This article is available at https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62806565
Petri Alava used to wear pressed suits and leather shoes to work, managing large corporations selling everything from magazines to gardening equipment.
Now he runs a Finnish start-up where socks are the norm on the office floor, and he proudly sports a round-neck T-shirt spun from recycled clothing fibres, tucked into some baggy shorts.
His firm, Infinited Fiber, has invested heavily in a technology which can transform textiles that would otherwise be burned or sent to landfills, into a new clothing fibre.
Called Infinna, the fibre is already being used by global brands including Patagonia, H&M and Inditex, which owns Zara. “It’s a premium quality textile fibre, which looks and feels natural – like cotton,” says Mr Alava, rubbing his own navy blue tee between his fingers. “And it is solving a major waste problem.”