“Next-generation” fibers are already here.
That’s the conclusion of Canopy’s latest Hot Button report, which the Canadian nonprofit uses, as part of its fashion-centered CanopyStyle initiative, to gauge the forest-friendly performance of the world’s producers of man-made cellulosic fiber, or MMCF, with leaders in shades of green and laggards in iterations of red.
There are now nine established commercial lines of next-gen materials made with recycled textiles: one more than in 2022 and five more than in 2021. Aditya Birla’s Liva Reviva, Daiwabo’s Recovis, Lenzing’s Refibra, Sateri’s Finex, Tangshan Sanyou’s Revisco, Yibin Grace’s ReGracell and Xinxiang Chemical Fibre’s Eco-Bailu, along with offerings from E. Miroglio and Jilin Chemical Fiber Co. are all available for purchase, potentially offsetting thousands of metric tons of virgin forest pulp. Other producers are using agricultural residues. Eastman’s Naia Renew ES, for example, contains cellulose from U.S.-grown cotton linters.
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Next-gen volumes are also growing, with Yibin Grace increasing the amount of recycled pulp in its ReGracell line from 30 percent to 50 percent and Sanyou announcing its intention to increase its capacity for the material to 200,000 metric tons per year. Lenzing, meanwhile, is holding fast to its public commitment to generate 100,000 metric tons of 100 percent next-gen content by 2026, and Aditya Birla is doing the same with its stated pledge to churn out 100,000 metric tons of 50 percent next-gen content by 2024.
The volume of global fiber production from producers earning green shirts for leading in CanopyStyle commitments, chief of which is maintaining supply chains free of ancient and endangered forests, has likewise inched up from 50 percent in 2021 to 53 percent in 2022 to more than 54 percent in 2023. Aditya Birla tops the list with 32.5 out of a possible 40 points, followed by Lenzing with 32 and Tangshan Sanyou with 31.5. All three additionally score two out of a possible two points for chemical management, according to their engagement with ZDHC.
For Nicole Rycroft, Canopy’s founder and executive director, the report has two main takeaways. One, that the majority of global MMCF producers have taken “significant and substantive actions” to eliminate their risk of sourcing from ancient and endangered forests, and two, that there continues to be a “surge” development in the exploration and production of next-gen alternatives to virgin wood. And just one or two out of 35 producers Canopy analyzed have not conducted substantive R&D at this point. That’s “night and day” from where the sector was three or four years ago, she said.
There’s still room for improvement, of course. Some 46 percent of global production for rayon, viscose, modal and other similar fibers still risk originating from critical conservation hotspots, from the boreal woodlands of Canada to Indonesia’s tropical rainforests, that are already under siege from worsening drought and wildfires due to climate change.
But for a brand, sourcing better-for-the-planet MMCF is easier than ever. “There are a lot of choices,” Rycroft said. “As a brand, I can go out and I can order my MMCF from 20 different producers and know that it’s at low risk of coming from an ancient and endangered forest. And so that gives me a lot of dexterity as a brand. And now’s the time for brands to step in and start to engage their suppliers to be really leaning on next-gen.”
The brand end of the bargain is by no means a light lift. While fashion’s biggest names have myriad sustainability targets, including commitments to phase out conventional or virgin materials in favor of so-called “preferred” ones, thus whittling their carbon footprints, producers say they aren’t seeing strong enough signals in terms of long-term offtake agreements, which can stymie the plans of innovators like Renewcell to scale. The Swedish textile recycler, which has become a poster child for the industry’s woes, cranked out 1,339 metric tons of its dissolving pulp, which is known as Circulose, in November with few, if any, takers.
“Due to the lack of sales volumes in November, the monthly production volume was lower than the production capacity, in order not to affect cash flow negatively,” it said in a statement last week. “It is expected that the production volume for December will also be below the production capacity due to expected lower sales volumes.”
Renewcell’s financial troubles broadly speak to the confidence—or lack thereof—in next-gen, Rycroft said. As a first mover in the space, the producer is an important bellwether for the fortunes of Evrnu, which is currently building its first production plant in South Carolina, and Circ, which plans to open its first industrial-scale factory—location TBD—by 2026. Britain’s Worn Again Technologies, too, has its eye on constructing a state-of-the-art textile recycling facility in Switzerland.
“It is really important that both the brands and the MMCF producers step in and ensure that 2024 is a much better and more and significantly less stressful year than 2023 has been,” she said. “Even if producers aren’t sourcing from high-carbon, high-biodiversity value forests, it just takes more water, more energy, more chemicals to take trees and turn them into pulp into viscose than it does to take old textiles or food waste and turn that into pulp to then make into textiles.”
As the Hot Button report shows, MMCF producers have already “cracked the code” on using next-gen inputs, Rycroft said. But whether a “next-gen revolution” happens depends on whether these materials can rise above capsule collections to become the status quo. Otherwise, as a Textile Exchange, Quantis and Boston Consulting Group study recently pointed out, the industry will face a 133 million-ton deficit of preferred materials by 2030.
“Knowing that Renewcell is now online, knowing that there are other innovators that are ready to go to scale, [next-gen] is no longer theoretical,” Rycroft said. “Brands can step in and make their circularity goals this year by integrating [these materials] into their lines come Q1.”
Some of the lowest performers in the report include Asia Pacific Rayon, with 11 out of a possible 40 points, Shandong Yamei with 5 points and Weifang Xinlong and Zhejiang Huafeng, with 3.5 points apiece. Silver Hawk gleaned -1 points. All earned 0 out of a possible two points for chemical management.
To date, 550 brands presenting “significant market muscle” with $1 trillion in annual revenue use the Hot Button ranking as their go-to resource to make purchasing decisions. Rycroft said that Canopy engages with each producer on a one-on-one basis, taking into account their slightly different structures and operations.
“I think the message for all of the producers is that there’s the opportunity for everybody to have a green shirt if they’re willing to do the work to make sure that they remove high-risk forest sourcing from their supply chains,” she said.
