Stella McCartney links up with biorecycler
US-based biorecycling technologies developer Protein Evolution has entered into a partnership with British luxury brand Stella McCartney, involving processing and testing the label’s surplus polyester fabrics and nylon blends.
The start-up will do this by using enzymes it has engineered to break down textile and plastic waste into reusable chemical building blocks for “good-as-new” fibres, which it says subsequently become “infinitely” recyclable and suitable for various apparel, gear and footwear applications. Together, the two companies will then work to explore the viability of producing “a new type of polyester from old materials,” as Ms McCartney described.
Protein Evolution announced it had raised $20 million in an initial funding round last October. A couple of months prior, in August, Ms McCartney helped launch the $200 million early-stage “climate solutions” fund which led that round, Collab SOS, as a founding investor.
“By partnering with Stella McCartney, we are able to test our platform in a real-world setting and learn how to seamlessly integrate into existing manufacturing processes,” commented founder and chief technology officer of the biorecycling firm, Scott Stankey.
“This collaboration will ultimately demonstrate for the first time how complex fabric types such as nylon and polyester blends can be fully reused to make new plastic material in a low-energy, cost-effective way.”
Protein Evolution's synthetic biology and artificial intelligence technologies are capable of testing, evaluating and mapping tens of millions of unique enzymes, it says.
Stella McCartney has designed a co-branded line of sportswear, footwear and accessories for adidas since 2005.
