Rapidly transforming apparel into a lower-carbon industry requires collaboration, innovation, and creativity, and in this spirit, SENSIL by NILIT and ROICA by Asahi Kasei have collaborated to introduce the concept of a new fabric with less environmental impact, combining SENSIL ByNature, a NILIT Biomass Balanced Nylon 6.6 yarn, and Biomass Balanced ROICA premium stretch fiber, both designed for high-performance apparel. Both companies utilize textile raw materials created through the Biomass Balance (BMB) approach, which uses renewable feedstocks made from reclaimed and recycled organic waste that does not compete with food sources nor require land use for its production. SENSIL ByNature is the first textile Nylon 6.6 yarn for apparel made using a Biomass Balanced renewable feedstock sourced from biogenic waste, while Biomass Balanced ROICA premium stretch fiber incorporates renewable raw materials in place of traditional fossil hydrocarbons, with ROICA focusing its BMB efforts at its Taiwan plant, the company?s key reference hub for BMB production.
Because BMB products are identical to traditional products, fabrics engineered with SENSIL ByNature and Biomass Balanced ROICA retain comparable comfort, aesthetics, and performance to their conventional counterparts, enabling apparel brands to integrate these environmentally conscious fabrics without redesigning collections. The companies use Biomass Balance accounting and third-party certification to appropriately allocate the percentage of renewable feedstocks to their products, and both are certified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Plus (ISCC+) system, ensuring rigorous control and transparency in renewable feedstock use across the supply chain. This partnership will contribute to reducing environmental impact, with NILIT?s SENSIL ByNature lowering greenhouse gas emissions by about 1.8 kg CO2 eq per ton of yarn versus traditional nylon, and Asahi Kasei projecting that the new ROICA Biomass Balanced stretch fiber, combined with manufacturing optimizations, will reduce CO2 emissions compared to existing products, although exact numbers are not yet available.
When blended, SENSIL ByNature and Biomass Balanced ROICA stretch fiber help designers create outstanding stretch fabrics that substantially reduce a garment?s environmental footprint, lessen reliance on fossil resources, support circularity initiatives through renewable inputs, and improve Life Cycle Assessment, while maintaining the premium look, feel, comfort, and stretch performance consumers expect.
