July news round-up: Nylon, nylon, BioPuff®

New bionylon collaborations, from waste wood to athleisure, Imperial College London bets on bio, and a biomaterials favorite says goodbye.

Here’s what caught our attention recently.

New nylon collab includes renewable materials through existing infrastructure

We have two stories about nylon this month, the first involving a big collaboration. Goldwin, Neste, Idemitsu Kosan, and Toray are partnering to supply renewable nylon fiber for The North Face products in Japan, with Mitsubishi coordinating the collaboration.

The interesting part is the feedstock strategy. The product is still nylon, with the same performance expectations that outdoor apparel depends on. But upstream, the carbon source changes. Neste supplies Neste RE, a renewable raw material that can move through existing petrochemical and fiber infrastructure.

Converting wood waste into new nylon

The second nylon story is much earlier-stage, but points to a similar sustainability question. Researchers at NREL and MIT reported a process for converting lignin from waste wood into adipic acid, a key building block for nylon-6,6.

This is still early-stage research, but the target matters. Adipic acid is one of the major building blocks for nylon-6,6, and making it efficiently from lignin would be an exciting step toward renewable nylon that starts from abundant plant-based waste rather than fossil carbon.

Imperial College London adds BioPuff to their merch store

Ponda’s plant-based insulation made from bulrush grown on wetlands, BioPuff®, will be used in Imperial College London branded clothing.

The material story is interesting, but the procurement angle may be just as important. Universities support innovation through research, grants, incubators, and entrepreneurship programs. They can also support it by becoming early customers.

For emerging biomaterials, that first institutional buyer can create a real product, a public case study, and a feedback loop beyond the lab.

Keel Labs files for Chapter 11

And finally, some sad news. Keel Labs, the seaweed-yarn startup behind Kelsun, filed for Chapter 11 protection in June.

Keel had the kind of story biomaterials people want to root for: ocean-derived inputs, a strong design sensibility, and visible brand collaborations. But this is a reminder that material innovation is hard.

Prototypes and partnerships matter, but they do not automatically solve manufacturing, cost, financing, or repeatable demand.

This month’s stories are a reminder that the future of fashion biomaterials will depend on feedstocks, infrastructure, early customers, and the companies that survive the hard middle between prototype and scale.