Australian biotech company Nanollose has made inroads into the sustainable denim space, through a successful partnership with Orta.
Orta has successfully manufactured sample yardage of denim fabric containing the company's Nullarbor-20 fibre. Orta supplies major international brands including Armani, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Isabel Marant as well as Levi's, Wrangler and H&M.
Orta incorporated 12% of Nanollose’s Nullarbor-20 fibre into its denim fabrics, producing sample pairs of jeans. The 50kg of Nullarbor-20 staple fibre used to make the denim was part of the 260kg batch produced by Birla Cellulose at their pilot facilities earlier this year.
Completion of the denim production follows a collaboration agreement between Nanollose and Orta, focused on developing and manufacturing denim textiles incorporating Nullarbor TreeFree and Forest-Friendly fibres. Both Nanollose and Orta are now seeking to pursue additional collaboration opportunities with increased volumes.
Nanollose executive chairman Dr Wayne Best said the production outcome highlights considerable potential of the Nullarbor-20 fibre and its versatility for use in a range of fabrics and garments.
“To have attracted a partner of Orta’s calibre to produce denim from our fibre provides us with confidence around the future for our product,” Dr Best said. “We continue to receive very positive feedback and strong demand from partner groups working with Nullarbor-20 and look forward to additional collaborative work which can lead to a reduction in the fashion industry’s environmental impact.”
Orta lead in marketing, PD, R&D, planning and operations Dr Sedef Uncu Aki said Orta’s aim is to create a robust denim ecosystem where art meets technology meets ethics.
“As a company that incorporates emerging trends and fashion in its denim production, Orta collaborates with artists, designers, vintage dealers and trend-setters,” Dr Aki said. “Every season, new ORTA fabrics are accompanied by trend presentations, capsule packages, and seasonal journals reflecting the constantly evolving world of denim.
“In addition, we are trying to combine new outsource innovations in our own products and so we are excited to use Nullarbor in our line.”
Nanollose is a biotechnology company commercialising scalable technology to create fibres with minimal environmental impact. Nanollose uses an eco-friendly fermentation process to grow fibres that could become a sustainable alternative to conventional plant-derived cellulose fibres.
The company said that its process, which uses streams from various large-scale industries, including food and agriculture, has the ability to produce ‘Tree-Free’ Cellulose. Cellulose is the hidden polymer building block that is found in everyday items such as clothing, paper and hygiene products.
In January 2021, Nanollose filed a joint patent application with strategic partner Birla Cellulose for a high tenacity, Tree-Free lyocell made from microbial cellulose.
In February 2022, Nanollose and Birla Cellulose completed the first pilot production of such a lyocell fibre when Birla Cellulose spun 260kg of forest-friendly Nullarbor-20 fibre for Nanollose at their facilities in India.
This fibre has since been sent to several collaborators and is being converted into yarns, fabrics, and garments for testing and evaluation, prior to potential uptake by partners.