Circulose expects the new leaders to expedite its position as one of the leaders in renewable textiles.
Helmersson brings significant experience from the fashion sector, having previously served as CEO of H&M Group, where she focused on sustainability initiatives.
“I am thrilled to be joining Circulose and support the company in my role as Chair. We have an ambitious agenda ahead of us and a talented team ready to make it happen. I am glad to be working with Altor, our partnership will benefit from their industrial heritage and helping companies scale. Circulose feels very much like a natural fit, for me and for the future, and I look forward to contributing with my many years of experience in the fashion industry,” she said.
Janmark joins Circulose after a tenure at McKinsey & Company, where he specialised in the consumer and textile industries.
Janmark said: “For the past years, I have had the fortune of dedicating my time to helping companies navigate the sustainability transition in the apparel and textile industry, working with both brands and textile manufacturers.
“When the opportunity to join Circulose opened up, I was excited to accept the challenge. With a strong team, we will now focus on strengthening Circulose to unlock the necessary shift from a linear to a circular textile industry. We recognise the many challenges ahead and the shift won’t happen overnight, but we are fully committed to seeing it through.”
Circulose, formerly Renewcell, was founded in 2012 by innovators from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. It aims to promote circularity in the fashion industry and has developed a patented process that recycles cellulosic textile waste such as worn-out cotton clothes and production scraps into a new material called Circulose.
It has however been plagued with problems in recent years and in February this year, filed for bankruptcy due to a lack of sufficient financing and not enough interest in recycled fibres from the wider fashion industry.
In September this year, the company partnered with US lifestyle fashion brand Faherty Brand on a new collection made entirely from textile waste.
