FibeRio Technology Corporation, a nanofiber solutions company, announced a strategic partnership with VF Corporation, parent company of The North Face, among many others, to develop and commercialize performance apparel fabrics leveraging FibeRio’s proprietary nanotechnology. The partnership centers on FibeRio’s Forcespinning technology platform and its ability to produce nanofiber material in high volumes.
VF intends to incorporate FibeRio’s capabilities and expertise across its three Global Innovation Centers, which focus on advancements in performance apparel, footwear and jeanswear. Nanofibers’ higher surface area and smaller pore size improves the characteristics of fibrous material, says the company. This enables performance levels in any given application to be materially improved using significantly less material in the end product, which also allows for lighter weight and lower cost.
“VF’s Global Innovation Center strategy is centered on the pursuit of disruptive design and materials that will meaningfully redefine the future of apparel and footwear for our consumers,” said Dan Cherian, Vice President, VF Global Innovation Centers. “Our partnership with FibeRio is a great step toward the co-development of proprietary, high-performance nanofiber materials that will help push the boundaries of performance and explore the creation of new apparel and footwear market categories.”
FibeRio says its Forcespinning technology is the only technology platform capable of both commercial scale melt and solution spinning nanofibers. This reportedly provides a more sustainable method of production because melt spinning does not require solvents. Additionally, Forcespinning can be used to solution spin with vastly smaller amounts of solvents than traditional nanofiber production processes such as electrospinning, says FiberRio.
