From the Sector

Montalvo has promoted Bryon Williams to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Having previously served as Montalvo’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mr. Williams will continue to develop, expand, and execute Montalvo’s short-term and long-term growth strategies expanding into new markets, developing Montalvo’s product line, strengthening Montalvo’s international presence, and growing Montalvo’s market.  

Mr. Williams says “It has been such an honor working at this company over the past 11 years, and I only see greater success for the company as Montalvo has one of the strongest teams in its history, with a focus on innovation and achieving our vision of becoming the global leader in Web Control Systems and solutions. We are expanding our reach into new industries and will be coming out with new products and solutions that reset expectations on Web Control, while at the same time branching out to offer customers complete solutions for their Web Handling needs through in-house capabilities and a strong partner network. We continue to provide one of the highest levels of application, product, and process knowledge, and are constantly recognized by our customers for providing levels of support and service that others simply can’t.”

The Beitlich Family Foundation, owner of the CHT Group, has appointed Elke Katz as an additional member of the Foundation's Board of Directors, which includes the function of Supervisory Board, on 1 September 2021. Elke Katz is currently CEO of ratioform Verpackungen GmbH, a company of the Haniel Group, based in Munich.

She has extensive, cross-industry experience in strategic and operational corporate management at companies such as BMW and Telefonica. She holds a degree in business engineering and has extensive know-how in customer experience management, digital business and business development.

Johan de Ruiter, Chairman of the Board of the Beitlich Family Foundation: "We aligned ourselves with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals several years ago and defined sustainability, digitalisation and diversity as important strategic components for the CHT Group. We are therefore delighted to have gained a proven digitisation expert for our board. We are certain that Elke Katz will give us further impetus on this path so that we continue to be a leading, modern and innovative company.”

The Beitlich Family Foundation consists of 5 members, in addition to Elke Katz and Johan de Ruiter, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Götz Gresser (Vice Chairman), Dr. Antje von Dewitz and Prof. Dr. Klaus Müller.

• Rieter CAMPUS strengthens innovation strategy and technology leadership position
• Customer and technology center and administration building ready for occupancy in 2024
• Commitment to the Winterthur site and to Switzerland as a business location

On September 8, 2021, the foundation stone was laid for the Rieter CAMPUS on the western part of the Rieter site at the Winterthur location, which includes a customer and technology center as well as an administration building. The Rieter CAMPUS will make an important contribution to the implementation of the innovation strategy and to the enhancement of the company’s technology leadership position. At the same time, the investment of around CHF 80 million is a commitment to the Winterthur site and to Switzerland as a business location. 

With a floor area of over 30 000 m2, the Rieter CAMPUS offers space for around   700 ultra-modern workplaces. For this purpose, Rieter and a specialist in office architecture have developed a contemporary space concept for the “Open Space Office” that is tailored to the needs of the company, divided into meeting rooms, focus rooms and some individual offices. The underground car park provides   88 parking spaces, and a further 12 outdoor parking spaces are being created   in front of the technology center.  “In the course of its 225-year company history, Rieter has helped shape the city of Winterthur. The foundation for the future as a leading technology company is now being created with the new CAMPUS. In this way, Rieter is giving a clear indication   of its commitment to the Winterthur site and to Switzerland as a business location”, commented Bernhard Jucker, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rieter Holding AG.

Innovation is an important part of Rieter’s strategy and crucial for the company’s success. For this reason, Rieter invests more than CHF 50 million annually in research and development. Thanks to this commitment, Rieter is making a   decisive contribution to the further development of systems for sustainable yarn production and their digitization. The Rieter CAMPUS will provide an attractive working environment that promotes creativity and innovation.  The new CAMPUS is a showcase project in terms of economic feasibility, energy efficiency and sustainability. Rieter relies on renewable energy for construction. This includes heat generation via geothermal probes and a photovoltaic system on around 1 300 m2 of roof area. “In this way, the entrepreneurial focus on sustainable and energy-efficient solutions for yarn production is reflected in the overall concept of the CAMPUS,” emphasized Rieter CEO Norbert Klapper.  The move into the new building is planned for 2024.

