Recover™One blends recycled cotton and polyester without downstream overdyeing

Recover has launched Recover™One, a range of ready-to-spin blends made entirely from recycled cotton and recycled polyester. Cotton-to-polyester ratios can be adjusted for different applications, and the material can be supplied as fiber blends or as fabric through Recover’s supply-chain partners.

The technical point is color management. Recover combines the original colors of textile-waste feedstocks with color-matched, dope-dyed recycled polyester through an intimate blending process.
The company says this creates consistent solid, heather and mélange options without a downstream overdyeing stage, reducing processing time and avoiding an additional wet-finishing step.

Applications cited include single jersey, French terry and fleece. Recover also refers to previously verified life-cycle assessments for its recycled cotton, but the new development is the system-level combination of recycled inputs, predefined color and spinning-ready consistency rather than recycled cotton alone.

Blade2Poly targets rotor blades for injection moulding

HTWK Leipzig has launched Blade2Poly with KomRec-ReCond and Schmaus Kunststoffaufbereitung to develop an energy-efficient recycling chain for end-of-life wind-turbine blades. The goal is to recover glass-fibre-reinforced plastics as higher-value secondary raw materials for new injection-moulding applications.

The route starts with material characterisation and categorisation, followed by mechanical processing, intelligent material-flow control and combination of recovered glass fibres with recycled polymers to create post-consumer recycled compounds.

Rotor blades are a demanding circularity case because large, durable composite structures must ultimately be converted into heterogeneous waste streams. Blade2Poly therefore addresses not only size reduction but the quality of recovered material and its compatibility with a new industrial process.

The collaborative R&D project runs from June 2026 to January 2029 under Germany's ZIM programme.

Lignin cuts PAN content in carbon fibre

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a route in which lignin replaces a substantial share of the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) normally used in carbon fibre. Lignin is generated in large volumes as a by-product of pulp and biorefinery operations. The university reports that PAN use can be cut by half, with corresponding potential reductions in production cost and emissions.

The central technical challenge is mechanical performance. The team functionalises single-walled carbon nanotubes and incorporates them into the lignin-PAN matrix. The nanotubes act as nanoscale reinforcement and promote stronger crystalline alignment during spinning and thermal treatment.

The precursor solution is wet-spun, tension-assisted heat-treated and carbonised. The researchers report that the resulting renewable carbon fibre can reach quality requirements relevant to automotive manufacturing. Aerospace, energy infrastructure, sporting goods and wind energy are cited as additional markets.

When the knit becomes the robot

Rice University mechanical engineer Vanessa Sanchez is developing knitted structures in which sensing, movement and mechanical behaviour are programmed into the textile rather than attached as separate components. Her project, “Programmable 3D-Knitted Soft Robotic Textiles for Human-Centered Mobility,” has received a Toyota Programmable System Innovation Fellowship.

Rice points to applications including vehicle seats that reshape around occupants, garments that assist walking and soft safety systems capable of responding to impending impacts.

The work uses knitting as a manufacturing architecture. By varying yarns, stitch geometry and local structural behaviour, the textile can be designed to produce functions that conventional soft-robotic systems may achieve with separate sensors, actuators or rigid elements.

Three-dimensional knitting is particularly important because form can be created during manufacture rather than assembled from multiple flat components. That approach could reduce seams and interfaces while retaining the softness and conformity expected from textiles.

Ravel raises $8.2m to scale blended-textile recycling

Ravel has closed an oversubscribed $8.2 million seed round led by One Small Planet, with participation from AP Ventures, Overlay Capital, Lichen Ventures and existing investors. The funding is intended to move the Seattle-based recycling company from pilot operation towards commercial readiness.

Its Purification Recycling process is aimed at one of apparel recycling's persistent problems: stretch blends. Elastane is widely used in activewear, denim, underwear and other garments, yet even relatively small percentages can interfere with established recycling routes.

Rather than treating the whole textile as a single feedstock, Ravel is developing a separation and purification route for polyester/elastane blends. The company says recovered material can be converted into recycled plastic pellets for renewed use as a raw material.

