Who is Bionic? By Andrea Hernandez

"Stronger thread, greater good" is the motto the Bionic Yarn team lives by when curating new and innovative ways to improve the conditions of our environment through fashion. Tim Coombs and Tyson Taussant, co-founders of Bionic and Return Textiles, began as two fashion entrepreneurs with a start up backpack company on the upper east side. From there, their eyes were opened when they began to stumbled upon other fashion brands who had been instilling recycled fibers into their products and something clicked. Since then, they have been able to cultivate a new powerhouse of a brand producing new yarns made of recycled plastic in which they have now collaborated with various brands like Chanel, G-Star, and Timberland, Ralph Lauren, and more.

Who are they really? Defined as a mission driven material engineering company, Bionic, who began operating in 2002, has created 3 new styles of yarn in which they produce various products from denim jackets, to backpacks, to blazers. FLX, HLX, and DPX are the three yarns Bionic focuses on for perfecting the cycle of production in the fashion industry. FLX, as stated on their website is, "a filament yarn formed by heating and spinning dozens of (recovered plastic/RPET) filaments into a durable yearn" and has the ability of "UV resistant, flame resistant, moisture wicking, and anti-bacterial variations." HLX consists of RPET but the difference here is that it also contains helix/natural or synthetic fibers as the outer coating of the RPET. The qualities for this thread include, "enhanced strength, flame resistant, Anti-microbial, and moisture wicking." Lastly we have DPX yarn. This yarn is made up of a blend rather than a coating of RPET and helix/natural or synthetic fibers for a unique soft texture. These three yarns that Bionic has created with recycled and natural materials, is and has been changing the industry for the better.

Aside from all of the amazing innovative work that Bionic has done in creating these yarns, they also go bigger than just engineering. They go by the logic that they are human first and technology second. This is an idea that many engineering brands look past. Bionic has organized beach clean ups where they collect much of the plastic in which they will reuse, as well as from restaurants and schools. They have also done many collaborations with singer Pharell, who has been able to help the brand reach a wider range of people and create a buzz about what is happening within the company and the industry. With a company such as Bionic, which work in the background stages of what consumers see, it is important to get word around about what is being done and what companies who aren't instilling these technological fiber can be doing. Bionic is just touching the surface of all that they can and will be doing in the future not just for fashion but for our planet as well. At the end of the day, yes, they are a mission driven material engineering company but bigger than that, they are creative minds with goals and aspirations that are bigger than fashion.