Hyosung's innovations meet growing market demand for eco-friendly products

Fiber maker Hyosung Corporation is continuing to advance sustainability programs and product offerings as more brands and consumers are more actively seeking eco-friendly products
.

When it comes to developing sustainable technologies and projects, partnerships can offer many benefits to participating companies and brands, as well as the local communities being served
.
Four recent such examples are Hyosung's regen Jeju, regen Seoul, regen Ocean and Mipan regen Ocean, all located in South Korea
.

In order to establish a new resource recycling system, Hyosung has partnered with the Ministry of Environment (MOE), the Jeju Provincial Government and the newly established fashion brand Pleatsmama in South Korea to produce and launch a recycled polyester made from discarded PET bottles in Jeju Island, South Korea
.
The result is regen Jeju, which was adopted by The North Face Korea earlier this year
.

Due to the success of regen Jeju, Hyosung expanded its domestic PET collection and recycling program to the city of Seoul to produce regen Seoul 100% recycled polyester
.

To tackle ocean plastic waste, Hyosung expanded its regen recycling program to the waters surrounding South Korea and the port city of Yeosu, where it collects discarded PET bottles from cruise ships to develop regen ocean polyester
.

Along this path, Hyosung recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Busan city government and social venture company Netspa to produce Mipan regen Ocean, a recycled nylon textile made from discarded fishing nets
.
In addition to producing Mipan regen Ocean, Hyosung is expanding its investment in a depolymerization facility that will improve the purity of ingredients by removing impurities from fishing nets
.
Hyosung aims to produce over 150 tons of Mipan regen Ocean per month by the second quarter of 2022
.

“The U.
S.
and Europe, in particular, have been pushing hard on recycled products
.
The whole conversation about sustainability started when brands wanted something sustainable and the easiest thing to do then was to recycle the product on their line
” Hyosung Global Marketing Director - Textiles Mike Simko said, “Right now, our conversations about sustainability are maturing
.
People are more thoughtful because their companies are setting ambitious sustainability goals and publishing them to Everyone sees
.
"

Hyosung recently released the results of a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comparing the environmental performance of its creora regen recycled spandex and virgin creora spandex
.
According to Hyosung, the study concluded that creora regen recycled spandex can reduce carbon dioxide production by about 67 percent, or about two-thirds, compared to producing 1 kg of virgin creora spandex
.

“Sustainability is a journey
.
The most important development today is that the industry has a better understanding of its impact on the environment and, more importantly, a desire to improve,
” says Simko
.