A manufactured fiber of regenerated cellulose, made by dissolving wood pulp and spinning it back into filaments; US labels may call it rayon.
Viscose is plant cellulose, usually from wood, re-formed into fiber. In the US Environmental Protection Agency’s description, wood cellulose reacts with sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide, is dissolved into a viscose solution, and is extruded through spinnerets into dilute sulfuric acid, which regenerates it as filaments.
Viscose and rayon are one fiber. The FTC’s Textile Rules define rayon as “A manufactured fiber composed of regenerated cellulose”, and the FTC notes that “the ISO standard uses the name viscose for the predominant form of rayon”, allowing either. Lyocell, made so that “no chemical intermediates are formed”, is a rayon that may carry its own name; modal, also regenerated cellulose, is another ISO name the FTC accepts.
The FTC notes that most textiles sold as bamboo “really are rayon, which typically is made using environmentally toxic chemicals in a process that emits hazardous pollutants into the air.” The conservation group Canopy works with brands and fiber producers to keep ancient and endangered forests out of textiles.
In job listings
Viscose is named in textile production roles. At one silk mill, production team leads and night-shift supervisors need knowledge of their raw materials, silk and viscose, and of those fibers’ properties, and experience of the twisting trades and their machinery. See current viscose roles.
