HeiQ AeoniQ, The ‘Breakthrough' Decarbonizing Yarn, Is Sponsored By HUGO BOSS And The LYCRA Company

Zurich, Switzerland /PRNewswire/ - HUGO BOSS led the race to launch HeiQ AeoniQ yarns, investing USD 5 million in HeiQ AeoniQ LLC and an additional USD 4 million based on agreements about performance milestones. The LYCRA Company also became the exclusive distributor for HeiQ AeoniQ yarn by making a significant, unspecified investment and committing to develop the technology for widespread textile application.

As part of its "CLAIM 5" growth strategy by HUGO BOSS (MDAX: BOSS) - one of the leading companies in the global premium apparel market - the company realized the group's first sustainability-related investment in the form of a USD 5 million stake in HeiQ AeoniQ LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of London -listed HeiQ Plc (LSE: HEIQ).HUGO BOSS is the first company to enter the race to acquire HeiQ AeoniQ and has secured its stake in HeiQ AeoniQ equity.The investment will be funded by supplemented by an additional $4 million agreement, subject to achievement of agreed targets.The strategic partnership will becomeHelping HUGO BOSS to achieve the company's ambitious sustainability goals, including the goal of climate neutrality in its own area of ​​responsibility by 2030 and in the entire value chain by 2045. In addition, the company attaches particular importance to establishing an end-to-end circular economy model. The investment therefore fits in perfectly with HUGO BOSS' goal of significantly increasing the proportion of more sustainable materials in the coming years. In the medium to long term, HUGO BOSS is concentrating on the potential of materially supplementing and replacing the currently used polyester and nylon fibers with the cellulose-containing HeiQ AeoniQ fibers.

“Our exciting partnership with HeiQ to develop HeiQ AeoniQ is another important milestone on our journey to become the world's leading technology-driven premium fashion platform. In line with our ambitious mission statement 'We Love Fashion, We Change Fashion', this groundbreaking collaboration with HeiQ enables us to further advance innovation and sustainability across our brands offering, thereby making a measurable contribution to the environment and society," says Daniel Grieder , CEO of HUGO BOSS

Prior to the HUGO BOSS equity investment , The LYCRA Company agreed to be the exclusive distributor of HeiQ AeoniQ yarn, paying a milestone-based technology fee and committing to leverage their extensive textile knowledge and access to market channels to bring this new technology to a prepare for widespread use in the clothing industry.

“Sustainability remains at the heart of The LYCRA Company's strategy. We are focused on delivering value-added technologies that help our customers design and produce exceptional fabrics and garments while reducing their environmental footprint without sacrificing comfort or performance," said Julien Born , CEO of The LYCRA Company "Through our close collaboration with HeiQ, we are working together to advance the commercialization of HeiQ AeoniQ yarn and look forward to the impact this groundbreaking innovation will have on the apparel industry."

“The financial commitments from renowned companies such as HUGO BOSS and The LYCRA Company are a strong endorsement of the game-changing potential of HeiQ AeoniQ. This also demonstrates our ability to commercialize our HeiQ AeoniQ IP which is now valued at $200M. HeiQ AeoniQ yarn is a versatile alternative to polyester and nylon. Its climate-friendly properties open up a very interesting market opportunity for HeiQ as fashion brands and retailers come under increasing pressure to do their part to decarbonize their products and reduce their ecological footprint," explains Carlo Centonze , co-founder and CEO of the HeiQ Group.

The majority of the capital raised will be used to scale up and commercialize this breakthrough technology. In this context, HeiQ AeoniQ LLC will build its first commercial GigaFactory in Central Europe by the end of 2024 and is currently expanding its pilot plant for commercial fiber production planned for Q2 2022.

HeiQ AeoniQ cellulose yarn made from climate-friendly raw materials
HeiQ AeoniQ (Aeon: striving for eternal circularity) - a cellulose filament yarn that has the potential to compete with polyester and nylon fibers - represents a revolutionary, market-first and scalable proprietary apparel technology that enables the production of a sustainable cellulosic yarn designed for circularity and recycling, which could eventually replace petroleum-based fibers.

HeiQ AeoniQ yarns are made from cellulosic biopolymers that capture carbon from the atmosphere as they grow. HeiQ AeoniQ yarn is designed to replace existing petroleum-based filament yarns, such as environmentally harmful polyester and nylon, which account for over 60% of the world's annual textile production of 111 million tons. The global market for polyester and nylon fibers is estimated to be worth USD 135 billion with a CAGR of >3.5% over the next decade (Statista). For every ton of polyester and nylon substituted by HeiQ AeoniQ, up to 5 tons of CO2 can potentially be saved.

Compared to conventional polyester, nylon, cotton and conventional regenerated cellulosic products, the production of HeiQ AeoniQ yarns has the potential to transform the environmental impact of fiber production due to its circular nature, using 100% renewable energy for manufacturing, a closed loop recycling of Contains more than 99.5% of the factors of production, uses no toxic chemicals and requires no arable land, pesticides or fertilizers for its raw materials.

Information about HeiQ
Founded in 2005 as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) and listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE: HEIQ), HeiQ is a disruptive innovator with a strong IP portfolio. The company is at the forefront of textile and material innovation and has developed some of the most effective, durable and high-performance technologies on the market today. HeiQ strives to improve the lives of billions of people through groundbreaking textile and material innovations. By combining three areas of expertise - scientific research, manufacturing of specialty materials and branding of ingredients for consumers - HeiQ is the ideal innovation partner to develop differentiating and sustainable products and to capture the added value at the point of sale. Today, HeiQ employs 240 professionals in its 14 branches, 7 production sites and 7 R&D centers. The company has a total capacity of 45,000 tons of specialty chemicals per year and supplies over 1,000 industrial customers in over 60 countries. HeiQ's consumer goods and medical devices can now be found in 56 countries. For more information visit www.heiq.com