Fibre guaranteed not only to resist attack by chlorine-loaded swimming pool water but to offer protection against UV rays when sunbathing, is the latest offer to the international swimwear trade by Trevira.

The company's latest promotional campaigns place particular emphasis on the functional advances recently made in the fashion industry. "Our brands are now specifically named to make clear to the trade their functional properties," says Trevira. "For instance, our PET yarn for use in elasticated fabrics is known as Trevira Xpand to stress its shape retention properties.

"Yarns created from this fibre can be further processed in a variety of ways," Trevira continues. "One method involves the crimping of the originally flat threads to give a more typically textile handle but with the advantage that these texturised yarns retain a high recovery factor, allowing fabric and indeed the finished garment made from such yarns to spring back to its original form no matter how many times it is pulled and stretched."

Trevira adds that its Xpand fibre is now being used in both 100 per cent form and as a blend component by, among other producers, Penn Nyla, Bentwoods Lingerie, Eschler, Robert Streitch and MITI.

On the microfibre side of its business, Trevira now claims it can offer a fibre that creates a yarn finer than even the finest natural silk. "With three kilograms of Trevira microfilament it would be possible to encircle the entire globe," the Trevira sales team comments. Obviously the lingerie and nightwear trade is the prime target market for these yarns, though they are also beginning to be more widely employed in general fashion.

To date, Trevira microfibres have been taken up by Nina von C, Comazo, Dorima, Walcher and Boselli.

Meanwhile, Trevira Perform is being sold into the fashion trade chiefly on the basis of its anti-pilling properties. Crease resistance is also integral to its appeal. It is particularly recommended as a blend partner for wool when used in the production of knitwear, as by the Portuguese manufacturer Sampaio, or in "functional" underwear to be sold under the Big Pack and the Medico brands.

Trevira also stresses its willingness to work with customers on the development of fibres, yarns and fabrics particularly suited to individual requirements.

One of the latest examples of this co-operation is the work the company is now doing with Eschler to develop a version of Trevira Xpand suitable for the production of embroidered lingerie.