▲ Lark Industries / CEO Jeongyeop Kim

ESG(Environmental, Social and Corporation Governance) is no longer an option for companies and organizations but necessary unless they do not care about climate change, government support and smart consumers. Companies in all sectors of industries are finding ways to provide products and services that are environmentally and socially good amid the campaign spreading worldwide. 

Lark Industries is a felt maker. Felt is used to make cushions, filters, diapers and many more. Because felt is commonly made of synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or wood pulp-based rayon, it is received not as eco-friendly. The masks made with part of felt, for example, can be hard to dispose. 

“We are well aware of this. Backed by our excellent researchers, we are thinking of PLA(Poly Lactic Acid), a biodegradable resin. In order to gain that, we need to extract glucose from cornstarch and ripen it and refine it and make it into lactic acid. Though eco-friendly, the unit price is very high because the whole extracting and processing requires time, labor and cost. The second option is PBAT (Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate). Though gained from extraction from fossil fuel, it is biodegradable under certain conditions. Once taking its way, it is biodegraded in the similar period to PLA.” says  CEO Jeongyeop Kim. 

Lark Industries’ R&D for new and eco-friendly fabrics attracted a great attention from numerous exhibitions home and abroad. The company  participated in the IDEA 2022, the world’s preeminent event for nonwovens and engineering fabrics, alongside 450 participants, and wowed industry experts with its enhanced and functional felt. 

“We observed that many companies attracted a attention with eco-friendly fabrics during the exhibition and it was a time for us to keep pushing forward our R&D in order not to be a chaser.” says Kim.

Lark Industries won the $1 Million Export Tower in 2005, $10 Million Export Tower in 2010, Export Hidden Champion in 2012, Global Hidden Champion in 2019 and Top Company of Gimcheon in 2020. <PowerKorea>