Portfolio planning isn’t always an easy thing: On the one hand, we would like to include only such substances in the Lebenskleidung family, that are produced in a resource-saving way, get to us without long transport routes, and also do justice to the many innovations out there. So, it is really our duty to not only get to know each new fiber, but also to be clear about whether we can and want to work with it. On the other hand, this also means that we have to decide over and over again which production partners we want to cooperate with – a ridge that is sometimes narrower than you can imagine.
Our new Refibra™ fabrics are first and foremost one thing: beautiful, very comfortable to wear and part of a new generation of fibers that take a huge step towards circular economies. Refibra™ is made from a mixture of wood shavings and – hence its name – cotton blends from the garment industry, which would otherwise be disposed of and are here given the chance to give their old lives to a new fiber. To put it in a nutshell: Lyocell + Recycled Cotton Cut Residues = Refibra™. The environmental benefits of this manufacturing process are obvious. Not only is the lyocell process itself taken as a picture-book procedure, which takes place in only two process stages and with a non-toxic solvent and in which 99% of the solvent and the water used can be repeatedly fed into the production process.
In addition, and this is the real innovation, materials from the waste stream – the cotton blends – are derived and harnessed elsewhere, reducing the amount of raw materials needed. Since all of this sounds like a very convincing thing, but at the same time quite technical, we would like to share with you what made the decision more difficult. The linchpin here is the Austrian company Lenzing, which stands behind the Refibra™ and which most of you have probably come across for their premium brand Tencel, the little sister of Refibra™. As a stock corporation with more than 6,000 employees, many worldwide locations and the production of around 67,000 tonnes of cellulose fibers every year, Lenzing is more like what one would call a big player. That‘s not bad – quite the contrary in fact – but still brings us both advantages and disadvantages.
The good things first: With Lenzing we have a reliable partner at our side who is well networked, absolutely professional and constantly working towards the developing of closed-loop strategies. The company virtually does not know anything like »waste products«: Almost all solvents and emissions can be recovered or dismantled. Water consumption in lyocell production is around 80% lower than in conventional cotton processing. Certainly: In terms of energy, the balance sheet is a little worse, but Lenzing has committed to using 100% renewable energy in its production processes.
And last but not least: The result, the material that comes from Refibra™, is seriously fantastic. Breathable, with better moisture absorption, antibacterial and bleach-free. It looks beautiful, falls perfectly, is of extremely high quality and can itself be recycled again, to think the loop through to the end. The downside: A company that operates on the mentioned scale cannot always trace everything down to the last detail. Specifically, this means we do not yet know as much as we would like about the conditions under which the types of wood used – eucalyptus, pine, spruce, acacia, birch, beech, aspen and maple – grow and thrive. What we do know though is that the wood is FSC- or PEFC-certified and gets produced in Heiligenkreuz in Austria. And also we would not have chosen to work with Refibra™ if after a lot of deliberation and a rather nice visit to Lenzing in Austria we weren’t fully convinced by the positive aspects convincing us that this project is worth it: for you, the beautiful fabric and the many right ideas and impulses.
