Infinited Fiber Company has partnered with one of the leading manufacturers of wipes substrates –  Suominen to develop a nonwoven sheet made from 100% regenerated textile waste in Finland.

It's manufactured with Infinited's Infinna fiber, which is biodegradable, plastic-free, and made from discarded cotton-rich fabrics, making it a resource-efficient alternative to polyester and viscose, which are commonly used in single-use nonwovens. The nonwoven was created as a result of the two firms' joint R&D efforts.

Petri Helsky, Suominen’s president and CEO, said that they believe that using recycled materials has a lot of potential, and they're really thrilled to be able to support and contribute to the development of Infinna for nonwoven applications.

Petri Alava, co-founder and CEO of Infinited, said that introducing materials made from existing resources – such as discarded textiles – is a way to bring circularity to the single-use nonwovens market. The material they've developed with Suominen represents a more sustainable future for nonwovens, and they're looking forward to continuing their close collaboration and co-development work in the next years.

Infinited has already announced agreements with top fashion and textile brands like as Bestseller, H&M, and Patagonia, and plans for a 30,000 metric tonnes per year plant in Finland, which would be operational by 2024, were revealed in April 2021.

In order to speed up, the company is currently licensing the technology to some of the world's largest producers, as well as firming up volumes and prices for its output from the new factory in Finland.

The European Commission's single-use plastics legislation, as well as increased demand from retailers and consumers searching for more sustainable, circular solutions in single-use items, have pushed the nonwovens industry to focus on biodegradability and plastic-free products.