From the Sector

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber, yarn and fabrics to finished sewn products, applauded the launch of the House Berry Amendment Caucus. 

Statement from National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas

“On behalf of the U.S textile industry, NCTO sincerely thanks Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-NC) and Rep. Don Davis (D-NC) for their leadership in co-chairing the new bipartisan House Berry Amendment Caucus, aimed at strengthening national security and the U.S. defense industrial supply chain through the federal procurement of American-made mission critical clothing, textiles and gear. 

“NCTO strongly supports this new caucus to promote and expand the Berry Amendment, a law requiring the Department of War (DOW) to buy textile and clothing products made with virtually 100% U.S. content and labor to support our U.S. warm industrial base. 

“The U.S. textile industry provides $1.8 billion of high-tech and functional components for vital uniforms and equipment for our armed forces each year. The Department of War estimates that over 8,000 different textile items are purchased for use by the U.S. military—and over 30,000 line items when individual sizes are considered.

“It is vital to America’s national security that the U.S. military maintain the ability to source high-quality, innovative textile materials, apparel, and personal equipment from a vibrant U.S. textile industrial base and key to this goal is defending and strengthening the Berry Amendment.

“We look forward to working with the new caucus’ leadership and our industry partners to focus congressional efforts on preserving the Berry Amendment and expanding opportunities for U.S. textile manufacturers, safeguarding domestic supply chains, and ensuring our troops continue to receive innovative, high-quality American-made products.”

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc., a global leader in spider silk technology*, announced that its 2026 production plan has officially moved from strategy to execution.
 
The Company has now moved bio-material to incubation, getting a jumpstart on its March production plan and formally initiating its multi-ton spider silk scale-up initiative.
 
This milestone follows Kraig’s recently announced 2026 production schedule. This aggressive plan is set to achieve sustained monthly production of recombinant spider silk cocoons at unprecedented commercial volumes. With the release of the first wave of production materials now complete, Kraig Labs has activated its expanded manufacturing pipeline and commenced field-level implementation.
 
"This is the moment where planning becomes production," said Kim Thompson, Kraig Labs CEO and Founder. "Our 2026 roadmap was built around disciplined expansion, operational efficiency, and multi-ton output. Today, that roadmap is in motion. Bio-materials have recently been moved to incubation in preparation for the March production run."
 
The March production run represents the first major deployment under the Company's 2026 plan. The initiative is designed to drive consistent output at levels never before seen, while reinforcing quality control, supply chain stability, and downstream processing capacity.
 
By initiating this production cycle, Kraig Labs is delivering on its commitment, creating the world's first reliable, repeatable, and scalable commercial spider silk manufacturing. The Company's vertically integrated model enables rapid deployment of materials, controlled expansion of silkworm rearing operations, and alignment with future customer demand.
 
"Our focus is clear," Thompson continued. "Execution. Volume. Commercialization. Every production cycle strengthens our position as the global leader in recombinant spider silk."
 
Kraig Labs expects this March run to set the pace for subsequent production cycles throughout 2026, forming the foundation for sustained monthly metric-ton-level spider silk production.

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) has published a new insights paper, Unpacking Pay Equity in Fashion: Türkiye, examining the drivers of gender pay disparities in one of Europe’s most important fashion sourcing hubs. Launched during a closed-door industry roundtable at the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector in Paris, the insights paper explores how structural factors, including occupational segregation, care responsibilities, and limited data visibility, continue to shape pay outcomes for women in Türkiye’s textile and apparel sector, while highlighting opportunities for coordinated action across policy makers, brands, other buyers, and suppliers.

The insights paper draws on a facility-level survey of 43 Turkish textile and apparel manufacturers, interviews with trade unions and worker associations, and input from social sustainability experts including the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), the Fair Labor Association (FLA), and the Anker Research Institute (ARI). The findings offer a nuanced picture of pay equity in a sector that employs nearly one million formally registered workers and contributes approximately 7.8% of Türkiye’s national GDP.

