From protecting biodiversity to ensuring a low environmental impact, Eastman Naia™ cellulosic fiber is sustainable from origin to end of life. Made from wood pulp sourced from responsibly managed forests and plantations, the Naia™ brand is continuing to grow, offering new fibers and yarns with innovative new features that improve our planet and our wardrobes.
We believe that industry collaboration is key to building a more sustainable textiles industry. We are committed to working with companies and nonprofits to enable a sustainable supply chain in the markets we serve. Through our partnership with environmental nonprofit Canopy, we’re ensuring excellence in Naia™ wood pulp sourcing techniques and demonstrating our ongoing commitment to promoting sustainable forestry practices.
Having completed our first CanopyStyle audit earlier this year, we are thrilled to receive 26 buttons in Canopy’s 2020 Hot Button Report. The Hot Button Report uses the results of a third-party verification audit to rank the largest global producers of viscose and cellulosic fibers on their raw material sourcing practices. Eastman has received a green shirt designation, which signals that we have met the requirements of companies who are a part of the CanopyStyle initiative to eliminate sourcing from ancient and endangered forests by the end of 2020.
“With Naia™, we want to create more value in the world than the resources we use,” said Ruth Farrell, global marketing director for textiles at Eastman. “Working with partners like Canopy helps us create a pipeline of sustainable innovation that enhances the quality of life in a material way. We are proud to be recognized by Canopy for our commitment and work toward responsible sourcing practices.”
Canopy works with the forest industry’s biggest customers and their suppliers to develop business solutions that protect the world’s forests. Collaborating with Canopy gives our customers the confidence that our sustainable product portfolio is responsibly sourced and produced, ensuring a reduced carbon footprint.
The 2020 Hot Button Report highlights our updated sustainable dissolving wood pulp sourcing policy and investments in next-generation fiber solutions and molecular recycling technologies that deliver circular solutions to the fashion industry. In September 2020, we launched Naia™ Renew, a portfolio of cellulose fiber solutions produced from 60% sustainably sourced wood pulp and 40% certified* recycled waste plastics.
Naia™ Renew is produced with the circular economy in mind, providing the highest quality products without compromising creativity or our planet’s resources. This innovative fiber creates value from hard-to-recycle materials that would otherwise be destined for landfills.
Fully circular, Naia™ Renew is produced with a reduced carbon footprint in a closed-loop manufacturing process where solvents are safely recycled back into the system for reuse. It’s made from wood pulp sourced from certified forests, and the recycled plastics feedstock is generated via Eastman’s patented carbon renewal technology. Carbon renewal technology is an integrated, molecular recycling technology that breaks down waste plastics such as post-consumer carpet fiber and plastic packaging materials into basic molecular building blocks for the manufacture of new products, including fibers.
The closed-loop process prioritizes the safe and environmentally sound use of chemicals, ensuring that the products created from Naia™ Renew are as sustainable as they are fashionable. Naia™ Renew fiber is certified as biodegradable and compostable, creating the possibility for fabrics to safely return to nature at the end of their usefulness.
Participating in the CanopyStyle initiative helps us propel our sustainable development goals for Naia™. At Eastman, we want to proactively play our part in creating a healthy fashion industry that is good for our planet, the people that work in our industry, and the consumer. We’re pledging to protect our world’s natural resources by lowering the GHG footprint of the current Naia™ portfolio by 40% by 2030.
Circular solutions are vital to creating a more sustainable future for fashion. That’s why we’re working to mainstream circularity into our product lines. By 2022, our advanced technology and information solutions will enable the “track and trace” of materials from forest floor and recycled feedstocks to factory door. By 2025, more than 50% of our textiles portfolio will be Naia™ Renew. By 2030, we’re increasing that to 90%. We also expect more than 25% of recycled content to be derived from waste textiles by 2025 and plan to invest more than 75% of our textiles and development resources on circular solutions.
We recognize that large-scale conservation of ecosystems has an important environmental impact. We’re committed to proactively engaging in advocacy and programs to protect these forest ecosystems and support thriving communities through membership in and contribution to MMCF initiatives, supporting United Nations Free, Prior and Informed Consent policy.
It’s important to us to provide consumers with options that will sustain and protect our world for generations to come. That includes how and where we source raw materials for our products, including sources reliant on forestry. We’re proud to partner in the CanopyStyle initiative and support a holistic, systems-based approach to sustainable forest management.
*Naia™ Renew recycled content is achieved by allocation of recycled plastics through mass balance accounting.
