Fairbrics

About

The textile industry is large CO2 producer with a total greenhouse gas emissions of 1.2 billion tonnes annually representing more than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Transforming the textiles industry into a carbon neutral industry or even more, a negative one, requires system-level changes. On a legal point of view, leading brands are committed to decreasing their carbon footprint on the COP24. Conventional synthetic fibers are made from ancient fossil sources. Alternative are inferior in quality, in short supply and often need the addition of virgin fossil feedstock or are unsuitable in their own way. Leading brands have taken a strong stance to solve this problem and have set ambitious objectives as seen in the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action signed a few months ago. Currently there is no sustainable solution to reach these targets. We are developing a way to transform the potent greenhouse gas CO2 into synthetic fibers. We use molecular chemistry to use CO2 as a new raw material to produce the basic element used in synthetic fibers. We aim in the long term to replace most synthetic fibres produced using polymers derived from by-products of petroleum and natural gas, which include polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and nylon as well as compounds such as acrylics, polyurethanes and polypropylene. Our first product will be PET. The market size was 60 billions dollars last year. The market is predicted to double in size every 10 years, with a fast growth in the emerging countries. Most of this recycling materials come from the packaging industry, where they could be used in a circular way to produce more packaging. Moreover, this quality is usually far lower and the addition of petroleum based virgin molecule is often needed. Other pathways using methane, for example, are underdevelopment but once again they used the waste of other industry that already has a use for them. Organic natural fiber is extremely poorly efficient in terms of water use. Moreover the supply of sustainable source materials is far below the demand. Fibers produce will be made out of the same molecules as the petroleum industry and will have the same quality. It would transform the industry into a truly circular industry, recycling the CO2 emitted during the manufacturing of garnements into high added value sustainable molecules. Moreover, it will be a long duration CO2 fixation that has currently no use. It will dramatically reduce consumption of virgin, non-renewable materials. It will also reduce businesses’ exposure to volatile raw material prices and thereby increase their resilience. It will lead to long term cost saving.