“That’s a completely insane idea, but a good one. Let’s give it a try”


A fur farm waste product becomes sustainable yarn for fashion. That seems to be the result of the ReUseFoxHair (RUFH) project, administered by Centria University of Applied Sciences, Finland. The project started with the idea of utilising the hair foxes drop before growing their summer coat. The goal was to test if it would be possible to use loose hair into the production of abrasive tools and polishing pads which the wood and automobile industries use during the finalising painting processes. ‘’Everything started when we did a company visit at Mirka Ltd’s premises with our International Business students; we saw that they produced polish pads made from sheep’s wool. That was when I thought that Blue Fox hair surplus could also be used as a material for the polishing pad. I later called the company’s product developer, and he said the idea sounded utterly insane, but good’’, explains fur expert and Project Manager Pia Blomström. Between the company, Centria University and public funding from the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia an experiment was set up to test out the options on a mini mill. ‘’When we first went to visit the mini mill with our fox hair, we ended up spending the whole day there testing the fur with the spinning mill’s staff. A few artisans appeared during our visit, having heard that something unusual was happening, they were eager to try too,’’ Blomström says. During the test, however, the Blue Fox hair proved too short to be used as originally intended. Instead, the research group came up with a discovery: Combining the Blue Fox hair with longer fibres such as alpaca and wild silk gives enough strength and length to create a yarn that is usable. ‘’By trying different combinations, we ended coming up with an extremely beautiful yarn, which will probably become a new yarn to be used in the fashion industry. The yarn can both be knitted and woven, ‘’Blomström explains. The experiment took place last fall, and the new yarn has yet to be put in production, but it demonstrated how innovation could turn waste into something beautiful and at the same time contribute to a circular economy.