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2022-09-23

Riopele unveils an exclusive sustainable fabric for the mobility sector featuring cork


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Riopele continues to move forward to establish itself as a reference in terms of developing sustainable solutions. Imbued with this spirit, it has launched a new fabric produced with recycled raw materials from waste, adding cork residues.

This new product proposal involved several Riopele departments. The creative base is Tenowa (the acronym for ‘Textile No Waste’) which, in its genesis ‘breaks the linear production system’, insofar as ‘fabrics are produced from textile waste, there is no need to use only raw prime materials’, highlights Albertina Reis.

According to Riopele’s R&D Director, this fabric was ‘developed pursuant to the concept of circular economy, with recycled raw material originating from the company’s waste, yarns and fabrics, adding cork waste from the production of cork stoppers, usually incinerated, focusing on the production of differentiating, innovative and sustainable textiles’. Cork, in particular, is a 100% natural and recyclable resource, being inherently sustainable, biodegradable and renewable.

This new product is now one of the finalists of the iTechStyle Awards, within the Fabrics category, a choice that included several other proposals based on the assumptions of innovation and sustainability. Keep in mind that by 2025, Riopele aims to have 80% of its articles suited into sustainability categories.

Exclusively for the mobility sector

João Amaral adds that ‘Riopele has the exclusivity of this product for the mobility area’. Riopele’s design manager for the mobility area emphasizes that ‘this new development has very interesting technical characteristics’, because in addition to ensuring ‘greater resistance (to abrasion, pilling and wear), it also presents dimensional stability during construction. washing and drying process and antibacterial properties’.

Strong commitment to the mobility sector

With practically a century of experience in the development and manufacturing of fabrics for the fashion sector, Riopele is, since the end of 2021, investing in new business areas. ‘Riopele is diversifying its business into the technical textiles segment and investing in complementary business areas, such as, per example, the automotive industry and the professional and military segments’, recalls João Amaral.

One of its strong bets is the ‘introduction of a vision of fashion in the mobility sector’. ‘We have made visits and taken part in meetings with the world's leading manufacturers in the automotive sector, to whom we have presented our proposals for conceptual projects and production of small series’. João Amaral argues that ‘the mobility sector is facing a process of profound changes’, and it is expected that ‘the demand for more environmentally friendly raw materials with greater differentiation will increase’.