US nylon producer Invista has announced it is considering whether to sell its apparel & advanced textiles business, which includes the well-known brands of Lycra and Coolmax. The Koch Industries’ subsidiary has retained US-based finance company Goldman Sachs to assist in exploring strategic alternatives.

“A key element of our market-based management business philosophy is to continuously assess the external value of our assets against our internal value to make sure that the asset is owned by the company that values it most highly,” explained Jeff Gentry, Invista chairman and CEO.

While noting that the apparel business is part of Invista’s strategic portfolio, Gentry said the company is considering all available options. “In the event that no other company values the business more than we do, we will gladly hold the business and continue to invest for the future,” he stated.

In August 2016, Invista launched its next-generation Lycra technology for sportswear. The company said Lycra Sport covers a broad spectrum of fabrics for soft control, yoga-type applications to high-compression uses such as running and cycling.

The company also agreed last September to sell its engineering polymer solutions business to Radici Group, boosting the Italian firm’s share of the global nylon market.