WILMINGTON, DEL. -- The LYCRA Company, a global leader in developing innovative and sustainable fiber and technology solutions for the apparel and personal care industries, announced that company representatives will give presentations at the Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress (GFC), September 11 - 13 in Dornbirn, Austria. These presentations cover two key initiatives within the roadmap and vision of The LYCRA Company’s Planet Agenda platform and 2030 Sustainability Goals.

Jean Hegedus, The LYCRA Company’s director of sustainable business development, will present “From Farm to Fiber: Developing Elastane with 70% Bio-Derived Content” on September 11 at 14:20 CEST (Kulturhaus Room B). She will be joined by Andrea Vanderhoff, director of technology and sustainability for Qore®, the makers of QIRA®, a next-generation 1,4-butanediol (also known as BDO) made from annually renewable “dent” corn. Their presentation shares the development path to commercialization of bio-derived LYCRA® fiber made with QIRA®.

“Soon nearly 70 percent of the LYCRA® fiber content will be derived from annually renewable feedstock, thus potentially reducing the carbon footprint of LYCRA® fiber by up to 44 percent, per data from a screening life cycle assessment (LCA)*,” said Hegedus. “This sustainable solution is expected to deliver equivalent performance to our original fiber, helping to reduce our environmental impact and that of our customers.”

The LYCRA Company’s Alberto Ceria, senior applications development professional, and David Godshall, Senior R&D scientist, are presenting “Pre- and Post-Consumer Recycling of LYCRA® Fiber” on September 11 at 15:55 CEST (Kulturhaus Room B).

“Elastane is often seen as a contaminant in textile recycling, but The LYCRA Company has committed to developing circular solutions that address this issue,” said Ceria. “Our presentation describes our development of recycling technologies that transform stretch fabrics at end-of-life into recycled elastane.”

The LYCRA Company is proud to be a Bronze Sponsor of this year’s Congress and is exhibiting during the open hours of the GFC. Stop by to learn more about bio-derived LYCRA® fiber made with QIRA®, or visit this website.

*Estimate from Cradle-to-Gate Screening LCA for a representative LYCRA® fiber manufacturing facility, June 2022, prepared by Ramboll Americas Engineering Solutions, Inc