Black Moda Oy, a Finnish manufacturer of tricot clothes, bath and home textiles, knitwears and socks, is the first textile company to expand its packaging range to packaging bags made of carbon-neutral wood. This main raw material for Finnish Woodly® material is wood cellulose and the packaging bags can be sorted into plastic recycling or mixed waste after use if sorting for plastic recycling is not possible.
In terms of performance, Woodly® packaging bags correspond to conventional fossil plastics, of which transparency is one of the most important criteria for packaging textiles. “Textiles and clothing need see- through packaging that protects them from dust, dirt and moisture during transport and storage. An important goal of Black Moda Oy has been to find more ecological material alternatives alongside plastic packaging bags, but properties do not have to be compromised, ”says Marko Keski-Vähälä, CEO of Black Moda Oy.
Riikka Keski-Vähälä de Oliveira, CEO of Black Moda Portugal, Lda, played a key role in finding a partner in Portugal to manufacture Woodly® packaging bags. “When I heard about Woodly® material, I immediately found it interesting. When I was looking for a partner in Portugal to make a bag, I found that there is a strong demand for a material like Woodly. Black Moda is aware of the problems of traditional plastic and feverishly sought a solution to this. Now that we’ve got the Woodly® packaging bags done, we’ve found that it’s really the best option for us.”
The advantage of Woodly® material is that it can be processed to make packaging on existing production lines and there is no need to build new plants. Black Moda´s packaging bags have been manufactured in collaboration with a Portuguese bag manufacturer. The first packaging bags will protect Black Moda Oy’s own Puuvillatehdas-brand classic products. The classics are manufactured and packaged in the Black Moda Portugugal, Lda sewing company and the products will arrive in Finland during April. For example, a customer of a Puuvillatehdas` online store can get a product packed in a bag made of Woodly® material.
The importance of the online stores has grown as the corona epidemic has led consumers to shop instead of in-store and more and more from the home couch. It also puts pressure on what material to chooce, use and recyclability of packaging materials. “Cooperation with Woodly Oy has been smooth and the introduction of a bag made of Woodly® material is one significant step for Black Moda towards a more sustainable clothing industry. In 2020, we produced approximately 1 million pieces of products. We can now offer this packaging option to those of our production customers who want to reduce the use of fossil raw materials in their packaging,” Keski-Vähälä sums up.
Black Moda Oy is a Finnish textile family company founded in 1996, headquartered in Pirkkala and employing 19 people. The company’s turnover in 2020 was approximately EUR 9,5 million. The sewing company Black Moda Portugal, Lda in northern Portugal, owned by a family of entrepreneurs, employs about 70 people and the company’s CEO is the family’s middle sister, Riikka Keski-Vähälä de Oliveira.
Black Moda Oy also sells textile and clothing production comprehensively to other Finnish brands and retailers. The company has its own clothing and home textile brand Puuvillatehdas and the PikkuSet brand, which is familiar from maternity packaging. In addition, the company has been responsible for the production and marketing of RATIA brand clothing and textiles for more than 20 years. In addition, Keski-Vähälä’s siblings – including the youngest of them Laura Silva – are the owners of the Aarre brand.
Woodly Oy is a Finnish company developing materials technology, whose commercial product is a new type of plastic based on wood cellulose – Woodly®. Woodly® material has the same characteristics as conventional fossil plastics but with the added benefit of being carbon neutral and recyclable. In addition to packaging, it can be used to produce products for different uses.
