Investment-focused Royo boosts super-strength denim
Taking a material from the aerospace industry, a “crazy” idea became Armalith in the hands of the textiles masterminds at Tejidos Royo. Continued investment at the Spanish mill means the price of the fabric has now been slashed in half.
By anyone’s standard, it takes a lot of courage to be willingly dragged along behind a car with only a pair of jeans between you and the tarmac. But for Pierre-Henry Servajean, owner of Armalith fabric, this was the best way to demonstrate the abrasion resistance and protection offered by his super-strength denim. Influencers, customers and even journalists offered to potentially sacrifice a layer of skin in the name of research. Of course, all tests were done under strict safety conditions, which is particularly important for the stunt riders when comparing Armalith to regular jeans. But the tests also revealed results that the company couldn’t replicate in the lab, according to Mr Servajean. “We discovered that when you fall at 28 kilometres per hour, it feels dangerous,” he tells us. “Some competitors can offer abrasion resistance but, after only a few metres, the skin is burnt. This parameter is not measured by the certification, so it is an extra protection we can prove.”
A ‘Sunday’ biker, Mr Servajean spied a gap in the market for an alternative to biker leathers that enabled cooler and more comfortable outfits and yet offered the same protection. He believed there must be an answer in the textiles world. After patenting the idea in the 2000s, by the early 2010s he began the search for a mill partner “crazy” enough to take on the challenge. “This crazy guy had a great idea and something that was unique, and something that is still unique, and he met our crazy guys in Spain,” Jose Royo, director of Spanish mill Tejidos Royo, tells Inside Denim. “He gave us a very important challenge and we were able to succeed after three years.”
Kevlar and ceramics were considered for the core fibre, but ultimately it was an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) that gave the best results. Compared with Kevlar, UHMWPE is five times more resistant to abrasion, 40% lighter, has 2.5 times greater tensile strength and retains its properties 10 times longer when exposed to UV light, said the company. For these reasons, it is usually used in military and aerospace applications, such as space module re-entry ropes, armour and mooring cables.
The fibre needs specific handling in low temperatures, which called on Royo’s technical know-how to modify its machinery, changing the spinning and weaving processes. The UHMWPE core is covered with a cotton fibre and combined with Lycra dualFX technology, which uses elastane and a polyester bi-component fibre for stretch and comfort. The resulting fabric looks and feels like denim but offers extreme resistance to cuts, traction, tears and abrasion. The high UV resistance preserves its mechanical properties, and although the core is “indestructible”, it can be treated and finished in the same way as conventional denim.
Performance focus
The material is made by Royo’s specialist fabric division, Royotec, which makes performance and protective fabrics for sportswear, workwear, firefighters, heavy industry and the medical sector. Based over four factories in Valenica, the 100 year-old family-run company can spin, dye, weave and finish, giving it control over the finished fabrics.
In 2018, Royo pioneered a foam machine that dyes using almost no water, following a decade of research involving Texas Tech University, machinery maker Gaston and consultancy Indigo Mill Designs. The yarn is fed in at the top of the machine, turning yellow and then blue as it oxidises. The machine is three metres high but only 4.5 metres long, taking up less space than a standard dye bath. It wastes less yarn, too; a standard machine might need 600-800 metres running through once it starts; this machine would need only around 200 metres. A well as using no water, the process uses 65% less energy and 90% fewer chemicals than the standard process. No water also means no wastewater to dispose of – “for me, this is almost more important than saving water,” Mr Royo says. A year after the launch of Dry Indigo, which has been used by companies including Wrangler-owner Kontoor, Royo launched a Dry Black process and, last year, Dry Colors. “This is the only technique that dyes colours with zero water, we can do any colour with no limitations,” Mr Royo tells us. “By 2030, we aim to be a zero-water textile company.”
Royo has recently invested €5 million in a revamped spinning plant that will enable it to broaden its offering. “If we invest in a spinning plant in Europe, it is for one reason: because we believe in the future of textiles,” says Mr Royo. “We have invested this money not because we want to do more volume, on the contrary. What we want to do is the special projects. We want to be the ‘know-how’ company in Europe. Our target is innovation, not volume.”
Long-lasting
Armalith fabric is dyed using Dry Indigo and is available in seven weights or with different performance levels, with target customers including motorcyclists, moped riders and even stuntmen. A new lighter weight has been added for sports applications such as skating, cycling and for use of e-scooters. The lowest level, Mobility, protects against impact abrasion over a distance of four metres or following a fall at 27 km/h; while at the top of the range, Moto GP protects over 56 metres, with bikers reaching speeds of 120km/hour. Armalith’s mechanical qualities are equivalent or superior to the requirements for Moto GP race clothing, said the company, with brands including Belstaff, Harley Davidson and Dainese selecting it to protect their customers.
The added bonus of the abrasion resistance is its durability. Jeans and jackets made with Armalith from French brand Bolid’ster, also owned by Mr Servajean, have a 10-year guarantee. The longer they last, the fewer that have to be made, points out Mr Royo: “We need to leave the land for food and not for cotton.” Next up will be a version made with recycled cotton – although this could be five years away, Mr Royo admits, such is the performance demanded of the fabric.
“There are a lot of price-driven fabrics and garments in the market, but we are investing money into smart textiles, recycled textiles, regenerative cotton textiles and to make durable fabrics. There will always be somebody cheaper than you – first it was China, then Bangladesh and tomorrow it will be somewhere else. With the cost of energy and manufacturing in Europe, it is very difficult to compete on price, so we’re trying to be different, and when you have something unique, people are willing to pay a little bit more. That’s why we’re so focused on research and development.”
Royo’s investments in its processes and practices have benefitted not only the environment but also the cost. The price of Armalith has been cut almost in half since it was initially launched, because of the improvements in the manufacturing processes. And what about the wearers, skating around parks, cycling on dirt tracks or speeding along roads and circuits? “Every season we get feedback from riders who have fallen off their bikes,” says Mr Servajean. It’s likely they would say losing a limb, or even a life, would be a high price to pay; not the cost of the fabric.
