Austria's The Lenzing Group & Södra win ITMF 2023 Award

The ITMF Award 2023 is given by ITMF to recognise outstanding achievements and merits in the textile sector in two categories—Sustainability & Innovation and International Cooperation. Since 2021, the two pioneers have been joining forces in textile recycling, making a decisive contribution to promoting the circular economy in the fashion industry. As part of the cooperation, the companies intend to share their knowledge with each other and jointly develop processes to enable the wider use of cellulose-based used textiles on a commercial scale, The Lenzing Group and Södra said in a joint press release.

“We are very proud to have won this prestigious award together with our partner Södra. I see this as recognition for our joint work, but also as a mandate to continue working on our vision of creating a circular economy for textiles and reducing the negative impact of the textile industry on the environment,” said Stephan Sielaff, CEO of The Lenzing Group.

The OnceMore pulp from Södra, which was jointly developed further by Södra and Lenzing, is subsequently used, among other things, as a raw material for the production of Lenzing fibres with Refibra technology. The OnceMore process makes it possible to process and recycle a blend of cotton and polyester.

“This award is proof of our successful collaboration with Lenzing and our shared ability to develop innovative solutions for a more sustainable future. We look forward to further advancing our collaboration and bringing about real change in the textile industry,” said Lotta Lyrå, president and CEO of Södra.

ITMF paid particular tribute to the joint Life Treats project (Textile Recycling in Europe AT Scale), which was supported by a European Union (EU) grant of €10 million under the Life 2022 programme and aims to build a large-scale plant at Södra’s Mörrum site in Sweden.

“The unique across-the-border and long-term cooperation between Lenzing and Södra is a true role model and important for the circular economy transition in the textile industry. A goal that can only be reached by extensive cooperation among the value chain actors,” said Christian Schindler, ITMF director general.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)