From the Sector

• Precious water for villages that are running on dry land

The GoodTextiles Foundation has worked to improve drinking water supplies in sub-Saharan Africa in another joint project with Cotton made in Africa (CmiA). In three villages in Togo particularly affected by climate change, the partners built wells and trained people in the use of water. The curriculum included the topics of disease prevention, hygiene and health care.

In 2016, the textile company Dibella (Bocholt) established the GoodTextiles Foundation with the aim of making textile value chains more sustainable. It raises funds and implements its own support projects to benefit people at all stages of the textile industry. Now the foundation has once again supported a project in sub-Saharan Africa initiated by Cotton made in Africa (Hamburg). Funding is being provided for three villages in Togo that, according to a needs assessment by CmiA's local partner, the cotton company Nouvelle Société Cotonnière du Togo (NSCT), have no direct access to drinking water.

Difficult water procurement
The areas where CmiA's drought-resistant cotton is grown include the north and interior of Togo, where cotton farmers are particularly affected by the effects of climate change due to prolonged periods of drought. Many village communities lack access to clean drinking water, and people draw contaminated water from more distant rivers or waterholes and carry the heavy load back with difficulty.

Guide to clean water
As part of a joint project between the GoodTextiles Foundation, Aid by Trade Foundation (holder of the CmiA standard) and NSCT, three drought-affected villages - Namare/Puob-n-kpaad, Tchokoroko and Aloba - will now receive their own water supply.

The funds - 11,756 euros will be provided by the GoodTextiles Foundation, and 4,419 euros will come from the Cotton Society - will be used to construct a well operated by hand pumps in each village. The construction work is to be completed by March 2023 and the 2,300 inhabitants will be taught the basics of water handling, disease prevention and hygiene measures in so-called WASH training courses.

Driving force: UN SDGs
For years, we have aligned our company with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals for Sustainable Development). Through the sponsorship project, we are not only contributing to SDG 6 "Clean water and sanitation", but also to gender equality (SDG 5). In the African countries from which we source CmiA cotton, the physically strenuous task of procuring water is still the responsibility of women. The construction of the wells now leads to a significant improvement of their living situation," reports Ralf Hellmann, managing director of Dibella and chairman of the foundation.

Continued under their own responsibility
Once the wells have been handed over to the village communities, "water committees" will take over their management and maintenance, as well as responsibility for further hygiene training for the residents. The operation of the wells will be financed on the basis of a fund made up of small contributions from the beneficiary communities.

INDA announced the program for the World of Wipes® (WOW) International Conference, July 17-20, Atlanta, Georgia. Key topics include: Plastics policy: closing the “intention-action” gap, sustainable manufacturing practices, what consumers think about sustainability and how they are driving cultural change, supply chain transparency, wipes advancements, flushability developments, and a special CEO panel sharing their organizations’ approach to inflation, supply chain challenges, and capacity/demand balance.

Among the leading organizations presenting at this year’s event are: Berry Global, Birla Cellulose, Bringabouts, Bureau Veritas, Diamond Wipes, Freudenberg Performance Materials, Glatfelter, Goodwipes, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, National Cotton Council, Mango Consulting, Plastics Industry Association, Rockline Industries, Sharon Laboratories, and Trützschler Nonwovens. Program and speaker details are available on the WOW website.

Two new features at WOW this year are Lightning Talks and Lunch Around. Lightning Talks are an opportunity for tabletop exhibitors to highlight their innovations in “supersized elevator speeches” to WOW participants. Lightning Talks will take place before the tabletop exhibits open Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The Lunch Around opportunity connects participants and thought leaders from the wipes industry at select downtown Atlanta restaurants on Tuesday and Wednesday. Space is limited and is first-come, first-served.

WOW kicks off with the WIPES Academy, a comprehensive course including elements of market research, materials, chemistry, converting, and regulatory filing. This course has been redeveloped to include all aspects of wipes development from concept to commercialization. The WIPES Academy is led by Heidi Beatty, Chief Executive Officer, and Paul Davies, Ph.D., Consultant, Crown Abbey LLC. Ms. Beatty and Mr. Davies bring decades of practical experience to give participants real-world solutions for product development challenges and tools to improve processes.

The BOGNER Wanderlust styles transport the iconic BOGNER après-ski look into summer, combining details from hiking and active sports with fashionable urban silhouettes.

