Iconic Rabbit Chair: Qeeboo celebrates its tenth anniversary

Qeeboo marks its tenth anniversary with a special project dedicated to its most iconic product: the Rabbit Chair, designed by Stefano Giovannoni.  
 
Launched in 2016 at the brand’s debut, the Rabbit Chair has become a defining symbol of Qeeboo, blending iconic design and emotion into a distinctive and recognizable language. 
  
To celebrate this milestone, the company invited designers who have contributed to its history to reinterpret this product through their own vision, exploring new expressive possibilities across the diverse languages of contemporary design.  
 
Among the participants are some of the most prominent figures on the international design scene: Estudio Campana, Furf Design Studio, Elisa Giovannoni, Richard Hutten, Studio Job, Marcantonio, Maum Studio, Studio Nucleo, Marco Oggian, Marcel Wanders, Nika Zupanc.  
 
The results are unique, handcrafted pieces that will be auctioned during the exhibition and sold through the Paris-based auction house Piasa, highlighting the exclusive and artistic value of the initiative. 
 

Mayer & Cie. Global starts business operations

The future of the Mayer & Cie. brand has been secured: Following the successful completion of the purchase agreement for assets in the circular knitting machinery segment of the German traditional company Mayer & Cie., which was signed in February this year, the brand will continue to exist. The transfer of these assets to the new owner, Xu Hongjie, was formally completed yesterday afternoon. This clears the way for the resumption of business operations at the Albstadt site. 

During the transition phase between signing – the execution of the agreements in February – and yesterday’s closing, the new owner and his team have worked intensively on a concept for the restart. The aim is to realign the traditional brand and consistently focus on customer needs. In the future, Mayer & Cie. will operate with greater speed, efficiency, and an even stronger focus on solutions. 
 
Successful closing paves the way for Mayer & Cie.’s future 
Today’s closing marks the final milestone in the transfer of assets from Mayer & Cie.’s circular knitting division to Xu Hongjie. 

Europe is losing its textile industry

Every week, textile factories close across Europe. Behind each closure: jobs lost, communities affected, strategic capabilities gone.

EURATEX has released its latest Economic Update on the performance of the European textile and apparel industry in 2025. For the third consecutive year, the sector recorded negative results across all key indicators — production, turnover and employment — confirming a continued erosion of competitiveness across Europe.

The causes are clear: structurally high energy costs, weak consumer demand, growing import pressure from Asia, unfair competition from online platforms, and an increasingly heavy regulatory burden on European producers.

New wound care: Freudenberg resolves dilemma between adhesive strength and skin protection

With Tacnera®, Freudenberg Performance Materials (Freudenberg) is presenting a new technology for silicone foam dressings used in advanced wound care. Unlike classic silicone adhesive layers, Tacnera® is a highly-developed, intelligently-engineered system that combines polyurethane foam, a proprietary coating technology and gentle silicone gel. Tacnera® therefore solves a key problem for premium foam dressings: the dilemma between reliable adhesion and the risk of skim trauma during dressing changes. This gives brand manufacturers, distributors and regional suppliers of advanced wound care products a clear competitive advantage in the premium segment. The globally active nonwovens manufacturer will be welcoming visitors to Stand D42 at EWMA in Bremen from May 6 – 8.

Foam dressings with particularly gentle silicones often do not adhere firmly enough, while stronger silicones increase the risk of skin trauma and tissue damage. This “adhesion-trauma dilemma” reduces both patient comfort and clinical confidence, and limits market differentiation options in the premium segment. Tacnera® resolves this dilemma.

VDMA members at Techtextil: Smart technologies for technical textiles

At Techtextil 2026 in Frankfurt, the members of VDMA Textile Machinery underline their key role as global technology leaders for technical textiles and textile processing. With a strong presence of more than 50 members they will highlight how engineering excellence, innovation strength and sustainability expertise from Germany and Europe are shaping the future of the textile industry. Seven companies will be present at the VDMA group stand in the centre of hall 12.0. 

