CIRCSTRETCH - INFORMATION
STSC has developed our own revolutionary CircStretch textiles; blending premium natural fibers with eco-elastane the world’s first Cradle To Cradle® Gold Standard Certified premium degradable elastane.
STSC's revolutionary CircStretch fabric uses natural fibres blended with ROICA™ V550 by by Asahi Kasei; the one and only degradable stretch yarn and the worlds-first with the Cradle to Cradle-Certified™️ Material Health Gold Level Certificate.
We also offer brands the capability to create world-first circular economy systems including to receive product returns by using the worlds first washable RFID Thread, the Global Circular Network Digital Product Passport. Customers can return their garments for fibre to fibre recycling and be verified by scanning the RFID Thread showing the provenance and provide traceability and loop the textiles back into a circular economy solution to reuse, repair, resell and ultimately safe to recycle without the forever chemicals.
The majority of CircStretch natural fibres will biodegrade in 8-12 weeks and the small percentage of ROICA™ V550 degrades slowly under industrial composting ISO 14855-1 tested by OWS decomposing into CO2 and water although it derives from petroleum (fossil fuels).
The features are
1.) having the degradability under industrial composting conditions as attached (tested at OWS according to ISO14855 58℃ aerobic)
2.) not releasing any harmful substances during its breaking down.
Our goal was to remove all toxic plastic from garments, and so we set out to develop textiles that will solve the problem of toxic plastic pollution staying in the environment for 200+ years.
It can be used for garments like underwear, socks, swimwear, activewear, sportswear, apparel.
This textile is available at MOQ 1000kg.
I started my journey employing an activewear design specialist and we isolated premium performance fibres including Lenzing's TENCEL™ MODAL made from wood pulp with the highest FSC Forestry Standard Certification plus closed loop capture during yarn manufacturing with the industry's highest resource efficiency plus minimize environmental impact.
I then sourced a new innovative degradable elastane ROICA™ V550 by Japanese company Asahi Kasei. ROICA™ V550 is the world-first sustainable degradable stretch fiber. It partially degrades under ISO 14855-1 tested by OWS, decomposing into CO2 and water, and is also a world-first, Cradle to Cradle-Certified™ stretch (elastane) yarn with a Material Health Gold Level Certificate.
ROICA™ V550 is the only alternative to conventional elastane that is currently available on the market.
It is still a polymer designed to give high performance stretch with the highest environmental rating on the market. Our R&D consists of creating beautiful long lasting performance textiles that has the lowest negative impact on humans, animals and the environment. It isnt perfect in that its sourced from fossil fuels and with our R&D we aim to use as little stretch as possible and utilising the knits own mechanical stretch capabilities.
I conducted extensive R&D with mills in China and India. Three years later Lenzing and Asahi Kasei have now announced their collaboration and producing their own blend in Italy.
Our results have produced a high quality, beautiful hand-feel soft but stretchy textile perfect for these applications and safe to wear against your skin. We are bouncing back from theft of my IP and clients and we can now offer the start in a collection of textiles I am very proud to have created. During this time Asahi Kasei have released new testing that shows 50% biodegradation ,
With advancements in fibre to fibre recycling I'm thrilled that our benchmark is no longer to compost as that will be a waste of the resources. Mixed blend textiles can now be recycled and we work with brands to create circular design strategies, book a Consultation.
Tencel Modal is biodegradable in marine water, fresh water and soil.* To give you an example in a microbiologically active compost it will completely disappear in around 8-12 weeks. The end of life of ROICA V550 is still under examination. What we can tell you is approx.55% biodegrades in 24 months and remember this is just the small component of the stretch to a garment. What is important to note is that the fibres worn close to the body plus the microfibre shedding into the environment that will occur in all garments are safe, toxic free and and all will biodegrade except for a few tiny percentage of the stretch, and its still better than all other stretch textiles on the market.
Asahi Kasei has updated their research and will continue researching to give greater improvements and new developments are done, but to date, this is the highest eco-benchmark for stretch textiles. Additionally we use Bluesign dyes which is again a departure from other textiles in providing benchmark eco-dyes beyond the simple Azo-free and OEKO-Tex standards.