Vintage details from the BOGNER archives are reinterpreted through modern materials. Slightly cropped tops with dropped shoulders and voluminous sleeves meet piped pockets and striking hoods. BOGNER typical performance elements are combined with sustainability through natural materials like Bavarian Wool and recycled polyester. The highlights of the styles are prints by Viennese street artist Manuel Skirl capturing the spirit of wanderlust. The result is a creation of handmade and digitized prints that resemble a topographical map of a mountain.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) and technology specialist Polymateria Limited have signed an exclusive 10-year partnership to help household brands bring biodegradable nonwoven hygiene products to the market through biotransformation technology.

This collaboration provides a new solution for dealing with essential items like facemasks and wipes once they have been used, ensuring they can return safely to nature without leaving behind any microplastics or toxic residue. It is specifically designed to tackle plastic leaking into the environment as unmanaged waste, meaning it is neither collected for landfill nor recycled. Given that most of the plastic in our oceans originates as unmanaged waste on land, addressing the unmanaged waste challenge is key.

IVL’s right to use Polymateria’s unique biotransformation technology for nonwovens supports application in non-virgin resin recycling while providing a solution for ‘fugitive’ used articles, especially those items that end up in the natural environment. This biotransformation process involves the plastic transforming into a bioavailable wax in the open terrestrial environment, whereupon the wax is fully consumed by bacteria, microbes and fungi, leaving just carbon dioxide, water, and biomass. The pulp component is inherently biodegradable under similar conditions.

Nonwovens made by IVL using Polymateria’s technology have been independently tested against, and meet the criteria in, the BSI PAS 9017 standard for the biodegradation of polyolefins in an open-air terrestrial environment published by the British Standards Institution in October 2020. This standard and/or its criteria – the first in the world to ensure plastic can biotransform in the open terrestrial environment without creating any microplastics – is being adopted around the world including in India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Hungary.

The Global Organic Textile Standard is pleased to announce the release of GOTS Version 7.0, which features an expanded scope of environmental and social criteria while maintaining a standard that is practicable for industrial production and appropriate for a wide range of products. During the regular year-long revision process, international stakeholders with expertise in organic production, textile processing, textile chemistry, human rights and social criteria, as well as representatives from industry, NGOs and civil society organisations, contributed to the new Version 7.0 through multiple consultation rounds. Final decisions were made by the multistakeholder GOTS Standard Revision Committee.

GOTS Version 7.0 provides a comprehensive solution for companies who want to produce organic textiles ensuring compliance with environmental and human rights due diligence along the entire supply chain, from field to finished product. With full traceability from origin to destination, GOTS certification provides an efficient means of verifying genuine sustainability efforts. GOTS 7.0 introduces new requirements to conduct risk-based due diligence of Certified Entities’ own operations and their supply chains based on the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and the OECD guidelines. The Social Criteria section was substantially revised to include a broader human rights-focused approach. GOTS 7.0 now allows recycled organic fibres as additional materials. Key requirements, such as certified organic fibre content, a general ban on toxic and harmful chemicals such as PFAS, conventional cotton and virgin polyester restrictions, and social compliance management, are maintained in GOTS Version 7.0.

Some of the changes in Version 7.0 include:

• GOTS and the Manual for the Implementation of GOTS were restructured, and sections were grouped to reflect the standard’s scope.
• New due diligence criteria ensures that Certified Entities address their actual and potential negative impacts on human rights and the environment.
• GOTS Environmental Criteria, Product Stewardship, and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) requirements will also apply to the subcontractors of chemical formulators.
• Criteria for the incoming organic material have been made stricter.
• Quinoline is included among the prohibited substances and some existing restrictions have been made tighter such as of “aniline, free”, residue limit is decreased to 20 mg/kg from 100 mk/kg.
• GOTS 7.0 reduces the permissible quantity of recycled synthetic (polymer) fibres in its certified products, taking into account the disadvantages associated with recycled synthetics, such as microplastics and poor quality.
• In the pursuit of circularity, GOTS will allow use of recycled GOTS Goods waste as an additional fibre in its certified products.
• GOTS Human Rights and Social Criteria will now require Certified Entities to respect internationally recognised human rights protocols, including the International Bill of Human Rights and other international human rights treaties.
• Criteria concerning Discrimination, Violence and Harassment were revised to make them more comprehensive and include the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention (C190).
• Certified Entities are now required to develop a plan to cover the living wage gap.
• GOTS Occupational Health and Safety criteria were revised to consider best international practices and recommendations from the ILO.

For more information, see the following documents:

• GOTS Version 7.0
• Change Log GOTS 7.0
• Change Log Manual for the Implementation of GOTS 7.0
• Guideline for the new structure of GOTS 7.0

Ctrl+Z is ISKO’s latest innovation employing no virgin cotton, only recycled, and regenerated fibers: more durable, stronger, and now bluesign® APPROVED.

