From the Sector

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.

Silke Krebs, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia emphasizes that the T7 project actively drives the transformation of the Rhenish mining region into a modern industrial hub. It combines innovative, sustainable textile production with research, development, and the use of AI and robotics. At the same time, it strengthens the region’s competitiveness and creates new jobs across all qualification levels. T7 demonstrates that structural change offers concrete opportunities for a future-proof industry.

For Felix Heinrichs, Mayor of the City of Mönchengladbach, it is evident that when thinking of textiles, you cannot overlook Mönchengladbach. Textile production is deeply embedded in the industrial DNA of Mönchengladbach. But it also has the potential to play a key role in the future of the city as a business location. Textilfabrik 7.0 brings industry and academia together for innovation and research. In doing so, it lays the foundation for sustainable and economically viable textile production - and thus for future-proof jobs in Mönchengladbach. Today’s launch of the T7 project marks a major milestone in the city’s structural transformation.

The kick-off event was aimed in particular at companies along the entire textile value chain. In several keynote presentations, participants gained insights into current developments and potential applications of future production models. Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH and Hch. Kettelhack GmbH & Co. KG demonstrated how on-demand production can be integrated into microfactory concepts, enabling flexible, demand-driven manufacturing processes.

In addition, 3E Smart Solutions presented how intelligent production for smart textiles could look in the future. The industry cluster Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB) showcased approaches for using biotechnological processes, such as microorganisms, in textile production to improve resource efficiency and close material loops.

At the heart of Textilfabrik 7.0 are four core modules: On-Demand Manufacturing, MicroFactory Engineering, Digital Textiles, and Biosphere. These topics also formed the basis for four workshops in which participants discussed with module leaders what requirements industry has for future production solutions. The goal was to identify concrete needs and incorporate them directly into further project planning.

Through its real-world lab approach, T7 aims to test and optimize new technologies along the entire textile value chain. These include robotics, digital process chains, and biotechnological methods that can help establish a functioning circular economy in practice.

Professor Dr. Susanne Meyer, President of Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences states that the Textilfabrik 7.0 exemplifies what applied research must achieve today: bringing together science, industry, and society to develop concrete solutions to the major challenges of our time. Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences contributes their textile expertise specifically to this future-oriented project, from digital production processes and sustainable materials to circular value creation models. In doing so, there is a contribution not only to the transformation of the textile industry but also to the innovative capacity and future viability of the entire region.

At the same time, the project makes an important contribution to structural change in the Rhenish mining region. Under the guiding principle “From Coal to AI,” new perspectives for industrial value creation and skilled employment are emerging in the region. Textilfabrik 7.0 is one of 19 anchor projects in the Rhenish mining region and is considered by the state to be central to the successful, rapid, and visible implementation of structural transformation.

Textilfabrik 7.0 is a joint project of the Research Institute for Textile and Clothing (FTB) at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences (HSNR), the Institute for Textile Technology (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University, the Association of the North-West German Textile and Clothing Industry, the Association of the Rhenish Textile and Clothing Industry, the Textile Academy NRW, and WFMG – Mönchengladbach Economic Development Corporation.

In einer zweiten Entwicklungsphase soll über die Textilfabrik 7.0 hinausgehend ein Industriepark der Zukunft entstehen. Hier entwickelt und produziert die Textil- und Bekleidungsindustrie unter Zero-Emission-Bedingungen und mit CO₂-neutralen Prozessen. Der Industriepark soll Raum bieten für innovative Produktionsstätten, Unternehmensniederlassungen der Textilbranche sowie nachhaltige Textil-Start-ups. So entsteht ein moderner Industriestandort, der Forschung, Entwicklung und industrielle Produktion miteinander verbindet.

In a second development phase, a future industrial park is planned to be created beyond Textilfabrik 7.0. Here, the textile and apparel industry will develop and produce under zero-emission conditions and with CO₂-neutral processes. The industrial park will provide space for innovative production facilities, company branches in the textile sector, and sustainable textile start-ups. This will create a modern industrial hub that combines research, development, and industrial production.

