After successfully establishing sustainable fibre brands such as TENCEL™ and ECOVERO™, Lenzing now brings to India its beauty and body care fiber brand VEOCEL™. Derived from renewable raw material wood, VEOCEL™ provides natural care, every day, and is committed to driving industry standards around sustainability and natural comfort in the nonwovens sector. VEOCEL™ fibers are certified clean and safe, biodegradable, from the botanic origin, and manufactured in an environmentally responsible production process. With changing consumer habits, more and more nonwoven producers are shifting their product pipelines towards natural and eco-friendly materials to enhance product appeal and open more business opportunities. Lenzing being a pioneer in innovation has helped in fulfilling these needs through a more incorporating VEOCEL™ fiber in a diverse range of products.
Blending VEOCEL™ branded fibers with other fibers adds a greater degree of smoothness and absorbency to nonwoven products and will significantly improve the liquid absorbency in products like wet wipes, offering a more convenient way to clean surfaces. VEOCEL™ brand offers a broad range of applications that cater to daily use, including beauty, baby care, body & intimate care and surface cleaning. Consumer Applications such as face sheet masks, facial cleansing wipes, deodorant wipes, baby wipes, hand sanitizing wipes, intimate wipes, diapers, sanitary napkins, disinfectant wipes, etc. made using VEOCEL™ branded fibers have distinctive features such as strength, absorbency, liquid management, biodegradability while giving additional features like comfort, cloth-like feel, and smoothness, making it a viable eco-friendly option to choose from.
Worldwide efforts advancing towards eco-friendly plastic alternatives have skyrocketed in recent years, as different stakeholders are eager to make a difference in their field of expertise. When it comes to personal care products, fiber transparency becomes an important benchmark in determining the sustainability of products such as wipes and facial sheet masks. The soon-to-be-published European Union Single-Use Plastics Directive had identified wipes as one of the ten most polluting items found on European beaches and calls for clearer marking requirements, which shall disclose the presence of plastic materials in wipes and disposal options on the product packaging. This concern plagues India and as the country moves towards getting rid of single-use plastics by 2022, there would be no better time than now for Lenzing to bring VEOCEL™ to Indian beauty and home brands. With brands currently using materials that are single-usage applications and do not possess processes that reduce the ecological footprint, there is a need to bring about fiber options such as VEOCEL™ into the Indian market. Global beauty brands across Europe, USA, South East, and North Asia have now been using VEOCEL™ fibres as part of their product range, making a change towards sustainable living.
Commenting on this foray, Avinash Mane, Commercial Head – Lenzing South Asia said “2019 has been an exciting year for Lenzing. Earlier, we forayed in footwear with TENCEL™ and now beauty and body products with VEOCEL™. We are confident that brands and consumers will also welcome VEOCEL™ and appreciate the experience our fibers create. We will continue to drive innovation and transparency efforts in the nonwovens segment and work closely with industry partners to co-create a more nature-friendly future. Since the inception of the VEOCEL™ brand, we have been pioneering the development and application of sustainable nonwoven technologies and applications. Promoting a circular economy will continue to be a key strategy of the Lenzing Group.”
According to the Hot Button Report of Canopy, a Canadian non-profit organization, Lenzing is ranked as one of the best performing viscose producers worldwide for its sustainable wood and pulp sourcing practices. Lenzing, as a nonwovens fiber producer and advocate for sustainability, has taken an industry-first step to enable consumers to make eco-conscious choices.
