Scott Mellin, who previously served as the innovation leader at The North Face for FutureLight and The Advanced Mountain Kit, has been named CEO of LifeLabs Design, Inc., a Stanford University-supported textile start-up focused on sustainable solutions.
Founded by Professor Yi Cui, director of Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy and a 15-year veteran of Stanford’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Meng Sui, CEO of EEnotech and 4C Air, Inc. and a chemist and patent agent, LifeLabs goal is to commercialize the textile patents from Stanford’s advanced materials lab.
Mellin was global VP of Mountain Sports at The North Face, from February 2020 to April 2021. He was global GM, Mountain Sports, The North Face from January 2017 to February 2020.
LifeLabs and the Life System of textiles introduces a suite of intellectual property and patents addressing peoples’ environments, from mobility to home, work, and sport.
LifeLabs’ patented textiles “reduce energy on a personal and global scale, while its process streamlines the supply chain, uses less energy, fewer materials, and pollutes zero toxic chemicals,” said the LifeLab.
LifeLabs noted in a recent statement that the textile industry is considered among the world’s worst for air pollution and the second-largest consumer of water.
“‘Fast fashion'” has further contributed to global clothing production doubling between 2000 and 2014, and nearly 60 percent of all clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being produced. Garment production makes up roughly 10 percent of humanity’s carbon emissions, more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, and that number is expected to rise by almost 50 percent by 2030,” said LifeLab.
“The future of textiles is not based on lower cost-engineering but rather higher sustainability objectives and performance-benefit delivery,” Mellin said in a statement. “LifeLabs believes in a better world through science and design.
Logo courtesy Life Labs
