VF Corporation is grabbing for its piece of the performance apparel pie in a new partnership with nanofiber solutions company, FibeRio Technology Corporation. Together, the two companies will develop and commercialize “next-generation” performance gear using FibeRio’s proprietary nanotechnology.
With its Forcespinning technology platform, FibeRio can produce unique nanofiber material, or materials using fibers with diameters less than 100 nanometers, in high volumes. Nanofibers are often used for wound dressings, tissue engineering and as artificial organ components, but VF plans to use the company’s capabilities to advance its performance apparel, footwear and jeanswear.
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“VF’s Global Innovation Center strategy is centered on the pursuit of disruptive design and materials that will meaningfully redefine the future of apparel and footwear for our consumers,” said Dan Cherian, vice president of VF Global Innovation Centers.
Nanofibers have a higher surface area and smaller pore size, which improves the characteristics of fibrous material and enables performance levels in a given application to be materially improved using a lot less material, keeping both weight and cost down.
According to a company statement, FibeRio’s Forcespinning technology is the only one of its kind capable of producing commercial scale melt and solution spinning nanofibers. Melt spinning makes for a more sustainable method as it doesn’t require solvents, and Forcespinning can solution spin with “vastly” smaller amounts of solvents than traditional nanofiber production processes like electrospinning.
“Our partnership with FibeRio is a great step toward the co-development of proprietary, high-performance nanofiber materials that will help push the boundaries of performance and explore the creation of new apparel and footwear market categories,” Cherian said.
