LYCRA Brand History

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The Company Description of Its Time

The LYCRA filing explains a fiber most people have worn without ever buying by name. Whenever it is used in fabrics, historical descriptions say, LYCRA fiber transforms garments into better fitting, durable clothes that move with our bodies, delivering fit, shape and comfort that lasts - day after day, wash after wash, run after run, swim after swim. Since its invention nearly sixty years ago, in the filing's own framing, LYCRA fiber set the standard as the world's best-known elastane fiber brand: lightweight and nearly invisible, it became the active ingredient in our clothes and revolutionized the way we wore them. As a fiber technology brand, the profile adds, innovation has always been at the core of the LYCRA brand, and its team is continually developing the portfolio to provide lasting performance and support wherever it is needed, on a run in the park or a night out on the town.

LYCRA, Spandex, Elastane - and 200 Fibers Behind One Name

The profile's most quoted passage is a terminology lesson, and it is kept here in full substance. What is the difference between LYCRA fiber, spandex and elastane? LYCRA fiber is the trademarked brand name of a class of synthetic elastic fibers known as spandex in the United States and as elastane in the rest of the world. Spandex and elastane are interchangeable terms that mean the same thing, but only INVISTA produces authentic LYCRA brand fibers. While LYCRA fiber was the first elastane invented, it did not stop there: the brand has grown to include a family of over 200 differentiated fibers, designed to improve fabric aesthetics and performance. The patent position is quantified alongside: today INVISTA has nearly 1,000 granted U.S. patents for its unique technical offerings, and holds corresponding patents in nearly all of the countries where it has a business presence - and every LYCRA fiber innovation and fabric certification program, the filing says, has been thoroughly tested, with all claims vigorously supportable.

One innovation is worked as the example. LYCRA COOLING technology addresses the problem of shapewear discomfort due to body temperature: fabrics combine outstanding shaping performance with moisture management to help keep the wearer cool and dry. They are made with LYCRA fiber and X6300 nylon from INVISTA, which has a four-channel cross-section designed to wick moisture away from the body and disperse it for more efficient evaporation - and no application of a wicking agent is required during processing, because the moisture transport properties are permanent. The historical record also pointed readers to a video on how LYCRA fiber is made and to a video about the cooling technology; the brand websites those features belonged to are carried in the References as the filing's external routes, with the video platform link itself left aside as a viewing link rather than a reference.

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