The covers are off — and the snow is still there. Snowwool’s field trial in Branäs, Sweden, is complete. With final results expected soon, the project marks an important milestone in exploring how underused Swedish wool can replace fossil-based materials in snow storage covers.
Our team joined project partners to uncover the snow stored in Ekorrbacken from April to October. The pile originally held around 10,000 cubic meters of snow. We protected part of it with the wool-based Snowwool cover, alongside a conventional polypropylene cover for comparison.
It was a fantastic day to be together, uncovering what we had worked towards and sharing the excitement of seeing the snow beneath. The teamwork on the slope reflected the spirit of the whole project: people bringing different skills, helping each other and finding ways forward together.
Now, the final evaluation will help us understand how the material performed and what that means for its future use.
From overlooked wool to a working application
Snowwool started with an opportunity: giving wool that would otherwise go to waste a useful role in snow storage.
Turning that opportunity into a cover ready for field testing required material development, prototypes, laboratory tests, and production expertise. Just as essential were the people willing to share their knowledge, work through challenges and test something new.
As project coordinator, we have helped bring those people and development steps together.
“Seeing underused wool become a snow storage cover and putting it to work in Branäs makes us proud. But it’s also the people behind it who make this project special. We have learned together and worked through challenges together. That’s the approach we bring to our customers too: curiosity, practical expertise and a team committed to moving an idea forward.”
Helena Tuvendal, Project Manager, The Loop Factory
Helping your next idea take shape
This application is snow storage. The development challenges the project was facing are familiar to many companies.: you see an opportunity in a material, yet need to understand whether it can work for your product, process and business.
That is where we can help.
At The Loop Factory, we work with brands and industrial producers to develop fibre-based materials, products and processes. Our team combines material science, engineering, design and business development, with an in-house prototyping lab that helps turn questions into practical tests.
Whether you want to replace a fossil-based material, find value in a side stream or develop a new product, we can help you explore the possibilities, build prototypes and prepare for pilot trials and scale-up.
Snowwool is one example of that journey. Yours could start with a different material — and a different challenge.
Explore the Snowwool project and our partners.
Snowwool was funded by Vinnova and the participating partners.
What would you like to develop?