"At the Innovation Lab, we try to inspire and support the design teams with know-how and help them create their own material roadmaps."

Q: What do you do at Kvadrat?

I have been running the Kvadrat Innovation Lab for four years now. Before this, I developed technical textiles and products in the product development team in Ebeltoft for ten years.

Q: How did the Kvadrat Innovation Lab come about, and what was the initial vision behind it?

The idea was to create a team whose sole focus was on research and material exploration, with the purpose of strengthening our position as sustainability leaders and accelerating sustainable and durable materials or new technologies into all product categories.

Q: How does the Innovation Lab collaborate with other departments within Kvadrat?

Every project is different and requires various collaborations throughout the entire company, from legal to purchasing. But most often, we depend on the development teams and their suppliers to test and evaluate the potential of a new material or technology through full-size prototyping using real finishing options.

We begin any process with desk research or continuous dialogue with an innovator to explore the different opportunities. Once we have evaluated all the technical parameters and reached a certain 'proof of concept,' we hand over the material or connection to the design team, who will lead the development from trial to product. From that point on, we provide support from the side and follow the development through to launch.

Q: What are some of the most exciting collaborations you have been part of in your role?

Creating yarns with new raw materials, together with our suppliers and their yarn spinners, has been an exciting journey. Sport was the first to launch, with yarns made from ocean-bound plastic. Then came Ame, which followed the same concept of innovation, but with textile waste instead.

Historically, we left the yarn development to our weaving partners, but we quickly understood that if we wanted to make an impact on our materials, we had to start with the choice of raw material. This is why we started developing our own yarns.

Q: How do you discover new suppliers for innovative and sustainable materials?

The Kvadrat name is fortunately known by many suppliers, so we have many contacting us directly. However, we are looking for innovators all over the world, sometimes from industries very different from textiles. We often find these innovators through international fairs or through our large external network of partners, institutions, and universities, with whom we sometimes collaborate on long-term research projects funded by the EU.

It is often through learning about other industries or participating in global events that we encounter the most unexpected technologies or materials, which we then curiously explore ways to translate into unexpected applications, together with our skilled suppliers and design teams.

 

Q: How do you decide which raw materials to explore?

The overall sustainability strategy drives most of what we do as a company. It is our goal to become net-zero by 2040, and Kvadrat’s largest impact – 97% of our total GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions – comes from the materials and products we purchase.

This impact is primarily driven by raw materials that must be farmed, such as wool and plant-based fibres, or by fossil fuels that must be converted into synthetic fibres like polyester.

Other important factors include preparing for regulations and ensuring that our development teams have the support and materials they need to follow their Material Roadmaps, which are long-term strategic plans for each brand’s main materials, aligned with our overall Material Strategy.

Q: What has been the most challenging innovation project you’ve worked on?

One of our biggest challenges is performance. We aim to create durable products, no matter the material, and it can be challenging for suppliers to meet all our performance requirements from day one. This takes time and dedication.

Kvadrat has always been known for making high-quality and durable textiles. Our way of developing innovative products may be slightly disrupted, but durability is still a key factor in all our innovations to deliver the long-lasting quality that our clients expect from us.

For this very reason, innovation takes time. It is not unusual for the timeline from start to launch to take 3-4 years. This also comes with high risks, as during this time, there is a chance that our innovation may no longer be relevant or that we may never achieve the quality we need. This is a risk we are willing to take, as it is our goal to continuously move forward, stay relevant, and innovate for the future.

A more concrete example from our development of Ame and Sport is that we had a supplier go bankrupt, and we had to move the operations to other suppliers. This was a critical moment, given how far we had come in developing the yarns.

Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunities for textile innovation in the coming years?

Any innovation or partnership that can propel our journey to becoming a circular business is an immense opportunity.

 

We see many opportunities in offering life-prolonging services such as repair, washing, and replacement, which can reduce the impact of new material extraction. Or to build an infrastructure and create collaborations for take-back programs or systems, so we can reduce waste and recycle textiles into new textiles and products.

Q: How do you approach material innovation across the different brands within the Kvadrat organisation?

We currently have a structure of eight brands and ten different development teams working on eight different product categories.

Each brand has its own structure and DNA, and it is important that we continue pushing the boundaries of textiles in all product categories, with both design and innovation, relevant to their brand and offering.

At the Innovation Lab, we try to inspire and support the design teams with know-how and help them create their own material roadmaps. Some teams approach us directly for help and inquiries, but mostly, we contact them when we believe we have a relevant innovation that could fit into their DNA and portfolio.

Q: How do you see the future of textile-to-textile recycling evolving? And what role will Kvadrat play in this?

The textile-to-textile recycling technologies are moving extremely fast. The first time we heard of any innovator working on textile-to-textile recycling was at Launch Circular in 2014, an acceleration platform for new innovators that Kvadrat was part of, alongside IKEA, Novozymes, Nike, and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At that time, there were very few players in the market, and all of them were in the pilot phase.

Today, a different picture is being painted, as many more innovators have started working with various textile waste recycling technologies. Large companies are backing them with huge investments, making it possible for these brands to accelerate from pilot to full-scale manufacturing fairly quickly. Most of these companies are still based in Asia, but they are moving closer to Europe.

We are following these innovators closely, as it is Kvadrat’s ambition to transition from PET bottles to recycled polyester from textile-to-textile recycling and ocean-bound plastics.