Fashion for Good announces the launch of the Feedstock Assessment for Biosynthetic Innovation, an initiative in collaboration with Bestseller, On and other brands aimed at accelerating the industry’s shift towards alternatives to fossil-fuel polymers. The assessment will be conducted in partnership with industry experts, the nova-Institute.
AMSTERDAM – Fashion for Good is excited to announce the launch of the Feedstock Assessment for Biosynthetic Innovation, an initiative in collaboration with Bestseller, On and other brands aimed at accelerating the industry’s shift towards alternatives to fossil-fuel polymers. The assessment will be conducted in partnership with industry experts, the nova-Institute.
With the growing need to phase out virgin fossil-fuel-based materials, this project will focus on identifying and assessing viable feedstock alternatives derived from bio-based and CO₂-based sources, with the goal of providing a detailed landscape of possible pathways for producing polymers from such feedstocks.
TACKLING THE PROBLEM: PHASING OUT OF VIRGIN FOSSIL FUELS
The fashion industry relies heavily on virgin fossil-fuel-based polymers, particularly synthetic polymers like PET (polyethene terephthalate), PA (polyamide), EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate), and elastane. As of 2023, polyester alone accounted for 57% of total fibre production (Textile Exchange, Materials Market Report 2023), highlighting the industry’s reliance on virgin fossil-fuel-based materials despite the environmental concerns associated with their production.
Fossil-fuel-based polymers come at a significant environmental cost and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, and biodiversity loss, fueling the global climate crisis. The pressing need to reduce this dependence on non-renewable resources has spurred a search for more sustainable alternatives.
One promising alternative solution is the adoption of innovative biosynthetic materials. Biosynthetics offer a powerful alternative to traditional synthetic fibres, bringing both performance and technical properties that have the potential to be drop-in replacements. At the same time these alternatives could significantly contribute to reducing the industry’s environmental impact, they still require extensive environmental and technical validation.
Furthermore, many solutions are currently produced using 1st-generation feedstocks. These are raw materials that are directly derived from food crops or other biomass sources, potentially competing with food production — thus presenting additional challenges related to land use, scalability and ethical sourcing. The accurate assessment of these feedstocks’ impacts and the identification of alternatives remain major roadblocks in the path to scaling biosynthetic materials.
BIO-BASED ALTERNATIVES: ASSESSMENT & VALIDATION ARE NEEDED FOR THE INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE
The industry urgently needs validated feedstocks that are environmentally sound, technically feasible, and compliant with social and regulatory standards. Bestseller, Kering, On, Fashion for Good and nova-Institute are teaming up to address this challenge by conducting an in-depth feedstock impact assessment. This assessment will map and analyse the landscape of potential technological routes for producing sustainable polymers from both bio-based and CO₂-based feedstocks.
“Through this project, we aim to tackle one of the biggest hurdles in scaling biosynthetic materials: finding the right feedstocks,” said Katrin Ley, Managing Director of Fashion for Good. “By collaborating with nova-Institute, we are excited to have the data and insights needed to make informed decisions and push towards a more sustainable future for polymers for fibres.”