Lederer recently became the first yarn coverer in DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) to offer one of our company’s latest innovations, LYCRA® 962L fiber, to the hosiery industry and helped supply covered yarns for our latest 2021+ legwear trends collection. In addition to their fashion legwear capabilities, Lederer is a leading innovator in the medical garment sector.

The LYCRA Company: Can you please briefly introduce the company Lederer?

Beatrice Lederer and Lara Gantner : Lederer Elastic-Garne was founded in 1948 by Jörg Lederer in Amstetten (Baden-Württemberg). From the very beginning, only covered elastic yarns were produced – for a wide range of applications from fashionable legwear (hosiery/socks) to woven fabrics and medical products (compression sector) supplying renowned manufacturers throughout Europe.

The use of state-of-the-art technologies and the processing of high-quality materials form the basis of our yarn production. We provide every customer with the greatest possible support; this, coupled with our decades of expertise, makes us an expert and reliable partner in yarn development and production.

Which material is crucial for the high quality of your products?

Whether for the fashion or medical hosiery sector, elastic yarns of high quality are a ‘must-have’. That is why we have been working with LYCRA® fiber almost since the company was founded. The large portfolio of LYCRA® fiber types makes it possible to find the perfect fiber for the various areas of application while also maintaining the same high qualityIt’s neither. LYCRA® is a fiber that is combined with other fibers to create fabrics used in many of the clothes you wear, including activewear, legwear, intimates, swimwear and ready to-wear apparel.

We work with delicate yarns for high-quality fine hosiery styles with a soft feel and high comfort, and firmer, heavier-gauge LYCRA® fiber with high recovery power for medical products, where constant compression paired with high functionality and exceptional comfort is required. The variety of fibers can be seen in The LYCRA Company's annual trend collection for legwear.

The elastane is the core of our products and is therefore crucial for the quality of our covered yarns. The second factor that plays a major role is the material with which the elastane is covered. Here too, we only use raw materials (cotton, polyamide, viscose, polyester and wool) of the highest quality. Every raw material that arrives at our goods receipt department is tested in the laboratory.

How does LYCRA® fiber make THE difference?

LYCRA® fiber is available in a wide variety of types and can therefore be the solution for many different end products.

Also, LYCRA® fiber is offered in the largest title range (13dtex - 1880dtex). This allows us to produce the finest covered yarns from 20dtex to very strong yarns of over 2000dtex, which enables us to serve a wide range of end customers.

Whether for fine stockings, socks or RAL-compliant medical products and technical yarns, the customer service of The LYCRA Company is there to help and support. In addition, the company is innovative, advises on development issues and always moves with the times

Investments and innovation are essential for you to meet the continuously increasing demands of your customers for high-quality products. Can you give us a few examples?

We have bought eleven new covering machines this year. These new machines open up almost unlimited possibilities in yarn production for the medical sector, which is our market of the future. Developments can be tested and produced faster on the new machines for medical yarns, which also shortens delivery times.

On the topic of innovation, new LYCRA® fiber technologies allow us to respond to continuously evolving consumer demands with new, improved products. New, for example, is LYCRA® 962L fiber, a fiber technology based on a new polymer that provides improved comfort and fit. This new fiber has been used in a covered version from us, for the new Legwear trend collection. The result is a greater fit tolerance and a customized fit experience for a variety of body shapes within one size.

Keyword sustainability - What is Lederer doing to minimize its ecological footprint?

Our new machines are not only energy-efficient in that they consume significantly less electricity; the four machines for natural fibers can also process natural materials such as cotton and viscose.

The machines purchased specifically for natural fibers make it possible to respond to current market trends, because sustainability is in demand especially in the fashion and activewear sectors and will remain a major topic in the future.

The older machines are being converted in-house to energy-saving IE3 motors and frequency control. In addition, all production halls and warehouses have been converted to LED lighting in recent years.

95% of Lederer’s work is with European suppliers, including some from Germany, in order to shorten transport routes.

We recently achieved our GRS certification and from now on, depending on our customers' needs, we can have our yarns certified. This allows us to offer traceability of the recycled content throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, we offer our customers the option to wrap the yarns in recycled paper. The waste (yarn remnants) is downcycled by turning it into cleaning cloths and filling materials.

LYCRA® is a trademark of The LYCRA Company.