PARIS — San Francisco-based materials start-up Rubi has closed a $7.5 million funding round and secured more than $60 million in multiyear off-take term sheets with leading fashion and consumer goods brands, signaling a step toward industrial-scale commercialization.
H&M Group participated in the round, which was also led by AP Ventures and FH One Investments. Other participants included Talis Capital and CMPC Ventures.
The fresh capital will help scale Rubi’s production system and accelerate commercialization of additional pipeline products.
The company said it has doubled its fashion partnerships to 15, including Walmart and Reformation, over the last year. It also has partnerships in consumer packaged goods and aerospace.
“We’ve now demonstrated this technology scales effectively and meets or exceeds customer product standards, driving an inflection point of commercialization. The fresh funding will accelerate our scaling and growth to meet strong global demand for modular and affordable manufacturing of essential materials from waste carbon across textile, [consumer packaged goods], aerospace, and chemicals verticals,” said Rubi chief executive officer Neeka Mashouf.
The deals reflect growing demand for the company’s technology, which uses enzymes to convert captured carbon into cellulose polymers that can be used to make textile fibers such as lyocell, rayon and viscose. The enzymes are enhanced through AI and machine learning, enabling production that is flexible, efficient and tunable. The system’s modular design reduces capital expenditure by up to tenfold and allows production to be located near demand centers, a potential game-changer for supply chain resilience.
Rubi yarn.
Courtesy of Rubi
Paradise Textiles to Launch $102M Fabric Hub
Paradise Textiles, the material science and innovation arm of Alpine Group, has revealed a $102 million investment in a new integrated fabric manufacturing facility in Alexandria, Egypt, to produce high-performance polyester and synthetic fabrics for international fashion brands.
“This investment strengthens our ability to deliver greater speed, consistency and technical collaboration for our brand partners,” said Ehab Mohi, chairman of Alex Apparels. “We are improving lead times, enhancing quality control, and enabling performance-driven production for activewear and sportswear brands serving global markets.”
Set to be operational by the third quarter of 2026, the facility will serve activewear and sportswear brands targeting U.S. and European markets, offering companies faster lead times and more agile supply chains. By colocating fabric innovation alongside garment production at Alpine Group’s existing Egyptian hub, the move is set to enable designers to collaborate more closely on material performance and technical specifications.
The plant will use energy-efficient machinery, lower-impact production technologies, and the microfiber filtration system called Regen to reduce water usage and microfiber pollution at the source for next-gen fabric manufacturing.
These measures align with the growing sustainability expectations of global fashion brands and evolving regulatory frameworks.
The fundraise was supported by a $72 million financing agreement with Commercial International Bank-Egypt. The facility is expected to create about 1,200 jobs, bolstering Egypt’s role as a “duty-advantaged” textile sourcing hub under the Qualifying Industrial Zones agreement with the U.S.
A rendering of the forthcoming textile plant in Egypt.
Courtesy of Paradise Textiles
Thermore Debuts New-gen Textile-to-Textile Padding
Thermore, the Milan-based premium thermal insulation company for apparel and outerwear, is expanding its textile-to-textile recycling credentials with the launch of Ecodown Fibers T2T.
The new iteration, a second generation of the eponymous padding launched in 2024, is obtained from the recycling of textile waste, and is GRS-, Bluesign- and Oeko-Tex-certified. It is made of fully recycled polyester coming from 80 percent textile waste and 20 percent postconsumer PET bottles. The first iteration — called Ecodown Fibers Zero — was crafted from 80 percent PET and 20 percent textile waste.
“For years, I have personally led the Thermore research team, and the topic of circularity and textile-to-textile recycling has long been a key focus of our studies,” said Patrizio Siniscalchi, managing director of Thermore. “Over 40 years ago, we pioneered the use of fibers recycled from PET bottles. Today, that journey has evolved into repurposing textile waste.”
Thermore — which was established in 1972 — started offering high-performance, recycled insulation materials made of recycled PET bottles in the ‘80s, increasingly committing to a full-fledged sustainable assortment.
The first fully recycled fiber-based padding bowed in 2011 before the introduction, in 2019, of the signature Ecodown product, which repurposes 10 PET bottles per outerwear piece.
The company has since introduced one or two new products a year, including the most recent launches of Freedom, a hyper-stretch padding crafted from 100 percent postconsumer recycled PET, and Invisiloft, a slim padding intended for high-performance sportswear.
The new Thermore Ecodown fibers T2T.
Courtesy of Thermore
Everlane Launches Traceable, Low-impact Linen
Everlane launched a collection from Masters of Flax Fiber certified linen sourced exclusively from France.
Masters of Flax Fiber is grown without irrigation or GMOs, reducing carbon emissions by 74 percent under the Product Environmental Footprint framework on cooperative farms in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Everlane’s linen enables full traceability from seed to garment.
“We’ve worked with responsibly sourced linen for years because it shows what the future of materials can look like. When you can trace a fiber from the farm where it’s grown all the way to the finished garment, it creates a level of accountability that consumers are increasingly asking for,” said Everlane chief executive officer Alfred Chang.
Each piece offers measurable accountability in a market flooded with unverified “natural” claims, setting a new benchmark for sustainable linen and giving consumers concrete proof behind Everlane’s environmental commitments, the company added.
