Lurex

What is Lurex?

Lurex is a synthetic material. It's a polyester yarn coated with a metallic layer, either aluminum, silver or gold. Due to its shiny, sparkling appearance, it is often used to add sparkle to fabrics and sewing threads. Lurex yarns are rarely used on their own, and are often combined with other materials such as wool or cotton. Lurex is used to make everything from evening gowns to socks. Manufactured since 1946, Lurex was originally created as a low-cost alternative to silk threads dipped in gold thousands of years ago in China and Egypt. Although it's a registered trademark, today the term Lurex refers to any shiny fabric. In addition to its sparkle, Lurex has the significant advantage of being stable and resistant to wear.

Where does Lurex come from?

Today Lurex was originally made in London. Today it's made all over the world: Italy, France, England, Benin etc...

Material transformation processes

The manufacturing process is very simple. All that's required is to incorporate metal wires into a fiber backing ( polyester or nylon most of the time). Various metals can be used, such as aluminum, silver and gold. The wires can vary in thickness and gloss, giving the finished product a different appearance. Alternatively, the metallic layer is simply sprayed directly onto the polyester thread, giving it its characteristic shine.

Is Lurex compatible with ethical and responsible fashion?

As a general rule, Lurex is not compatible with ethical and responsible fashion. This is mainly due to its composition. Lurex is made from metallic threads such as aluminum, silver and gold. These metals involve a significant use of natural resources, especially water and energy to extract and process them.

Its production also has a high environmental impact. It involves a metallization process that generates waste and chemicals that are potentially toxic for the environment. The dyeing and finishing processes are also polluting.
Because of its composition, which combines synthetic fibers and metal wires, recycling Lurex is highly complex. Indeed, separating these components poses technical problems, making recycling very difficult.

But to deal with these problems, some manufacturers are trying to reduce the ecological footprint of this material. For example, they use recycled polyester as a carrier for their metallized fiber. However, the percentage of recycled polyester is never indicated on the manufacturers' sites, so we can never really know how much the fabric's footprint is reduced or not.

Another option would be to prioritize the purchase of Lurex garments from second hand or from our Eco x ception selection.

How to care for Lurex

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Lurex is a hard-wearing material. It stands up well to machine washing and exposure to light.
Then it all depends on the material with which the Lurex has been mixed. Follow the advice on the label.
Lurex made from cotton, for example, is easy to machine-wash at 30°. However, Lurex doesn't like heat, so don't try to iron it.


Find our favorites in women's lurex