The LYCRA Company Announces Collaboration With Qore® to Use QIRA® for Next Generation Bio-derived LYCRA® Fiber at Scale
29.9.2022 03:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
The LYCRA Company, a global leader in developing innovative fiber and technology solutions for the textile and apparel industry, today announced it has entered into an agreement with Qore® to enable the world’s first large-scale commercial production of bio-derived spandex using QIRA®, the next generation 1,4-butanediol (BDO), as one of its main ingredients. This will result in 70% of the LYCRA® fiber content being derived from annually renewable feedstock. This change could potentially reduce the carbon footprint of LYCRA® fiber by up to 44%* versus equivalent product made from fossil-based resources, while maintaining the same high-quality performance parameters of traditional LYCRA® fiber.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220928005020/en/
The LYCRA Company signs an agreement with Qore® LLC to enable large-scale production of bio-derived spandex. Pictured – Julien Born, CEO of The LYCRA Company (left), and Jon Veldhouse, CEO of Qore® LLC (right), at The LYCRA Company’s headquarters in Wilmington, DE, USA. (Photo: Business Wire)
QIRA® will be produced at Cargill’s biotechnology campus and corn refining operation in Eddyville, Iowa. The facility, which is currently being built, will commence operations in 2024. The first renewable LYCRA® fiber made with QIRA® will be produced at The LYCRA Company’s Tuas, Singapore manufacturing site in 2024. The LYCRA Company is currently seeking commitments with brand and retail customers who are pursuing bio-derived solutions for their apparel.
“As part of our sustainability goals, we are committed to delivering products that support a more circular economy while helping our apparel and personal care customers reduce their footprint,” said Julien Born, CEO of The LYCRA Company. “We are especially pleased to collaborate with Qore®, a company that shares our vision for innovative, sustainable solutions. Their expertise in operating fermentation processes and understanding of the chemical value chains makes them the ideal partner to help develop a bio-derived LYCRA® fiber at commercial scale.”
“We are proud to partner with The LYCRA Company on bringing this sustainable material solution to the market. This collaboration demonstrates that QIRA® directly replaces conventional BDO and thus significantly improves the fiber’s sustainability profile,” said Jon Veldhouse, CEO of Qore®. “QIRA® is an innovative platform chemical that can be used in various applications across industries.”
The first generation of renewable LYCRA® fiber made with QIRA® will use feedstock from field corn grown by Iowa farmers and will enable a significant reduction in CO2 footprint. In addition to replacing a finite resource with an annually renewable one, another benefit for mills, brands and retailers is that there is no change in fiber performance, eliminating the need for any re-engineering of fabrics, patterns, or processes. Equivalent performance was demonstrated in 2014 when the world’s first bio-derived spandex was launched under the LYCRA® brand. The LYCRA Company has since been granted a patent for the process used to make renewable elastane from bio-derived BDO.
For additional information on renewable LYCRA® fiber, The LYCRA Company and Qore® invite interested parties to contact The LYCRA Company sales representatives.
*Estimate from Cradle-to-Gate Screening LCA for a representative LYCRA® fiber manufacturing facility, June 2022, prepared by Ramboll US Consulting, Inc.
About The LYCRA Company
The LYCRA Company innovates and produces fiber and technology solutions for the apparel and personal care industries. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, The LYCRA Company is recognized worldwide for its innovative products, technical expertise, sustainable solutions, and unmatched marketing support. The LYCRA Company owns leading consumer and trade brands: LYCRA®, LYCRA HyFit®, LYCRA® T400®, COOLMAX®, THERMOLITE®, ELASPAN®, SUPPLEX®, and TACTEL®. The LYCRA Company’s legacy stretches back to 1958 with the invention of the original spandex yarn, LYCRA® fiber. Today, The LYCRA Company focuses on adding value to its customers’ products by developing unique innovations designed to meet the consumer’s need for comfort and lasting performance. For more information, visit www.thelycracompany.com.
LYCRA® is a trademark of The LYCRA Company.
About Qore® LLC
Formed through a joint venture by Cargill and HELM, Qore® will help leading brands replace fossil-based chemistries with bio-derived intermediates. At the heart of the joint venture is the production of QIRA®, the next-generation bio-derived 1,4-butanediol (BDO). Made biologically through the fermentation of plant-based sugars, QIRA® can save up to 93% of greenhouse gas emissions when replacing today’s widely used chemical intermediates made from traditional fossil sources. Bio-derived QIRA® can be used the same way as its fossil counterpart but with significantly better environmental performance.
For more information, visit www.myqira.com.
