Three years ago, Finnish technology company Spinnova and ECCO’s leather partner KT Trading unveiled plans to create a new circular textile made from leather waste, Respin, including the construction of a pilot plant in Finland. This announcement followed three years of R&D collaboration between ECCO’s Applied Research division and Spinnova and successful trials with spinning the protein biomass into fibre.
The development work of Respin’s leather waste-based fibre has shown good quality results during the current year. ECCO has successfully made a prototype shoe, which includes fibre from the mentioned pilot line produced using Spinnova technology. Spinnova Plc and ECCO Investment Corporation have now signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) regarding the future plans for the JV, called Respin Oy, and ECCO expects a product launch using the fibre produced by Respin before the end of Q1/2025. At that time, according to the LOI, Spinnova and ECCO shall also achieve a final decision on how to proceed with the production scaling and commercialisation of Respin. Both players see significant opportunities in scaling up the production volumes to a commercial level.
— We are happy to move forward, says Tuomas Oijala, CEO, Spinnova. I am proud of the progress we have made with Respin’s fibre quality, which now meets commercial requirements and demonstrates the versatility of the Spinnova technology, which can use multiple different feedstocks, including protein-based leather waste. We now have a clear plan with ECCO for the next steps to reach the decision for scaling the leather waste-based fibre production.
Thomas Gøgsig, Chief Commercial Officer, ECCO, shares the optimism about the fibre quality reached at Respin.
— We see clear potential in using the fibre in our future products, continuing to work towards scaling the production of the leather waste-based fibre. We are looking forward to the international scaling of the fibre, he says.