Claudia Güntert has been appointed Head of Corporate Communications at Autoneum as of November 1, 2021. She succeeds the Corporate Communications Head, Dr. Anahid Rickmann, who will be leaving the company per end of August 2021.

Claudia Güntert studied Jurisprudence at the University of Basel, Switzerland, as well as German and Eastern European Literature at the Universities of Basel and Zurich, Switzerland.

From 2008 to 2013, she was Marketing & Product Communications Manager at Von Roll Management AG in Wädenswil, Switzerland. She thereby gained broad experience in marketing and customer communications in the industry and a deep understanding of the industrial relations between suppliers and their customers. From 2013 until 2021, she was Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations at Von Roll Holding AG in Wädenswil and Breitenbach, Switzerland. In this leading position, she expanded her expertise in internal and external communication with a focus on company vision and strategy, branding, global change management, and social media presence. Claudia Güntert will report to Matthias Holzammer, CEO.

Dr. Anahid Rickmann leaves Autoneum at the end of August at her own request. After almost nine years of service, she has decided to take on a new professional challenge. Anahid Rickmann strategically realigned the Company's communications after it became independent in 2011 and significantly shaped Autoneum's external perception and reputation. Her particular achievements include the measurable success of external communications, brand positioning and the launch of Autoneum's corporate responsibility strategy. CEO Matthias Holzammer and the Board of Directors would like to thank Anahid Rickmann sincerely for her successful, always dedicated and loyal service to Autoneum and wish her the best for her personal and professional future.

For September and October 2021, Luzia Schoeck, Communications Manager, will act as interim Head of Corporate Communications.

Michael Lüthi, a member of the founding family, will become the CEO of the SANITIZED company group on August 1, 2021. He will take over the position from Urs Stalder, who will join the administrative board after working for the company for over 30 years.

Longtime CEO Urs Stalder consistently promoted the brand Sanitized®. Furthermore, he managed to internationalize the company, establish subsidiaries in the U.S., China and India, and focus on innovative products.

The 38-year-old business economist Michael Lüthi has been working for SANITIZED since 2018. He previously worked as COO of Senevita, a company that at the time had roughly 30 residences, and he supervised residential complexes for seniors with roughly 2,500 employees. Over the past three years, Michael Lüthi was already a member of SANITZED’s management team and helped to shape the course of the company.

“We will continue to combine tradition and innovation: SANITIZED is a fourth-generation Swiss family company, and we will continue to expand our leadership position in the world with our safe and innovative products and services for the textile, polymer, and paint industries,” explains the new SANITIZED CEO Michael Lüthi. American company Consolidated Pathways was recently acquired with this objective in mind. SANITIZED now has a presence with its own subsidiaries in the U.S., China, the European Union, and India.

Reorganization follows record quarter and additional investment as eCommerce continues to thrive

Fresh Relevance, the versatile personalization and decision engine, today announced the launch of a new customer department to support a growing customer base of more than 500 websites, including major brands in the UK, Nordics and US. The launch follows a record quarter and additional investment from Foresight Group to drive the company’s ambitious global growth strategy.

The new customer department brings together Fresh Relevance’s service, support, customer success and account management divisions located in Southampton (UK), London (UK) and Boston (US). The department is led by the newly appointed Vice President Customer, Huriyyah Dhanse.

Dhanse states: “Many organizations have experienced massive eCommerce growth during the pandemic. This has led to increased investment in omnichannel platforms such as Fresh Relevance, as companies look to sustain and gain market share by optimizing how they connect with, convert and retain customers.” Dhanse adds: “Our new customer department aligns the company’s expanding support, services, customer success and account management teams in the UK and US into a single entity, focused on helping brands achieve and exceed their commercial objectives. By bundling all customer-facing roles into one central department, we are able to provide an even more seamless customer experience and align all touchpoints in the customer lifecycle - from onboarding through to day-to-day support and strategic advice.”

Fresh Relevance boasts a 98% customer retention rate, and it is a statistic that company CEO and co-founder, Mike Austin, is proud of and committed to maintaining. “The success of Fresh Relevance is built on the quality and reliability of our platform, a clear vision for the future of online retail, but above all else the way we build long-term partnership with our customers”, states Austin.

