Fighting Cellulite with Cosmetotextiles

By: Katie Schaefer, Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine

Posted: August 28, 2009, from the September 2009 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

Cellulite affects nearly all women and some men for most of their lives. In the past few decades, the personal care industry has responded by designing anticellulite gels and lotions to topically reduce its appearance. Cellulite-fighting ingredients today include lotus, algae and seaweed extracts^a, to name a few, and anticellulite benefits have expanded into treatments, self-tanners and sun care, among others.

Mirroring cosmetic chemists’ work, the garment industry has approached the same battle with textiles that constrict “troubled areas,” such as the buttocks and thighs, to make them appear smaller. Only recently, however, did the cosmetics and garment industries join forces to target cellulite on both fronts—enter Lytess, a France-based shape-wear company. Lytess entered the market in 2002 with slimming tights and has since launched a number of garments that incorporate embedded, microencapsulated ingredients that are released as the garments are worn, according to Philippe Lahamani, president of Capital & Commercial Ventures Inc., US distributor of Lytess.

Building a Cosmetotextile
Lytess has developed more than 20 shape-wear products. The Orange Peel line of micro-massaging garments, for example, includes sleeves, shorts, capris, a top and leggings and are designed to target cellulite with a double-knit fiber of 92% polyamide and 8% elastane. According to Lahmani, the fibers are engineered to stimulate blood flow and are dosed with actives before being spun and dyed. “This process binds the ingredients to the fibers in a similar way to glue,” explained Lahmani.

Encapsulated and woven into the fabric of the Orange Peel line is a blend^b of propylene glycol diethylhexanoate (and) Gelidium cartilagineum extract—a lipolytic and firming agent created with 1.5% active sterol. This ingredient, in addition to the fabric’s micro-circulation effect, helps to reduce the appearance of cellulite. In addition, to provide comfort to consumers wearing the garments, moisturizing ingredients are included—elemi resin, for instance, which according to Lahmani also has a firming effect. Sweet almond and mango butter are also said to moisturize while copaiba accelerates moisturization. Other shape-wear garments by the company include caffeine and shea butter, claimed to slim and moisturize. The company also offers products such as gloves that moisturize with sweet almond oil, jeans lined with red vine to tone the skin, green tea to mobilize fat, and peach oil to moisturize.

Most of the garments have undergone clinical testing, according to the company’s Web site, and although the details are not provided, tests on skin, size reduction, profilometry and self-evaluation were reportedly conducted by an ISO 9001-certified laboratory specializing in the in vivo efficacy of dermo-cosmetic products.