The first fully certified compostable polyester, CELYS™, was launched globally last week with designer Phoebe English and sustainability advocate Lucy Siegle.
L to R: Lucy Siegle, Helen Weng (Sales Director), Raymond Jiang (COO) and Phoebe English
Writer, broadcaster, journalist and sustainability champion, Lucy Siegle known for her expertise and work on the environmental and social footprint of the fashion industry was joined by Phoebe English, founder of the Phoebe English Studio, an award-winning circular-fashion studio with a mission to use biodegradable fabrics, off-cuts and repurposed materials throughout all the collections and representatives of the INTIMITI company, a science drive venture founded in 2014 and the creator of CELYS™.
With a mission to revolutionise the global textile industry with the CELYS™ fibre which biodegrades within 179 days* the team has created a future where high-tech innovation, sustainability and fashion converge, enpowering those in the fashion industry to make environmentally conscious decisions. The next development being worked on at the moment is a textile-to=textile recycling technology and further degradattion and compostability tests into domestic, soil and marine composting.
The science behind CELYS™:
- this compostable polymer allows complete microbial decomposition leaving nothing but biomass, carbon dioxide and water after 179 days;
- the fibres have easy hydrolysable linkages inserted into the polymer backbones (which facilitiates the hydrolysation greatly accelerating the whole rate of biodegradation) – allowing CELYS™ to be compostable whilst PET cannot;
- The result is a polyester fibre that is 95.4% compostable.
The fibre will have a multitude of end uses including underwear and activewear with its natural wicking and breathability properties as well as a softer cottony touch, low pilling, ability to be dyed at lower temperatures (100 degrees) and quick drying.
*Through industrial composting and certified by BPI, DIN and The Seeding Logo.
