From the Sector

HEATHCOAT FABRICS partnered again with BRÜCKNER Textile Technologies and their sales partner ADVANCED DYEING SOLUTIONS to install a finishing line for industrial textiles. HEATHCOAT FABRICS specializes in the production of technical textiles in the fields of texturising, weaving and warp knitting as well as dyeing and finishing. The prroducts are manufactured for use in the automotive, healthcare, defence, and aerospace industries

Mrs. Regina Brückner, CEO and owner of the BRÜCKNER Group stated: "To meet the complex re-quirements of HEATHCOAT is not easy because of the great variety of technical textiles produced. Our line has to finish light as well as heavy articles, so the design, control and the whole line layout have to be flexible, functional and still easy to operate. Fortunately, the team at HEATHCOAT FABRICS is very innovative and open-minded, and together we worked hard to develop the right technology and han-dling. We are very happy that we could convince this customer, whom we appreciate very much, with the productivity of our line and of course with our technological know-how."

The direct gas heated BRÜCKNER POWER-FRAME stenter with its staggered heating source arrangement every half zone provides best available temperature consistency across the length and the width of the stenter. The unit is equipped with a low-lub, horizontally returning combined pin / clip chain and several fabric paths, especially designed for the different fabrics being processed. Together with HEATHCOAT FABRICS technologists, the BRÜCKNER design team developed a special delivery end of the stenter with different edge trimming and slitting possibilities. Depending on the kind of products, the fabrics can be batched on large diameter A-frames, wound on cardboard tubes or plaited into trolleys.

Rieter is moving its Kahramanmaraş service station to a larger location covering 2 000 m² in a bid to broaden its offering and strengthen its market position in Turkey. The station will house one of the region’s largest test-spinning facilities and provide know-how in sustainable yarn manufacturing.

The comprehensive portfolio covers both mechanical and electronic services, including the revision of gear units, servomotor adjustments, and suction drums. The station will also offer preventive maintenance and mill optimization. The service offering spans the entire Rieter product portfolio.

Highlights of the Kahramanmaraş Service Station include the setup of a fully automatic rotor spinning machine R 70 and the winding machine Autoconer X6. Three-quarters of the 2 000 m² service space is reserved for functional activities, which will feature one of the region’s largest test-spinning facilities. Customers can run yarn comparison tests and analyze the impact of different technology parts so they can optimize machine setups. In-depth yarn trials and access to Rieter textile technology expertise will allow customers to cater more effectively to the dynamic demands of textile brands regarding performance, quality and sustainability, such as recycling applications.

The Kahramanmaraş service station is strategically located at the heart of the region’s textile industry, with a large proportion of Rieter’s installed base located within a radius of around 200 kilometers. Turkey is a textile powerhouse, currently ranking fifth in global exports and poised for additional growth. The country’s industry is also implementing a green action plan to help it meet the growing demand for sustainable textiles, especially from Europe.

The new service station starts operations in September 2022 and will accelerate the growth of the company’s three stations in Turkey. Rieter has been operating service stations in Turkey since 2005 with a presence in the country dating back to the 1990s.

Sustainable fashion brands YesAnd & Kornit Digital are teaming up with the global platform fostering innovation in the fashion industry, Fashinnovation. This month, the three like-minded companies will be unveiling a direct-to-garment printing collaboration.
 
YesAnd & Kornit Digital are (e)co-creating digital, on-demand printed certified organic blank merchandise, with graphic designs by artists, celebrities, influencers, musicians, fashion VIPs, NGO’s and more. Sharing core values of fashion & innovation & non-toxic, zero-waste production, and the fusion of technology to accelerate impact, this launch represents a cutting-edge and sustainable solution that’s accessible, traceable, customizable, and scalable. By joining forces, this collaboration will educate, engage, and activate both consumers and industry alike.
 
"We at Fashinnovation have a strong belief that the fashion industry must walk side-by-side with innovation, in order to ensure a sustainable future. We are thrilled for this collaboration with YesAnd and Kornit, as we hope to set an example when it comes to the power of unity. In our minds, it's not about a person's wins, but rather it's about our collective progress," said Jordana & Marcelo Guimaraes, Founders of Fashinnovation.
 
Debuting the first of their brand collaborations with farm-to-print organic merchandise, this collaboration will together minimize waste, water, chemical use, and energy, while celebrating climate action, manufacturing efficiencies, and sustainable innovation—representing a true and timely fashion statement. The brands will be debuting their select blank styles of digitally-printed designs from the initial capsule collection—including the YesAnd Frida Hoodie, Gloria Hoodie Tee, Dominique Tee, and the Samata Dress, with a graphic option aligning the missions of YesAnd, Fashinnovation and Kornit Digital, “Don’t Wear Clothes, Wear Change.”

