INVISTA introduced its first commercial offering of a bio-derived spandex available globally and for use in a wide variety of apparel fabrics and garments. Approximately 70 percent by weight of the new LYCRA bio-derived spandex fiber comes from a renewable source made from dextrose derived from corn. The use of a renewable feedstock in the making of this new LYCRA bio-derived fiber results in a lower CO2 emissions footprint than spandex produced using traditional raw materials, says the company.
With this new LYCRA brand offering, INVISTA is providing retailers and manufacturers of stretch fabrics a spandex fiber option that can impact the overall lifecycle analysis of the fabric and garment. The new fiber is made to INVISTA’s standards and specifications. Therefore, INVISTA does not anticipate a need to re-engineer fabrics and finishing processes, or garment patterns. The production of commercial quantities is planned for the autumn/winter 2015 and spring/summer 2016 collections.
Arnaud Tandonnet, INVISTA Apparel global sustainability director, said, “We are very aware that sustainability topics are becoming increasingly important in the textile and apparel value chain, with growing awareness and building education on the subject at the consumer, brand/retail and mill level. In our research facilities we have successfully produced the fiber and evaluated it in fabric applications.”
