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Sustainable Fashion: Could the future of LYCRA be corn?

Posted on May 18, 2023 by dishanth

Developed in 1958, the revolutionary LYCRA fiber invented by Dr. Joseph Shivers – DuPont Chemist – was designed to replace natural rubber in girdles and foundation garments. Driven by the outbreak of World War II those in Europe and the US began to seek alternatives for natural resources that we expected to be either cut off or redirected for military use.

This new elasticated fiber could be spun into fine filaments and stretch up to 500% of its original length while being able to return to its original shape. Being both stronger and more durable, the fiber could be used to create softer, lighter and sheerer foundation garments that are easy to care for an highly resistant to perspiration, oils and lotions.

Flash forward 60 years, and LYCRA has had many landmark moments in the world of fashion, notable moments include the use of LYCRA for the Apollo astronauts’ spacesuits in 1969; achieving recording-breaking athletic performance in the 1972 summer games; jumping onboard the fitness craze in the 1980s; and becoming a household name in 1995.

Today, LYCRA has more than 200 unique fibers to optimize the way clothes look, feel, and perform. As an industry leader in fibre innovation, LYCRA is driven to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers.

How LYCRA is furthering sustainable fashion with the use of corn

Partnering with Qore, The LYCRA Company has developed the world’s first large-scale commercial production of bio-derived spandex using QIRA as one of its main ingredients. As a result, 70% of LYCRA fiber content will derive from annually renewable feedstock.

“As part of our sustainability goals, we are committed to delivering products that support a more circular economy while helping our apparel and personal care customers reduce their footprint,” said Julien Born, CEO of The LYCRA Company.

He added: “We are especially pleased to collaborate with Qore, a company that shares our vision for innovative, sustainable solutions. Their expertise in operating fermentation processes and understanding of the chemical value chains makes them the ideal partner to help develop a bio-derived LYCRA® fibre at commercial scale.”

Production of QIRA will be at Cargill’s biotechnology campus and corn refining operations in Eddyville, Iowa, operations will commence in 2024 following the completion of the facility’s construction. The first Renewable LYCRA fiber made with QIRA will be produced at The LYCRA Company’s Tuas, Singapore manufacturing site in 2024.

“We are proud to partner with The LYCRA Company on bringing this sustainable material solution to the market. This collaboration demonstrates that QIRA® directly replaces conventional BDO and thus significantly improves the fibre’s sustainability profile. QIRA® is an innovative platform chemical that can be used in various applications across industries,” said Jon Veldhouse, CEO of Qore.

By using field corm grown by Iowa farmers, both LYCRA and QIRA will enable a significant reduction in CO2, and replace a finite resource with one that is annually renewable, while maintaining the fiber’s performance.

Source

Sustainable Housing that can be Recycled

Posted on May 4, 2023May 4, 2023 by dishanth

Building a house from the ground up can be environmentally damaging. Buildings have a significant carbon footprint, with over 41% of global energy consumption attributed to buildings and structures. Buildings and materials also produce dangerous emissions that pollute our air, and the construction industry alone generates more than 170 tons of debris annually. There is also the issue of landfill waste, excessive use of water and noise pollution caused by the construction of buildings and houses.

SPEE Architecten, an architecture firm in the Netherlands, may have found a sustainable solution for building houses. Their projects focus on innovation and sustainability and creating healthy elements for both the residents and the environment. The architects created their newest project Speehuis House to create a site that minimally impacts the surrounding trees and wetlands with a structure that could be dismantled and recycled.

The house was built in a wooded area adjacent to a wetland area. The house’s form, size and layout are tailored to the needs of a family with three and adjoins SPEE Architects’ office premises. Large, strategically-placed windows offer a lot of natural light to the inner spaces and views of the outdoors. The entire house is made of circular and biobased materials. For example, the exterior walls and sloping roofs are made from untreated, high-density, biobased bamboo slats.

The team used Bamboo X-treme beams which consist of more than 90% of thermally modified bamboo strips. Bamboo absorbs a lot of CO2 during its growth, which remains stored throughout the product’s lifespan. Bamboo X-treme is extremely durable, dimensionally stable, and harder than most types of wood. When the bamboo fibers and resin are compressed at high temperatures, the natural sugar in the bamboo caramelizes, rendering it rot-resistant. These materials can be conveniently dismantled, adapted and recycled as need be.

Most of the home’s shell, including the stairs, interior doors, desks and cabinets, is made from cross-laminated timber that was chosen to avoid using concrete. The entire shell was prefabricated in less than a week. The wood was sourced from responsibly managed forests and was selected to create a natural and healthy indoor environment and a carbon sink. The architecture team estimates that over 93 000 kg of CO2 is stored within the building. In comparison, the same building built in concrete would produce 46,694 kg of CO2.

The home that SPEE Architecten has built shows us a future of what the construction industry can look like and how we can live more sustainably. The design is spacious and tasteful and allows for comfortable living without causing harm to the environment. If more architecture firms transitioned to building homes like the Speehuis House, the environmental impact from the construction industry would decrease substantially.

Source Happy Eco News

Fashion giants agree on forest-positive textile fiber collaboration

Posted on November 15, 2022 by dishanth

The fashion firms, supported by Ben & Jerry’s and HH Global, have signed up to source “Next Generation Solutions” to fashion fibers through an initiative led by environmental nonprofit Canopy.

The companies have agreed to purchase more than half a million tonnes of next-generation fibers, which Canopy claims has a lower carbon footprint and a reduced biodiversity impact compared to traditional textile and packaging materials.

Canopy believes the announcement, made to coincide with COP27, will help the transition to nature-positive business models.

“We are thrilled to advance this commitment with forward-looking partners who are willing to challenge the status quo and in doing so provide a breakthrough for these game-changing technologies,” Canopy’s executive director and founder Nicole Rycroft said.

“This commitment will allow us to take a historic leap closer to the $64bn of investments in sustainable alternatives needed to ensure forest conservation for our planet’s climate and biodiversity stability.”

The investment will help build up to 20 new pulp mills for Next Generation materials, as well as providing farm communities with new markets to replace the common practices of burning straw residue and landfilling materials. Canopy claims it will prevent an estimated 2.2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions compared to the production of virgin forest fiber.

Canopy notes that less than one-third of the world’s largest companies have yet to make forest-based commitments. However, research suggests that at least 50% of the world’s forests need to be conserved by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C ambition.

The signatories have also committed to ensuring their respective supply chains are free of Ancient and Endangered Forests

“At H&M Group, we are committed to becoming a circular business, in which moving towards more sustainable alternatives for our materials is crucial. Canopy has showed true leadership by bringing the fashion and regenerated cellulosic industries together with the purpose of reducing fashion’s dependency on forests,” H&M’s environmental sustainability business expert Madelene Ericsson said.

“Innovative low-carbon solutions, such as regenerated cellulosic fibers from waste textiles, microbial cellulose or agricultural residues, will play a vital role to help us reduce our impact on climate and protect forests, so no ancient and endangered forests are put at risk to make fashion. These next generation solutions and collaborations like Canopy’s help us taking strong steps towards our goal for all our materials to be either recycled or sourced in a more sustainable way by 2030.”

Source edie