In 2022, TENCEL™ lyocell turned 30. Its story began with production in Alabama in 1992; Lenzing opened its first full-scale lyocell plant in Austria in 1997 and acquired the TENCEL™ brand in 2004. To mark the anniversary, Sourcing Journal asked denim leaders what the fibre had changed. One of them was Azgard9 COO Munir Alam.
Azgard9 designed its first fabric with TENCEL™ in 2005, to meet a "soft touch requirement" from its customers. Seventeen years later, it produces one million metres of fabric with TENCEL™ every year. "Tencel covers a broad range of aesthetics, from looking good to feeling good," Munir Alam said.
That range shows in the mill's collections over the years:
- PPET (2016)cotton, dual-core fibres, TENCEL™, Lenzing Modal® and ProModal® for silky, high-stretch denim TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™ developments at Bluezone (2020), bringing recycled cotton scraps into lyocell
- Four new TENCEL™ groups (2021)lightweight shirting, self-sized denim, waxed denim and TENCEL™ Modal black Soft Thrills (2021), built on TENCEL™ under the LITE low-impact vision Fall '23 (2022), blending TENCEL™ and REFIBRA™ with CiCLO®, hemp and recycled cotton
Key facts
- First TENCEL™ fabric at Azgard92005
- Current volumeone million metres of TENCEL™ fabric a year
- SpokespersonMunir Alam, COO
- TENCEL™ milestones1992 first production; 1997 first full-scale plant in Austria; 30th anniversary in 2022
Seventeen years of working with responsible fibres is part of the experience Azgard9 offers every brand partner.
