British Vogue partners with TENCEL as the fibre celebrates 30 years of sustainable style

British Vogue bolsters its commitment to eco-conscious fashion in collaboration with inspiring environmentally responsible fiber brand TENCEL to reveal the new limited edition t-shirt; VOGUE x TENCEL, that promotes sustainable design and celebrates TENCEL’s 30th anniversary this year.

The VOGUE x TENCEL t-shirt is embroidered with the iconic Vogue logo and comes in four colourways inspired by nature: Northern Droplet, Perfectly Pale, Grey Melange and Faded Khaki. 

The T-shirts come in four colourways and are made from TENCEL Lyocell fibres, a wood based and biodegradable fibre derived from sustainably sourced natural raw material wood.  This collaboration blends the fashion heritage of Vogue with TENCEL’s pioneering speciality fibers to create a collection of responsible garments. From nature to fibre to fashion, TENCEL Lyocell fibers have been shown to be fully compostable and biodegradable under various conditions and revert back to nature in 6-16 weeks.

TENCEL™ celebrates 30 years of sustainable style

This year, Austria-based Lenzing’s flagship textile brand TENCEL™ is celebrating 30 years of sustainable style. According to Lenzing, this milestone moment marks the TENCEL™ brand's long-time contribution to the industry, as it has continually empowered companies across the textile value chain to adopt more eco-friendly practices through ongoing innovations. Within three decades, the TENCEL™ brand has collaborated with over 300 brand partners and successfully redefined itself from a behind-the-scenes producer into a consumer-facing ingredient brand. In celebration of this 30-year milestone, TENCEL™ will be launching a series of global cross-stakeholder activations to further advocate for change, as part of the ‘Feel Good Fibers Since 1992’ campaign.

LENZING announces TENCEL™ as its flagship brand

Austria-based textile and nonwovens cellulose fibres producer LENZING has announced that it is entering a new phase launching its TENCEL™ brand as their flagship brand for textile with a new slogan “Feel So Right” to foster a connection between industry partners, retailers and consumers.  

The TENCEL™ brand portfolio covers a wide range of applications, from activewear to denim, home, intimate apparel and luxury ranges, notably TENCEL™ Active,  TENCEL™ Denim, TENCEL™ Home, TENCEL™ Intimate and  TENCEL™ Luxe, all enabled by two fibres: TENCEL™ Modal and TENCEL™ Lyocell.

Sketches of a nature-inspired TENCEL™ Luxe lounge dress
introuced by Lenzing  and  lingerie guru Jos Berry.

Among the first to team up with LENZING for this new branding milestone is renowned lingerie guru, Jos Berry, Founder and Creative Director of Concepts Paris, introducing a nature-inspired lounge dress made with 100 percent TENCEL™ Luxe, a breakthrough sustainable cellulosic filament yarn specifically for the luxury fashion market, launched a few months ago.

TENCEL™ Luxe sustainable cellulosic filament in a range of colours;
designed specifically for the premium fashion market.

Featuring liquid-like drape and a silky-smooth hand feel, the lounge dress was recently showcased at the Nature Moves Us Exhibition at Interfilière Paris in January 2018 and would be showcased in Hong Kong during Interfilière Hong Kong, slated for 27-28 March 2018.

Ms Berry explained: “With a change in lifestyles, the dividing line between underwear and outerwear is becoming blurry, leading to growing importance of loungewear in the fashion industry, and the TENCEL™ Luxe lounge dress is a perfect fit to the narrative. Given TENCEL™ Luxe is designed for sensuality and engineered for sustainability, we hope to showcase inspirational designs of nature beyond flowers.”

“The TENCEL™ Luxe lounge dress by Jos Berry is a great example of how comfort and sustainability can be integrated with high-end fashion and lingerie,” added Judy Chen, LENZING’S director of Global Business Development, innerwear. “Since there are virtually unlimited possibilities for using TENCEL™ Luxe in fashion, we look forward to seeing more integration of sustainability in the innerwear and lingerie sector through this innovative cellulosic filament yarn.”

Earlier this month, at a press conference on February 13^th 2018 during the Premiere Vision Paris international textile trade fair, LENZING’s Chief Commercial Officer Robert van de Kerkhof said he expected 2018 to be a game-changer year for the fibre group. 

