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Adidas and BESTSELLER join H&M to raise €30m for Infinited Fiber Company

Tom Bottomley
05 July 2021

Finland-based circular fashion and textile technology group Infinited Fiber Company has secured investments of €30m (£25.7m) in its latest financing round, with Adidas and BESTSELLER’S Invest FWD A/S investment arm for sustainable fashion among the new investors, joining existing and lead investor of the new round H&M Group.

The securement of new funding follows Infinited Fiber Company’s April announcement of plans to build a flagship factory in Finland in response to the strong growth in demand from global fashion and textile brands for its regenerated textile fibre, Infinna.

The factory, which will use household textile waste as raw material, is expected to be operational in 2024 and to have an annual production capacity of 30,000 metric tons. The new funding enables Infinited Fiber Company to carry out the work needed to prepare for the flagship factory investment and to increase production at its pilot facilities in the years leading to 2024.

Investment company Nidoco AB, and Sateri, the world’s largest viscose producer and a member of the RGE group of companies, also participated in this latest round which was completed on 30 June, 2021.

Infinited Fiber Company Co-founder and CEO, Petri Alava, said: “These new investments enable us to proceed at full speed with the pre-engineering, environmental permits, and the recruitment of the skilled professionals needed to take our flagship project forward. We can now also boost production at our pilot facilities so that we can better serve our existing customers and grow our customer base in preparation for both our flagship factory and for the future licensees of our technology.”

H&M Group is one of Infinited Fiber Company’s earliest investors, having first invested in 2019. Nanna Andersen, Head of H&M CO:LAB at H&M Group, commented: “We’re thrilled to continue our journey with Infinited Fiber Company by further investing in them. To be joined by other global brands clearly speaks to the shared belief in the scalability of their technology as well as the team behind it. More importantly, it also shows the huge potential that their regenerated textiles have in driving the industry towards a more sustainable fashion future.”

H&M Group has also signed a multiyear sales deal with Infinited Fiber Company to secure its access to agreed amounts of Infinna from the planned flagship factory.

New investor BESTSELLER has struck a similar sales deal with Infinited Fiber Company. Lise Kaae, a member of the board at Invest FWD, said: “We are very excited about this collaboration and hope to build a strong and long-lasting partnership with Infinited Fiber Company – both as an investor and as a business partner. Infinited Fiber Company has an opportunity to close the loop in the fashion industry with textile-to-textile recycling, which is a great match for Invest FWD’s aspiration to support the entire fashion ecosystem and BESTSELLER’s sustainability strategy Fashion FWD through strategic investments.”

Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Adidas, Katja Schreiber, added: “Our intensified cooperation with Infinited Fiber Company forms part of our strategic ambition to have nine out of 10 products made from sustainable materials by 2025. Sustainability is a key focus of our strategy, with sustainable material innovations playing an important role in creating a more sustainable world.

“Today, we already use more than 60% recycled polyester and are aiming to be entirely virgin polyester-free by 2024. We believe that impact-at-scale in sustainability will require strong collaboration and look forward to pushing boundaries in cellulose-based materials together with Infinited Fiber Company.”

Infinited Fiber Company’s technology turns cellulose-based raw materials, like cotton-rich textile waste, into Infinna, a unique, premium-quality regenerated textile fibre with the natural, soft look and feel of cotton. Infinna is biodegradable and contains no microplastics, and garments made with it can be recycled in the same process together with other textile waste.

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