Launch of Naia’s “greatest innovation”
Specialty materials developer Eastman launched a new version of its Naia cellulose acetate filament yarn at industry events in March.
Called Naia Lyte, the company described the new product as having higher tenacity than previous yarns in the range and said this would make it usable in lighter-weight fabrics.
Eastman vice-president and general manager for textiles, Ruth Farrell, said at Intertextile Shanghai that fabrics developed with Naia Lyte had the same handfeel, drape and lustre as materials created using other versions of the acetate yarn, but with a much greater tenacity.
“We have been in heavy and medium-weight fabrics for a long time,” she explained, “but now Naia can go into lightweight fabrics too.”
Ms Farrell told Sportstextiles that this was an important development. “It’s our greatest innovation in the ten years since we launched Naia,” she insisted.
She explained that opening up the use of Naia in lighter-weight materials would help make apparel with improved levels of sustainability available to many more consumers.
“Sustainable fashion has to be accessible to everyone,” she said. “This will help us scale up the use of Naia, and you have to have that scale if you are really going to make an impact.”
Image shows Ruth Farrell (left) at intertextile Shanghai.
