The Peoria, Ill.–based company is pioneering naturally circular, plastic-free textiles that deliver style, performance, and scale.
The fashion industry is in dire need of reform. According to McKinsey & Company, it is responsible for at least 4% of the global carbon footprint—a number that is likely underreported. A staggering 100 billion items of clothing are produced each year. And with consumer demand for fast fashion and performance wear at an all-time high, manufacturers have become increasingly dependent on synthetic textiles, such as nylon, polyester, and elastane.
While CLARUS® is revolutionizing natural textiles, MIRUM®
is redefining the concept of leather and synthetic so-called “vegan” alternatives. Entirely bio-based, recyclable, and customizable to a range of functional needs and haptics,
the MIRUM family of leather-like materials is currently
being used in shoes, handbags, watch bands, and soon car and home interiors.
“MIRUM® is technically a biocomposite that is using technology to bio-mimic what already exists in the environment,” explains Avoni Gharde, Ph.D., an applications testing engineer within the MIRUM® business department, who primarily works on product development. “We have successfully been able to transition the MIRUM® formulas from its developmental stage to scale at production level.” The revolutionary product is essentially a composite of a natural rubber layer with performance fibers, minerals, and natural pigments and engineered with natural backers. “Think of it as analogous to baking,” Gharde explains. “We mix everything together until the two layers come together and are integrated—without any glue.”
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“Humankind has run up a debt to nature it simply cannot service,” says Luke Haverhals, Ph.D., founder and CEO of NFW (Natural Fiber Welding), a Peoria, Ill.–based company that develops and is scaling automated production of bio-based performance materials used by footwear, fashion, accessories, and automotive brands. “Humanity can never recycle its way out of the plastic crisis. Plastics will never be circular enough. Fortunately, the solution to the problem has already been invented: It’s called plants.”
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Revolutionizing
high-performance materials with plants
Listen to Avoni Gharde on the power of plants.
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EXPLAINER: See how NFW is transforming fibers for a sustainable future.
Founder and CEO, NFW
LUKE HAVERHALS
“
Listen to Stephen Taylor on the true circularity of NFW products.
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BEHIND THE SCENES: Episode 8 of The Ecopreneurs in Illinois.
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MEET THE ECOPRENEUR: Luke Haverhals of NFW.
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How NFW is harnessing
the power of plants to reduce
our reliance on plastics
The production of these plastic-based materials is environmentally devastating from their sourcing and production to their use and end of life. From the 342 million barrels of petroleum (not to mention unreported additional use and accidental release of natural gas) used to create synthetic fibers to the 11.3 million tons of discarded clothing that are dumped annually into a landfill or burned, 6 to
15 million tonnes of microplastics enter the environment every year. Synthetics are unsustainable from virtually every meaningful perspective: total emissions, concerning toxicity, and lack of true circularity.
Nature-led technology
Using nature as its guide, NFW has developed four revolutionary products that are turning the industry inside out. Two of them are on the market with major brands: MIRUM®, a 100% bio-based leather-like material, and CLARUS®, a family of high-performance natural textiles that uses proprietary green chemistry to activate hydrogen bonding, thus making natural fibers (like cotton or hemp) functionally longer and stronger. The company continues to innovate original plastic-free biocomposite materials, using components like cork, natural rubber from Indonesia, coconut fibers, and locally available ingredients, such as corn husks, rice hulls, soybeans, and more, culled from farms across Illinois. TUNERA™, a bio-neutral, plastic-free foam for footwear, furniture, and more, and PLIANT™, the first-ever recyclable, natural shoe sole are now in global supply chains and are the next to hit the market.
“The very first problem that NFW sought to solve was how to deliver high-performance textiles using only nutrient-based ingredients,” says Haverhals, whose childhood on a family farm in Iowa inspired his respect for and interest in the natural world. “Cellulose is the most abundant natural polymer on the planet, but the problem with cellulose is that it isn’t quite the right shape to be a performance textile. So, we worked on technologies to give cotton, hemp, and other cellulosics [regenerated fibers from cellulose] a new shape and enable it to outperform synthetics.”
The result is the world’s first-ever high-performance recycled cotton apparel: a sustainable option that outperforms plastic with increased breathability, dry rate, and absorbency. It’s a game changer for legacy brands and their mainstay products, such as Ralph Lauren, which recently started using CLARUS® in its classic polos.
Humankind has run up a debt to nature it simply cannot service. Plastics will never be circular enough. Fortunately, the solution to the problem has already been invented: It’s called plants.”
