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From leftovers to curtains

LENDA curtains have been part of our range for around 20 years, much appreciated for the soft atmosphere they bring to the room and the gentle way light filters through their cotton fabric. Now, there are even more reasons to like them – starting with the new light pink version.

”It’s not something you’d notice when hanging your curtains, but together with our supplier, we’ve managed to create a fabric made from 50% leftover cotton from the textile industry,” says an enthusiastic Karin Svensson, one of our textile engineers.

Leftovers are spun into new yarn

In almost all textile production, leftover yarn and fabric scraps are common. For a long time, they’ve often been discarded because they weren’t seen as the resource they really are. “We know cotton production uses a lot of water and chemicals. So, when leftover textiles get thrown away, it’s a huge waste of resources,” Karin says. Just like we did, our supplier saw the value in saving those scraps and developed a method where textiles are shredded into fibres that can be spun into new yarn. A certain amount of unbleached cotton fibres must be added to achieve the right yarn strength. “To get this light pink tone for LENDA, the supplier used textile leftovers in selected colours. But because the raw materials are different, the colour can shift slightly as a nice reminder of where the fabric comes from.”

Recycling starts with the right choices

The LENDA project is an important step toward our goal of using only renewable or recycled materials in our products. Now, we're working on introducing recycled fabric in more colours. Through her work, Karin has seen just how complex the traditional textile industry can be. “Different materials and colors are often mixed, which makes recycling difficult. With LENDA, we've learned that we have to think about sustainability right from the start – and find creative solutions with whatever conditions we're working with."