Note biodegradation this quickly occurs in these specific environments and wont occur in your wardrobe as the fibers are not only designed to be environmentally safe but also to enhance longevity; the hallmark of circularity.
You can read further details here about the new collaboration between Lenzing and Asahi Kasei.
I am proud to say that I was not only first in creating CircStretch with these blends nearly 3 years ago Im also offering another world-first to offer both CircStretch and the Global Circular Network Digital product Passport using the worlds first washable radio frequency tag housed in a single thread that will connect with the cloud App.
This facilitates full circularity for any product made with our CircStretch. It will not only capture the products journey from fibre to feedstock, it communicates to fibre to fibre recyclers that the product is safe to turn into yarn that can be used in products worn close to the skin and even babys wear.
See below to learn more plus request information and book a Consultation and purchase a swatch.
Natural fibers blended with ROICA™ V550.
Interlock, Single Jersey & Rib Knits.
CircStretch knit collection is for activewear, swimwear, underwear, uniforms, apparel, socks etc.
FULL CIRCULAR SOLUTION.
STSC have developed the CircStretch collection to offer an unprecedented stretch garment solution that includes CircStretch textiles, bio rubber garment elastic and Global Circular Network digital ID RFID Threads to show provenance and prove to fibre recyclers its non-toxic, bio status.
ROICA™ V550
"Degradability in biological atmosphere without releasing harmful substances giving the stretch solution for end-of-life cycle. Degradability of ROICA™ V550 Life cycle by using ROICA™ V550 (C2C Certification)" and degrades under ISO 14855-1 tested by OWS decomposing to CO2 and water.
Our developments blend natural fibers with ROICA™ V550, the world’s first Cradle To Cradle® Products Innovation Institute Gold Level Material Health Certified elastane yarn
The majority of the textile is natural fibres that break down in soil in around 8-12 weeks*. The difference between CircStretch and every other stretch textile is that they shed plastic microfibres and microplastics that can take 200 years to break down all the while causing plastic microfibre pollution.
ROICA™ V550 bio-stretch is originally sourced from virgin fossil fuels and is patented and confidential to Asahi Kasai. We hope that with support the company will ultimately use a more sustainable fibre source however with the existing certification of non-toxicity and fast biodegradability, STSC is confident that CircStretch is the most environmentally sound bio-stretch knit textile currently on the market today.
In addition to using compostable fibres we dye only with natural dyes, Cradle To Cradle® or Bluesign® dyes and a small percentage of 2% to 35% ROICA™ V550, STSC ensures zero harmful microplastics are left in the environment. STSC is proud to present a solution for stretch clothing.
STSC created CircStretch; as an answer to the alarming amount of microplastics coming from clothing and travelling to to our soil, waterways, oceans, wildlife and humans with links to carcinogens and hormone disruptors. We set out to create a safer stretch fabric to use in garments where stretch is required. This collection of textiles use non-toxic dyes and the world’s first Cradle to Cradle® Gold Standard certified stretch yarn. It reduces carbon emissions and is non-toxic with rapid composability that results in zero pollution.
Brands can also use Circlolink's embedded RFID thread to provide traceability and loop the textiles back into a circular economy solution to reuse, repair, resell and ultimately recycle or home compost.
STSC have spent over 2 years working with the Japanese inventors of ROICA™ V550 along with our specialized mills in India and China to develop the CircStretch collection to help combat the global problem of plastic pollution and provide low MOQs to enable SME designers to have access to low fabric quantities and stop using plastic textiles for stretch garments.
CircStretch is a vital textile to help combat the growing false promotion that “recycled plastic” is environmentally sound and try address the devastating impact resulting from its increased consumption.
CIRCULAR DESIGN SYSTEMS
CIRCULAR TEXTILES + SMART THREAD TRACEABLE
STSC has created a stretch textile plus a circular system that incorporates a smart Digital ID RFID thread to allow our clients to provide traceability, connect to existing supply chain systems plus loop back into a circular economy to recollect, reuse, repair, resell, recycle and ultimately compost.