Bio-Based Textiles Need Honest Labels before Their Green Claims Can Be Trusted

Stretch performance still depends heavily on elastane and related polyurethane chemistry. How close is the industry to reducing that dependence without compromising recovery, durability, comfort or garment life?
Kiki Chen: Significant progress has been made, but there is no single replacement that can yet serve every elastane application. Elastane remains valuable because it delivers a unique combination of stretch, recovery, and versatility across many fabric constructions.

The industry's goal is increasingly to reduce and optimize elastane use where possible rather than replace it entirely. Bicomponent fibers made with Sorona polymer can provide comfortable stretch, excellent recovery, and long-lasting shape retention, making them suitable for many comfort-stretch applications.

In more demanding applications, Sorona can also be used alongside elastane, contributing recovery, comfort, and durability. As a result, the industry is moving toward a more diversified approach to stretch performance, with elastane-free and reduced-elastane solutions gaining traction across activewear, denim, uniforms, and woven fabrics.

Elastane-free bicomponent fibres are gaining attention in activewear, workwear and uniforms. What technical limitations currently prevent their wider use across knitted and woven fabrics?
Kiki Chen: Performance requirements vary significantly across fabric categories.

Some applications demand very high stretch and recovery, while others require exceptional durability and dimensional stability after repeated wear and laundering. In these cases, matching elastane performance in every end use can still be challenging.

However, bicomponent fibres made with Sorona polymer present minimal production challenges, as they can be processed using existing textile manufacturing equipment and infrastructure. They can enhance fabric performance by providing stretch, recovery, softness and long-lasting shape retention.

In addition, Sorona works particularly well in combination with elastane. While elastane delivers power stretch, Sorona enhances recovery, shape retention and comfort, helping garments maintain fit and appearance over time.

As a result, wider adoption depends not only on fibre innovation, but also on fabric and garment design. The encouraging trend is that more activewear, workwear, uniform and woven fabric applications are already demonstrating commercial success with elastane-free or reduced-elastane solutions.

For mills and brands, material substitution is rarely determined by performance alone. How large is the cost gap between conventional and bio-based stretch materials, and which part of the supply chain is expected to absorb it?

Kiki Chen: The discussion should not be focused solely on material cost, but on the value delivered throughout the product lifecycle.
When evaluating bio-based stretch materials, brands and mills increasingly look beyond upfront cost to consider performance, durability and sustainability benefits. Fibres made with Sorona polymer offer a unique combination of comfortable stretch, excellent recovery, long-lasting shape retention and dyeability, enabling high-performance fabrics that maintain their fit and appearance over time.

In addition, Sorona contains renewable plant-based content and can support recycling pathways compatible with conventional polyester systems, depending on product construction and recycling infrastructure. These attributes can contribute to longer-lasting garments, reduced resource consumption and potentially lower total lifecycle impact.

Ultimately, the question is not simply whether a bio-based material costs more, but whether it delivers greater value. As brands increasingly focus on performance, durability and sustainability together, materials that address all three are becoming more attractive across the value chain.

Bio-based content claims often refer to the feedstock used in one component rather than the composition of the finished fibre or fabric. What traceability and certification systems are needed to prevent these claims from overstating the reduction in fossil inputs?
Kiki Chen: Transparency is essential.

Companies should clearly distinguish between bio-based feedstock content, bio-based polymer content and bio-based content in the final finished product. These are not always the same thing.

Independent verification and internationally recognized standards play an important role. The industry benefits from validated methods for measuring renewable carbon content, chain-of-custody systems and third-party certification programs that verify material claims.

Equally important is full lifecycle transparency. A bio-based content percentage alone does not provide a complete picture of environmental performance and should never be used as the sole sustainability metric.

At CovationBio, we also believe transparency should extend beyond the fibre itself to the products that reach consumers. The Sorona Common Thread Fabric Certification program helps provide greater traceability and credibility for fabrics carrying the Sorona name and hangtag, giving brands, mills and consumers’ confidence that certified products meet specified Sorona content and performance requirements.

Ultimately, credible sustainability claims require a combination of verified bio-based content, robust traceability and clear communication throughout the value chain.

Many new biomaterials perform well in trials but struggle when production moves to industrial scale. What tends to fail first: feedstock consistency, polymer quality, processing stability, price competitiveness or customer demand?
Kiki Chen: Scale-up challenges rarely arise from a single factor.

For many new biomaterials, laboratory success is only the first step. Maintaining feedstock consistency, polymer quality, processing stability and cost competitiveness at commercial scale can be challenging, while brands also need confidence in long-term supply and performance.

Sorona offers a different perspective because it is not a new laboratory innovation. It has been commercially produced and used in the textile industry for more than 20 years, with a proven track record across apparel, home furnishings and other applications. Its performance, manufacturing consistency and supply chain scalability have already been demonstrated at industrial scale.

In our experience, successful adoption depends on more than the material itself. Brands need solutions that combine performance, reliable supply, commercial viability and sustainability benefits. The technologies that succeed long term are those that address all of these factors simultaneously, rather than excelling in only one area.

Performance fabrics frequently combine several polymers, finishes and stretch components. Can bio-based substitutions improve their environmental profile significantly if the resulting textiles remain difficult to separate and recycle?
Kiki Chen: Yes, they can improve environmental performance, but that improvement should be viewed within a broader sustainability framework.

Reducing fossil-carbon inputs can lower dependence on non-renewable resources and, depending on the material and production pathway, may contribute to lower greenhouse gas emissions. However, recyclability remains a critical challenge for many performance textiles.

The ideal textile of the future would combine renewable feedstocks, durability, high performance and improved circularity. Today, progress is being made incrementally rather than through a single breakthrough.

The industry should avoid framing bio-based content and recyclability as competing priorities. Both are important and both deserve continued investment.

The industry increasingly treats lower fossil-carbon content as evidence of sustainability. What additional measures should be disclosed before a bio-based performance material can be assessed credibly, including emissions, water use, agricultural inputs, durability and end-of-life options?
Kiki Chen: A credible sustainability assessment requires a holistic view. Beyond bio-based content, companies should disclose lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, renewable versus fossil carbon content, water use, responsible sourcing practices, agricultural impacts, product durability, recyclability and end-of-life pathways, supported by independent third-party verification where possible.

Sustainability is multidimensional. No single metric, whether bio-based content, carbon footprint or recyclability, can fully define environmental performance. The most credible assessments provide transparent, science-based data across the product lifecycle, enabling stakeholders to evaluate both benefits and trade-offs in a balanced way.

Kiki Chen: At CovationBio, we believe the transition will be driven by solutions that are scalable, high performing and practical to adopt. Sorona demonstrates how renewable carbon can be integrated into today's textile manufacturing systems while supporting the industry's longer-term goals around sustainability and circularity.