In Conversation with NFW: Creating biomaterials that support plastic-free design

The Fashion for Good team interviewed Natural Fiber Welding's (NFW) Annie Cull, Director of Brand & Communications to learn more about the innovator’s story, technology, challenges, and successes and showcase innovations that are driving tangible change in the industry and leading the path to scale.
 Image by NFW

 

19 September 2024



Can you tell us about Natural Fiber Welding, how it started, and what the organisation does?

NFW has grown from being known as the innovator behind specific materials – originally and most notably known for MIRUM® leather alternatives and CLARUS® performance yarn/fabrics — into a true platform solution creating biomaterials that support plastic-free design across a wide range of industries—from fashion and footwear to automotive and upholstery.

Formally started in 2015, we are now an organisation of close to 200 team members working with certified partners around the world. One of the things that is truly unique about NFW’s approach is the way our technology embeds into existing supply chains, enabling the world’s most iconic brands to design and scale products with high-performance, plastic-free materials utilising their preferred partners. In a nutshell, NFW helps global brands become sustainable, empowering them to create without plastics. 

Today we are actively commercialising four products while also working confidentially to develop new solutions with other partners in emerging spaces and for novel use cases. The products you can find today include:  

  • CLARUS® turns natural fibres into performance fabrics—100% natural textiles with previously-unachievable functionality. 
  • MIRUM® is the only high-performance, plastic-free alternative to leather.   
  • PLIANT™ outsoles are naturally cured performance rubber outsoles. 
  • TUNERA™ is first-in-kind plastic-free foam — the planet-friendly answer to synthetics in the market today. 


What problem is your innovation solving and how does the technology work?
 

In one word, the problem is plastic! Nearly everything in the built world relies on some type of plastic that began as crude oil and that will become plastic pollution. NFW is fundamentally changing the way materials are made by developing novel ways to bond, mix, and form natural inputs into high-performance materials. NFW is redefining what material platforms can be.  

As we are a platform solution, it’s not a single technology, but an approach to problem solving and innovating. NFW follows three Ground Rules™ in everything we develop: start well, stay clean, end well.  We believe materials should remain in the slipstream of nature’s circular systems: starting with natural inputs, staying free from toxins, and ending as nutrients for future growth. NFW materials are bio-based and 100% plastic-free in pursuit of these principles. We are actively testing and iterating to validate our adherence to these Ground Rules. 

Another important aspect of our business model is the approach that focuses on scaling through existing supply chain partners. If the economic model of innovation doesn’t work, then the innovation has no chance to drive the impact that is necessary. 

 

What have been the biggest successes so far? 

The creation of MIRUM® – the world’s first 100% bio-based leather alternative – remains the benchmark for all other materials. Most so-called plant-based leathers are bio content mixed with polyurethane. And the journey for MIRUM is not over. Today we continue to work on new versions of the material capable of meeting the rigorous performance standards required for automobiles.  

There is no scale without impact and no impact without scale. Our list of global partners is growing and we’re especially proud when partners launch multiple products with us over time. Because we’ve been able to regionalize much of the production of our PLIANT™ all-natural outsoles into the existing supply chain in Southeast Asia, bold brands like Aussie-based Bared can scale up use more quickly. At last count, close to 33 styles in their collection are now featuring PLIANT™ all-natural outsoles. 

You can really see the power of our platform when you look at the zero-plastic sneaker (“the Degenerate”) that NFW and Unless Collective (recently acquired by Under Armour) using all four of NFW’s material innovations. The bio-based sneaker can harmlessly decompose at the end of its useful life, and the brands’ collaborative take-back program enables consumers to send their shoes to ground up and returned to the earth. Most recently, Vivobarefoot launched the Gobi sneaker which features 98% all-natural materials with a PLIANT™ outsole, MIRUM(R) trim, and CLARUS(R) upper.  


What role does collaboration play in bringing innovations to scale?

Collaboration is our super-power. We love to partner with designers and material innovators inside brands and we like to solve the engineering and technical challenges of bringing all-natural materials into the existing supply chain. 

Household brands like Stella McCartney and Ralph Lauren have using MIRUM® and CLARUS® technologies in their products. But we’re equally excited every time another less well-known partner brings a new product to market. At last count, NFW is partnering with 97 consumer brands across fashion, footwear, accessories, upholstery, and automotive. And the proof is that real consumers can shop for real finished goods in the marketplace. Check it out on the shop page of our site.

How has Fashion for Good played a role in your journey so far?

Fashion for Good was one of the first accelerators to identify the potential of NFW’s solutions. In the early days, FFG provided invaluable strategic guidance and support as we were part of the Innovator cohort in 2018. As a small organisation we tapped into FFG for industry reports and analysis. Over the years we’ve been connected to thought leaders in the FFG network and participated in working groups. As a young company, the opportunity to have our materials featured in displays at the FFG museum space gave us a chance to refine how we showed off our innovative solutions.  


What’s next for you? 

The NFW Ground Rules help us draw a clear line in the sand around what a baseline for all-natural materials needs to be. It’s zero-plastic. Full stop. That said, we know that there is still upside potential and the opportunity to move our operations, our supplier partners and the entire industry toward even better options. In 2023, we produced MIRUM® with a Climate Beneficial™ cotton backer sourced from the California Cotton and Climate Coalition (C4), a project of Fibershed, to shrink MIRUM’s environmental footprint even more and steward regenerative agricultural practices. 

Now, we’re proud to be partnering with Terra Genesis, a regenerative design firm, to develop a latex supply chain that sources from farmer cooperatives using Wanakaset regenerative practices in Thailand.  This type of agroforestry creates economic resilience and diversification for rubber farmers. We’ll be sharing more about this work in the coming months and are excited to expand use of Wanakaset regenerative rubber in our materials. Learn more in our Impact Report.  

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