From the Sector

June 1, the European Parliament has adopted its Report on an EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. The Report wants to step up the EU’s ambition towards sustainability and circularity even further, but it has failed to recognise the strategic role of the European textile industry to scale up sustainability, nor to appreciate the global competitive threat which our companies are facing.

Director General Dirk Vantyghem commented on the MEP Report: “We welcome the strong interest of the European Parliament in the textile and fashion industry, but encourage MEPs to develop a balanced vision which reconciles sustainability and competitiveness. Developing a new business model for our industry requires carefully crafted legislation at global level, and an open dialogue between the industry, the brands and the consumer.”

EURATEX supports the EU Textile Strategy, as it was presented over a year ago by the European Commission. The 160.000 European textile companies are committed to invest in sustainability, develop new circular business models and produce high quality textile products – not just in fashion, but also in home and medical textiles, construction, agriculture or cars. To do so, indeed a new regulatory framework is needed, with clear definitions, coherent rules and effective controls. But also, the companies should be able to comply with these rules and remain globally competitive.

The EP Report has failed to respect that balance between sustainability and competitiveness. Instead, it suggests even more rules and restrictions, totally disregarding the current economic challenges caused by high energy prices, loss in consumer confidence and assertive trade partners. Putting the bar even higher will simply mean that the European textile industry will be pushed out of the market, resulting in a bigger environmental footprint and increased dependency on foreign supplies. Quite the opposite of what the EU wants to achieve with its open strategic autonomy plans.

The Report also fails to differentiate between textile products. There is a mix up between fashion and technical textiles, between products made in Europe and outside, between high quality and durable products and low-quality items. It is regretful that the European Parliament did not make that distinction and simply refers to “textiles” as a general cause of concern, without acknowledging e.g. the high quality products, made by European textile and fashion companies.

The Report puts a strong responsibility on the supply side – the industry and the brands – and does not sufficiently address the role of the consumer. Initiatives therefore are essential to create a stronger demand for sustainable textiles, which includes better communication and transparency (avoid greenwashing), fiscal measures, green public procurement and better control of online marketplaces.

On a positive note, the EP Report does recognise the importance to invest in research and innovation, to support reskilling and upskilling, the need of scaling up circular economy and pay attention to the needs of SMEs. EURATEX has always insisted that such massive transition can only be successful if accompanied by significant and dedicated support programmes. The EU Textiles Transition Pathway should offer a clear perspective in this regard.

ERCA, Patagonia® and YKK announce the implementation of ERCA’s REVECOL®, a sustainable, innovative chemical agent, in YKK’s dyeing processes at their Vietnam production sites transforms common waste material, such as exhausted vegetable cooking oil, into an upcycled, certified high performance, safe textile chemical. ERCA has invested in circular practices to take waste material and use them as feedstocks to create new responsible chemical products.

Always searching for new sustainable innovations, REVECOL® caught the attention of Patagonia®. Driven by the goal to utilize non-extractive chemistry in their supply chain wherever possible, the brand teamed up with ERCA and trim supplier YKK to deploy REVECOL®.

REVECOL® LV-TS has a carbon footprint that is 72% lower* than the more conventional chemical auxiliaries produced by ERCA. Today ERCA produces a wide range of high-performance chemical auxiliaries made from used vegetable oil that are ZDHC, bluesign® approved and GRS certified.

ERCA is one of the first companies to have GRS certified chemical products, opening the door to circular chemical auxiliaries.

As part of their Sustainability Vision 2050, YKK is constantly working to deploy more sustainable chemical processes in their production. The ability to replace a commonly used dye chemical with a lower impact version was a no-brainer for YKK’s Vietnam management. REVECOL® is not only more sustainable, it is also more efficient, reducing the use of the dyeing auxiliary by 20% to 30%, thus  helping to lower YKK’s overall chemical usage.

* bluesign® Product Carbon Footprint Report

CELLIANT® with REPREVE®, introduced by Hologenix with global textile solutions provider UNIFI®, makers of REPREVE®, has been awarded a Top 5 Selection in the Accelerated Eco category of the Spring/Summer ISPO Textrends 2025 Awards.

Last fall CELLIANT with REPREVE was also awarded a Selection in the Fibers & Insulation Category of the ISPO Textrends Fall/Winter 2024/2025. In addition, in the spring the fiber was shortlisted in the Drapers Sustainable Fashion 2023 Awards in the Sustainable Textile Innovation category.