To ensure that MIRIUM® fits the specific product requirements and specifications that NFW’s partners and customers need, testing is crucial. Using machines and technologies common to the rubber, leather, fabric, and textile industries, NFW runs MIRUM® through various tests—elongation, tensile and tear strength, durability, flex, and more—at its three, soon to be four, Peoria facilities.
“Our mission to keep our products and materials 100% natural has led the team through some interesting challenges,” says Gharde. “But we know we cannot compromise. Fortunately, the technologies we have pioneered have been proven to be highly adaptable.”
In line with NFW’s mission and values, the emphasis on all-natural circularity doesn’t stop when the product goes out the door—it continues to its end of life. Unlike plastics, which break down until they become extremely small pieces of toxic debris that spread to our air, water, soil, and bodies—microplastics were recently discovered in breast milk—the materials NFW produces, if ever discarded, will become soil again and grow the very organic materials the company uses in its products.
To guarantee this circularity, Stephen Taylor, Ph.D., soil scientist and NFW’s product circularity engineer, is constantly testing materials’ capacities for end-of-life decomposition. “We put material in soil and measure how much carbon dioxide comes off,” he explains. On his visits to local compost sites, he observes and records what is forming on the decomposing fabrics. “You can see all the life that’s surrounding the materials. It’s fun to dig around and look at the ants and bugs chewing on it and the fungi that are growing on its surface. When I see the material going back to nature and supporting healthy ecosystems, that’s a success. It proves we are doing what we say we are doing.”
A fabric revolution designed to scale
NFW’s commitment to natural circularity has garnered ample attention from its brand partners. “We’re working on technologies that are genuinely good,” says Haverhals. “People respond to that.” And with investors and partners from Patagonia to Stella McCartney, the demand for sustainable shoes and fabrics that perform better than their plastic counterparts is clearly there.
“Companies like BMW, Ralph Lauren, and Allbirds have not only been partners to NFW, but they’ve actually invested in our company,” says Haverhals. While BMW’s use of MIRUM® as it shifts away from leather in its car interiors and Ralph Lauren’s CLARUS® polo are veritable wins, Haverhals notes that investing isn’t necessarily required to be one of the company’s key partners. “Simply being willing to do business with us and teaching us how to do meaningful business in a way that lets your company scale and do good is exactly what we need in order to have an impact,” he says.
One of the most rewarding collaborations Haverhals enjoys is with fellow Midwesterner and climate crusader Eric Liedtke, CEO and co-founder of zero-plastic streetwear company UNLESS Collective and former president of sustainability at Adidas. Together, they are currently prototyping the “impossible shoe,” one that uses 100% organic materials—a unicorn in the shoe industry, as companies typically rely heavily on plastics.
“MIRUM®, CLARUS®, PLIANT™, and TUNERA™: We put them together in a shoe. We don’t glue it together—we use innovative engineering and manufacturing to make sure it stays together. That’s what NFW helped us do. We, as a brand, wouldn’t exist without them,” says Liedtke. “With the unit economics NFW brings to the table, they’re not the only ones who shared my vision two and a half years ago—they’re the only ones today that are providing these solutions.”
This is just the beginning for NFW. Ultimately, scaling is the way to meet the problem with the urgency it requires. “The only way to have a global impact is through technologies and through materials that scale. The way to achieve that is to not just make a pair of shoes, but to sell millions of pairs of shoes,” explains Haverhals. By his estimate, the next five years will be instrumental in proving to investors and consumers alike that this technology is efficient and effective at global scale. At the end of the day, the company’s core message remains its guiding light.
“Taking care of local soil and local ecosystems is not just taking care of the earth,” Haverhals says. “It’s taking care of people.”
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Nature-led technology
Using nature as its guide, NFW has developed four revolutionary products that are turning the industry inside out. Two of them are on the market with major brands: MIRUM®, a 100% biobased leather-like material, and CLARUS®, a family of high-performance natural textiles that uses proprietary green chemistry to activate hydrogen bonding thus making natural fibers (like cotton or hemp) functionally longer and stronger. The company continues to innovate original plastic-free biocomposite materials, using components like cork, natural rubber from Indonesia, coconut fibers, and locally available ingredients, such as corn husks, rice hulls, soybeans, and more, culled from farms across Illinois. TUNERA™, a bio-neutral, plastic-free foam for footwear, furniture, and more, and PLIANT™, the first-ever recyclable, natural shoe sole are now in global supply chains and are the next to hit the market.