The project Textilfabrik 7.0 is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) under the “STARK” funding guideline to strengthen transformation dynamics and promote new beginnings in coal regions and coal-fired power plant locations, by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia through the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy (MWIKE) in accordance with the framework guideline for implementing the Investment Act for Coal Regions (InvKG) NRW, and by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).

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.

In an open-access paper published Jan. 26 in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from Portela’s lab provide a universal design framework that generates complex 3D woven metamaterials with a wide range of properties. The work also provides open-source code that allows users to create designs to fit specifications and generate a file for printing or simulating the material using a 3D printer.

“Normal knitting or weaving have been constrained by the hardware for hundreds of years — there’s only a few patterns that you can make clothes out of, for example — but that changes if hardware is no longer a limitation,” Portela says. “With this framework, you can come up with interesting patterns that completely change the way the textile is going to behave.”

Possible applications include wearable sensors that move with human skin, fabrics for aerospace or defense needs, flexible electronic devices, and a variety of other printable textiles.

The team developed general design rules — in the form of an algorithm — that first provide a graph representation of the metamaterial. The attributes of this graph eventually dictate how each fiber is placed and connected within the metamaterial. The fundamental building blocks are woven unit cells that can be functionally graded via control of various design parameters, such as the radius and pitch of the fibers that make up the woven struts.

“Because this framework allows these metamaterials to be tailored to be softer in one place and stiffer in another, or to change shape as they stretch, they can exhibit an exceptional range of behaviors that would be hard to design using conventional soft materials,” says Molly Carton, lead author of the study. Carton, a former postdoc in Portela’s lab, is now an assistant research professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland.

Further, the simulation framework also allows users to predict the deformation response of these materials, capturing complex phenomena such as self-contact within fibers and entanglement, and design to predict and resist deformation or tearing patterns.

“The most exciting part was being able to tailor failure in these materials and design arbitrary combinations,” says Portela. “Based on the simulations, we were able to fabricate these spatially varying geometries and experiment on them at the microscale.”

This work is the first to provide a tool for users to design, print, and simulate an emerging class of metamaterials that are extensible and tough. It also demonstrates that through tuning of geometric parameters, users can control and predict how these materials will deform and fail, and presents several new design building blocks that substantially expand the property space of woven metamaterials.

“Until now, these complex 3D lattices have been designed manually, painstakingly, which limits the number of designs that anyone has tested,” says Carton. “We’ve been able to describe how these woven lattices work and use that to create a design tool for arbitrary woven lattices. With that design freedom, we’re able to design the way that a lattice changes shape as it stretches, how the fibers entangle and knot with each other, as well as how it tears when stretched to the limit.”

Carton says she believes the framework will be useful across many disciplines. “In releasing this framework as a software tool, our hope is that other researchers will explore what’s possible using woven lattices and find new ways to use this design flexibility,” she says. “I’m looking forward to seeing what doors our work can open.”

The paper, “Design framework for programmable three-dimensional woven metamaterials,” is available now in the journal Nature Communications. Its other MIT-affiliated authors are James Utama Surjadi, Bastien F. G. Aymon, and Ling Xu.

This work was performed, in part, through the use of MIT.nano’s fabrication and characterization facilities.

At its third edition, the Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles, and Textile Technologies (VIATT) reinforced its role as a key sourcing and business platform for ASEAN’s textile industry. The three-day fair welcomed over 17,000 visits from 54 countries and regions, and featured over 460 exhibitors from 21 countries and regions across 18,000 sqm. The 2026 edition was marked by the introduction of new international pavilions and zones, broadening the fair’s sourcing scope across new geographies and product categories. The fringe programme, headlined by the debut Trend Forum, further distinguished VIATT as the region’s most integrated textile trade platform – uniquely spanning the entire value chain.
 
