Spinnova prepares to hit the big time with adidas backing
Fibre manufacturer Spinnova has announced its intention to go public by listing on the Nasdaq Helsinki First North Growth Market. Furthermore, it has been able to announce this important step with the backing of adidas because the global sports group has committed to being one of Spinnova’s cornerstone investors.
As part of this agreement, adidas has “committed irrevocably” to invest €3 million in Spinnova when the company’s initial public offering launches.
Spinnova launched as a spin-off from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in 2014 and has worked steadily to develop its technology for making textile fibres out of wood or waste from leather, textile and food production. Its system works without the use of harmful chemicals. The process is zero-waste, generates no microplastics, minimal CO2 emissions and is low in water consumption.
It opened a pilot factory for producing its fibres in the university city of Jyväskylä, in central Finland, in 2019 and recently began constructing a new, commercial-scale factory there. It aims to have the new facility in operation before the end of 2022 and to be making 1 million tonnes per year of its wood-based fibre there by 2031.
On making this new announcement, Spinnova chief executive and co-founder, Janne Poranen, said: “We feel we are an ideal match with the ambitious and pioneering adidas sustainability strategy. Our scalable technology platform can make textile fibre out of abundantly available, renewable materials and provide full recyclability and quick biodegradability.”
The Finnish company already has joint-venture projects in place with Brazil-based wood raw material supplier Suzano and Ecco Leather’s sister company KT Trading. Now, as part of its commitment, adidas has said it intends to secure access to “significant volumes” of Spinnova materials in the future.
