Types

• DuPont produces a fiber made from corn known as Sorona, while NatureWorks produces another corn-based fiber called Ingeo. These fibers produce clothing of all types, including shirts, pants, intimate apparel and outerwear.
  
  

Benefits

• Unlike synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon, corn-based fibers use natural corn to manufacture them, not petrochemicals from crude oil. The fabric made from corn-based fibers is biodegradable, hypoallergenic, moisture wicking, quick drying, resistant to bacteria, has low odor retention, and is wrinkle-resistant, according to the NatureWorks and DuPont websites.
  
  

Manufacturing

• Manufacturers use the starchy part of the corn kernel that contains glucose to produce corn-based fibers. They extract the glucose, ferment it to turn it into lactic acid, convert the acid into a polymer to create pellets, and finally, spin the pellets into fibers, say both the DuPont and NatureWorks websites. The process emits 50 percent less greenhouse gases than the manufacturing of traditional petrochemical based fibers, according to an April 2006 article by Terri Gruca from WCCO television.