Sustainable fashion has become an emerging investment area. More and more fashion groups and brands have invested in startups and technologies that can drive sustainability across fashion’s value chain. Invest FWD, the investment arm focused on sustainable initiatives under Danish fashion group Bestseller, recently announced $14 million investments into three innovative sustainable fashion companies—Circular Systems, Nature Coatings and Evrnu. The logic behind is to combine capital with branding perspectives, to boost sustainable transitions within fashion cycles and across the wider industry. There should be multiple strategic moves like this to prompt the much-needed changes in fashion.
Invest FWD Aims to Spur Sustainability Innovations to Commercial Scale
Invest FWD’s managing director Jeppe Bredahl said that “these innovative enterprises have a common denominator—they all have the potential to create change in the fashion industry.” Backing early-stage innovations with scaling potentials can entail risks, but risks have to be shared to reach the company’s sustainability goals like ‘Climate Positive’ and ‘Circular by Design’.
The Three Investees Have Demonstrated Tech Breakthroughs
The profiles of the three investees show why they are qualified for Bestseller’s investments. Circular Systems turns agricultural and industrial waste into high-value textile fibers. Nature Coatings develops high-performing bio-based dyes and fabric finishes. Evrnu liquifies post-consumer apparel waste into pulp and spins that pulp into new pristine fiber.
Bestseller Ensures Brands to Invest for Commercialization
Bestseller stressed that support from its key brands is crucial for the innovations to materialize at commercial scale. Their commitments send a vote of confidence across suppliers that the group is serious about spurring change. Bestseller also signaled that its brands and investees depend on each other to source sustainable materials unavailable previously.
Invest FWD’s Prior Collaborations
Invest FWD has built connections with Circular Systems, Nature Coatings and Evrnu for a period of time through its Fashion FWD Lab platform, which was introduced in late 2020. The lab’s partners also include biomaterial company Beyond Leather and organic cotton community Organic Cotton Accelerator.
In sum, Bestseller Group’s $14 million investments into Circular Systems, Nature Coatings and Evrnu signifies its determination to enable sustainability-focused innovations. For the investees, the capital injection propels their alternative solutions to fashion’s dysfunction. For Bestseller, this helps approach its goals around circularity and climate positivity.