Invista is to launch a new swimwear fabric - Xtra Life Lycra. Consumer research has shown that fit and shape retention are two of the most important attributes for swimwear. Xtra Life Lycra fibre helps suits avoid bagging and sagging due to standard chlorine degradation, offering approximately 300% higher resistance to chlorine than other recently introduced chlorine-resistant elastanes.

In chlorinated water conventional elastane fibres have a tendency to degrade losing their ability to return to their original shape. Once this degradation has taken place then swimwear begins to bag, sag and lose shape, but the Xtra Life Lycra fabric is said to offer very good performance for up to 180 hours in chlorinated water.