In This Article:
Looming European Green Deal regulations to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 have fiber suppliers, mills, brands and retailers alike scrambling to meet protocols. Here, Simon Whitmarsh-Knight, Hyosung’s global sustainability director – textiles, explains how Hyosung’s broad portfolio of 100 percent recycled, BIO and circular sustainable textile solutions is well-positioned to help partners meet their impact goals.
SOURCING JOURNAL: What were some industry firsts along Hyosung’s sustainable textile solutions journey?
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Simon Whitmarsh-Knight: Hyosung has always been ahead of the curve, offering new possibilities long before they become the norm, and our path to sustainability goes back 17 years. Hyosung was the first company in the world to develop recycled nylon from raw materials recovered from discarded fishing nets in 2007 and the first company in South Korea to produce GRS-certified 100 percent recycled polyester from PET bottles in 2008. Hyosung was also the first to launch RCS-certified, 100 percent recycled regen Spandex made with the reclaimed waste from our spandex production in 2020. To expand beyond recycled products, we were the first company to produce at scale, our USDA- and SGS-certified regen BIO Spandex partly made from renewable resources in 2021. This year, we expanded our regen BIO Spandex program to include yarn offerings of higher renewable resource content, plus began developing a textile-to-textile recycling program to address circularity.
What is the update on Hyosung’s new regen Bio BDO collaboration with Geno?
S.W.K: We have already started work on a new 50,000-ton Bio-BDO(Butanediol) facility at our Vietnam facility, with plans to expand to 200,000 tons annually. This will utilize Geno’s proven plant-based Geno™ BDO™ technology, which ferments sugars derived from sugarcane to replace the fossil raw materials. It will be the world’s first vertically integrated spandex manufacturing plant from raw material to fiber. Through this vertical integration to produce regen™ BIO Spandex, our goal is to increase production efficiency, provide faster response to our customer needs, and integrate value chains to significantly reduce carbon footprint.
How will the new regen BIO Spandex made with sugarcane be different from your existing regen BIO Spandex offering?
S.W.K: Hyosung’s current regen BIO Spandex offering is made with various percentages of renewable resources that come from industrial corn; our regen BIO Spandex from our Vietnam facility will be made with renewable resources derived from sugarcane. The sugarcane supply will be via fully traceable, recognized platforms as we are investigating robust industry-leading supply chain platforms and certification schemes. Significant reductions in carbon emissions and water use will be provided via 3rd party LCA when our BIO BDO plant is in full operation.