These comments are endorsed by a 9.7 score for Quality of Support on G2, the world’s largest tech marketplace, which is accompanied by a raft of positive feedback from customers such as: “The best thing about Fresh hands down is the support, which comes from literally all avenues. The support team are quick, they really take time to explain things and help you to set anything up you need. Account management talk to you like you're the only person in the room, analyze everything you're doing in depth and help you to see what you're missing whether that be tools or strategy. Everybody goes the extra mile and follows up any open issues.”

Austin concludes: “As we scale up our global operations after a record quarter, it is vital that we keep the voice of the customer at the heart of everything we do. This is the primary aim of the new Fresh Relevance Customer Department.”

The management of vombaur was restructured as of 1 May 2021: Dipl.-Ing. Dirk Wachsmuth will be responsible for sales, marketing and development as the new Managing Director. The previous Managing Director Peter vom Baur will retain responsibility for vombaur after almost 30 years as a shareholder of the parent company Textation Group.

After studying machinery construction, Dirk Wachsmuth worked for many years first for a filter manufacturer, then in the plastics industry. Together with Andreas Kielholz and Christoph Schliefer, he will be heading vombaur GmbH & Co. KG from now on.

vombaur is a specialist for seamless narrow textile woven tubulars. The company has come through the crisis year 2020 on a solid footing and is positioned for the future. vombaur is currently investing an amount in the double-digit millions in a state-of-the-art headquarters that will be inaugurated in 2023.

• EMMA SCALCON is the winner of the first edition of the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION AWARD, an international competition for communication in sustainable fashion.

The award was established in October 2020 by Connecting Cultures and C.L.A.S.S. with the aim of creating new visual imagery and innovative communication models in sustainable fashion. Stylists, photographers, designers, illustrators, artists and other creatives, invited to rethink how to communicate the new generation of values of an ethical and sustainable fashion system, joined the open and international call.

The name of the winner of the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION competition was announced during a webinar on March 30th at 4pm led by Giusy Bettoni, CEO of C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub; Anna Detheridge, President of Connecting  Cultures; Lucy Orta, Chair, Art & the Environment, University of the Arts London; and Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner of The Bear Scouts.

Born in Padua, Italy, 22 years old, and a student in her second year in Textile & Fashion Design at IAAD - Istituto d'Arte Applicata e Design, Emma Scalcon won the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION competition with her project TAKE A WALK ON THE GREEN SIDE, designing communications crafted with strong and impactful images and simple but detailed wording intended for younger consumers to inform them about sustainable fashion issues.

Scalcon ranked first among the finalists selected by a high profile jury composed of:
·   Anna Detheridge, Founder and President, Connecting Cultures
·   Giusy Bettoni, CEO and Founder, C.L.A.S.S.
·   Rita Airaghi, Director, Gianfranco Ferré Foundation
·   Paola Arosio, Head of New Brands & Sustainability Projects, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
·   Jeanine Ballone, Managing Director, Fashion 4 Development
·   Evie Evangelou, Founder and President, Fashion 4 Development
·   Chiara Luisi, Sustainability Projects Coordinator, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
·   Sara Kozlowski, Director of Education and Sustainable Strategies, Council of Fashion Designers of America  
·   Dio Kurazawa, Socio fondatore, The Bear Scouts
·   Renata Molho, Founding Partner, The Bear Scouts
·   Lucy Orta, Chair, Art & the Environment, University of the Arts London
·   Stefania Ricci, Director, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo

Emma Scalcon was awarded the €3,000 prize, made possible by the Main Sponsor ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei and by the other sponsors of the project: ECOSENSOR™ by Asahi Kasei - a latest generation fabric collection that promotes responsible innovation with advanced high-tech performance, C.L.A.S.S., and the Greek smart cotton SUPREME GREEN COTTON® by Varvaressos.
 
“It is time to be pioneers in communication and for this we have supported the Imagining Sustainable Fashion Award,” commented Takaaki Kondo, global marketing department manager for ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei, the Main Sponsor of the award. ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei is a high quality stretch fibre with an innovative range of intelligent functions to satisfy every modern wardrobe need for sports, underwear, and fashion. “We believe that together with responsible innovation, communication is the key to bring sustainability to the next level: to inspire, educate, inform and allow both professionals and consumers to make the right choices.”

