October 29, 2005 - Ingeo™ Fiber: Focused on the Future of Fashion

October 29, 2005 - Little more than two years have passed since Ingeo fiber's debut in fashion, and it has already threaded its way into winning outfits produced by designers from every corner of the globe. Here's a brief overview of commercial proposals by Ingeo fiber's partners for the upcoming 2006 Spring/Summer collections.

For the first time ever, Cop Copine, the prestigious Parisian clothing design company, has chosen to utilize Ingeo fiber in its collections, presenting a new skirt created with the fiber. For Cop Copine, a company that strives to bring together cutting-edge materials, innovative fabrics and inventive design style in order to create unique, affordable clothing, Ingeo fiber represented an opportunity to create beautiful clothes while taking advantage of a growing market trend.

Bagutta, one of Italy's leading shirting brands, presents three different white women's shirts made with Ingeo fiber, as well as unisex pajamas. These outfits are repeat performers from last year's collection, a testament to the success Ingeo fiber has had not only with designers and producers, but with the ultimate arbiter: the client.

Biozone has declared that its inspiration for this years s/s 2006 women's collection is derived entirely from "nature, its creatures and its essence." With that aim in mind, Ingeo fiber proved a perfect choice. The collection includes a dress and two t-shirts utilizing Ingeo fiber, alternating and combining a blend of prints and patches in order to play with shapes and colors as well as provide an original and unexpected use of fabrics and treatments.

Salewa, one of Ingeo fiber's first partners (Salewa first used Ingeo fiber in its SS 2004 collection) has amplified its range of products presenting two women's t-shirts, a sweatshirt and trousers all realized with Ingeo fiber. Salewa's committed involvement is proof of the importance of sustainability in the textile industry, and points to the very real difference that a revolutionary fiber like Ingeo fiber can make.

Last but not least, for the second season in a row Elisa Jimenez, an avant-garde contemporary designer, presented a new women's collection during the New York Fashion Week. 80% of the clothing collection is created with Ingeo fiber. Jimenez's collections, whose creations have been worn by celebrities like Marisa Tomei and Sarah Jessica Parker, have been featured in important international publications like Elle, Vogue, Us and Newsweek. The designer readily embraced the opportunity to continue her creative partnership with Ingeo fiber, noting that "in addition to its natural and environmental benefits, the fiber is high-performing and multifunctional, lending itself expertly to the close-fitting. It is a perfect fabric for illuminating the female form."

Wickers Performance Wear Inc. will be presenting Wickers Brand clothing, a celebration of sustainability, environmental responsibility and comfortable, high-performance clothes. Wickers Performance Wear decided to incorporate Ingeo fiber into its clothing collection with a complete range of womenswear and menswear t-shirts to emphasize its commitment to sustainable resources, a belief supported by more than 68 million American consumers.

Last but not least , November 8th in Tokyo , a leading group of USA hosiery mills including Fox River, Harriss & Covington, Twin City and W.Y. Shugart & Sons, and with the support of the Hosiery Technology Center presented their commercial ranges of Ingeo socks . These four ranges covered a variety of socks applications such as sports and leisure and dedicate to women, men and children.

Hosiery customers are demanding and Ingeo fiber delivers an ideal combination of comfort and performance in this brand new application. Ingeo™ fiber is fresh, soft and comfortable to wear because it is natural in origin and still has the performance benefits of a synthetic. Ingeo fiber is breathable, provides odor control and has inherently superb wicking properties, ideal for all climates. And, with the added benefits of low pilling and stain resistance, it is an obvious choice for hosiery innovation…coming soon into the stores…

Ingeo's fiber overnight success should come as no surprise: no other fiber offers its unique combination of key performance characteristics, aesthetic appeal and environmental responsibility.

Another quality Ingeo fiber provides is commercial benefit. Thanks to its key environmentally-friendly characteristics, Ingeo fiber is an added value for clothing producers. It allows clothing designers to create outfits that are not only high-performing and aesthetically appealing, but which respect the environment as well. In a day and age in which the contemporary consumer is increasingly informed about the process behind a purchase, this added value has become part of the countless characteristics tipping the scales in Ingeo fiber's favor in every area of the textile industry.

Ingeo fiber is the first and only manmade fiber created from 100% renewable resources: a novel product that combines the best of both worlds: the performance of a synthetic fiber and the advantages of a natural material. Because it is derived entirely from natural sources, Ingeo fiber contributes to reducing our dependence on limited fossil fuel resources such as oil.

Ingeo fiber-based fabrics are an easy choice for clothing manufacturers. Characteristics like strength, resilience, comfort and drape combined with loft, natural insulating warmth, moisture management and easy care and wear properties make Ingeo fiber the perfect solution for both outer and inner fabric performance needs. The use of Ingeo fiber in clothing fabrics translates into garments that are both easy care and easy wear.

That's precisely what we've been telling people for the past twenty-four months, but don't take our word for it. Come see, touch and feel for yourselves what all the buzz is about. There is a new fiber out there, and it's going to change the way you think about textiles.

Change is possible. Choice is available. Ingeo fiber, the first and only man-made fiber produced from 100% annually renewable resources - not oil - is already making a difference, one yarn, one fabric, one garment at a time.

Note to Editors:

Founded in 1997, NatureWorks LLC is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, USA And is wholly owned by Cargill It is the first company to offer a family of commercially available polymers derived from annually renewable resources with the cost and performance to compete with petroleum-based packaging materials and fibers. The company has achieved this breakthrough by applying its unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create a proprietary polylactide polymer, the world's first greenhouse-gas-neutral one, which is marketed under the NatureWorks® PLA and Ingeo™ fiber brand names. For more information about NatureWorks and its brands, please visit www.ingeofibers.com.