Swedish scientists make a dress completely of paper

15 Oct '17

4 min read

Scientists at the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås have made a dress completely of paper from Swedish forests, as part of the project ‘Establish locally grown textiles in Sweden’ which aims at enabling textile production of raw material from the pulp industry. The forest raw material is processed into paper, spun into threads and turned into fabrics.

This gives new business opportunities for the domestic industry in Sweden and creates opportunities for a more sustainable textile industry through a range of innovative solutions across branches.

In the provinces of Värmland and Dalsland, there are dense forests of spruce and pine trees. This Swedish forest raw material is processed and refined into paper by Nordic Papers and Ahlstrom-Munksjö paper mills. The unbleached and locally grown paper is then shipped to the textile cluster in the Sjuhärad region, where it is spun into threads at SKS Textile and then turned into fabrics via knitting machines at the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås. At the dyeing company Sjuhäradsbygdens Färgeri, the fabric is given a dark blue colour and is then turned into a flexible dress at Smart Textiles at the University of Borås.

This is part of the project ‘Establishing locally grown textiles in Sweden’ (Swedish: ENTIS) in BioInnovation, where a number of parties from the Swedish forestry, paper, and textile industry work together to achieve textile production of raw materials from the pulp industry.

“There are already textiles made of paper, but the unique thing about this project is that we have looked at the possibilities for recycling and challenge existing production and recycling techniques to achieve a circular flow. One of the greater challenges in the production of a paper fabric is to knit with the paper yarn instead of weaving with it, since paper is a relatively stiff material. It is also fun to see the collaboration of a project with parties from different branches, and I am also looking forward to see prototypes for interior purposes emerge in this project”, says Lena-Marie Jensen, team leader of ‘Design for recycling’ and project coordinator of the focus area Sustainable Textiles in Smart Textiles.

The need for textile fibres grows as the population of the earth increases (UN: 9.2 billion in 2050) and the general standard of living is higher. As people settle in cities and afford to consume more, the needs for sophisticated textiles also increase. This is why one finding of this project is that we need to take care of the raw material we have and reuse it. But there is also a need to supply new sustainable raw material that could be part of a circular flow.

This project wants to highlight the importance of constantly investigating alternatives to cotton and synthetic fibres in order to get more resource efficient fibres, and how choices in the design process affect the product’s environmental performance. In order to solve the fibre needs of the future, paper could be one alternative to some products. Paper is also a bio-based material and could be part of a closed cycle.

BioInnovation is one of Sweden’s strategic innovation programmes, which includes the project ‘Establishing locally grown textiles in Sweden’ (Swedish: ENTIS), led by Swerea IVF. Smart Textiles are responsible for the work package ‘Design for Recycling’, where the goal is to enable textile production of raw materials from the pulp industry. This will bring increased opportunities for Sweden to assume a strong position in the globally growing, bio-based economy with forests, fields, water, and waste as a basis. This could then create better conditions, both for sustainability and for the Swedish industry.

Collaboration partners of ‘Design for recycling’ are SKS Textile (Svenskt Konstsilke), Kinnarps, Nordic Paper, Ahlstrom-Munksjö, Sjuhäradsbygdens Färgeri, RISE, Swerea IVF, Trikåby, Smart Textiles at the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Mid Sweden University, Bioisolator, OrganoClick, Re-board Technology, Stena Recycling. (SV)

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