Norwegian outdoor brand Bergans, Finnish fiber company Spinnova and Scottish textile finisher Halley Stevensons have collaborated to create a fully circular hiking jacket without the use of harmful chemicals.
The new anorak product is 100 percent recyclable and can be reproduced several times. The Collection of Tomorrow is an ambitious innovation collaboration between Bergans, Spinnova and Halley Stevensons aimed at giving the textile industry a powerful push toward a more circular future.
The anorak is made of Spinnova’s cellulose-based material that uses trees as raw material. Spinnova’s fiber technology is groundbreaking because the processes take place mechanically, without the use of chemicals that harm human health and the environment.
To increase the fabric’s weather-resistant properties, the material has been treated with Halley Stevenson’s latest innovation, EverWax Olive, a wax treatment based on olive oil and other plant-based wax types. With this, the garment is fully recyclable, and the material can be reproduced again and again.
“This is a microscopic step for outdoor clothing, but a giant leap for sustainable textile production,” Bjørnhild Hoveid Steingrimsen, product developer at Bergans, said.
Steingrimsen and her product designer colleague, Johannes Flem, form the main minds in the Bergans innovation department–bergans.future.labs. Together with their team they have tested the material and given the anorak its stylish and functional design.
“The transition to a circular economy will require exceptional levels of collaboration across the value chain and the implementation of new sustainable business models,” Flem said. “Let’s hope our co-lab will inspire other brands and suppliers to join partners and seek tomorrow’s solutions.”
Related Stories
Spinnova chief commercial officer Lotta Kopra said by incorporating a high-performance natural wax with Spinnova materials and design by Bergans, “this collaboration has played an important role in our endeavors in developing commercial fabrics with natural finishings.”
Halley Stevensons managing director Jimmy Campbell said the opportunity to work with a brand-new material is not something that comes by every day.
“It’s been both exciting and challenging to learn how our waxes will work with the Spinnova fiber,” Campbell said. “We are currently fine tuning a natural plant-based wax recipe and gentle process that will complement the circular properties of this innovation, to give lasting performance and recyclability.”
Even before it is launched, the naturally waxed anorak developed by Spinnova, Bergans and Halley Stevensons was named “Overall winner” in the Scandinavian Outdoor Awards 2021/22. Both the anorak and the business model it is sold through were honored.