Spiber ‘s Executive VP of Sustainability talks to Suzanne Lee at Biofabricate Paris Summit, January 2024, alongside Inka Apter, Director of Material Sustainability Integrityat Eileen Fisher and Christian Tubito, Material Innovation Lab Director at Kering. Image: Biofabricate/Robert Leslie.
The MIL, EILEEN FISHER Inc., and more join forces with Spiber to build a global circularity solution for transforming end-of-use textiles and agricultural byproducts into new materials
Kering Material Innovation Lab (MIL), EILEEN FISHER Inc., Johnstons of Elgin, and DyStar have joined Spiber's revolutionary “biosphere circulation” project, dedicated to transforming unused apparel and textiles, as well as agricultural byproducts, into nutrients for microbial fermentation and production of novel protein materials.
Spiber invites industry stakeholders to join the project in order to implement the technologies, infrastructure, and policies required to realize this vision for a circular ecosystem of industrial materials that are biobased, biodegradable, and used as nutrients at their end-of-use.
Spiber published an overview of the project, including product design principles that outline core concepts to designing circular products, offering the industry concepts to consider when designing textile and apparel products.
Spiber reported on its annual activities, achievements, and challenges.
Yamagata, Japan – On January 11, 2024, Spiber Inc. announced and welcomed new partnerships with Kering MIL, EILEEN FISHER Inc., Johnstons of Elgin, and DyStar at Biofabricate Paris Summit, a global network serving the needs of bio-innovators, consumer brands, and investors, for Spiber’s groundbreaking initiative, the biosphere circulation project, which presents a pioneering methodology for regenerating biobased and biodegradable textile and agricultural waste through the utilization of its proprietary fermentation technology.
The primary objective of this project is to propel society towards the creation of fully circular textile products that can be regenerated at an industrial scale into Spiber’s innovative Brewed Protein™ materials at the end of their lifecycle.
Understanding the pressing need to confront the sustainability challenges currently facing the apparel industry, Spiber advocates for a collaborative approach to expedite research and development, hastening the implementation of this cutting-edge system.
In support of this vision, Kering MIL, EILEEN FISHER Inc., Johnstons of Elgin, and DyStar have now elected to join the project following Goldwin and Pangaia, who began participating in June 2023. These collaborations aim to catalyze the transition from a linear “take-make-use-dispose” model to a circular “take-make-use-reuse” model.
“To achieve a more circular textile industry, different multilevel approaches are necessary as well as validating and deploying different solutions. The biosphere circulation project is an ambitious and challenging initiative opening a new path to textile recycling. From being a last resort, recycling can become a new promising alternative for unusable textile materials.” – Christian Tubito, Kering Material Innovation Lab Director
“We need all the tools in our toolbox in order to jointly move our industry forward towards circular economy for textiles. The biosphere circulation project looks at the fundamental principles of circularity at the level of building blocks of our materials, including dyes and finishes. It is a new yet essential approach to circularity that EILEEN FISHER Inc. is glad to support. Let’s solve these challenges collaboratively!” – Inka Apter, EILEEN FISHER Inc. Director of Material Sustainability and Integrity
The brands’ participation in the project will provide multi-faceted support to Spiber, including through supplying samples for Spiber’s lab-scale testing. The samples brands' supply may require custom production by their supply chain partners, as the textile samples must be composed of specific fibers processed with key types of textile chemicals.
Lab-scale testing of these and other materials will enable accumulation of valuable data for Spiber to analyze and help determine how various types of textile chemicals, like finishing agents and colorants, affect the conversion of cellulose and protein-based materials into nutrients that can be used in the fermentation process, such as sugars and amino acids.
Spiber intends to compile the results from this testing into a database that will indicate the efficiency of different materials in combination with textile chemicals when converted into nutrients for fermentation. This database will serve as a resource for the industry to refer to when designing products for circularity, and products which will be compatible with circularity solutions such as Spiber’s biosphere circulation system in the future.
In 2023, Spiber’s biosphere circulation project published principles for product design to offer the industry a framework for creating products that are compatible with circularity solutions. In addition, Spiber and biosphere circulation project brand participants began testing and analyzing combinations of fibers and key textile chemicals to determine how various types of chemicals affect the conversion of cellulose and protein-based fibers into nutrients for fermentation as an initial step. (Progress details can be found later in this release.)
Spiber and its partners are dedicated to shaping a future in which all products can be incorporated into a circular system and find new meaning at their end-of-use. With this initiative, we would like to invite all players in the industry to join the project and collaboratively strive towards making this vision for a better world a reality.
Biosphere circulation project
Spiber’s biosphere circulation project aims to enable a materials circulation ecosystem in which biobased waste, such as agricultural residues or natural fiber components of discarded textiles, can be broken down into “nutrients” (sugars and amino acids) and used as feedstock to produce materials via fermentation, including Spiber’s proprietary Brewed Protein™ materials.The project envisions a more sustainable future marked by a circular ecosystem of industrial biomaterials that can be broken down into biological nutrients, in which mainstream products are designed, made, used, discarded, collected, and regenerated to be kept in circulation as resources after their end-of-use.
Brewed Protein™ fibers
Brewed Protein™ fibers are lab-grown, plant-derived, and circular materials made through a proprietary microbial fermentation process. The fibers are a compelling solution to the growing demands of animaland petrochemical-free fibers to address numerous pressing environmental issues and risks. Spiber has recently increased the production volume of these new materials, and Brewed Protein™ fibers are now available for commercial-scale purchase internationally.
Spiber Inc.
Established in September 2007, Spiber Inc. is a Japanese biotechnology startup utilizing cutting-edge synthetic biology, polymer, and material science for the development of its novel Brewed Protein™ materials made from plant-based sugars utilizing microbial fermentation technology.
Spiber is a trademark or a registered trademark of Spiber Inc. in Japan and other countries. Brewed Protein™ is a trademark or a registered trademark of Spiber Inc. in Japan and other countries.
