News
Kuraray Trading Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kita-ku, Osaka City; President: Hiroaki Yoshino; "Kuraray Trading") and Urase Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture; President: Junichi Mori; "Urase") today announced the joint development of FORMAX, a new deep-dyed fabric featuring enhanced color density for use in black formal wear.
Achieved through a synergy between CLAVELLA SN2000 ("SN2000"), a weaving-use thread with an ultra-microcrator relief surface structure, and a deep-dyeing processing agent that forms a film that evenly coats the ultra-microcrator relief structure, FORMAX boasts an outstanding level of blackness. Moreover, the new fabric has superior resistance to showing marks from pressing and the attachment of sebum, both of which usually show up more clearly on black than on other fabric.
FORMAX will be sold exclusively to Tokyo Soir Co., Ltd. for use in that company's 2012 autumn/winter season lineup and will be released on the retail market in time for the 2013 spring/summer season.
The pursuit of a "deeper black" is a constant goal for makers of black formal wear materials. With excellent blackness and superior texture, Kuraray Trading expects FORMAX to become a market leader.
1. Product Name
FORMAX
Magnification of the surface of FORMAX
Magnification of microcraters on the surface of SN2000
2. Characteristics
- (1) Kuraray-developed SN2000 is the base thread of this woven fabric, giving FORMAX more than 1 billion microcrators (the ultra-micro relief structure) per square centimeter of surface area. The overall structure prevents the reflection of light and thus the realization of outstanding blackness. (All of Kuraray Trading's black formal wear materials are made using SN2000.)
- (2) The combined use of a special deep-dyeing resin created by controlling the molecular structure on a nano level and a special processing technology, both jointly developed by Kuraray Trading and Urase, resulted in a film that evenly coats the ultra-microcrator relief structure of the fiber surface, realizing outstanding blackness by minimizing the reflection of light.
- (3) Owing to the synergistic effects of the abovementioned ultra micro relief structure and the deep-dyeing resin, FORMAX realizes deeper blackness than existing products.
- (4) The fabric surface is very smooth due to the even coating of the film over the ultra-micro relief structure, which reduces the fabric's tendency to retain marks from an iron and helps repel sebum.
3. Development Sector
Women's black formal wear
4. Sales
First year: 2,000 tan; After three years: 10,000 tan
- * Tan is a Japanese fabric measurement unit for traditional wear. One tan is equivalent to a 50m length of fabric approximately 148cm wide.
5. Commencement of Sales
Launch to coincide with the 2012 autumn/winter season lineup release (Retail sales of the fabric to begin in June 2012)
6. Sales Prices
¥1,000-¥1,500/m (before-tax prices for apparel industry for a 148cm-width fabric)
Reference
Overview of Kuraray Trading Co., Ltd.
| Headquarters | Umeda Hankyu Building Office Tower, 8-1, Kakudacho, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-8611, Japan |
|---|---|
| President | Hiroaki Yoshino |
| Capital | ¥2.2 billion (as of March 31, 2012) |
| Number of employees | 303 (as of March 31, 2012) |
| Principal businesses | Production, processing, buying and selling, import/export of chemicals, chemical products and fabrics |
Overview of Urase Co., Ltd.
| Headquarters | 2-7-40, Kaminaka-cho, Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture |
|---|---|
| President | Junichi Mori |
| Capital | ¥360 million |
| Number of employees | 245 (as of March 31, 2012) |
| Principal businesses | Dyeing, printing and functional printing of various fabrics, and planning and sale of various fabrics |
