Memory becomes muse in annual runway show

Nostalgia was king at the 42nd annual Cornell Fashion Collective (CFC) Spring Runway Show, complete with a crown.

Collections at the March 21 show in Barton Hall paid homage to well-loved storybooks and designers’ childhood memories and cultural backgrounds. A total of 42 students showed their work, including nine seniors who designed full collections.

“Nostalgia is my favorite feeling,” said Madison Feely ’26, a fashion design management major in the College of Human Ecology (CHE), who referenced childhood classics including “Where the Wild Things Are” (with an illustrated sweater and crocheted crown), “Little Women,” “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” in her collection, “Homebody.” “My designs celebrate a well-lived and well-loved childhood, honoring the authors and illustrators who allow me to relive it each time I open their books.”

For the past two years, Feely has been the student assistant for the Shima Seiki knitting machine, gaining experience with knit programming and knitwear design. She paired the machine knit pieces with labor-intensive crochet and hand-pieced quilting techniques. She also made matching earrings out of Shrinky Dink paper.

ERWO Holding AG and Hoftex Group AG: New CFO

ERWO Holding AG (“ERWO Holding”), holding company of the Südwolle Group, a leading manufacturer of worsted yarns, as well as main shareholder of Hoftex Group AG (“Hoftex Group”), a group of medium-sized companies in the textile industry, have announced the appointment of a new member to their Management Board: With effect from 1 April 2026, Dr David Meyer will become CFO on the Management Board of both companies. This position has recently been vacant, with the finance division being managed on an interim basis by CEO Manuela Spörl.

Major expansion for ACG Kinna follows record year

In response to growing demand for its full textile and finished product line automation services, ACG Kinna – a member of TMAS, the Swedish textile machinery association – has inaugurated a 1,000-square-metre expansion at its headquarters in Skene, Sweden.

“Following a number of acquisitions in recent years, we needed to either relocate or expand, and opted to remain here in Skene,” explains Sales and Marketing Manager Tomas Aspenskog. “The expansion is directly connected to our existing headquarters and is enabling us to relocate some staff to this centralised location, as well as providing plenty of additional specialised assembly space. It will improve logistics for us and simplify and speed up operations for the company, our suppliers and our customers.”

Automation benefits
ACG Kinna had a record year in 2025 as manufacturers of pillows and duvets for the home furnishings sector are increasingly recognising the benefits of full automation. 

Real-world lab for sustainable textile production: Textilfabrik 7.0 launched

With the official kick-off event of the Textilfabrik 7.0 (T7), a major transformation project for the German textile and apparel industry has been launched in the Monforts Quarter in Mönchengladbach. At the “Textile Roundtable,” an event format organized by the Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier, representatives from industry, research, politics, and the regional economy came together to jointly lay the foundation for CO₂-neutral, circular, and economically viable textile production in Germany.

The textile and fashion industry worldwide faces major challenges: around ten percent of global CO₂ emissions are attributed to it. At the same time, companies in Germany are under considerable competitive pressure. Textilfabrik 7.0 addresses precisely this intersection by bringing together research institutions, industry, and regional stakeholders to accelerate the transfer of innovative technologies and production processes into industrial application.

New BCG and ReHubs Report: Scale Textile-to-Textile Recyclinge

A new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and ReHubs, titled “Advancing Textile Circularity – Europe’s textile waste challenge: Scaling Textile-to-Textile requires enabling mechanisms”, highlights the urgent need for systemic action to tackle Europe’s growing textile waste and scale a circular textile economy. 

The report establishes the first harmonized fact base on textile waste in Europe. It finds that Europe generates around 15.2 million tonnes of textile waste every year, including 13.3 million tonnes of post-consumer waste. However, only a small share of this waste is collected and sorted for recycling, leaving most textile waste outside recycling systems. 

As a result, textile-to-textile recycling currently represents less than 1% of post-consumer textile waste in Europe. At the same time, waste volumes continue to rise rapidly. Without decisive action, Europe’s textile waste could reach the equivalent of around 80 football stadiums filled with discarded textiles every year by 2035.

Gartex Texprocess India Mumbai

As India’s textile and apparel industry continues to expand its global footprint while adapting to evolving manufacturing technologies and sustainability priorities, Gartex Texprocess India Mumbai incorporating the Denim Show will bring together the apparel and garment manufacturing value chain from 9 – 11 April 2026, at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai. 

The exhibition will serve as a platform for the machinery manufacturers, technology providers, fabric suppliers, textile printers and accessories suppliers to connect, explore innovations and strengthen business collaborations across the textile and garment manufacturing ecosystem.

SHIMA SEIKI at Techtextil 2026

Textile technology solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan, along with its Italian subsidiary SHIMA SEIKI ITALIA S.p.A., will be participating in the Techtextil 2026 exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany next month. On display will be WHOLEGARMENT® and other advanced threedimensional knitting applications across a wide range of industries besides fashion apparel that are not typically associated with knitting, such as technical textiles using industrial materials and advanced threedimensional knitting. 
 

ITM 2026: Barmag and Rieter to exhibit together

For the first time, Barmag is presenting itself alongside its new parent company, Rieter: At this year’s ITM in Istanbul, both companies will be represented from June 9 to 13 at the Tüyap Fair Convention and Congress Center.

As a technology leader in the field of chemical fiber equipment, Barmag will showcase its entire portfolio of systems for filament yarn, staple fiber, and nonwoven production, as well as solutions for the networked factory. 

Outlast: Cooling Technology for Cotton and Viscose

Outlast Technologies has expanded its fresh2SKIN® cooling technology to cellulose-based fibers such as cotton and viscose, enabling brands to combine natural materials with a re-freshing cooling effect and long-lasting thermal comfort.

The latest development allows fresh2SKIN® to be applied while maintaining an exceptionally natural and soft handfeel. The finish is virtually imperceptible on the textile, preserving the smooth, flexible character that consumers expect from cotton and viscose fabrics.

What consumers experience instead is the benefit: an immediate, pleasantly cool sensation when the fabric touches the skin. Unlike many textile technologies that remain invisible to the con-sumer, fresh2SKIN® provides a cooling experience that can be felt immediately, for example when trying on a T-shirt equipped with the technology.

3D-printed metamaterials that stretch and fail by design

Metamaterials — materials whose properties are primarily dictated by their internal microstructure, and not their chemical makeup — have been redefining the engineering materials space for the last decade. To date, however, most metamaterials have been lightweight options designed for stiffness and strength.

New research from the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering introduces a computational design framework to support the creation of a new class of soft, compliant, and deformable metamaterials. These metamaterials, termed 3D woven metamaterials, consist of building blocks that are composed of intertwined fibers that self-contact and entangle to endow the material with unique properties.

“Soft materials are required for emerging engineering challenges in areas such as soft robotics, biomedical devices, or even for wearable devices and functional textiles,” explains Carlos Portela, the Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor and associate professor of mechanical engineering.