Coloreel Group has secured new funding to support plans to grow its on-demand thread colouring technology in markets across the world including the UK.
It has signed a loan agreement with Nefco the Nordic Green Bank, which specialises in financing the initial scale-up of green solutions from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden on global markets.
Coloreel’s technology, which colours a single recycled polyester thread on demand, brings positive environmental effects within the textile industry by minimising thread waste and use of chemicals and wastewater.
Fredrik Larsson, investment adviser at Nefco, said: “We are excited to provide this financing for Coloreel because the company has the potential to make embroidery and clothing production far more sustainable than it is today and enable a major step towards circularity in the textile industry.”
The new funding comes as Coloreel grows its customers in the UK. Through UK distributor AJS, it has supplied the technology to Peterborough-based decorator Snuggle for use with its Melco embroidery machines and to DigitisingMart Europe, a Coventry-based agency that specialises in creating logos for the embroidery and print industry.
Based in Jönköping in southern Sweden, Coloreel developed its innovative technology to help address the massive environmental impact of the garment and textile industry. It can be installed with embroidery machines from the likes of Tajima, Barudan and Melco.
All known embroidery machines on the market today rely on individual pre-coloured reels of thread for each colour used in the embroidery process. Coloreel’s technology eliminates the need for pre-coloured threads, which are a significant cause of wastewater pollution. It also reduces the amount of wasted thread in the embroidery process.
Torbjörn Bäck, CEO of Coloreel, said: “The Nefco financing will go a long way in supporting our international expansion. It is also a strong acknowledgement of the sustainability benefits we can offer the textile industry.”