The next phase will test more than chemistry. Commercial viability depends on throughput, feedstock variability, separation efficiency, energy and chemical inputs, and the quality of the recovered fractions. Ravel plans to validate the process at production scale with textile partners.

Dye, fix and soften in one step

Archroma and Portuguese home-textile manufacturer Lameirinho have moved the InOneGO continuous dyeing process into commercial production. Lameirinho's first bed-linen collection made with the technology is now available worldwide.

InOneGO combines coloration, fixation and softening in a single pad-dry application. It was developed for woven cellulosic textiles including denim, fashion fabrics and home textiles, and works with Archroma sulfur-dye systems including DIRESUL RDT, EarthColors and FiberColors.

Archroma's ONE WAY Impact Calculator indicates reductions of up to 81% in process time, 97% in water consumption, 65% in energy use and 75% in CO2 emissions when a defined InOneGO/DIRESUL RDT scenario is compared with conventional cold pad-batch reactive dyeing plus pigment top-dye finishing. These are supplier calculations for a specified benchmark, not universal mill values.

The process runs on stenter and Thermosol lines. That makes the industrial proposition particularly relevant: mills may be able to remove several wet and dry processing stages without replacing the core line architecture.

Kappahl backs a longer-lasting wardrobe

Kappahl is launching its Autumn 2026 campaign across all markets on 16 September. Built around the existing “We Are Family” platform, the campaign presents a wardrobe of pieces intended to be easy to combine and relevant beyond short trend cycles.

The assortment spans womenswear, XLNT and menswear, with knitwear, denim, tailoring, lace and outerwear. The coat has a specific heritage role, linking the current collection to the company’s origins in Gothenburg in 1953, when founder Per-Olof Ahl opened a store focused on coats.

INDA Hires Ben Muller as Executive Director

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, announced today that Ben Muller has joined the association as executive director. Mr. Muller brings more than 20 years of progressive leadership experience spanning nonprofit organizations, corporations and trade associations.

Most recently, Mr. Muller served on the senior executive team of the High Point Market Authority, where he led marketing, public relations and educational programming for one of the world’s largest trade shows. Previously, he held senior brand and marketing leadership positions with Hanesbrands and Kayser-Roth, gaining extensive experience in textile and apparel supply chains. He began his career serving mission-driven organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Tony Fragnito, INDA’s current president and CEO, will transition to an executive consultant role in January 2027 to support the leadership transition and focus on projects and initiatives designed to expand the reach and participation of the Global Nonwovens Alliance (GNA). His planned retirement will occur in December 2027.

Heidi O’Neill starts lululemon reset

Heidi O’Neill has taken over as chief executive of lululemon. In her first employee message, published in the company newsroom, she places product, brand clarity and operational execution at the centre of the next phase.

O’Neill says her initial weeks will focus on listening to teams, partners, guests and communities before translating ideas into changes. She identifies a need to re-establish the brand’s core and to create more innovative and distinctive product that gives consumers a stronger reason to choose lululemon. She also points to improving operations and how the company connects with its communities.

The appointment matters beyond corporate governance. O’Neill spent more than 25 years at Nike, including leadership across product, design, merchandising, brand and global marketplace operations. At lululemon, that experience meets a business whose differentiation depends heavily on fabric development, fit, functional apparel and a tightly integrated direct-retail model.

Shanghai draws 36,000 home-textile buyers

Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition reports more than 900 exhibitors from 19 countries and regions and nearly 36,000 visitors representing 113 markets. The show covered more than 100,000 square metres and included bedding, upholstery fabrics, curtains, carpets and design-led collections.

Messe Frankfurt says sustainability, new technologies and supply-chain transparency were increasingly visible in buying discussions. Exhibitors presented established sourcing categories alongside functional textiles, more sustainable materials and technology-enabled solutions. Buyer representation was especially strong from Greater China and Southeast Asia, with growing participation from Central Asia.

The fringe programme also moved beyond trend forecasting into operational questions. Sessions covered AI implementation in the home-textile sector, urban renewal, product development, changing lifestyles and opportunities in Latin America. The mix suggests that home-textile sourcing is becoming more closely linked to material innovation, digital tools and verifiable sustainability requirements.