The leading denim ingredient brand and the full-service solutions system with a focus on sustainable chemistry have teamed up in a concerted effort to strengthen their partnership while promoting more sustainable textile production. ISKO has achieved the bluesign® APPROVED label for Ctrl+Z recycled denim fabrics containing no virgin cotton and only recycled and regenerated fibers that are made to be fully recyclable with the newest recycling technologies, enabling a fully circular system.

It is a credential that Bluesign grants only to bluesign® SYSTEM PARTNERs, including manufacturers, that meet the strict safety and environmental requirements of the bluesign® CRITERIA such as ensuring production sites are safe for workers, reducing CO2 emissions and water consumption, as well as avoiding hazardous substances in production among many others.

Specifically, Ctrl+Z is material science that hits “undo” on post-industrial waste delivering fabrics made from recycled and regenerated content that look and feel identical to their former compositions with increased strength and durability.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) reported a record FY22 financial performance from the company’s global manufacturing footprint serving end-consumers’ resilient need for daily necessities. The unusually high level of customer destocking that weighed on the fourth quarter result is expected to have leveled out and business should return to normal operating conditions, with China’s reopening to further spur demand.

Full-year Core EBITDA climbed 31% YoY to $2.3 billion as revenue rose 28% to a record $18.8 billion. The company recorded strong cash flows of $2.2 billion, up 111% YoY. Indorama Ventures’ geographically diversified, integrated platform, backed by management’s agility, withstood unprecedented global events to generate earnings through the business cycle. During the year, the company continued to focus on its growth plan, successfully integrating its strategic surfactants business in Latin America and Vietnamese packaging acquisition. A dedicated senior team is working tirelessly and is committed to the company’s ‘Vision 2030’ sustainability goals including recycling technologies and introducing biomass feedstock to the company’s product portfolio. The ongoing ‘Project Olympus’ cost transformation program delivered an annual run rate of $449 million in efficiencies.

The annual result was impacted by an unusually challenging final quarter as fears of a recession and reduced transit times led to widespread destocking by customers. 4Q22 Core EBITDA declined 43% YoY to $264 million on a 1% drop in revenue to $3.9 billion. The pandemic lockdown in China also continued into the final quarter, reducing factory demand across Indorama Ventures’ portfolio and resulting in narrower margins from lower prices and higher costs. Higher energy and utility costs impacted European operations as the war in Ukraine continued into the winter.

To improve competitiveness and build resilience, Indorama Ventures rationalized underperforming assets in the Fibers business in Europe and a PTA site in Asia, resulting in a $7 million cash impairment in 4Q22 and a $253 million non-cash impact. As a result, the company looks forward to a $38 million uplift in EBITDA in 2023, reaching up to $65 million by 2025.

echnology Group ANDRITZ achieved in 2022 the best figures in its history for order intake, revenue, and operating result ( EBITA). ANDRITZ started the new business year with a record order backlog of around ten billion EUR. Together with strict cost and project management and the successful turnaround in the Metals business area with the German Schuler Group, that order backlog will form the basis for further growth and profitability increases in 2023. Subject to the approval by the Annual General Meeting, shareholders will benefit from the excellent business development with a significant dividend increase to 2.10 EUR (previous year: 1.65 EUR) per share.

The results of the business year 2022 in detail:

• The order intake of 9,263.4 MEUR reached a record level and was thus significantly higher than the figure for the previous year (+17.6% compared to 2021: 7,879.7 MEUR). All four business areas contributed to the increase.
• The order backlog as of the end of 2022 amounted to 9,976.5 MEUR and was thus significantly higher than the value for the previous year (+22.2% compared to 2021: 8,165.8 MEUR).
• The revenue saw very favorable development during the 2022 business year and reached a new record level of 7,542.9 MEUR (+16.7% compared to 2021: 6,463.0 MEUR). All four business areas contributed to the increase in revenue.
• The operating result (EBITA) increased slightly more than revenue and reached 648.5 MEUR, also a record level (+18.7% compared to 2021: 546.5 MEUR). All four business areas contributed to the increase in earnings. Profitability (EBITA margin) increased to 8.6% (2021: 8.5%).
• The net income (including non-controlling interests) increased significantly compared to the previous year, amounting to 402.6 MEUR (+25.1% compared to 2021: 321.7 MEUR)

ANDRITZ expects to continue its profitable course of growth in the business year 2023 and anticipates an increase in both revenue and earnings compared to 2022.

