History

Polyester technology licensing agreement with Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. (ICI, of the U.K.).

In February 1957, together with Teikoku Rayon Co., Ltd. (now Teijin Limited), we jointly signed a technology licensing agreement for polyester with ICI in the U.K., and in April 1958 the construction of our Mishima Plant was completed. The polyester fiber TETORON™ (a trademark shared with Teijin) has strength similar to nylon with superior wear-resistance and wrinkle-recovery properties. We pioneered the market for staple fibers (short fibers) blended with cotton, starting with applications for dress shirts. We also spearheaded applications for filaments (long fibers), ranging from apparel, industrial materials, interiors, sleepwear and bed linens to kimonos using the modified cross-section silky-touch polyester material SILLOOK™. In 1959, we started marketing the polyester film LUMIRROR™, which then achieved rapid growth in the 1970s and 1980s, primarily in home-video applications.