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical company, announced its commitment to science-based targets by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to help drive its ambitious sustainability programs. The company will also participate in the SBTi Expert Advisory Group for the chemicals industry.

SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature to help businesses set emissions reduction targets based on the most recent climate science. IVL has committed to science-based targets under its purpose of “Reimagining chemistry together to create a better world” which aims to reduce global warming in line with the 1.5°C Paris Climate Agreement.

Under its Vision 2030 ambition, Indorama Ventures aims to build on its global industry leadership in sustainability, including by reducing GHG intensity by 30% and increasing renewable electricity consumption to 25%. Green projects are helping the company to achieve its operational efficiency targets, increase its use of renewable energy (especially renewable electricity – both onsite generation and offsite procurement through power purchase agreements), implement new decarbonization technologies including carbon capture, introduce bio-feedstock to its petrochemical value chain, and expand its PET recycling capability.

To meet its targets, IVL recognizes the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors to decarbonize its operations through a variety of strategies. The established targets help its customers and suppliers to achieve their own sustainability goals, particularly their science-based targets.

Yash Lohia, Chairman of ESG Council at Indorama Ventures, said, "We are pleased to make our sustainability commitment more practical and measurable through science-based targets. We are dedicated to finding new technologies that can transform our operations and products towards net-zero. The efforts are not only for our sustainable business but also to support our customers and suppliers to achieve their own sustainability goals."

The world’s largest fashion brands and retailers must increase transparency to tackle the climate crisis and social inequality, according to the latest Fashion Transparency Index.

The seventh edition of the Fashion Transparency Index ranks 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers based on their public disclosure of human rights and environmental policies, practices, and impacts, across their operations and supply chains.

• Brands achieved an average score of just 24%, with nearly a third of brands scoring less than 10%
• The majority of brands (85%) do not disclose their annual production volumes despite mounting evidence of clothing waste around the world
• Most major brands and retailers (96%) do not publish the number of workers in their supply chain paid a living wage

The Index reveals insights into the most pressing issues facing the fashion industry, like:

• As new and proposed legislation focuses on greenwashing claims, almost half of major brands (45%) publish targets on sustainable materials yet only 37% provide information on what constitutes a sustainable material.
• Only 24% of major brands disclose how they minimise the impacts of microfibres despite textiles being the largest source of microplastics in the ocean.
• The vast majority of major brands and retailers (94%) do not disclose the number of workers in their supply chains who are paying recruitment fees. This paints an unclear picture of the risks of forced labour as workers may be getting into crippling debt to accept jobs paying poverty wages.
• While many brands use their channels to talk about social justice, they need to go beyond lip service. Just 8% of brands publish their actions on racial and ethnic equality in their supply chains.

Despite these results, Fashion Revolution is encouraged by increasing supply chain transparency among many major brands, primarily with first-tier manufacturers where the final stage of production occurs, e.g. cutting, sewing, finishing and packing. Nine brands have disclosed their first-tier manufacturers for the first time this year. It is encouraging to see significant progress across market segments including luxury, sportswear, footwear and accessories and across different geographies.

Fashion Revolution’s co-founder and Global Operations Director Carry Somers says: “In 2016, only 5 out of 40 major brands (12.5%) disclosed their suppliers. Seven years later, 121 out of 250 major brands (48%) disclose their suppliers. This clearly demonstrates how the Index incentivises transparency but it also shows that brands really are listening to the millions of people around the world who keep asking them #WhoMadeMyClothes? Our power is in our persistence.”

More key findings from the Fashion Transparency Index 2022:

Progress on transparency in the global fashion industry is still too slow among 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers, with brands achieving an overall average score of just 24%, up 1% from last year
For another year, the initiative has seen major brands and retailers publicly disclose the most information about their policies, commitments and processes on human rights and environmental topics and significantly less about the results, outcomes and impacts of their efforts.

Most (85%) major brands still do not disclose their annual production volumes despite mounting evidence of overproduction and clothing waste
Thousands of tonnes of clothing waste are found globally. However, brands have disclosed more information about the circular solutions they are developing (28%) than on the actual volumes of pre- (10%) and post-production waste they produce (8%). Brands have sat by as waste importing countries foot the bill, resulting in serious human rights and environmental implications.