Key Findings:
Unpacking Pay Equity in Fashion: Türkiye highlights several key insights into pay equity within the Turkish fashion manufacturing industry:

• Türkiye’s gender pay gap is estimated at between 15.6% and 17.4%. The EU average is around 12%. The insights paper cautions, however, that headline pay gap figures alone can mask deeper structural inequalities within the sector.
• Gender pay disparities are driven largely by structural factors rather than unequal pay for the same work, including occupational segregation, differences in career progression opportunities, cultural norms, access to training, and the distribution of care responsibilities.
• Women remain concentrated in lower-paid production, sewing and quality control roles, while men are more prevalent in higher-paid technical and supervisory positions – a key driver of persistent pay inequalities.
• The insights paper finds that limited measurement and disclosure of gender-disaggregated wage data continues to hinder companies’ ability to identify where inequality sits – and therefore to address it effectively.
• Ongoing economic pressures, including inflation and rising production costs, have placed sustained strain on the sector. Despite this, many manufacturers are making concerted efforts to maintain formal employment, comply with labour laws and protect jobs, demonstrating resilience in challenging conditions.

Closing gender pay gaps is not only a social imperative but a business one. Improving pay equity can strengthen workforce morale, retention and long-term resilience, while supporting alignment with evolving EU regulatory and buyer expectations. As EU pay transparency and due diligence requirements increasingly affect global supply chains, brands sourcing from Türkiye require greater visibility into wage practices across their supply chains.

Federica Marchionni, CEO of Global Fashion Agenda, says: “Pay equity is fundamental to build a fair and resilient fashion industry. This research shows that gender pay gaps in Türkiye’s fashion manufacturing sector are real, but they are also addressable. As progress depends on coordinated actions – from policymakers strengthening enabling frameworks, to brands adopting responsible purchasing practices, and suppliers embedding transparent, gender-responsive wage systems that reflect the realities of women’s working lives – GFA will continue to accelerate impact by mobilising the industry toward a more resilient future.”

The insights paper outlines practical recommendations for policymakers, brands, other buyers and suppliers. These include expanding access to childcare and parental support, strengthening formal employment and oversight of subcontracting, improving gender-disaggregated pay reporting, adopting responsible purchasing practices, and investing in women’s skills development and leadership pathways. Collectively, these actions can strengthen Türkiye’s manufacturing base, enhance women’s economic participation, and advance the fashion industry towards a net-positive future in which pay equity is a lived reality.

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas sent a letter House leaders urging them to oppose and block the Secure Revenue Clearance Channel Act, a bill that would essentially reopen a dangerous trade loophole and ultimately harm U.S. textile manufacturers.

“Last year through bipartisan action, Congress voted overwhelmingly to end de minimis after identifying the substantial harms it perpetrated,” Glas states in the letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (D-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). “The House China Select Committee determined in 2023 that Chinese e-commerce platforms were flooding the U.S. with billions of dollars’ worth of goods but had paid $0 in import duties, while American companies comparatively spent millions. Additionally, these platforms were found lacking in due diligence mechanisms to verify that products were not tainted by forced labor in China.”

Last year, Congress passed bipartisan legislation codifying the end of de minimis, effective July 2027. The Trump administration also took action to close de minimis to all commercial shipments globally through executive order, which took effect at the end of August 2025.

“As a result, the volume of small package deliveries has dramatically decreased, duty collections are up, and American consumers and workers are better off,” the letter states.

“Despite clear action from Congress and the administration on the negative impact of express shipment programs for ‘small value’ packages at U.S. ports, some still want to provide duty relief to foreign importers while requiring less information on packages valued at up to $600 — making enforcement impossible and rewarding offshore producers,” the letter continues. “De minimis was labeled ‘China’s backdoor to the U.S.,’ facilitated by an environment where goods were cleared on manifest, packages were not properly inspected or levied duties, and the risk posed was extremely high. The Secure Revenue Clearance Channel Act would recreate many of these same problems, with China being the biggest winner.”

EURATEX, representing the European textile and fashion industry, joins the Antwerp Declaration Community’s call on EU Heads of State and Government to adopt emergency measures that restore industrial competitiveness and deliver tangible results for Europe’s manufacturing base in 2026.

The call was made at the European Industry Summit, which brought together over 500 business leaders, 30 factory workers, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, under the auspices of Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. Senior EU leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, as well as Executive Vice-Presidents Teresa Ribera and Stéphane Séjourné, and Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, also joined the discussions — underscoring the growing political urgency of Europe’s industrial competitiveness crisis.

