitto, Louise Lyngh Bjerregaard, Paolina Russo, Renata Brenha, Sylvi Sundkler, vel don sa lim, and YAKU paired with a CTF Award innovation partner including OnceMore®, HeiQ AeoniQTM together with MAS Holdings, Nanollose, Spinnova®, Birla Cellulose, Infinited Fiber, Pyratex®, and IMPETUS GROUP together with Circulose®.
YAKU was awarded the winner of the CTF Award 2024 and received a cash prize of $10,000 for their creation and winning look created with their CTF Award Innovation Partner IMPETUS GROUP and Circulose®
How to apply:
To apply, you must have been producing commercially available apparel for a maximum of three years (at the time of submitting an application). You should have consistent experience working with and promoting best practices across apparel supply chains and demonstrate innovative use of fabrics and textiles.
What to include in your CTF Award application
Deadline to apply: Applications for CTF Award are now closed.
How it works
A group of finalists will be challenged to create one look out of MMCF material, showing innovative use of the fabric. Each finalist will be sent material from a selected CTF innovation partner working within the MMCF field.
CTF Award innovation partners for 2024 include Södra OnceMore®, Renewcell in partnership with Impetus, Nanollose, Circ and Birla.
All finalists will be asked to showcase their look as part of an exhibition during CTF 2024, taking place in Milan on May 14th and 15th. The winner will be presented during an event on May 14 and will win a cash prize of 10,000 USD.
Partner with Challenge the Fabric to foster meaningful change and collaboration and contribute to the advancement of MMCF’s impact within the fashion and textile industry.
Our partners and sponsors play a vital role in our efforts by offering strategic insights and resources that propel and enhance our agenda forward. We welcome your support as a platinum, gold, silver or bronze sponsor.
Contact ctf@ekmangroup.com
