欢迎阅读第二期《地球议程更新》年刊。去年，我们出版的第一期报告对外宣布了我们如何将负责任和可持续的行动传统转化为一系列可持续发展目标。今年，我们将报告这些目标的进展情况。
尽管对于行业而言，这一年充满重重挑战，但我们仍取得了重要进展，这让我们深感自豪。能源与货运价格飙升至历史新高。2021年，供应链面临重重困难；2022年，零售需求疲软，服装与面料库存大幅增加，导致纤维需求减弱。虽然短期因素非常不利，但我们仍然对自己独特的业务模式充满信心，我们专注于长期增长这一愿景，并致力于推进既定的可持续发展目标。
创新为先
自1958年独创氨纶纱线LYCRA®（莱卡®）纤维以来，我们始终秉承创新为先的宗旨，以创新为原动力。我们为全球各地提供解决方案，品牌影响力广为人知。LYCRA®（莱卡®）纤维进一步变革了牛仔、袜子、紧身裤、泳装、塑身衣和个人护理产品等众多服装品类。
可持续发展是发明、新产品开发和整个供应链协作的关键所在，它也必将助力我们进一步加速创新之旅。当行业专注于持续扩大产能和产量时，我们聚焦于通过创新将现有足迹价值最大化，从而提高生产效率，开发具有独特功能的新型纤维，最终生产出具备差异化性能优势的面料或服装。
我们携手客户、供应商和第三方合作伙伴，通过创新的服装解决方案提升生活品质，这就是我们的企业宗旨。
让我们助力您实现可持续发展承诺
Our Ecosystem of Innovation
We take a systemic, collaborative approach to sustainable innovation.
Key collaborations with Qore® and HeiQ are good illustrations of this approach, as they help advance our progress in renewable fiber technology, with the potential to replace petroleum-based raw materials at scale. Qore®, a joint venture between Cargill and HELM, is developing a field corn-based feedstock to enable the creation of a bio-derived LYCRA® fiber. In another project with Swiss innovator HeiQ, we are now the primary apparel development partner and exclusive global distributor for AeoniQTM fiber, a high-performance cellulose, with the potential to be carbon negative.
We also innovate outside the lab, in how we approach our commercial possibilities. This year we put considerable time and effort into understanding our Scope 3 emissions. With the bulk of our impact coming from the ingredients we use in our products, it is critical that we collaborate with our suppliers to develop new, lower-impact solutions and processes. And while this change won’t happen overnight, we greatly value the efforts our preferred suppliers are making to join us in this journey.
The retail sector has reached an inflection point, with more and more brands and retailers setting ambitious sustainability goals and tapping into strategic suppliers, like The LYCRA Company, to provide solutions. Retailers not only know that tackling this set of challenges will be a collective effort across the value chain, but also that they will need to select the right partners in pursuit of their Scope 3 emissions reduction goals.
Collaborating with our Customers
With the need for consumer education on sustainable products, we support our customers with compelling claims backed by scientific data. Our track record in delivering sustainable solutions provides the differentiation that brands, retailers, and manufacturers value. And our iconic brands serve as important "trust marks" to our customers around the world.
Investing in Circularity
Another key challenge, but also an opportunity for our industry, is developing the circular economy. Starting with our COOLMAX® and THERMOLITE® fibers and insulation, today we are offering commercial products made from 100% textile waste. These products are laying the groundwork for a circular system where eventually garments can be returned and made back into new fibers. We also recognize the challenges involved in recycling stretch garments, and through our R&D efforts, are making progress in finding ways to more easily recycle fabrics with both LYCRA® and LYCRA® T400® fibers. Finally, we’re developing industrial compostable fibers for certain unique applications. All of these efforts provide a strong foundation for the future.
Digital Transformation
Our LYCRA ONE™ Marketplace represents another key aspect of our holistic approach to sustainability, as it provides an online marketplace connecting brands, retailers, and garment makers to a global network of partner mills in a virtual capacity. The expansion of our digital infrastructure, including online platforms like Browzwear, the industry’s leading 3D software for apparel design and development, is enabling new forms of engagement with our global customer base, and demonstrates the differentiation and sources of innovation that The LYCRA Company is helping bring to its customers across the apparel value chain.
Our Sustainability Roadmap is our Growth Roadmap
With sustainability as a key growth lever, our actions are grounded in what matters. We are committed to bringing value-added offerings that meet the needs of our customers and their consumers.
In closing, I want to thank our true changemakers and our greatest resource—the people of The LYCRA Company. No matter the challenge, their commitment to our company values, our business objectives, and our customers never wavers. The resilience and success of our company comes from the collective passion demonstrated by our employees, day in and day out.
Of course, we could only advance our sustainability journey with our customers and partners. Our Planet Agenda is shared. We keep moving forward, united in the knowledge that to have a healthy business and industry, we must have a healthy planet.
Indeed, together, we can go further, and we look forward to a more prosperous and sustainable future for us all.
- Dean Williams, Acting CEO