Designed and based on the findings and insights of an extensive market research, the brand architecture is deemed as an important step for LENZING to make the transition from a business-to-business (B2B) fibre producer to a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) brand, underlining its core principles of trust, transparency, reliability and amicability, said Kerkhof, and by leading technology innovation in the textile sector.

Acknowledging a growing trend amongst retail brands and consumers to seek out products that make them look and feel good, but also do good via sustainable and transparent production processes, the TENCEL™ product brand as been redefined with the tagline “Feels so Right” to better communicate the fibre’s characteristics and value.

LENZING’s director of Global Brand Management, Harold Wedhorst, who is based in the group’s Hong Kong office, said their aim is to grow TENCEL™ beyond fibre types and functional characteristics to become a true consumer-focused brand, offering the holistic benefits of botanic fibres that bring comfort and high performance for everyday life.

New swing tags and marketing materials will be launched on a retail level to provide clarity on product benefit claims.  "Co-branding programmes and co-marketing campaigns with retail brands will enable us to reach out to consumers directly," said Amit Gautam, Lenzing's vice president of Global Business Management in Textile.

Read about LENZING'S Denim Competition.

Photos: Lenzing / Lucia Carpio.

Lenzing launches EcoVero™ - new standard in eco-responsible viscose

Lenzing introduced their EcoVero™ viscose fibres to the global textile and fashion industry at the international Premiere Vision Paris show in September 2017.

Acknowledging that the fashion industry requires more transparency, while consumers today expect responsible retailers and brands to know their supply chains and be able to trace product origins, the Austrian company - Lenzing - a stock exchange-listed cellulose fibres manufacturer - has announced the launch of a new standard brand - EcoVero™  - to set the new benchmark in viscose fibres.

Garments made of Lenzing™ EcoVero™ on show at Premiere Vision Paris in September 2017.

With a special manufacturing system, Lenzing can identify Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres in the final garment, long after the textile processing and conversion steps have been completed.  This ability means that retailers and brands can rest assure that the eco-responsible viscose fibers used in their garments can be verified and authenticated as the original , and not just any generic viscose that might not be in line with their sustainability goals. 

Lenzing CCO, Robert van de Kerkhof said in a press conference held at the Premiere Vision international textile fair held in Paris in September that for too long consumers have been concerned with environmental threats raised in the so-called "dirty fashion" report, and other issues such as marine litter, pollution and waste, growing water scarcity, accelerating climate change have affected consumer confidence.

Lenzing VP of Textile, Amit Gautam, added that value chain transparency is a trend seen not only in the textile industry but also in the food industry.  While consumers' awareness of the environment is increaing, they are more and more interested in the origin of the products they buy.  

Lenzing™ EcoVeroTM fibres set a new industry standard in sustainable viscose based on the use of these sustainable wood sources (FSC® or PEFC® certified) and an ecological production process with significantly lower emissions and water impacts than conventional viscose.

With this special identification technology for Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres, Lenzing provides a one-of-its-kind solution for the fashion industry and its supply chain to respond to consumer demands for reliable visibility of product origins that can be traced back to the fibre, said Lenzing's Gautam.  He said Lenzing enforces strict environmental standards during viscose production and has invested heavily over the years to achieve eco-resposible production processes.  Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres, which are made from wood that comes from sustainable forestry plantations,  are certified with the EU Ecolabel, a world-leading environmental manufacturing standard which is awarded only to products that have a significantly lower net environment impact to comparable products in the market.

Well known retailers are teaming up with Lenzing to advance their sustainability strategies with traceable Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres.

For one Scandinavian retailer, Gina Tricot, Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres are the solution for viscose fibres.   Fashion photos shown here are examples from their current collection.

Gina Tricot's Brand Director Anna Appelqvist (pictured here) said at the Lenzing press conference in Paris, "Supply chain transparency is getting to be for us more and more important as customers want to know which kind of material is used for their garments. 

"As viscose is a very important fibre for our womenswear range, the new identification technology from Lenzing used in EcoVero™ fibres will mean we will have full supply chain transparency and our customers will welcome that and can be assured that they are buying eco-responsible viscose garments", she said adding that they are launching new T-shirts with this special EcoVero fibres this autumn. 

