Bio-based materials in apparel: From interest to implementation

The discussion explored where organisations currently stand, what is driving interest, and what is preventing bio-based solutions from moving more quickly from exploration and pilots into wider commercial adoption.

The conversation suggested that interest is no longer the primary question. Organisations are increasingly considering bio-based materials alongside recycled, regenerative, organic and other emerging material solutions. The challenge is determining where bio-based materials can deliver meaningful additional value – and how to make adoption commercially and operationally viable.

A market at different stages of maturity

The discussion highlighted significant variation in how organisations are approaching bio-based materials.

Some remain at the research and discussion stage, while others are already conducting pilots or have introduced bio-based materials into selected products. For many, bio-based is being considered as one part of a broader strategy to transition away from conventional fossil-based synthetics.

This means there is unlikely to be a single pathway to adoption. The role of bio-based materials depends on an organisation’s existing material priorities, product mix, sustainability strategy and appetite for emerging technologies.

A recurring challenge is therefore prioritisation. Sustainability and product teams are already navigating a growing range of material options, making it increasingly important to understand what bio-based materials offer that other pathways do not.

The question is increasingly about value, not just sustainability

Cost remains an important barrier, particularly where new materials carry a premium. However, the discussion suggested that the question is broader than price alone.

Organisations need to understand the overall value of making the switch: the environmental benefit, product performance, regulatory relevance, supply-chain implications and potential consumer or brand value.

A sustainability benefit on its own may not be sufficient to secure investment or commercial buy-in. The business case increasingly needs to connect sustainability objectives with wider organisational priorities.

Feedstock matters

“Bio-based” encompasses a wide range of approaches, and participants stressed that the source of the feedstock is an increasingly important part of the conversation.

There was particular interest in moving towards secondary and tertiary feedstocks, including waste-derived inputs, while reducing concerns around competition with food production or land use. At the same time, participants recognised that some first-generation solutions are currently the pathways available at meaningful commercial scale.

This creates an important question for the industry: how can today’s available solutions support near-term progress while continuing to develop better feedstock pathways for the future?

Adoption is an organisational challenge

The introduction of a new material rarely sits within one team.

Participants described increasingly broad internal conversations involving sustainability, sourcing, product development, materials, compliance, marketing and commercial teams. The need for alignment across these functions can make the adoption process lengthy, particularly when organisations are already managing multiple sustainability priorities.

The question is therefore not only whether a material works technically. Organisations also need to know who will champion it internally, how it fits into existing product-development processes and whether there is sufficient evidence to justify the additional time and investment required.

Testing and confidence remain important

Participants highlighted the need for confidence before committing to wider adoption.

Performance, quality, feel, availability and price remain practical considerations when evaluating alternatives to conventional materials. For some organisations, the challenge is less about believing that bio-based materials can work and more about having sufficient evidence and experience to justify moving beyond a pilot.

This makes access to testing, performance data and real-world examples increasingly important.

Certification and claims remain a moving target

Another recurring theme was uncertainty around terminology, certification and environmental claims.

Participants highlighted the need to distinguish clearly between bio-based, recycled, biodegradable and biofabricated materials. There was also discussion around the different generations of feedstock and the need for clearer understanding of provenance and environmental impact.

This is particularly important as scrutiny of sustainability claims increases. Participants noted that a bio-based input does not automatically make a product recyclable or biodegradable, and that communicating a benefit becomes more complicated when the bio-based component represents only a small proportion of a finished garment.

Greater consistency around evidence, traceability and certification could therefore help organisations make more confident decisions.

What role will consumers play?

Consumer demand is currently not a straightforward driver of adoption.

Participants noted that consumers often prioritise the performance, comfort and functionality of a product rather than its underlying material chemistry. In some markets, sustainability is increasingly viewed as an expected baseline rather than a differentiator.

However, participants also expect consumer understanding to develop as regulation and product-level information improve.

This could eventually create stronger demand for transparent and comparable information about the materials used in products — but in the near term, much of the momentum is likely to come from internal sustainability targets, regulation, supply-chain considerations and material innovation.

What could help move adoption forward?

The discussion highlighted several areas where further progress could help translate interest into wider adoption:

• Clearer education and terminology
  Organisations need a stronger shared understanding of bio-based materials, feedstock types, certification and the distinction between bio-based, recycled and biodegradable solutions.
• Better evidence and validation
  Performance data, testing and real-world examples can help reduce perceived risk and give internal teams greater confidence in moving from pilots to commercial adoption.
• Stronger business cases
  The environmental case needs to be connected to commercial priorities, including cost, product performance, regulatory preparedness and supply-chain resilience.
• Lower-risk routes into experimentation
  Smaller-scale testing, clearer availability and pricing information, and collaborative approaches could help organisations experiment without immediately committing to large commercial volumes.
• Greater alignment across the value chain
  Continued collaboration between material producers, brands, retailers, certification organisations and other stakeholders will be important in developing common approaches to claims, traceability and feedstock sustainability.

Looking ahead

The discussion highlighted a market that is interested in bio-based materials but is still working out how they fit within a rapidly evolving materials landscape.

For some organisations, bio-based solutions are already moving into pilots and products. For others, the immediate priority is understanding where they offer a meaningful advantage over existing preferred materials.

The next phase of progress is therefore likely to depend less on generating interest and more on reducing the practical barriers to adoption – making solutions easier to evaluate, validate, communicate and scale.

Hyosung’s work on bio-based spandex provides one example of how material producers are responding to this challenge, while continued dialogue across the value chain will be important in determining how quickly the wider industry can move from exploration to implementation.

About Hyosung’s bio-based materials initiative

As one of the world’s largest producers of spandex, Hyosung is investing in the development of bio-based alternatives designed to reduce reliance on fossil-based feedstocks while maintaining the performance characteristics required by apparel and footwear brands.

Hyosung’s bio-based spandex utilises renewable feedstocks and is designed as a drop-in solution for existing manufacturing processes, helping brands explore lower-impact material options without compromising functionality. Alongside material innovation, the company is actively working to strengthen traceability, certification and verification systems to support greater transparency and confidence across the value chain.

At the core of this initiative is Hyosung’s fully integrated bio-based value chain in Vietnam, where raw sugar derived from sugarcane is fermented into Bio-BDO, converted into Bio-PTMG, and ultimately transformed into Hyosung BIO Spandex for apparel applications.

Through initiatives such as this workshop, Hyosung aims to foster industry dialogue, share learnings and better understand the practical challenges brands face as they work to scale the adoption of bio-based materials.

See here for a full video from BBC’s Fashion Redressed II Series on Hyosung’s work.

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Author details

Tanya Richard

COO and Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Communications

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