idd cologne 2025: Cologne celebrates new interior design event

106 brands, 16 locations, more than 70 events and around 10,000 registered visitors: interior design days cologne celebrated its premiere from 26 to 29 October 2025. The new, decentralised format brought interior design right into the city and combined brand presentations with inspiring talks, curated tours and a variety of networking highlights. The positive feedback from exhibitors and the public shows: idd cologne became the stage for exclusive interior design concepts in the residential, hospitality and contract business segments and transformed Cologne into a lively meeting point of the interiors community. 

"Urban-only": interior design staged in a new way 
With its "urban-only" concept, idd cologne relied on a new form of brand staging: the creative collections, interior design ideas and design trends were presented at authentic and architecturally special locations throughout the Cologne urban area. 

Toyota Motor Europe: Participation in the AZL Joint Partner Project on thermoplastic pressure vessels

As the global shift toward sustainable hydrogen storage accelerates, thermoplastic composites are emerging as a transformative enabler. Building on its longstanding partnerships with leading companies across the composites value chain, AZL Aachen GmbH has launched its new Joint Partner Project “Thermoplastic Pressure Vessels – Benchmarking of Design -for-Manufacturing Strategies to Optimise Material Efficiency and Cost”. Among the first participants, Toyota Motor Europe underscores the strategic importance o f a comparative evaluation of design and manufacturing concepts for thermoplastic composite pressure vessels.

Driving Innovation in Thermoplastic Composites
Thermoplastic composites offer unique advantages for high-pressure vessel applications: automation, energy efficiency, recyclability, and reprocess ability. However, when thermoset -derived design principles are applied unchanged, the unique processing and performance capabilities of thermoplastics remain largely untapped.

Italian Textile Machinery at ITMA ASIA + CITME

Over 100 Italian companies are exhibiting at ITMA ASIA + CITME Singapore 2025, taking place from October 28 to 31. With an area of around 4,000 square meters, Italy ranks among the top exhibiting Countries, as in previous editions. 53 Italian exhibitors will show their innovations within the National Sector Groups, organized by ACIMIT (Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers) and Italian Trade Agency.

ITMA ASIA + CITME show has always been the main showcase for textile machinery manufacturers in Asia, which absorbs 50% of global exports for a value of 8.8 billion euro in 2024. The main world market for textile machinery are China and India, importing textile machines for a total value of 4.3 billion euro.

For Italian manufacturers as well, the Asian market is the top foreign destination. In 2024, Italian exports to Asia amounted to 664 million euro, while in the first six months of 2025 Italian sales to this geographical area grew at 1% rate on the same 2024 period, reaching a value of 317 million euro. China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are the main Asian destinations for Made in Italy machinery.

Girbau: New production facility in the United States

Girbau, a global leader in industrial laundry solutions, marked a key milestone this week: the official inauguration of its new production plant in Oshkosh (Wisconsin, USA), coinciding with the celebration of its 105th anniversary. Both events reinforce Girbau’s commitment to strengthening its presence in the North American market and to continuing its sustainable and customer-focused growth.

The inaugural event, held on October 29, was attended by representatives from local Wisconsin and Oshkosh authorities, ACCIÓ (the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia), and members of the Girbau and Continental Laundry Solutions teams. The day included guided tours of the facilities, institutional speeches highlighting the importance of this new factory as a symbol of international collaboration, local job creation, and commitment to industrial sustainability, as well as the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony. The project was developed with the support and collaboration of ACCIÓ.

Francois Guetat joins Suominen as COO

Suominen has appointed Francois Guetat, M.Eng., as Chief Operating Officer, and member of Suominen Leadership Team effective November 3, 2025.

Francois Guetat brings over two decades of global experience in operations, supply chain, and manufacturing excellence. Most recently, he served as SVP of Integrated Supply Chain at Kalmar, where he led business across sourcing, manufacturing, logistics and strategy. His leadership has been shaped by 22 years at Volvo, where he held key roles in Sweden, USA, and Poland.

“I’m pleased to welcome Francois to our team. He has consistently driven results through transformational programs, systematic continuous improvement deployment, strong commitment to total quality, safety and sustainability, and great people leadership skills”, says Charles Héaulmé, President and CEO of Suominen.

Suominen’s Chief Operating Officer Darryl Fournier has decided to leave the company to pursue other professional endeavors. He will continue with Suominen until end of January 2026, focusing on strategic projects.