Another retailer from Sweden, Lindex are also considering to take Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres into their collection. "EcoVero™ fibres show concern for the origin of raw material as well as having a reduced environmental impact in the production process. We hope that this initiative will drive the development towards producing more sustainable viscose in the industry", explains Production Sustainability Manager Anna-Karin Dahlberg.

Lenzing's initiative is also supported by the German brand ARMEDANGELS, as its CEO Martin Höfeler had commented that as a radically responsible fashion brand this is a great match for them and they are excited to be working with Lenzing to include EcoVero™ in their future product range.

Lenzing's New Eco fibre enables circular economy for the textile industry.

Lenzing's press conference at Premiere Vision
Paris on 7Feb 2017.  Picture supplied by Lenzing.

During the Premiere Vision Paris trade fair for textile industry professionals (held 7 - 9 February), Lenzing - a world leader in producing botanic cellulose fibres - announced its achievement in developing a new eco fibre that serves the consumers' need for more clothing while preserving the world's natural resources and enabling a circular economy for the textile industry.




Lenzing's Chief Commercial Officer Robert van de Kerkhof said they have achieved a new business model by developing a new cellulose fibre called Refibra ™, which is the result of combining cotton scraps and wood from sustainably managed forests.  This new closed loop business model could open the door for additional developments using other natural fibres, added Amit Gautam, Lenzing's Vice President Global Business Management Textiles.

Lenzing COO Robert van de Kerhof (l.) and Amit Gautam, Lenzing VP Global BM,
handling a garment made with Refibra ™.  © Lucia Carpio 2017

van de Kerkhof highlighted that the initiative is built on Lenzing's reputation as  a leader in the field of environmental fibre technology, pushing new solutions in the textile industry towards circular economy by recycling production waste.

Tencel image on recycling.

© Lucia Carpio 2017

The new fibre Refibra ™ stands for "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle", and is obtained by employing Tencel® (80%) and another 20% made up of recycled cotton scraps.
It is obtained through a similar technique as the one used for producing Tencel and can be manufactured in the same facilities and machines at Lenzing.





Refibra ™ is already available in the Spanish fashion chain Zara as part of their Join Life campaign Spring 2017 offering, just launched to coincide with Lenzing's announcement at Premiere Vision Paris.
Zara, traditionally a customer of Lenzing, has taken on an added new role as a supplier, providing Lenzing with pre-consumer cotton scraps, with which Lenzing had turned into pure cotton fibres and combined with Tencel® fibre to form the new Refibra ™ fibre that are in turn made into garments.

Samples of garments and hangers were on hand at the press announcement to show that there is no difference in hand quality when comparing Refibra™ apparel with regular Tencel ©  Lyocell products. Fibre characteristics: Smooth, gentle to the skin' Absorbent, best moisture management; Strong and robust, in the manufacturing process and the end product
Photo © Lucia Carpio 2017

van de Kerkhof  said overall fibre growth in the world has been driven by the high amount of clothing required globally to meet the needs of the world's growing population and the higher purchasing power seen in emerging markets, and thus post a major burden on our environment, specifically when statistics show that some 50 million tons of clothng are thrown out every year, while the need for clothing will double by year 2025 based on Lenzing's own research.  And this, representing 80% of apparel consumption, would end up in landfill.

"Our Tencel fibre has been internationally recognized for its environmentally resdponsible closed loop productiono process," says van de Kerkof, "the new Refibra fibre offers a deep sustainability profile that clearly contributes to curcular economy."

"For Lenzing, developing circular business models in the fashion  industry ensures the decoupling of business growth from pressure on ecological resource consumption.  It reduces the need to extract additional virgin resources from nature, and reduces the net impact on ecological resources," adds van de Kerkhof.

“At present Refibra is produced with 100% pre-consumer cotton, but new developments made with other natural fibers might also be achieved,” says Gautam, who also acknowledged that the new Refibra fibre could be more expensive than the premium Tencel fibre.

Lenzing Modal® celebrates 50 years of Softness

Softness, a comfortable fit and skin-friendly materials are among the key elements that consumers look for in innerwear and sleepwear, according to recent studies and they would often find that garments that offer the desirable effect of a very soft hand-feel would carry a hang-tag featuring the Lenzing Modal® brand. 

