#Retail & Brands

2014-09-09

M&S strikes landmark deal to buy biomethane gas certificates

Marks & Spencer (M&S) will go on with reducing its carbon footprint (c) 2014 M&S

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has agreed a landmark deal with Future Biogas for the purchase of 35,000 Mega-Watt hours of biomethane certificates, a move which will reduce its carbon footprint by over 6,400 tonnes and source the equivalent amount of energy to heat 15 M&S Simply Food stores all year round.

Biomethane gas is 50 per cent more carbon efficient than average gas supplies and is generated by anaerobic digestion, fuelled by farm waste. The biomethane gas will be produced at the Vulcan Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant near Doncaster using break crops (non-commercial crops used for soil regeneration) from farms across Yorkshire and the North East.

The gas is then pumped into the national grid. M&S’ deal with Future Biogas funds the production and M&S benefits from the carbon reduction through the certification scheme.

It also provides significant revenues for farmers, giving break crops a commercial route to market not previously available.

Gio Patellaro, M&S Head of Energy Supply & Risk said: “Over the past couple of years, M&S has worked tirelessly to improve its carbon efficiency and innovate in sustainability. As the first UK retailer to buy biomethane to use in this way, we are blazing a trail in the market place that we hope others will follow. With the help of Future Biogas, this deal takes us one step further in our commitment to ensure 50% of the energy used in M&S buildings comes from certified green biomethane sources by 2020.”

Since the inception of its “Plan A” programme, M&S has been a leader and innovator in supporting a renewable energy generation, including contracting directly with renewable generators under its award winning Price Guarantee Agreement structure.

Philipp Lukas, Future Biogas Managing Director said:“We are thrilled to be working with Marks & Spencer on this exciting and new venture. We look forward to supplying biomethane to M&S to help them deliver their market leading commitment to carbon reduction.”

M&S launches clothing repair service to give quality clothes ‘another life’ through plan a

Today, Marks & Spencer has announced it will offer a dedicated clothing repair service for the first time. With new insight from M&S* revealing only 10% of the population is confident enough to repair clothing themselves and 60% of consumers looking for retailers to offer more services which support them to lower their carbon footprint, M&S is partnering with clothing repair and alterations experts, SOJO.

Recover™ secures multi-year recycled cotton agreement with H&M

Recover™ has signed a multi-year agreement with H&M to support the integration of its recycled cotton fiber, RCotton, for use in H&M’s products. Since early 2024, H&M and Recover™ have collaborated on product development, which now enables scaled commercial introduction of Recover™ mechanically recycled cotton into H&M’s collections.

GORE-TEX® KIDSWEAR launches innovative membership scheme for kids’ jackets

With its revolutionary new membership model, GORE-TEX® Kidswear now offers families a simple, flexible and sustainable way of kitting out their children in top-quality jackets. It is aimed at the parents of children aged between five and ten and kicks off with a choice of functional winter jackets.

MUNICH FABRIC START: Between Attitude and Sensuality

The future begins where we reimagine it. After seasons of restraint, Spring.Summer 27 marks a conscious counter-trend: optimism, sensuality, and creative freedom are replacing pragmatism and neutrality. Physical presence and individuality are regaining importance – as a response to uncertainty, exhaustion, and algorithmic predictability. The overarching theme of PLEASURE stands for fashion as an emotional space, as an expression of attitude and cultural reflection. Colours, surfaces, and materials become vehicles for self-confidence and joie de vivre.

organIQ seek: smart alternative to potassium permanganate

CHT Group announces new technical findings within its organIQ seek platform that significantly advance the transition toward permanganate-free denim bleaching. Through extensive industrial testing and application research, CHT confirms that organIQ seek can now be used with remarkable effectiveness as a substitute for potassium permanganate in spray bleach, while remaining aligned with sustainability expectations and cost realities in the European market. At the COLOMBIATEX in Medellín as well as at the Exintex in Puebla and the Kingpins Show in Amsterdam the CHT Group will present organIQ seek as an alternative to potassium permanganate.

PERFORMANCE DAYS: Focus topic shifts to the beginning of the value chain

Following the last Focus Topic in October 2025, which placed Textile-to-Textile Recycling at its core, PERFORMANCE DAYS continues to drive the conversation around circularity – this time with an expanded and more upstream perspective. The upcoming Focus Topic, “Textile to Textile: The Role of Collectors and Sorters,” presented during the spring edition on March 18–19, will spotlight one of the most essential yet often overlooked components of a functioning circular textile system: the efficient collection and sorting of post-consumer textiles.

Proven performance, optimised costs – the new RE 6 EL

Nowadays textile companies increasingly need to produce small production runs and respond to market changes with instantaneous pattern changes in order to operate profitably – meaning they require machines that offer maximum flexibility, reliability and cost efficiency. KARL MAYER understands the challenges of the market and is launching its new RE 6 EL. The Raschel machine offers the core strengths of the classic RSE 6 EL and essentially the same performance parameters, but has been further cost-optimised largely due to local production advantages. This makes the newcomer an efficiency champion in production, especially when it comes to frequent pattern changes.