LYCRA® Fiber Revolutionizes Sportswear, Helping the Fastest Athletes in the World

WICHITA, Kansas, September 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Compression, freedom of movement and comfort are essential for performance

95% of athletes surveyed preferred LYCRA® SPORT ENERGY fabric for compression benefits*

LYCRA® fiber, one of the most important textile innovations of the 20th century, has delivered multiple advances in the sports wear industry since its creation in 1958.  Since then, INVISTA, owner of the LYCRA® brand, has continued its commitment to innovation, investing millions of USD$ annually, developing patentable intellectual property and launching breakthrough products, such as LYCRA® SPORT fabric specifically created to improve athletic performance and comfort.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120905/559413 )

Nowadays, sportswear characteristics including compression, freedom of movement and comfort, are essential for athletes of all levels and in most sports from the fastest sprinters and cyclists in the world to swimmers, gymnasts or rugby players.  

To meet these needs, INVISTA developed a three tiered, end-use performance standard for athletes : LYCRA® SPORT fabric for active performance, LYCRA® SPORT BEAUTY fabric, combining performance with beauty and style, assists "looking in shape while getting in shape™" and LYCRA® SPORT ENERGY fabric, innovated for compression fabrics used in high-intensity and high-energy-sports.  INVISTA works closely with leading sportswear manufacturers to create apparel for world record breaking athletes from the USA, China, UK, Jamaica and many other countries.

"The LYCRA® SPORT performance fabric standards are the expression of the Science behind the success of many sporting activities where compression, freedom of movement and comfort are key success factors for performing athletes.", said David Capdevila, global activewear segment leader. The secret is the science: LYCRA® SPORT fabric platform helps enable high performance garments, through engineered fabrics with enough recovery force, to deliver desired levels of compression while minimizing the loss of force between fabric stretch and recovery for a more steady compression at any given stretch and decreasing the sagging and bagging during exercise, all factors that provide high wear comfort to athletes.  

After more than 50 years of performance in the textile industry, LYCRA® fiber is still evolving to create new possibilities for designers and consumers worldwide.  As INVISTA researchers and apparel experts strive to offer additional value within varied apparel fashion segments, the company's innovation portfolio is constantly updated to serve changing consumer needs.

*In internal as well as independent research studies, LYCRA® SPORT fabrics were shown to perform better than those containing generic spandex on the key parameters of recovery power, shape retention and comfortable fit (research studies conducted in 2011) and 95% of athletes surveyed preferred the fabric's compression performance (23 amateur athletes participated in this test done by Progressive Sports Technologies).

For more information about LYCRA® fiber brands, visit http://www.LYCRA.com/SPORT.

INVISTA is one of the world's largest integrated producers of polymers and fibers, primarily for nylon, spandex and polyester applications. INVISTA's global businesses deliver exceptional value for customers through technology innovations, market insights and a powerful portfolio of global trademarks including COOLMAX^® fabric, CORDURA^® fabric, freshFX ^® fiber, LYCRA^® fiber, SUPPLEX^® fabric, TACTEL^® fiber, and THERMOLITE^® fabric. For more information, visit http://www.INVISTA.com.  

LYCRA® is a trademark of INVISTA

For further information please contact:

Kristin Altimari
[email protected]
+34-93-318-46-69

SOURCE LYCRA (R) SPORT