Facing brand customers’ increasingly specific demand for sustainable design and circular materials, FEFC is stepping up, developing cutting-edge technologies that tackle the challenge of garment recycling within the textile industry. FEFC’s answer is Power X, the high-performance nylon elastomeric fiber made entirely with nylon 66, a mono-material solution that is boosting the feasibility of and setting the direction towards fiber-to-fiber circularity for nylon 66 and functional apparel. 

Elastic fabrics have traditionally been made with spandex to gain stretch. Spandex, however, is a composite material with high chemical stability, making the recycling of spandex-blended nylon or polyester very challenging as it complicates the sorting and processing operations, a major hurdle affecting the efficiency of garment recycling. Made of specially designed nylon 66 with FEFC’s exclusive spinning and extrusion technologies, Power X is a nylon-textured yarn with high stretchability, shrinkage and recovery, giving users comfort and unrestricted range of motion without extensive use of spandex. Achieving elasticity with nylon 66 and recyclability with mono-material, Power X is a much more eco-friendly choice as opposed to apparel items made of composite materials.

To make Power X possible, FEFC integrated the entire supply chain, aligning raw materials and manufacturing with the market. The material properties of nylon 66 are modified, and the solid-state polymerization process is optimized, giving the nylon 66 chips exceptional spinnability while retaining stable physical and chemical properties. The manufacturing process has been fine-tuned to control the spinning speed, viscosity, flow rate and moisture content with precision, enabling downstream processing plants to produce textured yarns with high stretch and shrinkage using existing processes, thus eliminating the need and expenses for complex equipment with high power consumption. To cater to the market, FEFC establishes presence at trade expos such as the Taipei Innovative Textile Application Show and the INTERTEXTILE Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, partnering with fabric and garment manufacturers to provide brands with nylon 66 solutions that balance functionality, comfort and recyclability. Currently, collaborations are underway with manufacturers of woven fabrics in Taiwan and other Asian regions.

Power X boasts not merely high performance, but high recyclability. By incorporating circularity at the source with the use of mono-material, FEFC is taking the world one step closer to fiber-to-fiber garment recycling and remanufacturing.