“The very first problem that NFW sought to solve was how to deliver high-performance textiles using only nutrient-based ingredients,” says Haverhals, whose childhood on a family farm in Iowa inspired his respect for and interest in the natural world. “Cellulose is the most abundant natural polymer on the planet, but the problem with cellulose is that it isn’t quite the right shape to be a performance textile. So, we worked on technologies to give cotton, hemp, and other cellulosics [regenerated fibers from cellulose] a new shape and enable it to outperform synthetics.”
While CLARUS® is revolutionizing natural textiles, MIRUM® is redefining the concept of leather and synthetic so-called “vegan” alternatives. Entirely biobased, recyclable, and customizable to a range of functional needs and haptics, the MIRUM family of leather-like materials are currently being used in shoes, handbags, watch bands, and soon car and home interiors.
“MIRUM® is technically a biocomposite that is using technology to bio-mimic what already exists in the environment,” explains Avoni Gharde, Ph.D., an applications testing engineer within the MIRUM® business department, who primarily works on product development. “We have successfully been able to transition the MIRUM® formulas from its developmental stage to scale at production level.” The revolutionary product is essentially a composite of a natural rubber layer with performance fibers, minerals, and natural pigments and engineered with natural backers. “Think of it as analogous to baking,” Gharde explains. “We mix everything together until the two layers come together and are integrated—without any glue.”
A fabric revolution designed to scale
NFW’s commitment to natural circularity has garnered ample attention from its brand partners. “We’re working on technologies that are genuinely good,” says Haverhals. “People respond to that.” And with investors and partners from Patagonia to Stella McCartney, the demand for sustainable shoes and fabrics that perform better than their plastic counterparts is clearly there.
“Companies like BMW, Ralph Lauren, and Allbirds have not only been partners to NFW, but they’ve actually invested in our company,” says Haverhals. While BMW’s use of MIRUM® as it shifts away from leather in its car interiors and Ralph Lauren’s CLARUS polo are veritable wins, Haverhals notes that investing isn’t necessarily required to be one of the company’s key partners. “Simply being willing to do business with us and teaching us how to do meaningful business in a way that lets your company scale and do good is exactly what we need in order to have an impact,” he says.
One of the most rewarding collaborations Haverhals enjoys is with fellow Midwesterner and climate crusader Eric Liedtke, CEO and co-founder of zero-plastic streetwear company UNLESS Collective and former president of sustainability at Adidas. Together, they are currently prototyping the “impossible shoe,” one that uses 100% organic materials—a unicorn in the shoe industry, as companies typically rely heavily on plastics.
“MIRUM®, CLARUS®, PLIANT™, and TUNERA™: We put them together in a shoe. We don’t glue it together—we use innovative engineering and manufacturing to make sure it stays together. That’s what NFW helped us do. We, as a brand, wouldn’t exist without them,” says Liedtke. “With the unit economics NFW brings to the table, they’re not only the only ones who shared my vision two and a half years ago—they’re the only ones today that are providing these solutions.”
A fabric revolution designed to scale
NFW’s commitment to natural circularity has garnered ample attention from its brand partners. “We’re working on technologies that are genuinely good,” says Haverhals. “People respond to that.” And with investors and partners from Patagonia to Stella McCartney, the demand for sustainable shoes and fabrics that perform better than their plastic counterparts is clearly there.
“Companies like BMW, Ralph Lauren, and Allbirds have not only been partners to NFW, but they’ve actually invested in our company,” says Haverhals. While BMW’s use of MIRUM® as it shifts away from leather in its car interiors and Ralph Lauren’s CLARUS polo are veritable wins, Haverhals notes that investing isn’t necessarily required to be one of the company’s key partners. “Simply being willing to do business with us and teaching us how to do meaningful business in a way that lets your company scale and do good is exactly what we need in order to have an impact,” he says.
One of the most rewarding collaborations Haverhals enjoys is with fellow Midwesterner and climate crusader Eric Liedtke, CEO and co-founder of zero-plastic streetwear company UNLESS Collective and former president of sustainability at Adidas. Together, they are currently prototyping the “impossible shoe,” one that uses 100% organic materials—a unicorn in the shoe industry, as companies typically rely heavily on plastics.
“MIRUM®, CLARUS®, PLIANT™, and TUNERA™: We put them together in a shoe. We don’t glue it together—we use innovative engineering and manufacturing to make sure it stays together. That’s what NFW helped us do. We, as a brand, wouldn’t exist without them,” says Liedtke. “With the unit economics NFW brings to the table, they’re not only the only ones who shared my vision two and a half years ago—they’re the only ones today that are providing these solutions.”
Revolutionizing
high-performance materials with plants
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