Sustainable textiles business Nanollose will provide a sample of its newly created fibre to Turkish denim manufacturer Orta, a company which supplies the likes of Levi’s and Armani.
Under the agreement announced to the ASX this morning, the companies will develop denim materials using Nanollose’s Nullarbor fibres.
The fibres create more environmentally friendly fabrics as they are made from microbial cellulose instead of cellulose from trees.
Nanollose will provide an initial 50 kilograms of Nullarbor-20 fibre to Orta and receive preliminary technical and marketing feedback ahead of a potential sample product run.
If the project is successful, the companies will work together to arrange an ongoing commercial agreement for the supply of Nullarbor fibres to Orta for the manufacture of denim fabrics.
Orta has the capacity to produce 40 million metres of denim each year.
Nanollose executive chair Wayne Best said the agreement marked an exciting milestone for the company, as the first shipment of fibre from its recent pilot spin.
In late February, Nanollose completed its first pilot scale spin of a Nullarbor lyocell fibre and produced 250 kilograms of Nullarbor-20.
Dr Best said the remaining fibre would be converted to yarn and fabric to meet specific requirements of other parties interested in the technology.
Shares in Nanollose were down 2.3 per cent to 10.7 cents each at 1pm AWST.
Another WA-founded company, Cass Materials, started by Nanollose’s original founder Gary Cass, recently created a beanie made out of a regenerated cellulose textile called Kylarr fibres.
Mr Cass recently moved his company to Sweden, after the country showed interest in his work.
