Nanollose raises Au$5 mn to develop sustainable fibre

11 Oct '17

2 min read

Courtesy: Nanollose

Australian company Nanollose Ltd has raised Au$5,000,000 from investors, with ambitions to commercialise its sustainable fibre technology after an IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange expected for October 18. The amount would be used to advance fibre development, with the vision of contributing a positive change in the global textile and fashion markets.

Nanollose is developing a world-first plant-free fibre that is set to become a sustainable alternative to commonly used fibres such as cotton

"Today, we use plants and trees for fibres to make clothes and textiles, with manufacturers having limited alterative eco-friendly options available to them,” says Alfie Germano, chief executive officer of Nanollose. “We don’t have to cut down trees and plants to create our plant-free cellulose fibre, and it can be used in the same way as other fibres to make clothing and textiles but with a dramatically reduced environmental footprint.”

Nanollose’s plant-free cellulose fibre is created using microbes that convert biomass waste products from the beer, wine and liquid food industries into cellulose, in a process that requires very little land, water or energy. A production cycle is just 18 days, compared to the eight months seen in the cotton industry.

“We are the only company we know of looking to produce plant-free cellulose fibres, and I truly believe that Nanollose success will be a success for the global textile industry,” says Germano.

The newly-raised funds will be used to accelerate the development of the company’s fibre technologies and build production supply chains with key partners, who will license and grow the fibre. “The funds will accelerate our development and get us to a point where we could offer our fibre as a sustainable alternative to that of fibres derived from cotton and wood,” adds Germano who has held several positions at some of the largest global apparel brands including Gap.

“We are a technology company, not a production company, and the funds we are raising will go towards creating an end-to-end supply chain with key partners,” he said. “The goal is to then feed our sustainable alternative into the global industries with little to no retrofitting to existing machinery or processes.” (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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