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Outside Magazine November 2001

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Innovations
Greenfleece
Cargill Dow's eco-friendly fleece sounds good enough to eat. But there's a catch.
By Tom Price

First it was recycled pop bottles, now it's leftovers from the Jolly Green Giant. In the never-ending quest to be more enviro-friendly than thou, Minnetonka, Minnesota-based fiber company Cargill Dow has figured out how to extract sugars from corn and spin them into warm, worthy fleece.

At first glance, it's hard not to love the stuff. Cargill Dow claims its new NatureWorks fiber is just as comfy and affordable as old-fashioned fuzz. Plus, independent studies have found it wicks better than other performance polyesters, and retains one-quarter less BO. And, unlike synthetic fleece, NatureWorks is biodegradable. Bored with last season's jacket? Just toss it on your compost pile. All this from a process that Cargill Dow says uses up to 50 percent less oil than regular poly—a fact that last year prompted the UK office of Greenpeace to release an oblique product endorsement.

But wait, there's controversy! Greenpeace recently chalked its endorsement up to a misunderstanding—it turns out much of the corn in question was genetically engineered, and the group doesn't support any products made with GE foods. "Kellogg's is making Frankenfood," cracks Greenpeace spokesman Craig Culp, "and now Cargill Dow is making Frankenfleece." Outdoor apparel makers don't seem so sure either. This month, Cargill Dow will finish work on a Nebraska factory capable of producing 300 million pounds of cornified fleece a year, but at press time it had yet to receive its first order.

Still, since the stuff is made from corn, we couldn't help but wonder: If you were stuck on El Cap waiting out a storm, could you smear your sleeve with a little butter for an emergency snack? Vicki Bousman, a fleece maven at Cargill Dow says...maybe.

"But I wouldn't recommend it."

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