The European Industry Summit urged a coordinated package focused on:

• Reducing energy and carbon costs to restore competitiveness; 
• Ensuring fair competition through strong trade instruments and enforcement; 
• Boosting demand for EU-made products, including via public procurement and transparency tools that empower buyers. 

With 200,000 companies and 1.3 million workers, Europe’s textile and fashion ecosystem produces not only apparel, but also technical textiles for medical, automotive and defence applications. Yet the sector is facing mounting pressure from high energy costs and millions of non-compliant, low-quality products entering the EU market via online platforms, undermining responsible manufacturers and accelerating closures across Member States. 

During his speech, EURATEX President Mario Jorge Machado underlined that Europe must move from announcements to delivery — with measures that directly strengthen demand for sustainable, high-quality products made in Europe, while ensuring imported products comply with EU rules. 

“Europe must regain confidence and pride in what it produces, and stimulate demand for high-quality and sustainable textiles made in Europe. This requires three concrete actions: public procurement that goes beyond price and reflects origin, sustainability and security for strategic textiles; increased transparency, feasible for SMEs; and effective market surveillance to stop non-compliant imports from dominating the market” affirmed the President.

Textile products made from synthetic fibres, finished fabrics or dyed materials release fibre fragments into the environment at every stage of their life cycle. With the new DIN SPEC 19296, Hohenstein has developed a standardised testing method to analyse how these fragments behave in soil under natural conditions. Until now, little was known about their environmental behaviour or potential ecological effects once released.

Holistic testing approach
DIN SPEC 19296 focuses on textile products and the fragments released through use, abrasion or disposal. Tests are conducted in standardised soil under defined climatic conditions over a period of up to 180 days.

The method combines several parameters: a respirometer system measures the oxygen consumption of microorganisms during degradation, enabling the biodegradability of textile fragments to be quantified. Plant growth tests using cress seeds assess potential effects on vegetation after degradation. In addition, earthworms are used as sensitive bioindicators to evaluate possible toxic effects. Survival rates and changes in body mass indicate whether degraded fragments or residues have a negative impact on soil organisms.
This integrated approach not only determines whether materials are biodegradable, but also whether their fragments could harm plants or soil organisms. 

Practical relevance and added value
“Textile fibres and fragments are released into the environment not only during washing, but also during everyday wear,” says Juliane Alberts, Project Manager at Hohenstein. “DIN SPEC 19296 allows us, for the first time, to assess under realistic conditions how different textile fragments behave in soil. It makes an invisible issue visible and supports the development of more sustainable textile products.”
The new DIN SPEC enables companies to compare textile products in terms of their potential environmental impact resulting from fibre release. It also provides a scientific basis for evaluating environmental claims such as “compostable”.

Jointly developed – publicly available
DIN SPEC 19296 was developed by Hohenstein in cooperation with industry partners and is publicly available. The results can help to better assess the actual environmental impacts of textile fiber loss, derive appropriate mitigation measures, and develop materials with lower environmentally harmful fiber shedding for the textile industry.

On Monday, February 09, Xu Hongjie signed the purchase agreement for Mayer & Cie. The Chinese entrepreneur is thereby acquiring the company’s entire circular knitting business, including its subsidiaries in Vsetín (Czech Republic) and Jintan (China).

Xu Hongjie comes from a southern Chinese entrepreneurial family that has been running the company Huixing for almost 30 years. Huixing employs around 1,000 people and develops, manufactures and sells circular knitting machines worldwide. With machines under the Mayer & Cie. brand, Huixing aims to enter the premium segment in the future. As development and manufacturing are at the core of the Mayer & Cie. brand, the Albstadt site will continue to be of strategic importance going forward.
 
“We are very pleased that a future perspective has emerged for the company and for everything we associate with it,” says Wolfgang Müller. He has worked at Mayer & Cie. for many years as Head of Sales and, over the past weeks, has worked intensively with his colleagues and Xu Hongjie on a plan for the restart of Mayer & Cie.

The new owner returns his thanks and sincere gratitude to all the employees who supported him throughout the two-month negotiation process. He highlights Wolfgang Müller and Rainer Müller in particular: “They bestowed upon me courage and wisdom, serving as the ever-shining Big Dipper in the long night.”

