Sweden’s textile recycling company Renewcell said that fast fashion retailers like H&M and Inditex are not buying enough of their product, circulose, putting a strain on their business.
Circulose is a versatile fibre that can be used to make a variety of clothing materials, including viscose, which is often used in blouses and dresses. It can replace some of the traditional wood pulp and can also be spun into yarns and knitted into fabrics.
Magnus Håkansson, the interim chief executive officer of Renewcell AB — which produces circulose, said in an interview to Bloomberg that retailers need to change their buying habits and start using more sustainable materials to meet their sustainability goals.
Despite its many benefits, fast fashion retailers have been slow to adopt circulose. H&M, Renewcell’s biggest shareholder, has only been able to meet 23% of its goal of using 30% recycled materials by 2025. Inditex has a goal of using 25% new fibres by 2030, but has only launched limited edition collections using Renewcell’s pulp.
There are some signs that the demand for circulose is increasing. Two weeks ago, Inditex announced that its suppliers would buy 2,000 tonnes of material made from a blend of circulose and cellulose from wood pulp. The Spanish retailer plans to gradually introduce the material into its collections over the coming seasons.
H&M also signed an agreement with Renewcell in 2020, in which the brand’s suppliers will produce up to 10,000 tons of fiber using circulose annually over the next few years. The retailer has expressed great confidence in Renewcell and believes that it has the “potential to drive change in the industry by making it possible to produce more circular materials.”