• Sales of CHF 1 510.9 million,
• Order intake of CHF 1 157.3 million in 2022; order backlog of around CHF 1 540 million as of December 31, 2022
• EBIT margin of 2.1%
• Implementation of action plan to increase profitability ongoing
• Dividend of CHF 1.50 per share proposed

With record sales of CHF 1 510.9 million, Rieter achieved an increase of 56% compared with the previous year (2021: CHF 969.2 million). In the second half of 2022, especially in the fourth quarter, the measures introduced to address material bottlenecks had a positive impact. Consequently, sales increased to CHF 890.3 million compared with the first six months (first half-year 2022: CHF 620.6 million).

Order intake was CHF 1 157.3 million in 2022 (2021: CHF 2 225.7 million) and thus remained at a high level thanks to the company’s technological lead and broad international presence. The market situation, especially in the second half of 2022, was characterized by investment restraint and below-average capacity utilization at spinning mills due to geopolitical uncertainties, rising financing costs, and consumer reticence in important markets.
The company had an order backlog of around CHF 1 540 million at the end of 2022, which thus extends into 2023 and 2024.

The profit at the EBIT level in the 2022 financial year was CHF 32.2 million (2021: CHF 47.6 million). The result was strongly influenced by substantial cost increases, which could only be offset in part through price increases or other remedial measures. In addition, to compensate for material shortages, expenses were incurred in connection with the development of alternative solutions, and in relation to the acquired businesses.

Completion of the Acquisition
Rieter consolidated the acquired automatic winding machine business with effect from April 1, 2022. This acquisition completes Rieter’s system offering in the largest market segment of ring and compact spinning, thus significantly strengthening the company’s market position.

Action Plan to Increase Profitability
Implementation of the action plan to increase profitability is ongoing. With regard to the margins for the order backlog, which remains high, the already implemented price increases in combination with a positive trend in costs, particularly in logistics, are having a favorable impact. In addition, progress was made in eliminating material bottlenecks and reducing expenses for the three acquired businesses.

Dividend
The Board of Directors proposes to the shareholders the distribution of a dividend of CHF 1.50 per share for 2022. This corresponds to a payout ratio of 56%.

Outlook
For the coming months, Rieter expects below-average demand for new equipment at first, with a revival expected in the second half of 2023 after ITMA, the leading trade fair in Milan (Italy). Rieter also believes that demand for consumables, wear & tear and spare parts will recover during 2023.
For the 2023 financial year, due to the high order backlog, Rieter anticipates sales in the order of magnitude of the previous year.
The realization of sales from the order backlog continues to be associated with risks in connection with the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, rising financing costs, continuing bottlenecks in the supply chains, and possible, currently unforeseeable consequences of the earthquake in Türkiye in February 2023. Despite the price increases already implemented, further global cost increases continue to pose a risk to the growth of profitability. Rieter will specify the outlook in the 2023 semi-annual report.

The Supervisory Board of adidas AG has extended the appointment of Harm Ohlmeyer as Chief Financial Officer of the company by another three years until the beginning of 2028. Harm Ohlmeyer has been member of the Executive Board of adidas AG since March 2017 and the company’s CFO since May 2017.

At the same time, the Supervisory Board appointed Arthur Hoeld as Executive Board member, responsible for Global Sales, as of April 1, 2023. Hoeld has been with adidas for 25 years, most recently as Managing Director of the company’s EMEA region since 2018. He will succeed Roland Auschel, who has decided to step down from his role, pass on the baton and leave the company after 33 years with adidas, including ten years as an Executive Board member.    

Furthermore, Brian Grevy, Executive Board member of adidas AG, responsible for Global Brands, has informed adidas AG’s Supervisory Board that he will step down from the Executive Board and leave the company. In mutual agreement with Brian Grevy, the Supervisory Board approved the termination of his appointment as an Executive Board member as of March 31, 2023. adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden will assume responsibility for Global Brands. In this role, Gulden will lead adidas product and marketing activities, which will enable the required fast decision-making across all business units and departments.

Thomas Rabe thanked Brian Grevy for his many important contributions during his years of service with the company. Grevy initially joined adidas in 1998 and held leadership positions of increasing responsibility for adidas on a local, regional and global level before leaving the company in 2016. At the beginning of 2020, Brian Grevy returned to adidas as the company’s Executive Board member for Global Brands.

As of April 1, 2023, the company’s new Executive Board will consist of Bjørn Gulden (Chief Executive Officer and Global Brands), Arthur Hoeld (Global Sales), Harm Ohlmeyer (Chief Financial Officer), Amanda Rajkumar (Global Human Resources, People and Culture) and Martin Shankland (Global Operations).