In 2020, former track and field runner Johanna Nissén Karlsson, her friend Gustav Larsson-Utas, and researcher Romain Bordes, founded fashiontech startup, Vividye. That same year, they won the Conscious Award at the Swedish Elle gala.
— Our innovation, she says, is a textile print that can be removed without damaging the quality of the fibre. The textile industry strives toward eternal prints, hindering the reuse and recycling of printed and coloured textiles. We want to enable further reuse of textiles, by offering rebranding and redesigning of garments.
Nissén Karlsson describes how the startup is at the cross-section between chemistry and textile innovation.
— The print we offer must be removed with our removal formulation that is adapted to the specific chemistry we have included in the print. Our innovation can be integrated into existing industrial infrastructure, which we believe is one of our main advantages when introducing our technology to new environments.
Vividye’s technique is still small-scale and under development. The vision for the near future is to scale up and become the market leader in circular textile printing. One important step came last winter with the first capsule available for end-consumers — a limited edition of printed T-shirts using Vividye’s method, released together with retailer Gina Tricot.
— We believe the fashion industry has still a long way to go in order to become more sustainable. By collaborating with a fast-fashion company, we’re placing one small puzzle piece with the aim of reaching a greener supply chain. None of this can be done by us alone, that is why we’re actively looking for partnerships and working closely with existing partners that can help us make the greatest impact possible, Nissén Karlsson concludes.
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