New fibre Kuura blossoms at Tokyo fashion week
A new wood-based cellulosic textile fibre from Finnish enterprise Metsä Spring (Metsä Group’s “innovation company”, which invests in the forest-based bioeconomy) launched via Japanese brand The Reracs’ presentation at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo recently.
Branded Kuura, the fibre is made from pulp generated by Metsä Spring and Japanese trading company Itochu’s jointly owned bioproduct demo plant in Äänekoski, Finland, involving an “advanced direct dissolution method”.
CEO of Metsä Spring, Niklas von Weymarn, commented: “We are testing a novel way of producing textile fibres from undried pulp, based on safer and more environmentally friendly chemicals.
“The idea of Metsä Group’s bioproduct mills is the full utilisation of the renewable wood material and production side streams such as pulp and other bioproducts, which can replace materials made from fossil-based raw materials. Kuura is an excellent example of a value-added product converted from pulp that can be produced within our bioproduct mill concept.”
Itochu, which will act as the fibre’s global distributor, described Kuura as one of its “core materials”, in terms of its “sustainable”, cellulosic fibre offering.
Metsä said that it would consider investing in a larger textile mill, next to its bioproduct mill, if interest generated and feasibility of production are considered solid.
Image: The Reracs.
