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This Nordic company wants you to wear trousers made from trees

You might be surprised by how renewable materials are helping the fashion industry turn over a new leaf.

Published: 18 April 2018 08:09 CEST
This Nordic company wants you to wear trousers made from trees
Photo: Stora Enso
Sustainability is a way of life in the Nordics, where everything from hand soap to hotel rooms is labelled eco-friendly. And one Nordic company is going even further in its efforts to shape a better tomorrow.
 
Once a traditional paper and board company, 800-year-old Stora Enso is now a leading provider of renewable materials. In layman’s terms, that means materials made from sustainable resources instead of materials based on fossil fuels.
 
“Trees are a renewable raw material. Whenever we harvest trees we plant new ones, promoting a sustainable material that grows year after year,” says Sirpa Välimaa, who manages product development at Stora Enso.
 
In 2012, the company expanded its portfolio with a new product made from trees that can be used to make textiles.
 
 
Known as dissolving pulp, this new raw material is used to create what's known as regenerated cellulosic fibres. And despite the admittedly unstylish name, those fibres can actually be spun into yarn and then woven or knitted into fabrics used to create an array of stylish products.
 
Indeed, one such fabric — viscose — is a silky material similar to cotton that already accounts for around 7 percent of all the world’s textiles.
 
Much like cotton, viscose is soft, breathable, and comfortable to wear, meaning that fashion brands around the world are increasingly using it in their collections.
 
A close up look at cellulosic fibres derived from wood pulp before they are woven into fabric. Photo: Stora Enso
 
Scandinavian clothing brand Filippa K is one such company Stora Enso has partnered with to tackle “fast fashion”.
 
The two companies set out to shift the Scandinavian clothing brand’s business away from the fast fashion cycle typically associated with pushing new designs to market as quickly and cheaply as possible. 
 
“We want to be part of the solution, rather than adding to the problem,” says Elin Larsson, Sustainability Director at Filippa K.
 
A more “circular economy” aims to promote greater reuse, recycling, and refurbishment of materials, which in turn helps to reduce waste and give consumers maximum value from their purchases.
 
 
Larsson explains that in order for Filippa K to adopt this circular economy, the brand needed to switch out the old and search for the new.
 
“Going forward we need to have a diverse palette of fibres with a mix of materials other than the ones we are using today, but that serve their purpose just as well.”
 
Many Filippa K designs, such as the shirt pictured above, are made with wood-based fabrics tencel or viscose. Photo: Filippa K
 
And that’s where renewable materials developed by Stora Enso came into play.
 
Unlike cotton, which requires huge amounts of water and pesticides to be farmed — a single pair of jeans alone requires 3625 litres of water – the birch trees from which the dissolving pulp is made require much less water to grow. 
 
For example, the 11,700 litres of water required to make just 1 kg of cotton fabric would produce over 26 kg of wood-based viscose.
 
Roxana Barbieru, Director Business Development Regenerated Cellulose and MFC at Stora Enso explains that there is growing demand for sustainable textiles by global brand owners, and Stora Enso is committed to providing them with high-quality and renewable raw materials.
 
“Renewability is important as wood-based textiles can solve many of the challenges the textile industry is facing today.”
 
 
While consumers have grown used to paying less to fill their wardrobes, these cheaper garments don’t last and often end up in landfills. It’s been estimated that as much as 95 percent of clothes discarded with domestic waste could be re-worn, reused, or recycled. 
 
Throughout the cooperation, which concluded in 2016, Filippa K supported Stora Enso’s pursuit to promote dissolving pulp as a renewable raw material in the textile industry.
 
Larsson adds that working together, Filippa K and Stora Enso were part of the ongoing mission to find a solution to “fast fashion” waste and create a more sustainable model for the fashion industry in the future.
 
“The collaboration with Stora Enso was about showcasing the different steps, from raw material to ready clothes, and to demonstrate that the whole supply chain can be sustainable,” Larsson adds.
 
Transparency in the fashion supply chain is of growing importance to consumers who are becoming more concerned about the provenance of the materials used to make the products they buy.
 
 
“Consumers want to know the origin of their textiles,” says Välimaa. “They want to know who produced them and in what circumstances and whether the chain is sustainable.”
 
Barbieru agrees, adding that all Stora Enso’s wood is 100 percent traceable to its forest of origin and that the company makes every effort to ensure that more trees are grown than harvested.
 
“Every piece of clothing carries a story with it. How it was made, what it’s made of, and how many resources were used to make it. Wouldn’t you want to know that story?”
 
This article was produced by The Local Client Studio and sponsored by Stora Enso.
 

FASHION

Paris exhibition celebrates 100 years of French Vogue

A new exhibition in Paris will tell the story of 100 years of French Vogue - from the post-war 'New Look' of Christian Dior through the sexual liberation of the 1960s to the dangling-cigarette waifs of the 2000s.

Published: 7 October 2021 08:21 CEST
French Vogue celebrates 100 years
French Vogue celebrates 100 years. Photo: Thomas Olva/AFP

But as well as celebrating the magazine’s storied history, the exhibit comes at a time of turbulence for the publication.

Just last month, it was confirmed that its editor of 10 years, Emmanuelle Alt, was out and wouldn’t be replaced.

She was not alone.

Looking to cut costs, owner Conde Nast International has axed editors across Europe over the past year, and put international Vogue editions under the direct control of global editorial director, Anna Wintour, in New York.

New York-based Anna Wintour now has overall control of French Vogue. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Like much of the media industry, Vogue is struggling with tumbling sales and ad revenue in the digital era.

But the latest twist is also part of the endless push and pull between New York and Paris going back to its early days.

“The whole history of French Vogue is one of back-and-forth with Conde Nast in New York – growing more independent for a while, then being reined back in,” said Sylvie Lecallier, curator of the new exhibition, “Vogue Paris 1920-2020″, which opened this weekend after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.

The Paris edition was often the loftier, more bohemian sibling to its more hard-nosed New York version.

But it was also the hotbed in which much of 20th century style and womenhood came to be defined.

“Paris was the place to hunt out talent and content and bring it to New York,” said Lecallier.

The exhibition charts the evolution from art deco drawings of the 1920s through the erotic image-making of photographers like Helmut Newton in the 1960s and 1970s.

Its last peak was under editor Carine Roitfeld in the 2000s, who brought back a provocative Gallic identity by ridding the newsroom of foreign staff and becoming a fashion icon in her own right.

Her successor, Alt, was a quieter presence, though she still oversaw key moments including its first transgender cover star, Brazilian Valentina Sampaio, in 2017.

But internet culture has created “a perfect storm” for Vogue, says media expert Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis.

“The first 80 years of Vogue’s life, it had the market to itself, it was the bible for fashion,” McCabe told AFP.

“But online today, there are so many other ways to get your information. Influencers, Instagram, YouTube — everyone’s a threat.”

In a world where new fashion trends can blow up around the world in seconds, it has become much harder for a monthly magazine to set the pace.

“It’s not that they can’t survive for another 100 years — but they will be differently sized,” McCabe said.

Vogue has tried to branch out into different areas, including events.

“I used to work for a magazine, and today I work for a brand,” Alt said on the eve of French Vogue’s 1,000th issue in 2019.

But the big money was always in print, and Vogue Paris sales are dropping steadily from 98,345 in 2017 to 81,962 to 2020, according to data site ACPM.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the new top job in Paris, redefined as “head of editorial content”, went to Eugenie Trochu, who was key to building the magazine’s online presence.

She declared herself “thrilled to be part of Vogue’s international transformation”.

For the curator of the exhibition, it is ironic timing.

“We had no idea it would end like this when we started work on the exhibition,” said Lecallier.

“Who knows where it will go from here.”

The exhibition Vogue Paris 1920-2020 is at the Palais Galliera in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. The gallery is open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays. Tickets for the exhibition are €14 (€12 for concessions and under 18s go free) and must be reserved online in advance. 

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