A focal point within the returning European Zone – which also spotlighted leading exhibitors from Italy, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the UK – the German Pavilion offered buyers direct access to a comprehensive range of well-engineered products and solutions, with a strong emphasis on quality, compliance, and time-proven manufacturing excellence. Complementing this, the inaugural Türkiye Zone made its debut at the fair, further broadening the European sourcing landscape and introducing a new dimension of textile expertise to VIATT’s growing international offering.

Drawn by VIATT’s diverse and extensive offerings, 10 buyer delegations from eight countries and regions sourced at the fair, whilst VIP buyers from renowned brands including Adidas, An Phuoc, Gap, H&M, Ivy Moda, Lululemon, Muji, Nitori, Osprey, Perry Ellis, and many more, also met with exhibitors to further promote business exchange.
 
Beyond the show floor, VIATT 2026 offered an expanded fringe programme designed to share trends, insights, and strategies with global industry players, bringing international perspectives to educate and inspire the local and regional markets. Key events included the inaugural Trend Forum, the Vietnam Textile & Garment Industry Development Strategy Summit (VTGIS), and the Textile Industry Exchange, alongside a series of seminars, panel discussions, workshops, and three captivating fashion shows that blended local and international perspectives.
 
Speakers’ insights
“Southeast Asia is no longer just a manufacturing alternative – it is becoming a strategic innovation hub. By integrating fashion, home textiles, and technology into one conversation, the fringe programme reflects how the industry operates today, as innovation increasingly happens between categories. Through talks, forums, and curated spaces, the Trend Forum allows trend content to go beyond visual inspiration, helping exhibitors and visitors move from trend-following to trend understanding.”
Mr Kai Chow, Lead Curator, VIATT Trend Forum and Creative Director of MUSEATIVE

“The fashion show helps us a great deal because we are not yet known in this country, and what we are looking for is a distributor or licensee who would be interested in distributing our brand here. We see Vietnam as a market with huge potential, and it is obviously the best place to be. Having started our distribution in Korea last year, Vietnam would be our second country in Asia, and the development of our brand throughout the region is exactly what we are working towards.”
Mr Hervé Coulombel, President and CEO of Royal Mer, France

“Digital transformation is no longer optional. Especially for 3D design, AI-assisted development and virtual collaboration are now becoming a standard tool to reduce waste, shorten lead time, and improve global communication. We encourage companies to adopt those these workflows early, so they will get a competitive advantage in cost, speed, and sustainability, and we wanted to give our audience a clearer picture of how AI can integrate into their production. They were really interested as it can help them reduce costs and build up the necessary strategic tools for sustainable growth.”
Ms Kathy Pham, Associate, Business Development, CLO, Vietnam
 
The Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles and Textile Technologies (VIATT) is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE). 

EDANA would like to remind its members and industry stakeholders of the legal requirement to comply with the EU rules on customs classification when importing non-wovens from third countries outside the EU. In this regard, it was recently discovered that there appears to be a high level of customs misclassification occurring in the nonwoven’s industry. This could have dangerous and costly consequences for importers. 

Following repeated requests by its members, EDANA worked closely with the European Union and the World Customs Organisation to introduce in 2024 specific customs codes CN code 5603 14 20 and 5603 9420 in order to better monitor imports of certain PET spunbond and staple fibre products. Based on market intelligence, EDANA knows that third country imports of the respective products were in the range of 15,000 to 30,000 MT in 2024 and 2025. However, actual import volumes recorded under the specifically created CN codes were significantly lower. 

“There is a clear mismatch between import volumes observed in the market and what is reported under the correct customs codes. Often, importers continue to use outdated customs codes as a matter of habit not paying due attention to changes of the Combined Nomenclature”, says Jacques Prigneaux from EDANA. “However, this is problematic, especially where certain products are subject to investigations by the EU authorities.” 

EDANA has therefore actively commenced an outreach initiative to raise awareness among its members. They have also contacted the European Commission and the national customs authorities of the EU member states to ask the authorities to enhance import checks. 

