As fashion apparel retailers and their textile partners struggle to meet sustainability goals, the Lycra Company and Qore (a joint venture between Cargill and Helm) have teamed to bring to market a bio-derived Lycra fiber made with Qira. The fiber is derived from corn grown by farmers in the U.S. and is not only sustainable but meets consumer demands for performance, fit, comfort and stretch.
The fiber innovation was presented during a session at the WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit, titled “From Farm to Fashion: Helping to Make Fashion More Sustainable.” It included a discussion with Gary Smith, chief executive officer of The Lycra Company; Jon Veldhouse, CEO of Qore, and Lauren Parker, director of Fairchild Studio, Fairchild Media Group as well as a brief video that explained the science behind the fiber.
Smith said the fiber traces its roots back to when the Lycra fiber was introduced in 1958. About 10 years ago, the company began seeking non-petrochemical sources. “We were able to get inputs, but we weren’t able to get them at scale,” he said. “They were very expensive. And traceability was difficult. It might’ve come from sugar cane, it might’ve come from corn, it might’ve come from Switchgrass. So it was expensive, and could not be done at scale. And then roughly in 2018, one of our brand partners introduced us to Qore.”
It was a perfect match.
Veldhouse said the collaboration “is really an enablement for us to have an impact at scale and a meaningful impact.” Veldhouse said fashion apparel contributes about 10 percent to global greenhouse gases. He said the collaboration and attending the summit brings the innovation down the value chain, closer to the end user, “which allows us to see that meaningful impact come to fruition.”
Smith said the new bio-derived Lycra fiber made with Qira is a key part of the company’s sustainability framework and contended the fiber will have a big impact on the environment. “It will result in a 44 percent reduction in carbon emissions, and fossil fuel footprint,” he said, adding that at the heart of the innovation is “fractionation,” which is when field corn kernels are separated into multiple components that are used in various ways.
“That process breaks the corn down into its components, and then we use one of those components in the Qore facility that’s being built as we speak to generate the input, the primary feedstock that we use to make microfiber,” Smith said. “The primary feedstock that we use represents about 70 percent of the content of the microfiber.”
When asked about the challenges, Veldhouse said, “the big hurdle is the scale issue and the cost. If you take the cost difference between a derived input today where market-based petro inputs are, and we all know that there’s volatility to petro pricing right now, it does cost more on an input basis and that translates into a few pennies per garment. Just pause on that for a minute,” he said. “A few pennies per garment.”
At scale, it adds up. But Veldhouse said early adopters of EVs also faced higher costs. “So, it’s going to take some time and we need those early adopters,” he said. “And while a few pennies per garment is significant, the storytelling that goes with it is far, far more valuable.”
Smith said the company will have full-scale production early next year. “We already have some pilot feed stock that we’ve used to seed the market, if you will. And we already have some small customers that are bringing collections to market as we speak. But it’s going to take time. And like I said, this first phase for us represents about a third of our input consumption and we’re only 10 percent of the global Spandex. So we need your support, we need you to adopt it, we need you to tell the story and the rest will come. It is literally a field of dreams.”
