ESPOO, Finland
,
October 27, 2023
(press release)
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Infinited Fiber Company transforms cotton-rich textile waste otherwise destined to landfills or incineration into a versatile, premium textile fiber called Infinna™ for the fashion and textile industries. Currently, we are in the process of scaling up, and our work to build the first commercial-scale Infinna™ factory has advanced largely according to plan. Reflecting the current financial environment, we have adjusted the order of our Flagship factory project´s key milestones. One of the major project milestones is securing the environmental permit for our Flagship factory, and currently, we are in the final stages of refining the permit application before submitting it. Our objective all along has been to submit a meticulously prepared, high-quality application to facilitate the evaluation process. We estimate the permit´s evaluation period to last about a year. While most of the construction is planned post-permit, we’ll continue advancing the project at full speed on all fronts while the evaluation process runs its course. This shift in the order of project milestones enables us to e.g. further optimize the plant, equipment engineering and operational expenditure – lowering the risks related to the project, construction and production ramp-up – already at this stage of the project. The construction period of this kind of industrial facility is typically about two years. Market fit proven by offtake agreements The demand for Infinna™ remains strong and in the past months, we have grown our sales team to serve the continuously expanding customer base. Most of the future factory´s production capacity has already been sold to fashion brands for several years ahead. Last week we announced the latest offtake agreement, with Lindex. Other fashion companies that have secured their share of Infinna™ from the Flagship factory include Inditex, Patagonia, PANGAIA, H&M Group, BESTSELLER and PVH Europe known for the Tommy Hilfiger brand. Leading brands have endorsed Infinna™ as a uniquely circular, high-quality alternative to cotton. It fits to existing manufacturing chains without further processing and can effortlessly be turned into yarns and fabrics, used either on its own for 100% circular garments, or as a blend. Infinna™ has been proven well-suited for a great variety of applications, and many brands have launched clothes made with Infinna™ to the market – some of our latest collaborations include the Uudesti hoodie from kids activewear company Reima, and the Glenn Evan jeans by JACK & JONES. Infinna™, created 100% from textile waste, helps brands to push towards their circularity goals, and respond to the growing consumer demand for sustainable materials as well as the evolving environmental regulatory requirements. The latest in our Flagship factory project In response to the demand and customer needs, our growing team of nearly 80 employees works tirelessly on all fronts of the Flagship project towards the factory opening. In between the key milestones there are countless smaller wins, as well as hurdles to overcome. The journey to scale a new technology from small to industrial level is a complex process requiring top-tier expertise. This is why we have significantly grown our inhouse project and engineering teams over the past months. Also, the collaboration with our partners’ vast team of engineers and experts – our extended team – runs smooth. We continue developing and piloting the future factory´s process solutions at our current pilot plants. Logistics planning has taken leaps forward both through signed partnerships and progressed route planning, and we have continued building the supplier network for textile waste feedstock, partnering with forerunning textile sorters, such as SOEX, across Europe. Financing negotiations proceed well in all three tracks: equity, grants, and debt financing. Before summer, we completed the technical and commercial due-diligence process as part of the debt financing stream. “It is clear to us and our ecosystem that scaling up an innovative technology such as ours to industrial level is a marathon rather than a sprint. We´ve already met many milestones, while other important ones still lie ahead: for example, the environmental permitting and the closing of financing. Today, the challenging financial environment is a reality, but I´m happy to say that the sentiment remains positive from investors, lenders and public funding providers towards circular solutions that help solve climate challenges. We´re grateful for the committed brands and partners who share our goal of making textile circularity a reality – their support is invaluable as we keep pushing our first commercial-scale factory towards its start,” says Petri Alava, co-Founder & CEO at Infinited Fiber Company.
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