TEX 4.0: Industry 4.0 skills for small and medium-sized textile companies

The EU project TEX 4.0 is an innovative initiative that aims to revolutionize vocational education and training in the textile industry. The focus was on developing a tailor-made curriculum that takes into account the specific needs of trainers and learners in the field of new technologies. This curriculum provides important tools to help learners acquire digital skills. In addition, the project offers a comprehensive and innovative training package focusing on Industry 4.0 skills to optimally prepare learners for the technological requirements of the modern working world. 

TEX4.0 provides engaging and attractive training materials to make the textile industry more appealing to younger generations. A key objective of the project is to promote active engagement and the use of participatory approaches in vocational education and training to ensure a more interactive and effective learning experience. Through these efforts, TEX4.0 aims to set a new standard in vocational education and training, making it more relevant, attractive, and effective in order to prepare learners for the challenges and opportunities of the digital age in the textile industry.

Uster presents novelties at ITMA Asia + CITME 2025

The Uster 360Q universe is growing with new products, solutions and services. Innovation developments can also be recorded in the fields of man-made fiber testing and fabric inspection. Uster innovations address the industry’s trending topics as mill management and process control, optimization of delivered fabric quality and yield.

The simplicity of fabric quality control
Uster presents at ITMA Asia + CITME 2025 the brand-new Uster Fabriq Vision 2. The next generation fabric inspection system stands for reliable performance – also in challenging environments – and shows enhanced detection capabilities. Both advantages result from the Smart Vision Camera 3 for high-performance in-camera image processing. Uster’s real-time process monitoring and quality inspection solution further convinces by simplified operation through Uster Intelligence-supported style creations as well as by image-based and supported visual setting adjustment for easier adaption. 

Archroma: 2025 ITMF Sustainability & Innovation Award for distressed denim breakthrough

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals, has won the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) 2025 Sustainability & Innovation Award for DENIM HALO, an innovated denim pretreatment and dyeing process. It gives brands and mills a simple way to produce highly sought-after distressed denim looks with a significantly reduced environmental footprint and cleaner chemistries.

The ITMF Awards celebrate achievements in two categories: Sustainability & Innovation and International Cooperation. Winners were honored at the ITMF Annual Conference, held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from October 24-25, 2025.

A consumer favorite for decades, distressed denim is more popular than ever. But achieving the coveted worn and faded look remains problematic, involving manual scraping, hazardous potassium permanganate sprays or energy-intensive stone-washing. Traditional indigo and sulfur dyeing processes add to the burden, with high water and energy consumption and significant effluent discharge.

Eastman Naia™ awarded top Canopy rating

Naia™’s fourth consecutive ‘Dark Green Shirt’ recognition and the release of its 2025 Sustainability Progress Report and 2025–2030 goals together highlight continued progress in responsible sourcing and transparency. 

At the Textile Exchange Conference in Lisbon, Eastman Naia™ was honored with its fourth consecutive “Dark Green Shirt” in Canopy’s Hot Button Report, an annual ranking of man-made cellulosic fiber producers based on forest conservation, sourcing risk, and supply chain transparency. The recognition confirms Naia™’s ongoing leadership in responsible sourcing and environmental stewardship, distinguishing it as one of the industry’s most trusted fiber platforms. 

The award coincides with the launch of Naia™’s 2025 Sustainability Progress Report and the unveiling of its updated 2030 sustainability goals, which target climate mitigation, circularity at scale, and social impact. Together, these milestones reinforce Naia™’s long-term strategy to deliver measurable, transparent progress across the value chain and to help reshape the materials economy for good. 

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories: Dr. Xiaoli Zhang new Chief Scientist

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc., a leader in spider silk technology*, announced the promotion of Dr. Xiaoli Zhang to the position of Chief Scientist. This promotion follows a series of groundbreaking scientific achievements under Dr. Zhang's leadership that are laying the foundation for the next generation of spider silk-based super materials.
 
Dr. Zhang joined Kraig Labs in October 2024 and was challenged with accelerating the Company's research program and unlocking new scientific frontiers. Tasked with ambitious and transformative objectives, she not only met but exceeded every milestone in record time, positioning Kraig Labs at the forefront of breakthrough discoveries in advanced fibers and bioengineered materials.