“The competition is an opportunity to rethink how to communicate the new and different values of an ethical and sustainable fashion system,” explained Anna Detheridge. “I am quite impressed with the results of the competition — the diversity of forms that we received show both an interesting change in sensibility and a practical approach to communicating these values. There is less visual rhetoric and reliance on compelling images and more investment in basic information and a greater variety of narratives.

It is a great pleasure to see the energies from a wealth of young creatives, small businesses, and designers from all over the world with cross-disciplinary interests and a diversity of talents who are ushering in a new culture of design. My heartiest congratulations go to Emma Scalcon".

“I completely agree with Anna's comments on the quality of the work submitted by participants in the competition and together we have renewed our intention to continue IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION into 2021 with a new edition of the award,” stated Giusy Bettoni. “After this initial experience, we find ourselves even more motivated to explore some of the themes that emerged during the selection process, in particular those regarding the ethics of intellectual and cultural property, a topical issue in an industry like fashion. For this reason, we are already working together on organizing a webinar on this topic with outside specialists, including legal experts.”

 21 Grams, the group comprised of Veronica De Nigris, Serena Paone e Immacolata Esposito, won a special contest open to the public among the finalists selected by the jury, receiving the most votes from Instagram followers on C.L.A.S.S.’s corporate Instagram profile. The media partner for the initiative is Renoon, the leading search tool and data hub for sustainable fashion, a rising start-up of the year, aggregating +190 brands offering sustainable options to consumers. 

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Chairman David Roberts, who was re-elected for the 2020-2021 term, delivered the trade association’s State of the U.S. textile industry overview at NCTO’s 17th Annual Meeting on March 24.

Mr. Roberts’s speech outlined (1) the U.S. textile industry’s heroic efforts producing PPE in the face of a once-in-a-generation pandemic (2) U.S. textile supply chain, economic, trade data, and (3) NCTO’s 2020 policy priorities for domestic textile manufacturers.

A link of his remarks as prepared for delivery are included in this press statement along with a link to a data infographic prepared by NCTO illustrating the current economic status of the U.S. textile industry.

Mr. Roberts is CEO of Cap Yarns, Inc., a South Carolina specialty yarn manufacturer and a leader in developing unique yarns for the knitting and weaving industry.

NCTO’s annual meeting was held virtually March 23-24.

• Michael Pieper is not standing for re-election
• Stefaan Haspeslagh will be proposed for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting
• The change is related to the transfer of the shareholding of Artemis Beteiligungen I AG to Picanol Group

Michael Pieper, a member of the Board of Directors of Rieter Holding AG since 2009, has informed Rieter that Artemis Beteiligungen I AG has sold its 11.5% block of shares to the Picanol Group (Picanol NV), Belgium, and that he thus will not stand for re-election at the Annual General Meeting on April 15, 2021.

Michael Pieper has supported and helped to significantly shape the development of Rieter for more than ten years. He joined Rieter as a major shareholder in 2008, and since then has been strongly involved in the strategic realignment of the group.

“On behalf of the Rieter Group, I extend our sincere gratitude to Michael Pieper for his extremely successful and valuable work on the Board of Directors and, above all, for his commitment as a long-term major shareholder,” said Bernhard Jucker, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rieter Holding AG.

The Board of Directors of Rieter Holding AG today announced its intention to propose Stefaan Haspeslagh for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting on April 15, 2021.
Stefaan Haspeslagh (born 1958) holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer of the Picanol Group (Picanol NV), Belgium, since 2010. In addition, Stefaan Haspeslagh has also been Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Tessenderlo Group NV, Belgium, since 2014. As a director of Cellpack NV, Belgium, he has been in office since 2001.

“Rieter welcomes the new major shareholder, Picanol NV. Luc Tack, majority shareholder and CEO of Picanol, has been a member of the Board of Directors of Rieter for four years. Stefaan Haspeslagh is characterized by broad, international management experience in the textile sector and is very well connected in the industry”, stated Bernhard Jucker, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

All other current members of the Board of Directors will stand for reelection at the Annual General Meeting.