Food to Fashion to Food: Bio Closed-Loop
The hosts:
Nic Gorini, Spin Ventures
Michelle de Rijk, Fair Capital Impact Fund
What is this Ripple about?
Food to Fashion to Food: Closed-Loop Materials as an Asset Class Waste to Value Industrial symbiosis as a pathway for lower impact 0 toxicity and better returns!
Why this topic timely or urgent in 2026
The deployment of waste-to-value biomaterials as investable infrastructure across fashion supply chains, with integrated end-of-life recovery systems. Europe already has the two hard assets this model needs: abundant food waste feedstock and a large industrial textiles base. The EU generates over 58 million tonnes of food waste annually, valued at about €132bn, while the European textile and clothing sector comprises roughly 192,000 companies, 1.3 million workers, and around €167bn in turnover (https://food.ec.europa.eu/food-safety/food-waste_en)
Key questions or challenges being explored
Which "Food → Fashion → Food" material systems can generate venture-scale returns in Europe before 2030? Which biomaterial pathways already demonstrate pricing power or cost advantage in fashion, in a sector with ~€167bn in European turnover and strong demand for differentiated inputs?
How feedstock aggregation secures long-term input cost advantage, when the EU discards more than 58 million tonnes of food annually? What infrastructure (processing, manufacturing, sorting, recovery) drives asset-level returns as textile collection volumes rise under 2025 EU rules?
How do capital stacks (venture equity, growth capital, project finance) scale closed-loop material systems as Europe expands its bioeconomy, already valued at €2.7tn and supporting more than 17 million jobs in 2023?
The key tension or debate at the heart of this discussion
The unfair advantage of waste to value models and insetting strategies versus offsetting ones. Real reduction vs Market Driven apparent imapct
Who would get the most value from attending this Ripple?
Biotech / Deeptech ventures + Public and Private Sectors Operators in Agri / Frm / Consumer & Retail + LPs / GPs