Invista, the owner of the Lycra brand, has purchased Cone Denim’s and its parent company’s, International Textile Group’s (ITG), dual core patent portfolio. The patent estate covers a broad variety of dual core yarns, fabrics, and garments made from those fabrics, which are sold in the US, China, and most recently, Europe.

“Given the growth of dual core technology in recent years, we are excited to add this technology to the Invista patent estate,” said Jean Hegedus, Director of Invista’s denim business. According to Ms Hegedus, Invista sees this move as a logical expansion of its dual core portfolio. “We look forward to working with our customers and licensees to expand the Lycra dualFX fabric business.”

Invista was a pioneer in the development of dual core technology with its Lycra dualFX fabric concept, first introduced commercially in 2010. Lycra dualFX technology encompasses stretch fabrics made with two stretch fibres – Lycra and Lycra T400 fibres – in a single yarn.

Sgene technology

“This year marks the 10th anniversary of Cone Denim’s development of its dual core patented innovation, trademarked as Sgene technology,” said Steve Maggard, Cone Denim’s senior vice president of operations.

“Cone’s Sgene technology integrates a stretch fibre, such as Lycra fibre, with an inelastic control filament. Cone is pleased to collaborate with Invista to provide a global platform to take this technology to the next level and will continue to produce yarns and fabrics made with the Sgene technology under a license from Invista.”

Last month, Cone Denim’s dual core patent was granted in Europe and is now part of the Invista patent estate. “The granting of the EU patent marks another milestone in dual core technology and should provide new opportunities for Invista’s customers,” Hegedus said. Over the next several months Invista will be meeting with its customers and other fabric producers to discuss its expanded dual core patent estate and license requirements.

Invista and Cone Denim

With leading brands including Lycra, Coolmax, Cordura, Stainmaster and Antron, Invista is one of the largest integrated producers of chemical intermediates, polymers and fibres. The company’s advantaged technologies for nylon, spandex and polyester are used to produce clothing, carpet, car parts and countless other everyday products. Headquartered in the US, Invista operates in more than 20 countries and has about 10,000 employees.

A leading denim innovator, Cone Denim delivers expertise and advanced denim capabilities. From performance denims and Sgene technology to vintage re-creations of Cone Deeptone Denim reaching back to the early 1900s, Cone offers collections of selvage, performance, stretch and natural Indigo denims crafted out of the Cone3D R&D incubator.

Cone Denim operates as part of the ITG, with manufacturing capabilities in the US, China, and Mexico, including the iconic White Oak mill in Greensboro.

www.invista.com

www.conedenim.com