Just 11% of brands publish a responsible purchasing code of conduct indicating that most are still reluctant to disclose how their purchasing practices could be affecting suppliers and workers
Greater transparency on how brands interact with their suppliers ought to be a first step towards eliminating harmful practices and promoting fair purchasing practices. The poor performance on transparency in this vital area is a missed opportunity for brands to demonstrate they are serious about addressing the root causes of harmful working conditions, including the instances where they themselves are the key driver.

Despite the urgency of the climate crisis, less than a third of major brands disclose a decarbonisation target covering their entire supply chain which is verified by the Science-Based Targets Initiative
Many brands and retailers rely heavily on garment producing countries that are vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, yet our research shows that only 29% of major brands and retailers publish a decarbonisation target covering their operations and supply chain which is verified by the Science Based Targets Initiative.

Only 11% of brands publish their supplier wastewater test results, despite the textile industry being a leading contributor to water pollution
The fashion industry is a major contributor to water pollution and one of the most water intensive industries on the planet. Only 11% of major brands publish their wastewater test result, and only 25% of brands disclose the process of conducting water-related risk assessments in their supply chain. Transparency on wastewater test results is key to ensuring that brands are held accountable for their potentially devastating impacts on local biodiversity, garment workers and their communities.

Most major brands and retailers (96%) do not publish the number of workers in their supply chain paid a living wage nor do they disclose if they isolate labour costs
Insufficient progress is being made by most brands towards ensuring that the workers in their supply chain are paid enough to cover their basic needs and put aside some discretionary income. Just 27% of brands disclose their approach to achieving living wages for supply chain workers and 96% do not publish the number of workers in their supply chain paid a living wage. In response, we have joined forces with allies across civil society to launch Good Clothes, Fair Pay. The campaign demands groundbreaking living wage legislation across the garment, textile and footwear sector.

Freudenberg Performance Materials is introducing Freudenberg Friction Inserts to trade visitors at WindEnergy, the leading trade fair for the international wind energy industry. Freudenberg Friction Inserts is a unique technology aimed at increasing the power density of wind turbines.

The Freudenberg Friction Inserts (FFI) technology is based on a special very thin nonwoven carrier material coated on one side with hard particles. The FFI are customized to fit each application, in terms of both the geometry and the construction parameters of the connection. As they do not create a gap they can be applied exactly where they are needed.

When placed in the joint, these hard particles penetrate into the surfaces of the two joining parts creating a micro interlock, thus reliably increasing the friction coefficient and achieving higher torque transmission in connections. This results in higher performance and a significant improvement in the efficiency of wind turbines. In addition, it enables the downsizing of components without compromising performance, reducing weight and material.

FFI help to improve the reliability of connections and thus of the entire wind turbine. Furthermore, they eliminate slipping and prevent fretting of connections.

Other examples of applications for FFI are highly loaded flange connections between the rotor shaft and gearbox, connections between the main bearing and the machine carrier housing, the gearbox to generator, or at the pitch gear or ring gear. They increase the friction co-efficient between two components.

Archroma, a global leader in sustainable specialty chemicals and solutions and a portfolio company of U.S.-based private investment firm SK Capital Partners (“SK Capital”), announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Textile Effects business (“Textile Effects”) from Huntsman Corporation. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to take place in the first half of 2023.

Since its formation in 2013, through a series of mergers & acquisitions, as well as internal investments in R&D, manufacturing and service capabilities, Archroma has been building a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to serve the emerging needs of the textile industry. The combination with Textile Effects and its rich historical roots of Huntsman and Ciba Specialties will create a technology powerhouse that will include Archroma’s legacy heritages of Sandoz, Hoechst, Clariant, BASF and Dohmen who have been at the cutting edge of the textile industry for decades, and together will continue to serve customers for years to come.

Both Archroma and Textile Effects are founding members of Sustainable Chemistry for the Textile Industry (SCTI), an alliance of leading chemical companies that strives to empower the textile and leather industries to apply sustainable, state-of-the-art chemistry solutions that protect factory workers, local communities, consumers and the environment.

In recent years, Riri Group has embarked on a process of vertical expansion aimed at broadening its product range and in-house processing, in order to provide the market with a superior quality product thanks to the variety of its services and technologies. With the acquisition of K4Sint (Knowledge for Sintering) this process has taken another step forward and the Group consolidates its position as ‘one-stop shop supplier’ under the sign of integration, design capacity, customised offer, and innovative technologies.

