Lenzing uses post-consumer recycled cotton in blend with woodpulp to make Tencel

Lenzing is introducing a newly developed TENCEL® fiber, which combines pulp from cotton fabric waste and wood pulp cellulose in order to drive circular economy solutions in the textile industry.

Lenzing is the first manufacturer worldwide to offer man-made cellulosic fibers incorporating recycled materials on a commercial scale.

The fiber will be marketed in a unique way, sold to retailers and brands—rather than yarn or fabric manufacturers—who will then produce their garment collections in a sustainable fashion. This cooperation with leaders in retail will ensure cooperation and transparency in the textile value chain; in addition, a new type of identification is being employed to ensure that the TENCEL® fibers used in the garment are the most sustainable ones.

Robert van de Kerkhof, CCO of Lenzing, said, “For Lenzing, developing circular business models in the fashion industry ensures the decoupling of business growth from pressure on ecological resource consumption. It reduces the need to extract additional virgin resources from nature, and reduces the net impact on ecological resources.”

An additional announcement regarding the new TENCEL® fiber came from Spanish multinational clothing company Inditex. At the company’s Annual General Meeting last Tuesday, the company presented its 2016-2020 Environmental Strategy Plan, which outlined the use of the new fiber as a means of closing the loop.

The Inditex program will begin by contributing about 500 tons of post-industrial textile waste for use in the new TENCEL® fiber, with the aim of reaching 3,000 tons within a few years.