Twice a year, ISPO recognizes innovative fibers, fabrics and components that are used to manufacture sports apparel. Both companies are excited that this innovation, whereby CELLIANT infrared (IR) technology is embedded into REPREVE, a brand of recycled fiber, has achieved these honors. CELLIANT with REPREVE is a performance fiber made from recycled materials that have been enhanced with IR technology to provide wellness benefits to the consumer.  

CELLIANT is a natural blend of IR-generating bioceramic minerals, which, when embedded into textiles, allows them to convert body heat into infrared energy, returning it to the body and temporarily increasing local circulation and cellular oxygenation. This aids in muscle recovery, increases endurance, and improves overall performance in healthy individuals, among other benefits.
 
REPREVE recycled performance fiber consists of high-quality fibers made from 100% recycled materials, including post-consumer plastic bottles and pre-consumer waste. It is also certified and traceable with UNIFI’s U TRUST® verification and FiberPrint™ technology, which provide assurance that the product comes from recycled materials. Compared to virgin fiber, REPREVE helps to offset the use of petroleum, conserving water and energy and emitting fewer greenhouse gasses.

This award marks the third year in a row that Hologenix has had its CELLIANT technology recognized in the ISPO Textrends Awards. CELLIANT in pure white was a Top Ten Winner in 2022. The prior year, CELLIANT Viscose was a Selection Winner as well. 

BDG [By Urban Outfitters] and the denim mill, ISKO have come together to develop a 10-piece collection made up of workwear-inspired denim pieces with finishing designs by British Artist, Dwayne Coleman.

Partnering with ISKO, Urban Outfitters has developed more sustainable denim pieces for this collaboration, utilizing recycled cotton yarns made from cutting waste. All pieces are washed using innovative technology to reduce the chemical, water, and energy footprint so that each item has a low environmental impact score. The development of these washes were done with the help of ISKO’s Creative Room London. The collection features an innovative style that uses no virgin cotton, and yet the authenticity and durability remains the same.

The collaboration incorporates the principles of circular design, including minimal wash processing, recycled cotton content, minimal metal trims and removable shank buttons. The styles are designed to last, and after many wears they will be readily recyclable for their next life. Urban Outfitters are members of Better Cotton whose mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment as part of the brand's wider sustainability initiatives.

DyStar, a specialty chemical company, announces its latest innovation, Eco-Advanced Indigo Dyeing.

The launch of DyStar’s Eco-Advanced Indigo Dyeing aims to reduce water usage by up to 90% and energy consumption by up to 30% during the production process. The new DyStar’s Eco-Advanced Indigo Dyeing is applicable in the Indigo traditional dyeing process, for Sulphur dyes, and colored Denim. The technique of sustainable indigo dyeing has already been proven to reduce substantially the effluent load in Denim production.

DyStar’s eco-friendly indigo dyeing process is recognized for helping customers deliver better consistency in quality while achieving less wastewater treatment in the effluent.

“Grow Your Couture” by Piero D'angelo, the winning project of the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION (ISFA) competition was announced during a webinar broadcast on 18 May attended by Giusy Bettoni CEO of C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub, Anna Detheridge President of Connecting Cultures and ISFA ambassadors Valentina Suarez, co-founder and CEO of Universo Mola and Vishal Tolambia winner of the 2022 edition.
 
Piero D'angelo's project was the best among the 110 proposals received after the international call for proposals launched on 27 October 2022.
 
Piero D'Angelo, 36, a graduate in Fashion Womenswear from the Royal College of Art in London and in Textile Design from Central Saint Martins, is a Fashion and Textile Designer with a research focus on biotechnology in the fashion industry. In 2022 he founded his Fashion & Textile Design studio experimenting with a multidisciplinary approach on the importance of natural materials and Biodesign. From 2018 to 2022 Piero D'Angelo was a resident and then Product Researcher & Developer at Open Cell (Biotech Research Park), a biotech start-up community in London. He was awarded the Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize in 2015 and semi-finalist for the LVMH Prize in 2020.
 
In his communication project, 'Grow Your Own Couture' D'Angelo imagines a future scenario where it will be possible to grow one's own clothes through living organisms such as lichens that are able to absorb pollution. But the project also wants to communicate a return to nature and above all care and protection towards it. In fact, the user is not simply a user of fashion, but through a kit is part of the process of growth, care and creation of the garment, thus abandoning the traditional paradigms of fashion. The project wants to completely re-imagine the way fashion could be designed, produced and used, proposing not only a product, but also a system that wants to collaborate with nature instead of polluting or exploiting it.

Adient, a leading supplier of automotive seating systems, has achieved full ISCC PLUS (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification) of its foam plants in Lučenec (Slovakia) and Mandling (Austria) for increasing the sustainability of foams produced for its automotive seating systems. The stringent global sustainability certification system of ISCC allows for proven enhanced traceability of circular polyurethane (PU) foams throughout the supply chain.
 