K4Sint, founded by two Ph.D. materials engineers,  brings to the Swiss Group its experience in Press and Sintering, Metal Injection Molding, Spark Plasma Sintering (Titanium, Aluminum, MMC, Advanced Ceramic). Riri, therefore, integrates within its Group a company capable of developing and producing components, accessories and semi-finished products for internal use but also for customers and companies not only limited to the fashion business: K4Sint will become the go-to facility and production site for steel MIM processes of the entire group. The new unit will also be able to perform metallographic tests, innovative materials development projects and in-depth technological consultancy work for Riri’s customers.

To celebrate the 50th year of Title IX, adidas announced a series of brand initiatives and commitments aimed at creating a more equitable and inclusive future of sport . Commencing with the signing of 15 female student-athletes to name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals across seven collegiate sports, the brand is further underscoring its commitment to women and LGBTQI+ athletes in sport through an expanded partnership with Athlete Ally to grow chapter footprints on college campuses.

In addition, adidas is partnering with Candace Parker to create a mentorship program that provides newly signed student-athletes with guidance as they navigate the NIL era.

“As a leading global sports brand, we're focused on creating long-term equity in sport . That means both investing in the next generation of athletes today and also supporting them in the future,” said Rupert Campbell, president of adidas North America. “We welcome this group of powerful student-athletes to the adidas family and look forward to working alongside them to define what is possible for the future of sport.”

The initial group of student-athletes was revealed at the brand’s Title IX celebration in New York City announced by Billie Jean King and Ally Love , attended by Layshia Clarendon, Kristine Lilly, Ifeoma (Ify) Onumonu, Imani Dorsey, Kelsey Robinson, media, family, and friends.

The following student-athletes have been announced as adidas partners:
Maddy Anderson – Mississippi St., soccer
Emily Mason – Rutgers, soccer
Brianna Copeland – Indiana, softball     
Erin Moss – Georgia Tech, volleyball
Lauren Dooley – Kansas, volleyball
Moriah Oliveira – Miami, track & field
Kinsey Fiedler – Washington, softball
Gianna Pielet – Texas A&M, tennis
Jayci “Jay” Goldsmith – Texas A&M, tennis
Izzy Redmond – ASU, gymnastics
Nicklin Hames – Nebraska, volleyball
Jaiden Thomas – NC State, soccer
Jameese Joseph – NC State, soccer
Hailey Van Lith – Louisville, basketbal
India Wells – Grambling State, softball

An Investment in All Athletes
adidas believes long-term equity in sport starts with investment. This initial all-female group of student-athletes builds on the brand’s March announcement of a sweeping, equitable and inclusive NIL Ambassador Network reaching more than 50,000 eligible student-athletes across 23 sports, all genders and 109 D1 universities beginning this fall at Power 5 programs and HBCUs.

Looking towards the next 50 years of Title IX, the Education Amendment prohibiting discrimination against students based on sex, adidas will continue investing in athletes and programs that increase representation and visibility, with this being a commitment to create a more progressive future of equity in sport .

• China Penalty Tariffs on Finished Textiles & Apparel Give U.S. Companies a Chance to Compete and are a Powerful Trade-Negotiation Tool, NCTO Tells U.S. International Trade Commission

Section 301 penalty tariffs on finished Chinese textile and apparel imports give American manufacturers a chance to compete and provide trade officials with an essential trade negotiation tool, the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) told a key government panel today in a formal written submission. Removing them, the association said, would reward China, put U.S. manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage and do nothing to reduce inflation.

Those were among the key points outlined by NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas in a written testimony submitted to the U.S. International Trade Commission during three days of hearings on the economic impact of Section 301 China tariffs and Section 232 steel tariffs on U.S. industries.

The 301 penalty tariffs should be maintained “absent substantive improvements in China’s pervasive, predatory trade practices,” Glas said in her testimony.  China’s illegal actions “have put U.S. companies at a serious disadvantage, and tariffs give American manufacturers a chance to compete.” Glas noted that U.S. trade officials have “stressed that the penalty tariffs also create leverage and are a ‘significant tool’ in ongoing negotiations with China.”
 
While some advocates for lifting the tariffs point to concerns about inflation, Glas said, “canceling these penalty duties would do little to ease Americans’ inflationary pains.” She also noted that “apparel prices out of China continue to hit rock bottom even with the Section 301 tariffs in place. As detailed in an economic study recently released by Werner International, U.S. import prices for apparel from China have dropped 25 percent since 2019 and 50 percent since 2011.”

Glas also warned that lifting the tariffs would have “a substantial negative ripple effect” on U.S. free-trade agreements, including undermining those with Western Hemisphere partners that have established shorter coproduction supply chains and serve other U.S. and regional interests.

The Section 301 tariffs were first imposed in 2018 in response to China’s persistent violations of intellectual property rules. By law, they are now under review.