Qore® and QIRA® are trademarks of Qore® LLC.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220928005020/en/
Contact information
Karie J. Ford karie.j.ford@Lycra.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Beacon Acquires Haize Labs to Power AI for the Real Economy17.9.2026 17:30:00 EEST | Press release
Beacon Software (Beacon), the first centralized AI holding company, today announced that it has acquired Haize Labs, an AI reliability company that tests and safeguards AI agents for real-world deployment. The Haize Labs team will join Beacon to form its Applied AI Research Group, with co-founder and CEO Leonard Tang joining as VP of AI Research to lead the AI operating system that is deployed across Beacon’s companies. Beacon believes that the fastest way to bring AI to the traditional economy is through the software businesses that essential industries already use and trust, equipping them with AI infrastructure. Beacon acquires these businesses for long-term growth and connects them to a centralized AI operating system that compounds with each additional acquisition and industry. The addition of the Haize Labs team will strengthen this centralized technology platform, which provides shared engineering, AI, product and go-to-market capabilities to Beacon’s portfolio of 45 software co
TIMELAB Develops OEM/ODM Hair Straightener Reaching 200°C at All Three Measured Points in 15 Seconds17.9.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
TIMELAB Co., Ltd., a Japanese beauty-appliance OEM/ODM provider, has developed a hair straightener for OEM/ODM customization for international hair care brands and professional markets. In testing at 230 V with a 260°C setting, all three measured plate locations reached at least 200°C after 15 seconds. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260914187865/en/ Three-Point Plate Testing A European-market development unit with a maximum setting of 260°C was tested at 230 V. Fifteen seconds after power-on, readings at the front, center and rear were 212.5°C, 227.5°C and 200.0°C, respectively. From around 60 seconds onward, temperature differences among the three points narrowed, indicating a stable trend. Precision Temperature Control An NTC sensor inside the metal ceramic heater (MCH) detects temperature. A microcontroller (MCU) reads the signal and adjusts heater output. Upper and lower MCH heaters are controlled indepen
Earnix Brings Agentic AI to the Decisions That Drive Insurance Performance17.9.2026 16:09:00 EEST | Press release
Earnix today announced the introduction of Agent Hub, a curated catalog of insurance-specific AI agents and apps within Earnix AIOS — the AI Orchestration System powering Earnix’s pricing and rating, underwriting, and customer engagement solutions. Agent Hub brings agentic AI directly into these solutions, enabling more intelligent workflows and strengthening the high-stakes decisions that shape pricing, underwriting, customer engagement, growth, and profitability. In an increasingly turbulent insurance environment, the useful life of an insurance decision is getting shorter. Risk and market conditions are changing faster, making growth, profitability, and portfolio performance harder to manage. AI is increasing the speed and scope of what insurers can analyze, recommend, and increasingly act on — but as intelligence moves closer to action, the standard for governance, explainability, and accountability also rises. For insurers, that shift has direct implications for both financial per
Medisca Launches Global Peptide Division17.9.2026 16:07:00 EEST | Press release
Medisca today announced the launch of Medisca Peptides, a dedicated global division focused on expanding access to API-grade peptides and building an integrated peptide platform for pharmaceutical and personalized medicine markets worldwide. As the peptide landscape evolves, Medisca is proactively building the capabilities and infrastructure needed to support API-grade peptides within applicable regulatory frameworks. The launch represents a significant long-term commitment to peptides, including the expansion of Medisca’s portfolio, strategic manufacturing relationships, and the pharmaceutical infrastructure needed to support the category’s growth. It also signals Medisca’s ambition to become a leading force in the next generation of peptide innovation. For Medisca, the opportunity is familiar. More than 35 years ago, the company was founded to help close the gap between the pharmaceutical standards compounders needed and the quality ingredients they could readily access. Today, as pe
Elliptic Launches Its Decode Agent to Answer On-Chain Risk Questions and Shows Its Work17.9.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Elliptic, the global leader in on-chain risk, today launched Decode, an AI agent built on Elliptic’s intelligence platform. The Decode agent answers natural-language questions about cryptoasset addresses and their exposure in seconds, and returns the evidence behind every answer. Compliance and investigations teams need answers to questions nobody planned for. Getting them out of the data is now a specialist skill, so the questions wait for someone who has it, or go unasked. Meanwhile illicit actors move at machine speed, and agents are starting to sit on both sides of a payment. General-purpose AI assistants can produce an answer. They cannot show where it came from. A fluent response with nothing behind it cannot be put in front of a second-line reviewer, an auditor, or a regulator. “The market is full of AI that asks to be trusted. That is not good enough when someone asks how you reached a decision,” said Jackson Hull, CTO at Elliptic. “We published the Elliptic Standard last week
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom