Dive Brief:
- Renewcell has been acquired by Sweden-based investment firm Altor, according to a Tuesday press release sent to Fashion Dive.
- The textile-to-textile fiber company will now operate under the name Circulose — the same name as its pulp material, which is made from textile waste.
- Renewcell filed for bankruptcy in February, after it said it wasn’t able to secure sufficient funding to continue operations. The bidding process on the company’s assets closed in March.
Dive Insight:
In Tuesday’s announcement, Circulose said the new ownership will allow it to secure financing for its future and ensure that the recycling tech “continues to thrive on a global scale.”
The material Circulose is a dissolving pulp used to make rayon fibers from cellulose found in textile waste and production scraps. When Renewcell was seeking a buyer earlier this year, chief commercial officer Tricia Carey told Fashion Dive that 4,000 tons of fiber and more than 12,000 tons of pulp were ready to be used once a new owner could begin operations.
“We extend our deepest gratitude to our customers, partners, and stakeholders for their unwavering support and collaboration during this journey,” Magnus Lundmark, CEO of Circulose, said in the release. “Together, we will continue to drive positive change, leveraging Altor’s expertise and resources to enhance our capabilities and secure a confident future for Circulose and the broader textile community.”
Ludmark is the new CEO and runs the company’s daily operations. He had previously been chief operating officer of the company since October 2023, according to his LinkedIn.
“We don’t shy away from a challenge and this one is worth taking, both for the uniqueness of the patented technology and the urgency of scaling circular solutions for the entire textile and fashion industry, particularly to replace virgin cotton and MMCF,” Clara Zverina, principal at Altor, said in the release. “We are determined to partner with key stakeholders across the value chain to together unlock the potential of Circulose.”
Circulose is a much smaller organization than Renewcell, Carey said in an email to Fashion Dive on Tuesday. The organization’s focus is to build the senior management team first, and it currently has approximately 22 employees and several consultants.
“All former employees have been contacted and some have been offered contracts to rejoin the organization with a focus on the commercial team,” she said.
Canopy, an organization that collaborates with companies on environmental policies within supply chains, said in its own news release that the Altor acquisition marked “a new chapter for the company and the fashion industry.” The organization further said it received more than 30 letters from brands expressing intent to purchase Circulose products. The organization has worked with Renewcell on promoting multiple initiatives, including the 2022 opening of Renewcell 1, a new generation textile mill.
Carey previously said there was a great deal of interest in Renewcell’s pulp from the brand level, but later “there was not the same level of interest.”
Renewcell’s bankruptcy came as a surprise to some in the sustainable materials industry, and raised questions about the state of the recycled textile space as a whole.
Financial results in the space have been a mixed bag. Shortly following the announcement of Renewcell’s bankruptcy, Infinited Fiber, a competitor in the space, closed a funding round totalling about $43.8 million.
