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Tokyo firm finds use for Chinese biodegradable plastic in clothes [nikkei.com]:

TOKYO -- HighChem, a Tokyo-based chemical trading company, has applied Japanese traditional craftsmanship to improve a Chinese-made biodegradable plastic fiber so it can be used in fashionable apparel and is marketing the fiber and fabrics to European garment makers.

The sustainable plastic has been deemed an alternative material for use as utensils and shopping bags because of its low heat conductivity and its ability to absorb dye so that prints can be made on it.

"This could not have been realized with ideas of chemical specialists," said Yuichi Taka, a director of HighChem. In December 2021, the company started marketing a fiber of polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic made from corn, under the brand name Highlact.

HighChem invested in China BBCA Group, a maker of PLA, and concluded a contract for sales in Japan with the company in 2020, using the connections of Ushio Taka, the company's founder and president, who comes from China and is the father of Yuichi Taka. BBCA is the world's second-largest PLA maker, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons. The Chinese company is expected to be the world's top PLA maker when it starts operating a large, 300,000-ton plant this summer.

Yuichi Taka said he had gotten the idea of using PLA as an apparel fiber but his father opposed it at first. Major Japanese chemical makers had tried to commercialize PLA fibers but had not had success in dealing with the fibers' technical weaknesses, such as insufficient heat resistance. President Taka, an engineer, knew their unsuccessful attempts well.

He decided to make a business of PLA fibers despite his father's opposition in early 2021, saying he "would like to draw on the wisdom of the Japanese fiber and textile industries." HighChem has hired four apparel and fabric specialists so far and has marketed the fibers to traditional textile producers across Japan, including makers of synthetic fibers in Fukui Prefecture and denim fabrics in Okayama Prefecture.

Fiber and textile craftspeople who did not have preconceptions steadily improved the PLA fibers to the level of apparel quality by mixing them with natural fibers like cotton and plant-derived modifying agents. "The quality fibers have been realized because we are in Japan, where craftspeople propose the ways of improvement. We are in a business environment that is not available in China," Taka said.

The company has already signed Highlact supply contracts with Ono Meriyasu Kogyo, a Tokyo-based fabric maker, and Takihyo, a textile trading company, and expects clothes using the fiber to be marketed for the coming autumn and winter. The company says it has also started sales negotiations with major apparel makers in Europe and Japan.

The fiber still has problems with heat resistance, requiring restrictions on ironing, and sells at $12 per kilogram, three times the price of polyester fibers. However, Europe's high-quality apparel brands are expanding the use of sustainable materials despite their higher costs. In view of this favorable factor, HighChem targets sales of Highlact of 5 billion yen ($37.7 million) for 2024.

It is no longer realistic for Japan to compete with China in the mass production of apparel materials themselves, including PLA. HighChem's move shows that Japan can find business opportunities in adding technologies and know-how that China is not good at.

Original Submission