Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2020 - 14

THE PULSE

The Perfect Fabric

Made from plant cellulose, Bergans' Future.Labs 05.A
can be reused in perpetuity, making it the most sustainable
fabric on the planet. by Doug Schnitzspahn
IT'S TOUGH TO IMPRESS THE JURY OF THE SCANDINAVIAN OUTDOOR AWARDS (SOA). THIS
grizzled group of veteran European outdoor journalists, photographers, and industry experts delights in spending long hours arguing over midsoles and debating the merits of pit zips. They also
put the products under consideration to the test out in the Alps before the biannual ISPO show in
Munich (this summer they deliberated over Zoom). But, when the jury met in January, Bergans
of Norway impressed this group of curmudgeons with a product that never had to leave the hotel.
The Bergans Future.Labs.05.A fabric-which the brand submitted in the form of a casual pack-
is the most sustainable fabric the jury has ever seen.
The fabric-a collaboration with Finnish textile manufacturer Spinnova-uses a process that
creates a pulp of plant cellulose from Scandinavian FSC-certified wood or waste straw from agricultural production. That pulp is then turned into a fiber. This whole process uses no chemicals,
and all the water it requires is evaporated and reused. The result is a fabric that can be crafted into
a pack or apparel and then recycled and used in a brand new iteration with no waste.
"To make a high-quality textile fiber from cellulosic feedstock with very limited chemical use is
unique," says Joel Svedlund, sustainability advisor at Swedish research and development group
Peak Innovation and member of the SOA jury. "The main challenge in cellulosic-regenerated
fibers such as viscose and modal has been the chemical load required to reform the cellulose to a
textile fiber with next-to-skin qualities." The new fabric requires no such process.
"The process is repeatable," says Svedlund. "You can take the same material, dissolve it, and
make new fiber in the same process again.
This is a great step toward circularity." In other
words, the fabric can be reused in perpetuity.
In fact, Begans Future Lab designer Johannes
Flem claims Spinnova's lab tests show that the
material actually increases in performance every time it's upcycled.
"Chemical dissolving means most materials decrease their performance when
recycled (strictly speaking, material
downcycling), but this is not the case with
Spinnova," says Flem. "This property makes it
a premium candidate for our experiments in
circular business models."
Taking it a step further in its upcoming
Collection of Tomorrow line, Bergans emphasizes the value of the fabric as part of a product.
"The people who purchased the backpack
have the opportunity to return the pack, and
the value of the material will be deducted from
the cost of a new product from the Collection
of Tomorrow," says Flem. "We will recycle the

14 OUTDOOR RETAILER

/ Summer 2020

product they returned into new Spinnova
fibre for new products in the Collection of
Tomorrow. What's not to like?"
There's just one catch. As of yet, the fabric does not have a true practical application,
beyond, say, the casual day pack the SOA jury
checked out. "It's very much an experimental
material. Although the fabric is awesome in
many ways, it's not exactly the perfect backpack
material," says Flem. "But our partnership with
Spinnova will continue. We are finishing the
second stage of Spinnova fabric innovation and
have begun on stage three. We fully believe that
fabrics using Spinnova fiber can replace cotton
or viscose fabrics in the future."
Svedlund, for one, believes the brand is
pioneering a new level of real sustainability.
"They are making conscious choices to find
better materials and production methods, and
phase out less desirable chemistry," he says.
"They have also spearheaded new business
model trials, including rentals, selling second
hand, repairing, refurbishing, and remaking
used products."
The takeaway? The sustainable future
will be truly circular, with products and materials that will be used over and over and
over again. O.R.
FUTURE FASHION
Bergans Collection of
Tomorrow uses no
dyes or finishes and
creates no waste.

Courtesy of Bergans

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Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2020

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