On the Fiber Front
DuPont Expands Eco Initiative Wilmington, Del.–based DuPont has long touted the performance attributes of its innovative fibers, but now with the eco trend it is playing up the renewable resources angle of flagship materials like Sorona and Cerenol.
Sorona is a polymer with a wide variety of apparel applications. It blends easily with cotton and other natural fibers, giving garments moisture management, softness, and easy care. First unveiled in 2001 and introduced to the marketplace slowly ever since, DuPont admits Sorona is not yet widely used in the apparel industry. “When we started, it was before this environmental movement, so we were selling on the performance attributes,” says global brand manager Dawson Winch.
Now DuPont has launched a new website devoted to promoting the eco-friendly side of Sorona. Renewable.dupont.com launched this past summer and promotes the trademark DuPont Renewable Sourced Materials.
“DuPont has created an identity, an icon or mark, that will go on our products,” says Winch.
One of Sorona’s key ingredients is called Bio-PDO, which is made by fermenting corn sugar. Sorona is 37 percent renewably sourced by weight, meaning 37 percent of the molecule is made with the renewable resource of corn.
“Renewable” refers to a resource that can be re-grown within one year. “With petroleum, you take out of the ground, and it takes however many hundreds of years to renew,” says Winch.
Sorona can also be made with petrochemicals (similar to natural versus synthetic rubber), and DuPont is currently using up its entire petrochemical- based Sorona inventory. A new production facility is being built in China, which will be devoted to corn-based Bio-PDO, and when it comes online around the first of the year, Sorona will be entirely renewably sourced. “We’re excited to be in the process of fully transitioning to a renewably sourced product,” says Winch.
Sorona combines the best of polyester and nylon in one fabric, she adds. When used in swimwear, for example, garments avoid pilling and our colors are resistant to fading by UV light and chlorine. “So if you’re buying for performance, we perform, and if you’re buying for environmental, we’re also environmental,” says Winch.
Sorona has many other applications, and earlier this year Perry Ellis and Van-Heusen introduced men’s dress shirts using fabrics that employ the Sorona fiber.
DuPont’s next-generation renewably sourced product line is Cerenol, which was introduced in June. Cerenol enhances the performance of a wide range of products, from running shoes and ski boots to cosmetics, automotive components, and spandex fiber. Cerenol, which is named for Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, is also derived from corn.
Invista Invests in Stretch When you think of Lycra, you might very well picture bicyclists on the Tour de France rather than a man in a dress shirt or a woman in a cardigan.
That’s why Wichita, Kan.–based Invista has branded its innovative Lycra fibers with new names, and launched a marketing campaign to educate both consumers and the apparel industry.
“The Lycra brand is much more than you think,” says communications director Linda Kearns. “It’s not just tight, shiny bike shorts, exercise wear, and things that are close to the body.”
The campaign was unveiled earlier this month during New York Fashion Week. Invista sponsored the Lycra Lounge to promote its most recent innovations: Xtra Life for sweaters, Freefit for shirtings, and Xfit for denim.
Garments made in partnership with Derek Lam, Sari Gueron, and Serfontaine were shown. In 2008, Invista will amp up the campaign with explanatory hangtags and advertising.
Much of the focus will be on Xtra Life Lycra for sweaters.
“The biggest problem with sweaters is that they don’t hold their shape,” says Elena Page, marketing manager for sweaters. “A sweater dress might come to your knee, and a few months later it’s below your knee. Adding Lycra to a sweater will help it maintain its shape, and also add softness and drape.”
Adding just 1 to 3 percent of Lycra to a wool, cotton, silk, or cashmere sweater is enough to dramatically increase a garment’s life. “Consumers don’t understand the properties of Lycra,” says Page. “We want to tell them, ’This sweater has Xtra Life Lycra and is going to last longer and be softer.’” Invista’s low-power technology gives sweaters shape retention without making them overly “stretchy,” says Page.
There are many new innovations with stretch fabrics, says Kearns, but “no one out there is communicating the benefits of the new technologies.”
As a result, consumers are mystified.
“There are sweaters everywhere marked ’stretch,’” explains Kearns, “but they could be stretch cotton or nylon. We wanted a way to brand our technology to the consumer so they would know that not all stretch sweaters are created equally.”
The Lycra Lounge at Fashion Week also featured shirts by Rag & Bone using Freefit Lycra, a new patent-pending technology that gives shirts softness, breathability, shape retention and the right amount of give.
Kearns declined to reveal any sales goals but said, “We know there’s great market opportunity out there in menswear, which Freefit Lycra is addressing, and we’re targeting an increase in menswear penetration for our brand.”
