Eco-textile double whammy from Teijin

Japanese fibre producer Teijin has gone on the eco-textile offensive with two new announcements in New York and Tokyo about progress on recycled polyester clothing and green bioplastic textiles for cars.

The company said in Tokyo that that the Mazda Motor Corporation has now began leasing the new Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid vehicle on March 25, 2009 which features interiors made with a new improved version of Teijin‘s ‘Biofront’ PLA-based fibre.

The Mazda car seat fabric is made with 100% Biofront that has been upgraded to offer improved texture and uniform fabric structures to enhance dyeing and finishing and mass production of these automotive interiors. The fabric is produced almost completely from bio-based feedstocks such as corn.

The main innovation compared with other PLA-based textiles is that Biofront is relatively heat-resistant with a melting point of 210°C, which is significantly higher than the 170°C melting point of conventional polylactide (PLA) polymers. This enables Biofront fabrics and yarns to undergo high-temperature, high-pressure dyeing as well as to produce products that offer the levels of quality and durability demanded of automotive interior materials.

The company is aiming at Biofront sales within the automotive industry of 100 million yen in 2011 and 300 million yen in 2012.

Meanwhile at the other side of the world in New York, Teijin will tomorrow update textile journalists on its new ‘eco-a-wear’ concept which is a fabric development blending recycled polyester and wool for suits and trousers.

The event will take place at the Kitano New York Hotel and will detail how this programme is based on Teijin’s ‘Ecopet’ closed loop recycling process which produces polyester yarns from post-consumer plastic bottles. Other eco-a-wear products include blends with viscose and cotton or 100% fully recycled polyester. It has taken Teijin two years to perfect the ‘eco-a-wear’ fabrics and the development programme was first featured in Ecotextile News magazine, February 2007, page: 19 where we interviewed Kohei Fujiyama, President of N.I. Teijin Shoji (USA). At the time Teijin was working with Sears, Hart Schaffner & Marx, Brooks Brothers and others to trial the fabrics.

“Interest in sustainability has grown with the consumer more aware about waste output,” said Moses Cohen, Business Development and Project Manager at N.I. Teijin Shoji (U.S.A.) Inc. “At Teijin, we are dedicated to create products that are as economically advantageous as they are ecologically sound. We are very committed to solving the problem of waste and through our research and development have invented a process that utilises disposed plastic bottles to create fashionable fabric.”

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Source:ecotextile.com