CLEAN COLOR: Plant-based pigment maker Sparxell has locked up $3.2 million in a combination of seed funding, direct investments and grants from backers, including beauty giant L’Oréal Group as an anchor investor, along with Materra and Evrnu investor PDS Ventures, venture firm Future Communities Capital, impact investment fund Katapult, as well as Joyance Partners and Snøcap VC.
Fossil fuel-based chemicals are used in the current coloration process. “The textile industry is a well-known emitter of dyes and microplastics, with over 1.5 million tons entering the environment every year, while paint has recently been recognized as the largest source of microplastics in the ocean,” said Sparxell founder and chief executive officer Dr Benjamin Droguet. “Our plant-based materials can be grown and sourced locally in a complete rethink of how colors are currently being manufactured while reducing transport emissions.”
You May Also Like
Related Articles
The pigments are made with plant-based cellulose using nanocrystals and the biomimicry techniques of beetles and butterflies, and are vegan and renewable. The company, founded by a group of scientists from Cambridge University, claims the colors are vividly intense and last longer than synthetics.
The company is working with a handful of high-fashion brands on solutions for textiles, embellishments and sequins; beauty brands on cosmetics and glitter makeup, and packaging firms for foils.
Sparxell will launch a Series A funding round in the coming months to scale up production.
SEED ROUND: Swedish denim brand MADH and Italian mill Candiani have collaborated on the first denim collection made with a non-GMO hybrid cotton called Blue Seed.
Candiani owns the proprietary seed, developed and co-engineered with agriculture group Gowan Seed Company, which allows for full traceability of its product from planting through the entire supply chain.
In a stroke of kismet — or perhaps marketing magic — the seed is actually a dark blue, whereas cotton seeds are normally brown. The unique color gave rise to the denim-appropriate name “Blue Seed.”
The proprietary seed allows the company to keep track of how much is grown and match it with production volume. The farm also has its own ginning facility to ensure that the fiber is not mixed in with other types of cotton.
“Hence, we have accurate traceability of our fiber from field, through gin to the mill. Being a vertical denim mill we control the traceability of the fiber internally from the spinning, to the dyeing, to the weaving and to the finishing department all the way to the finished fabric roll,” Candiani global marketing director Simon Giuliani told WWD.
The seed is the “best of both worlds,” said Giuliani, by blending an extra-long cotton with sturdy Upland cotton. The result creates a longer, stronger fiber plus uses less water during the growing period and has been specifically designed for arid soils. The Blue Seed cotton, which is used in the fabrics for MADH’s collection, is used in regenerative farms in Spain.
The company added: “The characteristics of the Blue Seed make the fabric obtained with this cotton qualitatively higher, more resistant and durable. A fundamental quality in a sustainable context as it is the polar opposite of fast fashion’s philosophy.”
VERY KEEN: Portland-based hiking boot maker Keen has launched its new Targhee IV model, made with a direct injection construction method called Keen.Fusion.
This uses solvent-free mechanical bonds that fuse the upper and sole of the boot into one piece, to prevent the common problem of when the rubber sole degrades and peels off of the shoe when using conventional cement-based glue. This is called “delamination.”
The company admitted this is not a solution to the problem, but a step in the right direction of preventing this degradation and helping make the shoe “the last hiking shoe you buy.” In lab testing, the boot lasted for over 1,000 miles of use plus withstood machines to pull the shoe apart, resulting in enhanced longevity. The boots are also PFAS and pesticide-free.
“Keen.Fusion is a shining example of ‘consciously created’; one of our core pillars is making durable products to keep so they can stay in use rather than breaking down over time,” Keen Effect director Kirsten Blackburn told Sourcing Journal. “We believe that durability is sustainability.”
The company also released its 2023 sustainability report, which indicated that it “rapidly advanced” its climate journey through five steps. The first was measuring emissions and then setting a goal to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55 percent and reduce Scope 3 emissions by 62 percent per thousand pairs of shoes made, all from the fiscal year 2021 baseline, by 2033. To work on achieving that goal, all Keen-owned and operated offices, garages and fan engagement centers shifted to 100-percent renewable energy by sourcing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) across all regions where it has an operating footprint. The company also created a “climate task force” to functionally reduce its impact and invested in climate-focused partners like Protect Our Winters and The Conservation Alliance.
— With contributions from Alexandra Harrell