Interview: Tricia Carey, Chief Commercial Officer, Renewcell
This week, I’m talking about recycling unused textiles and circularity with Tricia Carey, an apparel and textile industry veteran who’s seen all the progress and changes that have occurred there since her first job working in the then-all-domestic manufacturing supply chain back in the mid-90s. Today, she’s a well-known and internationally respected advocate for innovation and circularity in the textile and apparel industry with nearly 30 years of industry experience.
Currently, Tricia is the Chief Commercial Officer at Renewcell, a very exciting, fast-growing Swedish textile recycling company planning to recycle the equivalent of more than a billion t-shirts every year by 2030 with their flagship technology/product, CIRCULOSE®. Before that, Tricia was in various commercial management positions at Lenzing - the Austrian-based multi-billion dollar global producer of wood-based specialty fibers. She’s held marketing and business development roles and has participated in numerous collaborative collections with mills and brands. Needless to say, she knows a lot about this space.
CIRCULOSE® is not a fiber, yarn, or fabric - it’s a 100% recycled raw material input for textile fibers. It’s a dissolving pulp that replaces the wood pulp used to make viscose, modal, lyocell and acetate (the fabrics that are likely in your closet or on your bed).
The cool thing about CIRCULOSE®; it’s made out of 100% “unused textiles,” a better phrase than “textile waste,” as Tricia points out - and Brands are using it to replace high-impact raw materials like fossil oil and cotton in their textile products.
I’ve followed Tricia’s work for years, and we’ve crossed paths multiple times, but this was my first opportunity to sit down with her and talk about the state of sustainability in the apparel and textile industry.
If you’re wondering how to have a career in sustainability or circularity, and especially one in the apparel industry, you don’t want to miss any part of my chat with Tricia. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Tricia Carey, CCO at Renewcell.
Here are some of the Key Takeaways you’ll appreciate:
- Circularity progress in textiles
- The realities of textile recycling
- The state of sustainability in the apparel industry
- Building a stellar career
- Working in sustain tech
- Understanding systems change
- Marketing & selling
- The importance of NGOs and nonprofits
- Aligning yourself with the right people
- Getting out of your comfort zone
- Advice on how to get in the game
SDG Alignment:, #9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, #12 Responsible Consumption and Production, #13 Climate Action, #17 Partnerships for the Goals
Links:
- Renewcell - https://www.renewcell.com/
- Circulose - https://circulo.se/en/
- Tricia Carey on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tricia-l-carey/
- Circulose Supplier Network - https://circulo.se/en/circulose-supplier-network/
- Textile Exchange - https://textileexchange.org/
- Canopy | CanopyStyle - https://canopyplanet.org/campaigns/canopystyle/
- Canopy Hot Button Report - https://hotbutton.canopyplanet.org/
- Accelerating Circularity - https://www.acceleratingcircularity.org/
- Transformers Foundation - https://www.transformersfoundation.org/
- World Circular Textiles Day - https://worldcirculartextilesday.com/
Also:
Be sure to check out our conversation with Alex Schulze, CEO and Co-Founder at 4ocean, the ocean cleanup company at: https://www.theunderswell.com/podcasts/good-things-happening-just-under-the-surface/episodes/2148061020
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#sustainability #circularity #womeninbusiness #leadership #careers #marketing #keeplearning #textiles #leadership #sustaintech #systemschange #circulose #renewcell #recycling #fashion #denim
Intro/Outro music by QubeSounds from Pixabay.
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