Incorrect customs classification not only makes EDANA’s work more difficult to monitor import flows and protect the interests of its members. It can also have severe negative legal consequences for importers. Customs authorities penalize misclassifications with additional duties, administrative fines and even criminal penalties. “To avoid such unpleasant surprises, we recommend that all members and their supply chain regularly review and update their customs classification databases and also instruct their customs agents accordingly” adds Mr Prigneaux. 

Awareness and compliance are in particular important where imports are under enhanced customs control (such as in the framework of import registration during an anti-dumping investigation) or subject to special trade or regulatory regimes (such as duty-free or reduced duty imports from countries with which the EU has special trade arrangements). 

A list of preferential trade regimes can be found on the website of the European Commission (here) and the Access2Markets webpage contains product-specific information for imports of goods into the EU (here). Also, presently, certain PET spunbond from China is subject to an EU anti-dumping investigation and imports were made subject to registration in December 2025 (see here for further information). The exact definition of the product subject to the investigation is: ‘non-woven needle-punched sheets of polyester filaments, whether or not reinforced by glass fibres, weighing more than 70 g/m², of a thickness exceeding 0.5 mm but not exceeding 1.8 mm, impregnated with one or more binders, containing less than 30% of glass fibres by weight, not coated or covered’. All imports of these products must be classified under TARIC code 5603 1390 70, CN code 5603 14 20 or TARIC code 5603 1480 70.

Fabulose is an EU funded project coordinated by the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF). Its consortium consists of leading research institutes, biotech innovators, and industry stakeholders who aim to create high-performance, biobased and recyclable leather-like fabrics, using efficient biotech production routes for bacterial cellulose, cyanophycin and bacterial pigments

Current leather alternatives are either made from petrol-based plastics and non-recyclable, or they are (partly) biobased, but difficult to scale up and recycle. The project, supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), is investigating how animal-based materials can be replaced by environmentally friendly alternatives in industries such as automotive, fashion, and upholstered furniture.

Fabulose uses advanced fermentation techniques, utilizes waste streams as feedstocks, and optimizes processes with the assistace of AI. This enables the environmentally-friendly and efficient production of bacterial cellulose, cyanophycin and pigments. These bio-based materials are combined in a coating formulation that replicates the durability and aesthetics of traditional leather. DITF’s HighPerCell® technology allows for re-spinning of bacterial cellulose to filaments to create recycled textile backings that offer high tensile strength without toxic agents. Instead of processing individual batches, the technology also allows to implement a roll-to-roll production process, thereby simplifying future scale-up to cost-effective mass production.

In addition, market requirements have been collected to select optimal material characteristics, while eco-design and Safe-by-design principles help to assess potential risks and ensure alignment with the safety and sustainability objectives. A digital twin framework will include key process parameters for optimisation and monitoring of material performances.

Summary of the key project innovations:

• Using fermentation products to enable fast and cost-effective production of raw materials
• Grow micro-organisms on waste feedstocks and CO2 to reduce production costs and environmental impact
• Re-spinning bacterial cellulose to filaments to create recyclable, consistent and high-quality fabrics
• Enabling production of cyanophycin to create durable coatings and finishing
• Implementing roll-to-roll production process to simplify future scale-up

Project partners
The Fabulose project has a duration of 3,5 years and a budget of ca. 3,5 M euro.

The consortium includes 10 partners from 6 European countries, spanning the entire value chain, from research to real-world applications:

German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) (Germany), Next Technology Tecnotessile Societa Nazionale (Italy), University of Maribor (Slovenia), Sumatrix Biotech (Turkey), VTL GmbH (Austria), Novis GmbH (Germany), Melina Bucher (Germany), Benecke-Kaliko GmbH (Germany), Konrad Hornschuch GmbH (Germany), University of Aveiro (Portugal), and Steinbeis 2i GmbH (Germany).