FIBER OPTIMISM
Rayon production is a dirty business. Chemicals used to dissolve wood pulp into rayon fiber are notorious pollutants. Environmental regulations enacted since the mid-1970s have thrown the domestic industry into a tailspin.
Until now.
Two European chemical giants, working separately, are producing a new kind of rayon using a technology that is virtually pollution-free. Though it costs 50% more than standard rayon, the new fiber has advantages: It’s as strong as cotton, and garments made from it can usually be thrown into the home washing machine without fear.
The pricey new fiber, called lyocell, is generating excitement in the fashion industry, a business that thrives on newness. Clothing designers from Donna Karan to the Gap are trying on the new fiber. Los Angeles designer Michael Glasser uses it almost exclusively to set apart his line of casual, upscale clothes.
Fashion mavens say lyocell, the textile industry’s first new fiber in three decades, has the makings of a wonder fabric. They say it has the drape of rayon, the softness of silk and takes color well.
Any revival of the domestic rayon business rests on consumer opinion. The British firm Courtaulds, an admirer of the success of DuPont Lycra, is using magazine ads, billboards and garment tags to hype its brand of lyocell, called Tencel. Avoiding the generic name for the fiber, Courtaulds declares Tencel “the fabric of the future,” made from “nature’s luxury fiber” because it’s made from wood, albeit heavily processed wood. (“It’s about as natural as polyester, which is made from oil that comes from the ground,” says J. Nicholas Hahn, president of the trade group Cotton Inc.)
The stakes are high for lyocell manufacturers. Courtaulds says it spent 12 years and $60 million to develop the process and an additional $85 million to construct a lyocell factory near its big rayon plant in Axis, Ala. Courtaulds has pinned its hopes on the fiber; another plant under construction in Britain is expected to begin operation in 1998.
Lenzing of Austria is finishing a $130-million lyocell factory in that country that is expected to double worldwide production when it opens in June. Lenzing, the world’s largest manufacturer of rayon fiber, has been turning out small quantities of lyocell at a pilot factory for European customers.
Beyond their efforts to establish a market for lyocell, the competitors are taking steps to spark demand for their brands.
The companies first squared off in patent infringement suits in Europe and the United States. Courtaulds last year obtained rulings invalidating Lenzing patents on a critical step in the lyocell production process, ending the legal skirmish, according to representatives of both companies.
Now the rivals are working to line up customers in the United States, a race in which Courtaulds has a considerable lead. Hoping to close the gap, Lenzing is exploiting possible advantages of its brand, called Lenzing Lyocell.
Lenzing claims its lyocell isn’t as fuzzy as Tencel, a characteristic that could make it cheaper and easier to process into finished fabric. Textile mills can remove fuzz from Tencel, but the extra step adds cost.
Lyocell has drawbacks that both brands share. Because it’s expensive and produced in limited quantities, it has been confined to the high-end sportswear market; mass market brands like Levi’s and Lee are using lyocell to offer upscale jeans. Retailers are reluctant to offer lyocell garments to price-conscious consumers.
J.C. Penney offered a line of men’s lyocell shirts in 1996 but has not reordered for spring. According to David Holloman, merchandise manager for Cone Sportswear, supplier to Penney, the retailer found the shirts too pricey for its customers.
Even purchasers of designer clothing experience lyocell sticker shock.
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During a recent lunch hour at Bloomingdale’s in Los Angeles, Pat Korbel tried on a lyocell shirt, but balked at the $120 price tag.
“That is staggering,” Korbel said. “If I am going to spend that much, I’ll buy silk.”
Lyocell is expensive to make. Highly specialized equipment and costly solvents are needed.
Moistened wood pulp from gum trees is mixed with the solvent amine oxide. The mixture is heated so that the solvent, a solid at room temperature, can melt and dissolve the wood pulp into a hot, gummy solution. The process must be well-controlled because overheated wet pulp can explode.
The solution--now the consistency of corn syrup--passes through filters to remove any impurities. Then it is forced under high pressure through pinholes narrower than sewing needles to form filaments--a process known as solvent spinning.
The filaments are washed to remove amine oxide, which is captured and recycled--an important step because the chemical costs $5,000 a ton. The filaments are dried and cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths to be spun later into fabric.
This differs from rayon production, a 90-year-old process that uses toxic chemicals to break down the wood pulp and ends up spewing sulfurous compounds into nearby lakes and streams. Strict environmental rules have forced rayon manufacturers to close their doors. Between 1974 and 1996, domestic rayon fiber output plummeted more than 60%.
The American Manufactured Fibers Assn. said rayon fiber production is up 11% through the first two months of 1997. Economist Frank Horn said lyocell is an important factor.
“It is salvaging the rayon business,” he said.
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The environmental benefits of lyocell have helped Courtaulds make inroads with ecology-minded fashion designers, such as Britain’s Katharine Hamnett. Glasser has adopted the good-for-the-Earth pitch in selling his Democracy clothing line; his gimmick is to offer shoppers seeds to plant trees.
Gaining support from the fashion industry was an important part of Courtaulds’ marketing plan. It began wooing designers in 1992, giving them samples produced at a pilot plant in England.
Around the same time, Courtaulds asked the Federal Trade Commission to classify lyocell as a generic fiber within the rayon family. The seemingly mundane step had important marketing implications. Without the designation, which the FTC granted in November, Courtaulds would have had to call its new fiber rayon--making the premium-priced fiber a tough sell. (Lenzing also benefits from the decision.)
The tactic is part of Courtaulds’ aim to make Tencel the Lycra of lyocell. It has been collecting tips from E.I. DuPont de Nemours, which built Lycra spandex into one of the world’s best-known brands. (Salim Ibrahim, who retired last year from heading DuPont’s Lycra business, sits on Courtaulds’ board.)
One reason why Lycra stands out is that such successes are rare. The fashion business is littered with remnants of miracle fabrics that didn’t catch on despite big promotional pushes. In the 1970s, for example, DuPont touted a silk-like nylon called Qiana that quickly faded.
People in the textile business think lyocell will beat the odds, although the price must drop significantly before it becomes a mass market fabric, they say.
“It really adds something of value that is perceptible to the consumer,” said Kathy Barton, marketing vice president for Burlington Denim, which sells cotton-lyocell blends to customers ranging from Levi Strauss and the Gap to Calvin Klein and Jones New York.
“Today’s consumer is demanding so many choices,” she said. “This is another option.”
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The Spin on Lyocell
Lyocell, a type of washable rayon, is produced from the natural cellulose in wood pulp using a solvent spinning technique. Virtually all of the solvent--amine oxide--is recycled, minimizing pollution.
1. The wood pulp is mixed with amine oxide.
2. The mixture is heated, and the pulp dissolves.
3. The solution passes through filters to remove impurities.
4. The solution is forced under high pressure through small holes to form filaments, a process known as solvent spinning.
5. Strands of fiber are washed to remove amine oxide, dried and cut into pieces to be woven into fabric.
6. Water is evaporated from the amine oxide, which is reused to process more lyocell filaments.
Source: Courtaulds Fibers Inc.