Rieter Annual General Meeting 2026: All motions proposed by the Board of Directors adopted

On April 16, 2026, 342 shareholders, who represent 64.0% of the share capital, attended the 135th Annual General Meeting of Rieter Holding Ltd. They approved all proposals of the Board of Directors. 

Annual Report, Financial Statements, Consolidated Financial Statements and Remuneration Report 
The shareholders approved the Annual Report, Financial and Consolidated Financial Statements for 2025. They also granted discharge to the members of the Board of Directors and those of the Group Executive Committee for their activities in the year under review. 
In a consultative vote, the shareholders also approved the 2025 Report on Non-Financial Matters. 

Waiver of dividend distribution 
The shareholders followed the proposal of the Board of Directors to waive the distribution of a dividend. 

Amendments to the Articles of Association 
The proposed amendments to the Articles of Association of Rieter Holding Ltd. were also approved. 

ITA @ Techtextil 2026: Smart textiles - sustainable, eco-friendly and AI-powered

Sports shoes made from algae, leggings made from mushrooms, filtering (diesel) oil from water, 4D textiles, recyclable, sustainable and featuring AI – this is what the ITA Group is presenting at three individual stands run by ITA Aachen, ITA Augsburg gGmbH and ITA Technologietransfer GmbH on the joint stand of Elmatex in hall 12.0 D05.

ITA Aachen embraces the concept of sustainability and, through its exhibits, presents solutions to specific contemporary challenges:

2025 Nonwoven Production in Greater Europe: European Industry Remains Strong

EDANA, the international association serving the nonwovens and related industries, released the European annual statistics for 2025, offering a comprehensive picture of the nonwovens industry in Greater Europe. This information shows an overview of the industry’s strength and resilience across the region. 

According to the figures collected and compiled by EDANA, overall nonwovens production in Europe declined by around 2.2% in 2025, reaching 2,919,000 tonnes. 

Jacques Prigneaux, EDANA’s Market Analysis and Economic Affairs Director, stated: “Despite the negative impact of several drivers affecting the nonwovens industry, the slowdown in demand across some key market segments, and an increasing competition from abroad, the European nonwovens industry has once again demonstrated its strength, resilience, flexibility and ability to innovate.” 

Neumag Nonwoven at FILTECH 2026: Focus on Nonwovens for Filter Media

Under its Neumag brand, Barmag will present its technologies for the production of nonwovens for filter media at this year’s FILTECH. The main focus is on solutions for producing high-performance filter media at competitive costs. Here, Neumag excels in both the meltblown sector and with its spunbond solutions. 

Meltblown technology for the highest quality requirements 
Neumag’s meltblown technology enables the efficient and straightforward production of high - performance nonwovens for filtration, insulation, and sorption applications. A wide variety of polymers can be processed—from classic polyolefins such as PP and PE, through PET, PLA, PBT, and PA, to specialty plastics like PPS or TPU. All of these and other raw materials can be processed safely and reliably using the Neumag meltblown process. 

Danish partnership extends the lifespan of wool-nylon textiles

Carpets and upholstery fabrics from ships and hotels have significant recycling potential that is not currently being fully utilised. A Danish partnership aims to change that.

Many offices, hotels, ships and other public spaces are fitted with carpets and upholstery fabrics made from wool-nylon blends. The combination of materials gives the products a very long lifespan, but complicates the recycling process when they are replaced. Manufacturers, researchers and knowledge partners have joined forces in the UnBlend partnership, which aims to make textiles easier to reuse and recycle.

Aiming to extend the lifespan of wool-nylon textiles
Tons of high-quality carpets and upholstery fabrics go up in smoke when offices, hotels, ships, libraries, theatres and other public spaces refurbish their interiors. In the EU alone, an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of carpets are disposed of every year, and the vast majority are incinerated or end up in landfill.