Performance wear is, by definition, expected to withstand whatever gets thrown at it. But many of the qualities consumers have come to expect from performance wear — stretch and recovery, water repellence, moisture-wicking, and odor control — typically rely on synthetic fibers and potentially harmful chemical coatings, membranes, and treatments. Now, brands and fiber producers such as Lenzing, Ridestore, and Hyosung are attempting to move the needle by pursuing the same level of performance with natural or naturally derived fibers and safer, certified chemistry. But can they scale?
The call for less toxic performance wear is coming from multiple angles. Regulators globally are closing in on the use of harmful substances such as PFAS (known as ‘forever chemicals’ for their ability to persist in the environment), which have been widely used for water- and stain-proofing. Customers are increasingly following the mantra “clothing is skincare” — paying closer attention to the chemical and fiber makeup of their clothes, and the potential implications for their skin, the body’s largest organ. In turn, retailers are responding with promises of ‘clean fashion’, a difficult one to uphold, stemming from the equally complex ‘clean beauty’ movement.
It’s no easy feat. To create non-toxic performance wear, brands need to go back to basics and rethink their products from the ground up. It can take years of iteration to even begin to meet the standards set by existing performance staples.
Take Tera Mira, a bio-based elastane startup and one of H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award winners for 2026. The company, founded in 2025, uses seaweed as feedstock for a fossil fuel-free elastane alternative. “We’ve got a lot of inbound interest from underwear and sportswear brands,” says co-founder and CEO Jeanne Bégon-Lours. Yet there’s still a long way to go until it can appear in products. While synthetic elastane can stretch up to 500%, Tera Mira is currently working with a stretch range of 50% to 100%, says Bégon-Lours. Pilots on industrial spinning lines are expected in 2027, and the company is aiming to license its technology to spinners in 2028 or 2029 for availability at scale. This all depends on reaching a defined formulation, shoring up feedstock supplies, and ensuring the final product withstands tests for strength, stretch, and recovery, as well as on factors that haven’t yet been tested, such as washing.
Elastane usually accounts for just a few percent of a garment’s makeup. A non-toxic, or less toxic, product requires that, plus many other layers of innovation coming together, from new waterproofing technology to plastic-free zippers. Here, three early movers in the space tell us what it takes to make non-toxic performance wear happen at scale.
The (almost) plastic-free windbreaker: Armedangels and Lenzing
The new (nearly) plastic-free windbreaker from Armedangels took a five-way collaboration to bring to life, although director of impact and innovation Julia Kirschner describes the process as co-development rather than collaboration.
Johannes Fürst, co-founder and managing director of Montebelo (a solutions provider for sustainable supply chains), came on board early to help develop the product. As did Lenzing, the Austrian cellulosic fiber producer responsible for materials such as Tencel and Ecovero, which are certified by several major organizations, including the EU Ecolabel and Oeko-Tex, for attributes including safe chemistry, responsible forestry, natural origins, and biodegradability. “We work very closely with brand partners to support them on a fiber level in different development stages,” says Manuela Gesslbauer, head of global brand partnerships at Lenzing.
Lenzing didn’t have an existing material with a dense enough weave to meet the windbreaker’s technical requirements, so the team had to create one. Fürst tapped Taiwanese mill HerMin to help with development, as it specializes in natural functional fabrics and has expertise in dense weaves — precisely what is needed to keep wind out. Collaborating with spinners in HerMin’s network — alongside Lenzing technicians who could advise on the properties of the wood pulp-based fiber and the optimal fiber length for the required strength — the team developed a 100% Tencel Lycocell ripstop fabric.
