Mountain View, CA (July 13, 2021)… BMW i Ventures today announced an investment in Natural Fiber Welding, Inc. (NFW), the leading creator of all-natural, plastic-free alternatives to materials such as leathers, foams, and textiles. The financing round will enable the company to scale from the batch processing of materials to commercial roll-to-roll production.
The announcement of Allbirds’ investment into the eco-conscious Natural Fiber Welding was presented as a creation by Allbirds in developing a truly bio-based material for footwear. I wrote originally that the focus was on the wrong company and NFW should be the company at the forefront of that discussion:
Allbirds’ 2 Million Dollar Investment for Mirum™ Shouldn’t be the Focus, NFW Inc. Should Be
At the time of the post above, I didn’t have a very much insight into NFW. I simply did a bit of research and shared that I had seen Allbirds take the spotlight from the development of another eco-friendly product in their sugar based outsole tech, Sweet Foam. My goal on the site is to introduce and discuss ideas. The dialogue around sugar based tech for sneaker outsoles shifted away from the company Braskem and to Allbirds. This limits the number of brands who could have benefited from the tech earlier as opposed to once Allbirds “announced” that they were making the product available to all shoe companies. The reality was that an investment into Braskem wasn’t proprietary ownership. Braskem should have remained the focus.
So when I wrote the post above, it was to clarify that NFW is still a product looking to expand and work with as many companies as possible. The announcement from BMW iVentures is good to see because it establishes that NFW is continuing to garner the type of coverage needed to attain the funding required to compete in an industry rooted in its use of traditional methods of make. Use the links throughout this post to read more about all of these companies. I typically make predictions about the next big thing in sneakers. While I still see ECCO footwear and their DriTan Technology as the best leather product for sneakers and footwear, I see NFW’s Mirum Technology as the breakthrough for footwear which will allow for a seamless introduction of eco-friendly, higher quality materials that can retain the same qualities as traditional leathers.
