OrthoLite hired Matt Thwaites as vice president and general manager of OrthoLite Cirql.
Thwaites brings more than two decades of experience in sales and operations in the textile industry to the role. He is responsible for production, sales and go-to-market strategy globally. He will work from Ortholite Cirql’s Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam headquarters.
OrthoLite Cirql, introduced in 2022, is a compostable, recyclable, and biodegradable foam technology for footwear that is free from traditional plastics.
“Matt strengthens a very committed and experienced leadership team at OrthoLite Cirql and will drive scalable commercialization of this game-changing solution for the global footwear industry,” said Glenn Barrett, founder and CEO of OrthoLite. “He joins our great team at a pivotal time and is going to help us achieve our vision of true circularity in footwear.”
Before joining the company, Thwaites worked as the global sales and marketing director of the Footwear Division for Coats, the industrial thread company. During his nine years at Coats, Thwaites rose from business development director of Coats Vietnam to leading a team through record sales and was a COVID relief solutions team member.
The hire of Thwaites comes following the partnership announcement between OrthoLite Cirql and Novamont, the maker of biodegradable and compostable bio-products. Novamont, based in Italy, is the biopolymer material supplier of OrthoLite Cirql.
