Roica —a stretch fiber combining contemporary concepts with high-tech performance produced by Japanese fabric firm Asahi Kasei —took its partnership with Tencel by Lenzing to new heights at Milano Unica this week.
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“Combining Tencel and Roica, we are moving together toward a more sustainable textile industry which definitely has to tend to circular approach solutions,” Lenzing’s Carlo Covini , development manager of textiles business for Italy and Switzerland, said. “We are proud of this partnership and keep on finding new collaborations and partners to give our fibers the opportunity to express themselves in innovative and planet conscious collections with contemporary consumers looking for them in mind.”
The duo, who initially teamed up in March to develop a portfolio of sustainable and circular textiles, highlighted three new collections that showcased the “next generation of wardrobe” during the Italian textile show held July 9-11.
Yogatime by Brugnoli featured the fibers in its performance fabrics, while De Rerum Natura by Maglificio Maggia showed Tencel-Roica fibers in textiles for fashion apparel. As for the lingerie sector, Maglificio Rippa positioned itself with the Eco Proposals collection.
“We chose to be a part of this [collaboration] because we truly believe that this could be one of the ways that the future has to go on to be sustainable,” Luca Olivini, sales manager at Maglificio Ripa , told Sourcing Journal. “One of the steps in order to become more sustainable and more responsible is, of course, to select the right raw materials.”
But Maglificio, the 60-plus-year-old international Italian fabric producer, wants to go a step further: not just by using the material, but explaining to consumers why it’s better than the other options on the market—a weight typically placed on a brand’s shoulders, not the manufacturer.
“We’re trying to implement a strategy [of] not just talking about the product that’s beautiful and amazing… but [we] also carry over all the other values of certain items that we offer,” Olivini said. And this year, the focus of those other values is centered around circularity, he continued. That means being “fully authentic and honest” about what exactly circularity means and not greenwashing or overselling what’s currently possible.
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“[Circularity] is not the fact that you can put this in a bin and it’s okay,” Olivini said. “But at least [those] raw materials and yarns that were used are probably the best [available].”
Maglificio debuted Eco 202AX and Eco 373AC in Tencel lyocell with micro-technology and Roica V550 at Milano Unica. Both feature a soft hand feel, ideal for “fashion underwear” or base-layer applications.
Meanwhile, Eco 202AX is 85 percent Tencel Lyocell x Micro and 15 percent Roica V550 , while Eco 373AX is 87 percent Tencel Lyocell x Micro and 13 percent Roica V550. The resulting jerseys are characterized by a lightweight and slight transparency while retaining the warm features of Tencel as well as the technical characteristics of Roica.
The stretch yarn Roica V550 offers enhanced degradability and is the first Cradle-to-Cradle certified elastane yarn with a Material Health Gold Level certificate. When combined with Tencel’s clean-cut fiber—a fabric produced in double-needle beds to enable the production of double-layer surface structures—even heavily structured pieces (like wool blazers) remain comfortable.
“In Maglificio Ripa, we truly believe that this kind of partnership [is] able to open new horizons for productions and collections that combine the expertise of valuable companies and their concrete commitment toward a more sustainable world,” said Luca Bianco, CEO of Maglificio Ripa. “We put our knowledge at the service of the common goal of creating something new, beautiful and responsible.”
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