MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR and WOS, a leading Russian fashion brand, have announced their plans to collaborate in producing a cutting-edge fashion collection, said the company.
Thanks to SIBUR’s extensive expertise in circular economy, this will be the first time the luxury clothing segment will use fabric derived from recycled plastic to produce garments that will be in no way inferior to those made from traditional materials in terms of sensory friendliness and other important properties.
The fashion industry has traditionally been a testing ground for experiments, reflecting trends in the modern world. An increasing focus on the sustainability of processes and materials has become a major driver behind consumer demand.
The development of this new collection has been entrusted to Andrey Artyomov, a famous Russian designer and the founder of the WOS brand. In 2020, he was named one of the 500 most influential people in the fashion industry by Business of Fashion. WOS is renowned for its experiments in using sustainable technologies in their collections.
While fashion may be often perceived as something ephemeral and short-lived, the new joint capsule collection will have practicality and durability at its heart. The collection will include items with universal silhouettes in standard colours that will not lose their relevance over time and will become the central piece of any wardrobe. The fabric used in the collection is derived from recycled plastic and is GRS (Global Recycle Standard) certified.
Alexey Kozlov, member of the Management Board and Managing Director of SIBUR: "As a responsible polymer producer, SIBUR has long advocated the smart use of plastics and best disposal practices. With its extensive expertise in recycling and re-use of polymers, SIBUR has joined forces with one of Russia’s most progressive and sustainable clothing brands to create a capsule collection suited for the lifestyle and demands of a new kind of person, a collection that seeks to be both cutting-edge and environmentally friendly. This is a vivid illustration of how plastic can find its second life in new items. Moreover, this is the first step towards developing sustainability in the Russian fashion industry."
Andrey Artyomov, designer and WOS founder: "Partnership with SIBUR, one of Russia’s leaders in sustainable development, has been a new and very exciting experience for me. The values that I put at the heart of the WOS brand, including technical efficiency and lean resource management, align perfectly with the values pursued by SIBUR in its championship of environmental responsibility. I have always paid particular attention to the materials my clothes are made of, but I did not know much about plastics and plastic recycling. This collection gives me an opportunity to get new insights in this area. I hope that this new knowledge will help me improve the main collections of WOS, too. This partnership will help many people see that the fashion industry can, and should, be sustainable, and that plastic is not just rubbish, but a valuable raw material."
The collection will be released for limited sale in the autumn of 2021. The proceeds from the sales will be transferred to a charitable foundation and will be used to support carbon footprint neutralisation projects.
As it was said earlier, SIBUR-Neftekhim and Linde Gas Rus (both located in Dzerzhinsk) signed an agreement to launch a recycling project focusing on the carbon dioxide (CO2) generated as a by-product at SIBUR’s facility. The project is an integral part of SIBUR’s sustainable development strategy aiming to reduce GHG emissions by 15% by 20205, and as such it is expected to mitigate the impact of petrochemical production on the air quality. The signing ceremony was attended by Evgeny Lyulin, Chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Assembly, and Ivan Noskov, head of the Dzerzhinsk Municipal District, as part of their working visit to the facilities.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
SIBUR Holding is the leader in the Russian petrochemical industry and one of the largest global companies in the sector with more than 23 thousand employees. In 2019, SIBUR's revenues amounted to USD 8.2 billion, EBITDA - USD2.6 billion. Over the past 10 years, SIBUR has implemented a number of large-scale investment projects worth about RUB 1 trillion.
MRC