Austin puts the squeeze on polyester

Ouch baby, very ouch, there's a world polyester crisis. Once reviled as a Seventies fashion disaster synonymous with bell bottoms and kipper ties, the sheeny feel of polyester has once again captured the imagination of hip young things everywhere.

The problem is, just too many cats are buying it.

Suppliers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - that's polyester to me and you, babe - just aren't able to cope with soaring demand sparked by the popularity of the retro look.

If there's one dude to blame for this it's Austin Powers, that international man of mystery and bad taste, whose penchant for loud suits and louder shirts has transformed high street clothes racks.

Unless production increases dramatically, experts believe supplies of polyester could dry up altogether by 2008.

Best known as the crucial ingredient in Terylene easy-iron shirts and Crimplene non-crease slacks, the fabric has come a long way since the Sixties.

Once starchy and uncomfortable, today's polyester can, according to manufacturers, be processed to feel soft and silky.

The material is also found in plastic bottles, clingfilm, photographic film, food packaging and mattresses.

One manufacturer, DuPont, has gone so far as to describe the material as "truly a miracle of modern science - the cornerstone of a complex, highly integrated network of businesses and alliances."

As DuPont's publicity material puts it: "From sleeping bags and mattresses to pillows and cushions, from smart cards and printed circuits to hi-tech sportswear, from labels and safety films to electrical insulation and capacitors, polyester touches virtually every part of people's lives - every day."

Polyester is particularly popular in Asia and some experts believe an increase in demand from that continent alone could add to the likelihood of a worldwide shortage.

Or as Austin Powers might say: "Very shagadelic."

But now a British company claims to have come up with a solution to the impending polyester shortage.

The swinger has landed and that swinger is Synetix, part of the ICI group. Scientists at the firm say they have developed a cleaner and faster method of producing the material. The company claims a more efficient titanium catalyst could increase productivity by 15 per cent.

A spokesman said: "Polyester is a victim of its own success. It used to be thought of as starchy and uncomfortable, but today it can be processed so that it feels soft, rather like a peach skin. What we are doing is offering the industry a new technology that can increase productivity."

Synetix promises "superior colour and purity" and "higher output through reduced reaction times".

That may not mean much to dedicated followers of fashion, but it will mean lots more polyester shirts, ties and slacks on racks. Of course some people will be horrified at the prospect of the return of the Crimplene look. For them it evokes memories of sweating through parties where warm sweet German white wine and cocktail sausages with pineapple chunks where the height of culinary sophistication and KC and the Sunshine Band the sound to groove to.

But while Austin Powers is doing his thing, polyester shirts will be up there with Evisu jeans as hot fashion icons. There is even a Seventies tribute band called Polyester whose gigs in Hoboken, New Jersey - birthplace of Frank Sinatra - have attracted a cult following.

So baby, grab a polyester shirt, hop on the good foot and do the bad thing.