The sustainable textile material company Spinnova has decided on a new investment in its R&D capabilities; an industrial scale in-house yarn spinning facility. This investment will streamline Spinnova’s commercial textile development, enhance brand collaborations, and further improve Spinnova’s market entry capabilities.
Spinnova has decided to make an estimated 2.2-million-euro investment in an in-house yarn spinning facility for research and development purposes. The project has had strong support from the local Jyväskylä business community, and approximately 600 thousand euros of development grant funding from the Central Finland branch of the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. The funding is included in the estimated investment total.
The rationale behind the investment is that in Spinnova’s commercial stage, a local in-house spinning line will simplify the bigger scale R&D process and enable fast turnaround of product development with a large number of brand partners.
In its pre-commercial stage, Spinnova now collaborates closely with Rieter and several other spinning partners on yarn development. Spinnova also has international yarn specialists in its own team.
– The close proximity of a spinning facility will make a huge difference in our commercial phase. We can make fast trials, not lose lead time, and test smaller batches than before. This will significantly improve the textile R&D with our wood-based SPINNOVA® fibre, and is also a valuable investment in future R&D with our alternative, waste raw material verticals, explains Spinnova’s CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen.
Spinnova’s clean technology can also convert various waste streams such as leather and agricultural waste into textile fibre. Being able to test new raw materials all the way to the yarn stage significantly speeds up their feasibility studies or actual product development journeys.
Spinnova has chosen Rieter, a Swiss-based market leader in cotton spinning technology, to supply the technology needed for the new facility.
– Sustainability is an integral part of the Rieter strategy, and fibers with minimal environmental impact play an important role in sustainable yarn production. Rieter is pleased to contribute with its state-of-the-art machinery to Spinnova’s product development, says Roger Albrecht, Head of the Machines & Systems Business Group at Rieter.
The technology is estimated to be delivered by year-end 2022. The facility will be built in Jyväskylä, where Spinnova’s pilot facility produces fibre already, and where Spinnova’s and its partner Suzano’s Woodspin commercial joint venture fibre factory is being built. Further timetable and implementation details will be advised later.
This investment has minimal effect on Spinnova’s financial performance in 2021-2022.
