WILMINGTON – The Lycra Company has launched Thermolite EcoMade fibre made from 100% textile waste for insulation battings.
The new warming technology involves recycling textile waste from cutting room floors that would have been sent to a landfill or incinerated, and transforming it into high performance fibres for insulation. Once fabric scraps are collected from garment makers, they go through a four-step process before becoming a finished product, involving depolymerization and refining, chip manufacture, fibre formation and batting and insulation production.
“Our new textile waste fibre can be used in unique batting constructions to deliver outstanding warming performance infused with unparalleled sustainable attributes,” said Arnaud Ruffin, vice president, brands and retail at The Lycra Company. “We are initially promoting the fibre in two versions of insulation – both thin-loft and mid-loft battings, each made with 85% or more recycled fibres, including 50% Thermolite fibre made from recycled PET bottles and 35% made from the new textile waste product. Both batting offerings deliver durability and outstanding levels of performance combined with unmatched sustainability credentials for the outdoor industry, while warmth per unit weight and other insulation characteristics meet the industry’s highest expectations.”
Higg audit
In separate news, The LycraCompany’s largest manufacturing site in Foshan, China, has earned a score in the upper quartile for its third-party audited Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM).
Higg FEM is a sustainability assessment tool that the company is using to determine the Foshan site’s environmental impact, standardise how its environmental performance is measured year over year and identify, prioritise and scale enhancements.
Foshan’s Higg FEM score is based on the percentage of completed and verified self-assessment questions related to its environmental management systems, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, water use, wastewater, air emissions, waste management and chemical management. The Foshan site completed the full module and had responses confirmed by an independent verifier.
“Foshan is the first of our six global manufacturing sites to undergo Higg FEM verification,” said Choon Hueei Beck, Foshan plant manager, The LycraCompany. “We’re thrilled to achieve such a high score in the upper quartile for our first assessment. This positive outcome not only demonstrates The LycraCompany’s commitment to sustainability and transparency, but will also differentiate our products in a highly competitive marketplace.”
The Higg FEM verification was an intensive three-day process that required months of preparation and documentation according to Beck.