Lenzing Brands “Botanic” Banner When Austria–based Lenzing introduced the Tencel fiber in 1992, little did it know it was 15 years ahead of the consumer.
Tencel is the branded name for lyocell, a cellulosic fiber in the rayon family that is made from wood pulp.
It has a low environmental footprint, but that wasn’t a big selling point with consumers—until recently. Now Lenzing is touting its eco-friendliness with a marketing campaign that brands its various fibers under the new name “Botanic.”
“For many years, we’ve talked about the low environmental impact of Tencel, and I have to say it was met with a mixed response,” says David Adkins, Lenzing’s director of sales and marketing for North and South America. “In the early days, there was less interest in the fact that the fiber’s clean and the way it’s manufactured. We’ve been on the environmental angle long before it came into vogue.”
When Tencel was introduced into the American market, it was warmly greeted for its physical properties, which include softness, absorbency, strength when wet or dry, and resistance to wrinkles. It can also be machine washed in certain applications, takes dyes well, and can simulate a variety of textures such as leather, silk, and linen.
On the other hand, “retailers seemed to give us the indication that it was not value-added for the consumer,” says Adkins.
Now the consumer has caught up to where Lenzing has been all along, and so it is spreading the word about Tencel and other fibers like Modal. “Our fabrics have a good story,” says Adkins, “so what we’re trying to do is consolidate all the messages we have under one banner.”
The Botanic campaign has already been introduced in Europe and will roll out in the United States at the Los Angeles International Textile Show, scheduled for Oct. 15–17, where Adkins will give a presentation.
Later in the year, Lenzing will launch a print ad campaign, as well as brochures and hangtags promoting Botanic.
With “green,” “renewable,” and “sustainable” the latest industry buzzwords, Lenzing wondered how it should deliver its eco message. Cotton, for example, can be certified organic, but nobody is certifying trees as organic. “So, rather than go with the organic angle,” says Adkins, “we’re saying that actually we’re better, because not only do we come from cellulose, we don’t have the water consumption and pesticides that are involved with [non-organically grown] cotton.”
And while it takes seven to 10 years to renew a crop of trees, Lenzing produces 10 times the raw material per acre as cotton, says Adkins, “so the impact is lower.”
Since its initial development in the 1980s, Tencel was seen as “a better way to make manmade cellulosics without the issues of effluence, which have been a difficult thing for the traditional viscose industry for many years,” says Adkins.
Viscose has declined in popularity over the years due to carbon disulfide, a polluting byproduct of the production process.
Last year, Lenzing became the first fiber producer to receive the “Flower” award from the European Union, which is a certification system to enable consumers to identify environmentally sound products.
Dow Launches Lasting Initiative An increasing number of apparel brands are finding that Dow Fiber Solutions’ XLA fiber picks up where natural fibers leave off.
Cotton, wool, and linen all have their limitations, with wrinkles, shrinkage, and stretching constant concerns. Dow is ensuring that the performance and longevity of natural fibers is dramatically increased when combined with its revolutionary new fibers.
DOW XLA is an olefin-based elastic fiber that is resistant to harsh chemicals and high heat, and offers a soft stretch, unprecedented durability, ease of care, and the ability to help garments keep their color and shape after repeated washings. Its applications are virtually limitless, from swimwear to professional wear.
“DOW XLA is a high-performance elastic fiber that has been recognized by fashion insiders as the ideal alternative to other elastic fibers due to its unique ability to virtually disappear into the host fiber, so the fabric retains its luxurious feel and shape,” says Dow spokesperson Holiday Watson.
European swimwear designer Maryan Mehlhorn has introduced her new retro glamour “Dynasty” collection using DOW XLA. The fiber has made the swimsuits sweat-resistant, seawater-resistant, chlorineproof and increased their ability to keep their shape. DOW XLA also withstands exposure to UV light and suntan lotion.
Adidas has also announced Infinitex Plus, a new line of swimwear aimed at competitive swimmers, that uses DOW XLA. Traditional stretch fibers deteriorate after 100 to 200 hours of exposure to chlorinated pool water, according to Dow, while DOW XLA continues to perform after 1,000 hours.
DOW XLA is also showing up in new intimate apparel collections. Earlier this month at New York Fashion Week, men’s underwear designer 2(x)ist unveiled its new “Liquid Cotton Collection,” which incorporates DOW XLA. The collection is cut to accentuate a man’s body without a synthetic feel. The collection consists not just of briefs, but T-shirts, tanks, hoodie shirts, and other items as well.
