Belgium-based Recitel, says it has developed a new environmentally-friendly polyurethane foam for the lingerie market which is derived from soyabean as opposed to petrochemicals.
The company says the launch of its new 'PureFeel' foam at the Hong Kong Mode Lingerie Exhibition in April, is in line with the 'growing environmental awareness in the entire apparel market'. The foams are used in intimate apparel such as bras and Recitel says these foams are light stable and do not 'yellow' as some other products do during moulding.
Traditionally, petroleum-based polyols are used for polyurethane-based foams and in some markets such as the automotive industry but these are being steadily replaced by other products such as warp knitted spacer fabrics which are easier to recycle.
Bert Van Langendonck, Sales and Marketing at Reticel claimed: "Bio-polyols leave a smaller environmental footprint since substituting traditional petrochemical polyol with bio- based polyol [sugar alcohols from soya] will result in 36% less global warming emissions [CO2], 61% less non-renewable energy use and 23% less total energy demand. Moreover, for every 1 million pounds of bio-polyol used, approximately 2,200 barrels of crude petroleum is saved for other uses".