Lycra Fiber Has Become The Most Active Element In People'S Clothing. The First R & D Center Is Located In Foshan.

You may have heard of the German luxury camera brand Leica camera, but you may not know that the world-famous textile giant is also called Lycra!

Lycra fiber has become the most active element in people's clothing. From bicycle clothing to swimsuit, jeans to knitted socks, sports shoes to suits, even high fashion, etc., the appearance of Lycra fiber has been everywhere.

Recently, the world's fourth R & D labs and the first domestic R & D center, Advanced Textile Innovation Center (ATIC), have been put into use in Foshan San Shan science and technology innovation center.

The innovation center will focus on functional yarn application innovation and textile design, development and research to meet the global market demand for functional and stylish clothing and fabrics.

As the world's leading brand of spandex industry, Lycra is now operating in 14 countries, including 4 R & D centers, 8 production plants, 17 offices, 1000 patents, more than 2300 registered trademarks and about 250 unique brands and labels, occupying global spandex market innovation and leadership for more than 61 years.

With the landing of the advanced textile Innovation Center, what kind of new development will the Lycra company have in the Chinese market?

Steve Stewart, vice president of apparel business at Lycra, Lycra, said in an interview with the twenty-first Century economic report that the Chinese market is the most important country in clothing and fabric production, and is also the most critical market of Lycra.

Sales in China have maintained a two digit growth, which will encourage companies to continue their efforts.

Deep into China

Back in the late 50s, Joseph C. Shivers, a DuPont Co expert in the United States, invented the spandex fiber, and produced the Lycra as its commodity name.

In 2002, DuPont Co set up a wholly owned subsidiary, INVISTA, and made it the largest and most experienced distributor of fiber, fabric and surface coatings in the world.

Under the leadership of Ying Wei Da, Lycra fibers maintain a strong trend of development and continue to occupy a monopoly position in the spandex market.

As the impact of Lycra fiber has expanded worldwide, it has also become an indissoluble bond with China.

According to the data from the sky eye, the company set up a spandex joint venture in Qingpu, Shanghai in 1995, marking the entry of Lycra fibers into the Chinese market.

Subsequently, the company set up branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Foshan and other places. In 2004, it joined the Foshan Plastics Group to set up a large spandex plant in Sanshui Southwest Industrial Park.

"Over the past 15 years, we have invested a lot in improving production and innovation capabilities. One of the reasons is also to predict the pfer of fabric and clothing production to Asia, especially China."

Steve Stewart, Asia president of apparel business at Lycra, spoke at the opening ceremony.

In January 31, 2019, China's textile and garment enterprises ranked the forefront of the enterprise -- Limited by Share Ltd, Shandong Ruyi wool clothing group (002193.SZ), which fully completed the acquisition of the American Lycra. The paction targets include the fiber and brand combination of the company's apparel and advanced fabric business, including the production of LYCRA LYCRA, LYCRA HyFit, COOLMAX, and so on. At the same time, it includes related technology, R & D and other important assets.

After the completion of the paction, the new company has been named the American Lycra group. Ruyi becomes the controlling shareholder of the Lycra group, and will operate its independent subsidiary to maintain its unique positioning, enterprise vision, development strategy and organizational structure.

Ruyi group said it will continue to work closely with the original shareholder of the company, the Coriolis industrial group, and set up a new model for Sino US economic cooperation between enterprises.

Qiu yfu, chairman of the board of directors of Ruyi holding group of Shandong, said that Ruyi has always maintained a clear development path.

Intenter's leading international asset and technology and brand recognized by consumers will have a significant synergy with Ruyi's fabric and apparel business.

Bob Kirkwood, the global chief technology officer of Lycra, said in an interview that the handover process between the company and Ruyi group is very smooth, and the company will continue to lead the growth of the whole global business.

Ruyi group, as a strategic investor of Lycra, will continue to support the company's investment in R & D, innovation, brand and consumer brand cooperation.

"In general, we are an independent company and continue to focus on Leica's future growth and business growth."

Looking for new opportunities for growth

In the field of spandex, apart from the rapid and in-depth development of Lycra in China, the local Spandex Enterprises have also been developing rapidly.

In 2018, 002064.SZ, the largest spandex production company in China, achieved operating income of 4 billion 436 million yuan, an increase of 6.89% over the same period last year, and realized a net profit of 445 million yuan, an increase of 15.49% over the same period last year.

By the end of 2018, the first spandex production in China (002254.SZ) had reached 786 thousand tons of spandex production, an increase of about 11% over the previous year, and 585 thousand tons of demand, an increase of about 10% over the same period last year.

In the face of industry competition, Lycra has been looking for new opportunities for growth. Apart from focusing on strategic markets and opportunities, the company is also actively expanding the application of elastic fabrics.

At present, Lycra is aiming at developing and producing a new shirt for men in China, which is comfortable, easy to handle, ironed and wrinkled.

"These are new opportunities for growth that we face.

We will use our LYCRA freefit technology platform to apply to such products. "

Steve Stewart, Asia president of apparel business at Lycra, said.

As a brand, innovation is the core of the Lycra brand.

At present, the Leica innovation strategy is still based on understanding the needs of customers and consumers, innovating products and creating value for customers.

With the landing of ATIC, Future Ltd will increasingly cooperate with local clothing brand dealers to enhance mutual understanding.

"The ATIC team will work with Asian customers to find new product opportunities and develop innovative polymers, fibers and textile technologies."

Bob Kirkwood, the world's chief technology officer, said that the establishment of ATIC will further enhance the company's global R & D capability and create opportunities for cooperation with Asian customers to provide consumers with more innovative products and technology solutions.

At this stage, Lycra has 9 brands: LYCRA HyFit, LYCRA T400, LYCRA L, COOLMAX, THERMOLITE, ELASPAN, SUPPLEX, TACTEL and TACTEL.

Among them, LYCRA is the brand of spandex and the most important brand in the face of consumers. COOLMAX and THERMOLITE are the brands of polyester fiber, while the rest are B2B brands.

In April this year, media reports reported that Ruyi group was starting to apply for IPO in the United States for its newly established American Lycra group.

At present, Ruyi group is working with Goldman Sachs Group to study the feasibility of the paction, which is expected to raise US $500 million, and the IPO will be completed as early as this year.

If the Lycra company successfully completed the IPO, will it usher in more new opportunities for development?

"We have a lot of cooperation with many Korean and Japanese fabric manufacturers and brands, famous brands, including uniqo, Vitoria secrets, Lululemon, a special yoga dress brand, everyone should know.

Also included in the country is YISHION, specializing in Cowboy brand, Manifen.

Wait.

All of them are capable of producing very good quality fabrics and garments. Many functional fabrics and clothing brands are our partners. "

Steve Stewart said.