Tough list handed over by the textile industry

For the textile and fashion industry to use more cellulose in their fabrics, a number of criteria must be satisfied. These include greater environmental responsibility, opportunities for the use of renewable or recyclable materials, a broad range of applications and, not least, cost efficiency and fashion sense.

The list of requirements was handed over by Sara Winroth, CSR coordinator at Lindex, at the event organized by

and the magazine

in Borås last week.

“We want you to be here,” said Sara Winroth, pointing to the top of the Environmental Benchmark’s list over textile fibers, which serves as the reference for the international fashion and clothing industry.

Materials such as recyclable cotton and polyester are ranked highest on the list, representing the most eco-friendly alternatives. The next best from an environmental perspective is Tencell/lyocell, a textile material produced from cellulose sourced from fast-growing energy forest. Conventional viscose is down in fifth place.

The conventional viscose process continues to be too dirty.

“It will be fantastic when the alternative to cotton has reached a sufficiently good level, and if we gain access to competitively priced and formable cellulose-based fiber.”

There is no doubting that Lindex, one of Europe’s leading fashion chains with annual sales of SEK 6 billion, has ambitious environmental targets.

“By 2020, 100% of our cotton will be organically farmed or be certified under the Better Cotton Initiative. More than 80% of the entire range will carry an environmental label or come from sustainable fibers,” affirmed Sara Winroth.

This is where the forest industry has its chance! At the conference, it was revealed that a third manufacturing process is under development on a large scale in Sweden – an alternative process to viscous and Lyocell. In 2017-2018, this may become a reality.