Chanel’s new Nevold lab is already spinning leftover tweed and leather into fresh fabrics, a quiet move that readies the house for tighter supplies of premium material.
Chanel has launched Nevold, a fully independent B2B platform dedicated to developing circular materials, including tweed and leather, at industrial scale.
Nevold, short for “never old”, is not a marketing campaign or a sustainability report; it sits beside the fashion and Métiers d’Art divisions as a third line of business.
Engineer-executive Sophie Brocart, formerly at Patou, steers the unit, building on work from L’Atelier des Matières, where unsold pieces are dismantled so yarns, chains and leather can re-enter production.
Early results are already on the runway: recycled leather stiffens slingbacks and hybrid yarns weave into new tweeds without altering the hand customers recognise.
Nevold will share its R&D with spinners such as Filatures du Parc and researchers at Cambridge and Politecnico di Milano, pooling know-how to offset looming shortages of cotton, cashmere and other premium fibres.
The move aligns with Chanel’s Mission 1.5° plan to cut Scope 3 emissions 30.3 percent by 2030 and reach net-zero across the value chain by 2040.
