附近上门

Major brand designer . has led a $13 million round of funding in聽 Illinois-based Natural Fiber Welding (NFW).

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NFW develops technology that can use plants and natural fibers to make textiles and other durable items. The company aims to eliminate finite resources like petroleum from the supply chain, and plastic from the textile industry.聽

The new round brings NFW鈥檚 total funding to $25 million, according to a company spokeswoman. Central Illinois Angels, Prairie Crest Capital and other prominent business and investment leaders from the Peoria, Illinois area also participated in the round.

鈥淲e have evolved and progressed our business for more than 50 years because we constantly push ourselves to think openly and differently about how to approach challenges,鈥� Ralph Lauren VP and chief innovation officer David Lauren said in a statement. 鈥淭oday, sustainability is an area where this is especially important, and investing with partners to scale innovative solutions is a key part of our sustainability strategy.鈥�

Ralph Lauren is planning on increasing its use of 鈥減ost-consumer cotton鈥� as it works toward sourcing all of its key materials by 2025 and incorporating zero-waste principles across the company, according to the statement. The investment and partnership with NFW will also help Ralph Lauren lower its reliance on non-biodegradable synthetic materials.

Clothing manufacturers typically can鈥檛 use recycled cotton for new cotton clothing because the recycling process creates short fibers, according to the statement. NFW鈥檚 technology has been able to turn the short fibers into longer fibers to create cotton fiber yarn.

NFW, which was founded in 2015, is based in Peoria, Illinois.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias