INVISTA’S new LYCRA brand focuses on the China market and increases investment

By+Zheng+Ran

INVISTA， one of the worlds largest integrated producers of polymers and fibers， has showed its focus and investment in the China market with the biggest ever Rendez-Vous and Shanghai Mode Lingerie shows ever staged in the country. Taking place alongside the 20th annual running of Chinas most influential apparel event， Shanghai Intertextile Apparel Fabrics 2014， both the Rendez-Vous and Shanghai Mode Lingerie cover more space， show more up-to-date innovations and involve more co-exhibitors than any previous INVISTA shows in China.

Highlights of the shows include a new LYCRA？ bio-derived spandex fiber which delivers a lower CO2emissions footprint than traditional spandex. Investing in line with 2015/2016 trend analyses， INVISTA and its upstream partners are also showing more commercial garments or product applications than ever， such as TOUGH MAX？ technology by LYCRA？ brand in mens jeans that are a perfect fit for active or outdoor lifestyles.

In addition， the Shanghai shows feature the Asian launch of the exciting new LYCRA？ MOVES YOU？ cam- paign， which incorporates new brand positioning， a new brand architecture and a new brand identity. The LYCRA？ MOVES YOU？ campaign perfectly integrates still images with movement to demonstrate the freedom and flexibility feeling that the LYCRA？ brand brings to consumers. It redefines the LYCRA？ brand experience for a 21st century audience.

“This year marks the 14th time we have organized the INVISTA RendezVous show in Shanghai， and it has grown tremendously over the years. Now， running in concert with Shanghai Mode Lingerie， INVISTA Rendez-Vous offers a true one-stop opportunity to see the latest innovations and share the latest insight with our experts as well as industry peers，” said Steve Stewart， Commercial Director – North Asia， for INVISTAs Apparel and Advanced Textiles business.

INVISTA is committed to creating value for its industry partners and has packed its 777 square meter pavilion with more innovations and insight than ever. To celebrate the exciting LYCRA？ MOVES YOU？ campaign， we join with Shanghai Mode Lingerie for an antique lingerie show entitled LYCRA？ MOVES LINGERIE TREASURES through 50 years of lingerie.

Co-exhibitors participating in Shanghai Rendez-Vous 2014 include Texhong Investment （China） Co.， Ltd.， the Semir division of Zhejiang Semir Garment Co.， Ltd and ToungLoong Textile Mfg. Co.， Ltd. The ability to quickly take an innovation and turn it into a viable， market-ready apparel product is a key differentiator for INVISTA.

The expanded Rendez-Vous pavilion offers something for some of the most dynamic sectors of the apparel industry， such as ready-to-wear， active outdoorwear， insulated garments， leg wear， etc.

At this years Shanghai Mode Lingerie event， INVISTA is again showing off a number of developments designed to keep apparel exciting， close to the body and comfortable in the swimming pool. The focus is on four main categories.

While at the press conference， Mr. Steve Stewart， the Commercial Director of North Asia INVISTA Apparel and Advanced Textiles Business， shared more information to reporters.

China is a huge market for LYCRA？， so whats the percentage in the market？ And whats your total investment on the new LYCRA？ brands？

Steve Stewart： In the development plan， we develop products globally， and so we implement those and roll those out really in all the regions of the world. As we look at China， we look at specific things that are very important to China consumers. So things like LYCRA？ BEAUTY is one of our key strategies that are mentioned in the brand campaign that we are already working on. We are also strategically trying to drive our business with LYCRA？ FUSION technology. So， really， I mean the main strategy for China is really connecting to the consumer， being able to explain the differences of LYCRA？ fiber brand and garments and why when they see a garment for a brand they know-Triumph， Cosmo Lady， Anta or whoever the brand might be， when they see LYCRA？ fiber connected to it， they know that its a smart purchase and that the quality is gonna be a garment for them.

As far as the investment goes， we invest several million dollars a year in China， both for trade activities like we are in today as well as with the consumer， and as the business continues to grow， it becomes much more important and we will continue to increase that level in investment and we are doing more and more to really be able to drive this new brand story. The point is that as our business grows， we will continue to grow in investment.

Hows the new LYCRA？ going so far， and how do you define this fabric？

Steve Stewart： So the fibers they made and delivered to our mills will produce in fabrics， and then those fabrics will be promoted to the brands as we talked about， they have a high level of interest in buying those fabrics. Once we get those positions placed， we will be doing some meeting for promotion with them.

What we have done is we have taken whats done through petroleum chemicals today， and take in 70 per cent of these raw materials and replace them with materials that are bio-derived. So it is basically made from a renewable raw material in something that have been grown， so replacing what is a more petroleum -based， kind of raw material.

It is a special process. So it will be a higher raw material cost. Our purpose of participating in it is to understand where the market will go. Its not to say the way we make the spandex today is bad. Its really to understand what could be a potential new trend and we always like to be the first to the market. As those technologies scale up though， the raw material cost we expect to come down， LYCRA？ is always the first and we are proud to continue to be the first to bring this kind of products to the market. Im sure others will try to follow， but we will have to see what happens with raw material cost over time. Our strategy is to be first to get it to our customers and to be able to promote that benefit and more let the market somewhat decide how excited they are buying it.

Another thing I would say is spandex in many of our fabrics are any- where， from 3 to 20 per cent content of the total fabric. So we are even at a higher price. We think that it makes really a marginal impact on fabric price. The second point is that we are really relying on the mills and the brands as well to put it into a complete story. The bio-derived spandex itself is interesting， but it really needs to be done in the combination with organic cotton or other renewable stories. It really makes it a complete fabric. We even have some customers potentially looking at waterless dying technology. So I think we can put the whole story together. It makes a complete fabric story for consumers.

Would you like to share the achievement for the China market in 2014， and in the future， what strategies would be adopted to adapt to China？

Steve Stewart： The big thing that I would say in the achievement for the China market is that we continue to grow our usage of hangtags. So when costumers use our fibers in fabrics， they get a hangtag to use that goes along with them. In China， over the past year， weve been increasing our usage of hangtag by about 38 per cent， I think， and it doesnt include when costumers print our logos on their packages as well also. So we have many hundreds of millions that really have impressions of what we make for consumers on garments. And that would probably be the major measurement of how we are doing the customer base. The other thing that I would say is in terms of what we have done in the past year is that we continue to innovate in lingerie prod- ucts. So things like LYCRA？ FUSION， we are expanding in terms of more and more with costumers， so the FUSION technology will be now on really XTRA LIFE？， like XTRA LIFE？ brand. The other innovation we did this year was launching a spandex produced from bio-based raw materials. That allows our customers to have a message of a green story if you will in their spandex， their offerings， and they combine with other renewable raw materials.

Another thing I would say is that its not our strategy to only be at the upper end of the market. LYCRA？ fiber is used really through all brands. With offerings that are really relevant， thats really the purposes to target consumers really are all of those to be able to access a new brand to show that our products is a step above something else that they may know what it is in the market.

On your side， whats the trend of garments as well as fabrics？ In addition， what new programs are you researching for？

Steve Stewart： The biggest thing that I would say is that the demand is connected to the strategy of freedom and movement， comfort and flexibility. The demand is always to have fabrics that are in a lighter way， maybe to have new functionalities like COOLMAX that keep you in cool and dry or warm. So what we see is as large as very much of this combination in fabrics. So the first need was how do we bring stretch to basically an origin fabric， which we did； and the next need was how do we have more stretch in lighter way fabric. And the next one was really around how can I do cooling and warming in those fabrics， so I had denim thats appropriate for summer or maybe different denim thats appropriate for women. You know its kind of always a combination of things until that we continue to lead， as more and more fabric constructions， probably lighter way， still a member of high performance， so be denim， intimate apparel or active， people want clothes that are close to their bodies and are able to perform well actively. Thats probably the major areas we continue to innovate in.