TMC Taps Overabundant Interior Textile Wool Develops. Performance Fabric Unlike Anything On The Market

TMC Ltd, the owner of Nuyarn spinning technology and a proven innovator in the performance fiber and apparel space, today introduces Herculan, the world’s first product that offers improved performance benefits of wool coupled with unmatched durability and sustainability for the apparel sector.

 As strong as nylon, outperforms merino, and built from repurposed wool; Herculan creates massive new potential and is set to be the next evolution in apparel textiles. Repurposing carpet wool (which often ends up in landfills) is done by using their patented fiber drafting technology, resulting in a natural performance material that is as strong as petroleum-based synthetics, outperforms merino in thermoregulation, moisture management, elasticity —  more comfortable — and creates a massive new potential for the apparel textile space. Due to this performance and durability, they are calling this the 20 year wool for performance and luxury apparel.

A result of more than three years of R&D, Herculan is a patented technology that was developed by making ground-up modifications to TMC’s proprietary Nuyarn spinning machines, enabling them to accommodate strong wool - the coarsest and most durable grade of wool fibers (>38 microns) historically suitable only for interior textiles, like flooring and upholstery. This “carpet wool” as the industry coins, has a low market value, and during recent bearish years, is often cost-prohibitive to process, package, and ship, and therefore discarded into landfills. According to the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) it is estimated that anywhere from 40-50% of the global wool yield is Interior Textile Wool (source). With the new innovative technology, these coarse long wool fibers are drafted around a performance filament, creating an extremely fine yarn - Herculan - which pound for pound, outlasted some of the industries leading synthetic textiles in the Martindale abrasion tests.

Due to its unique durability and performance benefits, Herculan is an emerging technology that opens the door for wool to be used in high abrasion and high impact zones in apparel such as socks, footwear, gloves, pants, outerwear, and thousands of other potential applications, without succumbing to wear. In addition to its extreme durability, Herculan has significantly better performance and comfort benefits to both natural wool textiles (that is twisted) and synthetic fibers alike; efficient moisture management and quicker dry times, higher volume, aeration, elasticity, and thermal retention, non-reflective, quiet, and naturally odor-resistant. This is due to Herculan’s unique yarn construction –-like Nuyarn – which is built by drafting carpet wool around a performance filament without twisting or fraying.

“We are incredibly excited to be introducing Herculan. There is nothing like it on the market and it meets the needs of consumers, who want more sustainable and durable natural fibers in their garments, while also creating new potential categories for performance and technical apparel brands,” said TMC Ltd CEO, Andy Wynne. “When we first started working to transition carpet wool into the apparel sector, everyone thought we were crazy because it has never been done before. But we had a vision and were determined, and ultimately our team found the solution. The durability, performance, and comfort results speak for themselves.”

Sustainable manufacturing processes like Herculan, which take advantage of materials that are often cast aside, simplify supply chains and encourage end-users to waste less by making natural fiber garments that last longer and have performance comfort benefits.

“Herculan is the total package,” added Wynne. “We took an underutilized and overabundant natural fiber and turned it into a durable yarn to meet the abrasion demands that only synthetic fibers could previously meet, all while increasing the natural performance benefits of wool.” 

For the development of Herculan, sustainability, and making a major positive impact on the industry, TMC was just named #6 on Fast Company’s Annual World’s Most Innovative Manufacturing Companies of 2022.