A bill passed by the US Congress last week has extended the window of opportunity for TenCate Protective Fabrics USA to continue to supply its flame resistant Defender M fabrics for US military uniforms.

The bill includes an extension until 2015 of the existing waiver under the US Berry Amendment with regard to the import of flame-resistant (FR) rayon fibres into the United States. The original exemption was due to expire in 2013.

The US Berry Amendment requires the US Department of Defense to procure textiles, food, and specialty metal products that are manufactured in the United States only, including raw materials such as fibres. Defender M fabrics use a blend of fibres which includes FR rayon fibres from Lenzing AG in Austria.

The waiver thus allows the flame-resistant fabrics produced for the US military uniforms to be ‘entirely produced in the United States’.  TenCate Protective Fabrics USA says it has created about 10,000 American jobs as a result of the Defender M programme and a large number of American suppliers are involved in the production of fabrics and uniforms.

TenCate Protective Fabrics USA, based in Union City, Georgia, says the new waiver underlines the strategic importance of the fibre to meet the demand for high quality flame-resistant fabrics for American uniforms, which offer US soldiers maximum protection. Moreover, it says, the extended waiver is “important for the US textile industry for being capable of delivering substantial volumes with a high degree of reliability.”

 The company says it has achieved fourth quarter 2010 turnover of TenCate Defender M products in line with its forecast of approximately US$ 60 million, more than double that achieved in 2009. TenCate expects similar growth to continue at least until the third quarter of 2011 and sales of protective fabrics for the US Military in the first quarter of this year are expected to be about the same level as in the fourth quarter of 2010.