What Is Lenzing Modal? Is It Different From Modal?
What Is Lenzing Modal? Is It Different From Modal?
In the world of textile manufacturing, few modern fibers can measure up to the power of modal. Modal is unique in its properties, not to mention its sustainability. However, not all modal is made the same, and when looking for a producer that checks all of the most important boxes, you just can’t beat Lenzing.
Lenzing is a leading global textile brand that's set the gold standard in modal production. Physically, there's little difference between Lenzing Modal and modal. The sustainability of Lenzing Modal separates it from others, including its lofty carbon-emissions goals and process transparency.
Lenzing is a parent company that not only has its own central brand, but also forms an umbrella over several smaller brands, namely Tencel, EcoVero, and Veocel. Lenzing’s primary brand (just called Lenzing) will be the focus of this article, as several key factors define this branch from the others, even as all are committed to advancing textiles through cellulose fibers.
How Lenzing Does Modal Different (and Better!)
To understand how Lenzing Modal is different, it’s important to first understand the basics of modal itself.
If you've read Sports Casuals' article on modal, you might be familiar with the properties that make this material so unique and attractive to both companies and consumers. But, just in case, let's kick off with modal 101.
A Brief Recap On Modal
How Modal Is Made: Modal is a natural fiber used to make textiles that are sustainably harvested from beech trees. The fibrous material pulled from those trees is then processed into a pulpy goop that is extruded through super small holes to create filaments that can be woven into thread.
Attributes of Modal: Fabric that's made from modal has several signature characteristics, namely that it's super soft, almost silky feeling, it's breathable and allows for thermal regulation, and it effectively manages moisture. Modal material is also inexpensive to create, and more eco-friendly than many other types of textiles, and its physical properties allow it to retain color for long periods without fading.
Flexibility of Modal: Modal material can be used on its own, or it can be “blended” with several other textiles to give those new blended cloths different physical properties. Blending modal with wool, for example, makes the material denser and less breathable, allowing for the new cloth to help retain heat. This might be utilized when creating a comfortable sports outfit for athletes competing in colder temperatures.
Environmental Claims: While modal has been touted as a “miracle” material, checking all of the boxes from comfort to affordability, its “eco-friendly” designation has come into question over the years. This is mainly because some companies that create modal material do so in not-so-great ways. For example, some companies that produce modal unethically might dump their chemical waste runoff in nearby waterways, contributing to the pollution of microfibers in our ecosystem. Other producers may not replenish the beech trees that must be harvested for manufacturing modal, leaving massive amounts of deforestation in their wake.
That final point has been one of the main reasons that some companies have held out from using modal in their manufacturing. However, Lenzing has set out to change that and has created a new gold standard of modal production in the process.
The Lenzing Standard
Several key factors separate Lenzing from the rest of the textile production crowd. These elements are what define Lenzing as a leader in their industry, and sets the benchmark for other textile companies to follow. Let’s go over a few of those elements:
Lenzing Partnerships for a Sustainable Future
Even the very best sustainable fiber innovations can only contribute to a carbon-neutral ecologically friendly future if all steps of the manufacturing process work in tandem and are equally committed to a sustainable future. This is why the wide selection of Lenzing’s partnerships is crucial to their environmental goals.
True sustainability presents significant challenges to the textile industry at all stages of the production process. The major contributing factors include preserving natural resources, climate protection, equitable working conditions, and supporting a circular economy.
Below is a list of all of Lenzing’s partnerships and a brief description of what they are contributing to this global effort:
Textile Exchange: A global non-governmental organization (NGO) on a mission to reverse the enormously negative impact on the planet, at the hands of the textile industry.
Ellen Macarthur Foundation: A charity committed to developing and promoting the idea of a circular economy. They work with businesses, academia, institutions, and policymakers to enact and mobilize systems at a global level.
World Economic Forum (WEF): An international foundation that's dedicated to industrial issues affecting societies all around the world. They also host an annual forum bringing together businesses, politicians, governments, and more with the end goal of improving the state of the world.
Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC): An initiative of global leaders in textile production. Lenzing is one of the founding members of the SAC. The SAC has refined and developed the “Higg Index” standard, a score that measures the environmental and social impacts of an apparel or footwear product.
Canopy: An environmental non-profit that works with hundreds of companies around the world to create systems of change and benefit the health of the world. Canopy is particularly relevant for Lenzing, as they publish an annual Hot Button Report which ranks all producers of cellulose fibers in a few key categories.
World Resources Institute (WRI): A global research organization that works with governments, businesses, and institutions to ensure a world where people’s lives can improve and nature can thrive.
Higg Index: As mentioned above, the Higg Index is a standard set by the SAC that measures a plethora of factors that define the impact of a piece of apparel or footwear product in how they impact the environment. It's a universally recognized toolset for measuring sustainability. Using this suite of tools, manufacturers can measure the impact of their products in advance, helping to guide their production processes.
Together for Sustainability (TfS): A member-driven initiative raising corporate social responsibility standards in the chemical industry. They are helping to define the global standard for the environmental and social performance of chemical supply chains.
Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI): An international initiative that determines what carbon sources to avoid or substitute to help reduce the amount of carbon being ejected into the atmosphere. This initiative seeks to create a carbon circular economy, that is not ejecting any new CO2 into the environment.
Biodegradability
Lenzing modal and its other products are notable for being 100% biodegradable. This means that these fibers, once disposed of, will eventually degrade and completely return to nature.
This is a crucial piece of the sustainability puzzle, as many modal fibers contain plastics and other non-biodegradable materials that, once they start to decompose, deposit microplastics in our soils and waterways.
The completely compostable nature of Lenzing fibers means that they are not contributing to this troubling type of pollution and that all of their material can eventually return to nature as intended.
Transparency
Lenzing strives to have open lines of communication between themselves and their consumers. This means full transparency in every part of their production process. Lenzing believes that transparency is “the first step” toward a sustainable textile industry, and thus has led by example.
Their exemplary transparency allows them to let third parties verify the origin of their fibers and grade their product from production to the finished garment.
One special callout is Tencel Lyocell, which is owned by Lenzing. The process is close-looped and retains 99% of its solvent in production - which is incredibly efficient. And Lenzing is virtually transparent about the entire process.
Lenzing is the Peak of Modal Production
It's clear that Lenzing is leading by example and raising the bar for sustainable fiber production around the world. Their sustainability practices, partnerships, and finished product combined truly set them apart from other textile producers as the gold standard.
As they rapidly expand their market, making new partnerships with globally recognized clothing brands, they are showing the world that comfort and affordability don’t have to come at the cost of sustainability and the future of our planet.