Restart in several phases
For the company through which he intends to implement the restart of Mayer & Cie., Xu Hongjie has initially chosen the name “Blitzstart” (Lightning Start). The young Chinese entrepreneur does not (yet) speak German, but the 32-year-old did not choose the name by chance: In the coming weeks, the new owner plans to set up a small team to boost sales again and prepare the relaunch.

All employees will need to be rehired, as today’s signing of the purchase agreement marks the dissolution of the former Mayer & Cie. GmbH & Co. KG. For Xu Hongjie, a father of two, this means there will be no Chinese New Year celebrations this year. The holiday is celebrated on 17 February and is comparable in significance to Christmas. “There is a lot to do and very little time,” he says. “We need to make sure the company survives.”

The new owner’s goal is to gradually restart production in spring. In recent days, only assembly work has continued in the facilities on the outskirts of Albstadt-Tailfingen—machines already on order are scheduled to be delivered in the coming days—while production itself has come to a halt. Employees will also need to be brought back on board for this area.

Clear objectives
With Mayer & Cie. and its premium machines for single jersey, double jersey, interlock and jacquard, the Chinese textile entrepreneur intends to continue addressing textile innovators around the world. They should find “intelligent, reliable knitting technologies at Mayer & Cie.—developed in Albstadt, powered by our employees and designed for long-term use,” explains Xu Hongjie.
A customer-centric approach is particularly important to him: “We listen, we implement and we improve—and we do it fast,” says Xu. To underline what he means, he refers to his experience at the family-owned company Huixing: “If our customers have complaints about the machine we delivered, we make it better—once, twice, three times. And we do it as quickly as possible.”

This approach is part of Huixing’s recipe for success: Over the past three decades, the Chinese circular knitting machine manufacturer has established itself worldwide, particularly in the field of mattress ticking fabrics.

Production to remain in Albstadt
Xu Hongjie’s clearly stated goal is for Mayer & Cie. to remain what it is today: a German premium brand, developed and manufactured in Germany. “People love and trust brands with tradition,” says Xu Hongjie. “We are proud of the 120-year history and the technology within this company.”

At the same time, he emphasizes how important agility is to him—especially in development and in turning customer needs into solutions. “Our customers should see us as a partner.” Internal friction, for example caused by complex structures and lengthy processes, is not an option for him. “Simplify, digitize and renew” is the guiding principle.

From competitor to sister company
Huixing, headquartered in Shishi in China’s Fujian province, has evolved from a single machinery manufacturer into a diversified industrial group with a strong global footprint. With advanced manufacturing at its core, the group operates seven large-scale production sites, covers more than 300,000 square meters of modern facilities and has expanded its activities beyond textile machinery into areas such as software development, AI applications and industrial internet services.

With the acquisition of Mayer & Cie., Xu Hongjie is bringing together two strong names in circular knitting — a 120-year-old German premium brand and a fast-growing Chinese industrial group. Xu Hongjie describes the move as a landmark step guided by his “1+1=11” philosophy: not a simple addition, but a “chemical reaction, that unlocks synergy far beyond the expected”.

“We are honored to join Mayer, a great platform, and become part of this big family,” he says, stressing that the company’s core R&D and manufacturing base will remain in Albstadt, Germany. Xu Hongjie also underlines the cultural fit between the two organizations: “The more I have gotten to know the people at Mayer & Cie., the more I have felt like being part of a family — a family that knows its values and stands up for them.” He concludes: “In Chinese, Huixing means ‘connecting stars’. That is exactly what we aim to achieve with this step.”

The new owner
Xu Hongjie, aged 32, comes from the Chinese owner family behind Huixing, a family-run circular knitting machine manufacturer founded in 1998 with around 1,000 employees. He studied Business Management in China and the United Kingdom. This cross-cultural background enables him to understand the efficiency of Chinese manufacturing while respecting the technical rigor of German industry.

He has been actively involved in the family business for more than ten years, most recently focusing on sales and international business development. In addition to his entrepreneurial role, Xu serves as Chairman of the Shishi Young Entrepreneurs Association, where he is committed to supporting and mentoring the next generation of business leaders. He is also a member of the Quanzhou Municipal People’s Congress, representing the city of Shishi.