They’ve been doing it differently for a while now. Patagonia seems to be consistently pushing its industry towards greener practices. Yvon Chouinard’s company is taking another step in this direction by investing, through its ‘$20 Million and Change’ fund.
What Patagonia is trying to change with this is the use of water in the manufacturing chain. Fabrics are normally cleaned, disinfected and coated using water. Hundred litres of the precious liquid are used for each kilo of fabric processed. If you scale it to the size of the textile-industry you get an incredible amount of water wasted every year.
CO2Nexus, the company Patagonia is investing in, have worked out a way to change that. They have created TERSUS, a system processing fabric using CO2. The Denver based startup can wash textile by liquefying CO2, which is abundant on earth. The gas is pressurized to become liquid, used like water would be and then vaporized leaving no waste and using significantly less energy.
Patagonia is the perfect partner for us, and for our technology. Their leadership and track record in both textile technology and environmental arenas is unparalleled. We are excited about the opportunities we can jointly pursue up and down the textile value chain.
said CO2Nexus President & CEO Richard Kinsman.
20 Million & Change was created in 2013 as one core tenant of Patagonia’s three-part mission statement – use business to inspire and make solutions to the environmental crisis. Through strategic investments in startups that share this value, Patagonia will help entrepreneurs and innovators succeed in “working with nature rather than using it up,” as Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard put it when announcing the investment platform last year.
Full press release here.
