Another successful innovation in textile just happened in Asia!
South Korea-based chemical company Hyosung TNC has succeeded in extracting spandex from corn. The company announced that it has successfully developed bio-derived spandex, ‘Creora bio-based’; using a natural material extracted from corn instead of coal, and obtained a global eco-friendly certification. This chemical manufacturer company is now commercializing the world’s first bio-based spandex. Creora is a spandex brand of Hyosung. It has several products as Creora color, Creora Power fit, Creora eco-soft etc.
The ‘Creora bio-based’ spandex uses a corn-derived substance that obtained an eco-friendly certificate from the US Department of Agriculture, replacing a part of coal-extracted raw materials. The corn-derived substance has long been used for general fibres, wrapping papers, cosmetics, and liquid detergents, but not for high-functional textiles, such as spandex, as it is impossible to deliver unique elasticity and resilience due to technological limitations.
According to the Life Cycle Assessment, when ‘Creora bio-based’ is applied to the products, it can reduce water use by 39 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 23 percent, compared to conventional spandex products. Recently ‘Creora bio-based’ received the Eco Product Mark, a global eco-friendly certification, from the SGS.
As the European Union recently announced a full-scale adoption of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in 2025, global demand for eco-friendly biomaterials is on the rise. Data Bridge, a global market survey institute, expects the global biological fiber market to grow at an annual average of 5.5 percent by 2029.
Hyosung TNC has a very old heritage in its business footprint. All most 65 years old company will initially start production of the bio-based spandex at its production bases in South Korea and then increase its production through global production bases.
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