PRESS 0404

Innovation on Demand

How do you find a brand-new, highly lucrative product in a multi-billion dollar market?

Monroe, CT USA - April 2004

 

 

Sounds like a far-out question, but not for multinational corporations. To sustain their business, they need to uncover unmet market needs that represent a significant potential for growth.

 

Industry's enormous appetite for innovation has led to a new type of intermediary, one that helps global corporations find opportunities and then helps guide R&D, product development and the product's launch into the marketplace. One of these intermediaries, ISIS International, recently helped Dow Chemical investigate market potential of a new stretch fiber -- DOW XLA^TM fiber -- for the apparel/fashion industry. Unlike traditional stretch fibers, DOW XLA^TM fiber resists high heat (220°C) and degradation from process chemicals used in dyeing and finishing operations, including sulfuric acid and caustic soda, as well as more ordinary sources of stretch fiber degradation like sunlight. Despite the fiber's macho image, fabrics using it have a soft relaxed feel and a natural drape and hang, which is what the market wants.

 

Getting to DOW XLA^TM fiber required a sustained quest. Dow thought there were untapped opportunities in stretch fibers, but rather than roil the waters by showing its intentions, the company sent ISIS International to talk with corporate leaders in the fabric and apparel marketplace, without any mention of Dow's name. ISIS had worked with Dow on a number of products and had recently helped uncover a market for a new kind of industrial adhesive. In its new assignment, ISIS's mission was to learn what new combination of technical characteristics would (1) improve on existing stretch fibers and (2) expand the market for such fibers.

 

Based on results of ISIS's Summit System and its own R&D experts, Dow began developing new elastic fibers with the desired characteristics. But it didn't happen overnight. After each breakthrough, ISIS systematically went back to industry leaders to recalibrate Dow's developing innovation with what was needed in the market. The final result: a fiber that delivered processing efficiencies and a soft stretch to garments, without the snappy, elastic "cling" of traditional spandex.

 

What does all this mean for Dow's bottom line? Well, the stretch fibers market produces 250 million pounds of material every year. With its new DOW XLA^TM stretch fiber, Dow expects to make major inroads in the current market, while enabling historically non-stretch garments to enjoy some stretch. A number of hot new fashion designers in North America and Europe have used the new fiber in clothing collections and given it rave reviews.

 

Clothing made with DOW XLA^TM fiber is now on shelves at Marshall Field's and Federated Department Stores under such top names as Perry Ellis and Tommy Hilfiger. Cotton is leading the way; wool and other natural fibers will soon follow.

 

For more information go to Dow's XLA^TM web site

 

ISIS International, Inc. is a Connecticut-based services organization specializing in systematic and accelerated technology commercialization; technology assessment and acquisition; technology licensing; business growth and value generation; and breakthrough product innovation. ISIS operates in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. For more information call +1-203-261-5300.

 

  

 

 

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