See video of Lenzing's Modal - 50 years of Softness.  Click HERE.

The Modal® fibre, one of the star products of Austrian company Lenzing, celebrated its 50^th anniversary this year, which culminated on November 19^th, when Lenzing played host to global key customers and friends of the brand at the Lenzing headquarters in Austria.  

Led by Chief Commercial Officer Robert van de Kerkhof, the celebratory day featured a seminar of informative presentations by Lenzing executives and industry experts to highlight the company's new business strategy, the historical journey of the Modal® fibre, its unique DNA based on softness and natural origin.  Very importantly, the event highlighted the original source of Modal® that came from the Austrian sustainable forest and that Lenzing's own uniquely-designed production process that results in recovering and recycling up to 95% of the fibre's chemicals and co-products that can be harnessed to manufacture other products such as "good" sugar for chewing gums, salt produce for the glass industry and biodegradable packing tubes for supermarket fruits and vegetables.

The Modal® celebratory day concluded in the evening at the historical Villa Toscana in Gmunden,   Austria with a gala dinner and a special ceremony to honour their global customers who had flown in for the event from around the world.

Lenzing Group's COO Robert van de Kerkhof (blue tie) and CFO Thomas Riegler cutting the 50th anniversary
cake at the Lenzing Modal® gala dinner, which took place at the Villa Toscana in Gmunden, Austria
on November 19th.

READ in full ...

Photos supplied by Lenzing AG, photographed by Susanne Kurz.

Austrian company Lenzing celebrates 50 years of Lenzing Modal®

Austria-based company Lenzing is ready to celebrate their 50^th anniversary for producing and marketing their Lenzing Modal® brand of fibres which has attained global success.

Lenzing’s CCO Robert van de Kerkhof announced the half-century mile stone at a conference during the Premiere Vision Paris September trade fair held earlier this month in Villepinte, north Paris.

The company has planned a programme of celebrations in November with their international customers and "friends of the brand", according to COO Mr. Robert van de Kerkhof pictured above at Premiere Vision Paris in mid-September. Photo by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect.

To read the full report, click HERE.

TENCEL® is the functional fibre from nature. A useful video from Lenzing.

TENCEL® the functional eco-fibre from trees produced by Lenzing is found in a wide range of clothing today often blended with other fibres such as in denim fashion and silk designs as well as in bed linen for that special soft touch.

Lenzing's top executive demonstrates benefits of shirts in TENCEL®/Cotton blends.

At a recent press conference in Paris organised by the Austrian company - Lenzing - to promote its TENCEL® fibre, the company's Head of the Performance Apparel Segment Andreas Gürtler demonstrated that he's just as good in domestic chores as in his day job.  
His mission was to demonstrate to all present that when Tencel® is blended with cotton it would enhance the quality of the fabric.  He used two shirts to demonstrate that when a dress shirt is made of a  Tencel®/Cotton blended fabric, the shirt would benefit from better easy-care properties; with lower tendency to crease when washed, and thus it becomes easy-to-iron too. 

Mr. Gürtler also conducted a washing test with the use of a small tank of water to compare two pieces of fabrics - one in pure cotton, and one blended with Tencel® to show the crease effect between both fabrics.

Mr. Gürtler explained that while the Tencel® fibre's origin is botanic (which means it comes from nature, similar to cotton ), the Tencel®  fibre has excellent skin-sensory properties and ensures moisture management, and with good temperature control.  Since the fibre swells in a wet state, the formation of creases is minimised during the washing procedure, and when hung up to dry, the creases on shirts with Tencel® will disappear more quickly. 
All photos above by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect.

"Even a small blending ratio with Tencel® gives cotton shirts a new definition," said Mr. Gürtler.  The addition of Tencel® improves the crease recovery after washing, which leads to a better ironing behaviour."  He added that Lenzing now sees the shirting sector to be a growth segment for the Tencel® fibre. "Particularly fabrics of long-staple cotton (high quality cotton used in formal shirts) and Tencel® are unbeatable in terms of the quality and look."  At the moment, on the market, some 60% of Tencel® fabrics (certified according to Lenzing's quality criteria) are used for shirts and blouses.  Of this, one-third is blended with cotton.  Lenzing's goal now is to further increase the share with cotton blends.