The environmental impact of the newly developed PU formulations and processes of molded foams is improved by the re-integration of waste materials from industrial & natural origins replacing crude oil into the PU raw materials. This reduces the use of fossil-based materials in favor of recycled materials, to foster the development of a circular economy. As a result, the plants can offer foams with up to 20% less CO2 impact while fulfilling the same quality requirements as their conventional equivalents. To date, Adient is the first European ISCC PLUS certified PU foam manufacturer in this field.

Based on a mass balance approach, the certification highlights the need to envi-ronmentally balance every single stage of automotive value creation, including the entire supply chain.

With the short slogan ‘NOW’ INNATEX, which takes place from 29 to 31 July 2023 at the Exhibition Centre in Hofheim-Wallau, enters the summer season. The 52nd International Trade Fair for Sustainable Fashion close to Frankfurt am Main is using the slogan to express the urgent need for a sustainable transformation in the fashion industry.

Lounge Area with new themes and collaboration partners
Alongside its well established and constructive partnerships with, for example, the Hessen Retail Federation and Mirjam Smend of Greenstyle Munich and Pureviu, the organisers MUVEO GmbH have entered into a new collaboration agreement with Fashion Changers. The two heads behind this Berlin-based initiative, Nina Lorenzen and Vreni Jäckle, will be holding and moderating two Lounge Talks on the Saturday. On the Sunday and Monday, the other partners will be contributing to the programme with additional experts.

“We are currently discussing several themes for the Lounge Talks, such as size inclusivity and branding strategies for fashion businesses in the digital age,” says Alexander Hitzel, Project Manager for INNATEX. “The new Community Lounge, which brings together the Talks, DESIGN DISCOVERIES and information stands with experts, first appeared in the winter. We still shan’t be putting together a non-stop programme, though, because as an ordering fair INNATEX continues to focus on concentrated working.”

Green Fashion is NOW: Creativity and mood of optimism in the industry
In the community, Hitzel says he perceives an attitude that is far from lethargic, due to the recent crisis-laden years. Among the 220+ exhibitors, several are expanding or even doubling their stand areas. Some labels are announcing entirely new lines as part of their market response. And even traditional textile producers are revealing fresher looks, getting into discussions with suppliers and testing new materials.

“We are excited about the summer fair, because we are already noting an extraordinary degree of creativity and dynamism – which is good!” comments Hitzel. “We need a sustainable counterweight to ultra-fast fashion more than ever.”

Newcomers and labels exhibiting for the first time still have until 1 June 2023 to apply to be DESIGN DISCOVERIES.

With regard to current and imminent requirements to strengthen and promote the recycling of garment waste in order to safe valuable textile fibre in the European but also worldwide textile economy DiloGroup announces the start of a close cooperation between Dilo, Germany and the Italian companies Dell’Orco & Villani and TechnoPlants. This cooperation forms a group of expertise to supply complete projects in the area of textile recycling.

Dell’Orco & Villani is a long term highly experienced and innovative specialist in the field of tearing equipment to recycle textile garment clippings. This technology maintains as much as possible the staple length of reopened fibre from yarn in knitted and woven textiles. This special tearing process avoids the downgrading and shortening of the staple.

TechnoPlants is a highly experienced specialist in the field of aerodynamic web forming and through air technology with particular emphasis on reclaimed fibre for various applications as for example in acoustic and thermal insulation, car parts, upholstery and bedding.

DiloGroup with DiloSystems GmbH is a general contractor who is specialized in the area of fibre preparation, carding, cross-lapping and needling who will act as a turnkey general provider of complete projects including Dell’Orco & Villani components to reclaim wasted fibre as well as TechnoPlants components when aerodynamic web forming is included or when carding, cross-lapping is selected together with through-air ovens and end-of-line equipment including packaging from TechnoPlants.

The expertise of the three companies together is a source for the complete know-how in this large area of applications to reuse fibre from textile waste in new nonwoven material.

With the beginning of upcoming ITMA 23, more details of the organizational structure of this cooperation among the three companies will be released and project engineering will be started.

"ITA Aachen and ITA Augsburg are part of the ITA Group International Centre for Sustainable Textiles. Experience our textile innovations at two exhibition booths," explains ITA Institute Director Professor Dr. Thomas Gries. "See our ring spinning tester at booth H3-B304, which spins recycled fibres sustainably and individually in a previously impossible fineness. In addition, there is digital yarn monitoring, which enables new market potentials. Get an idea of the Recycling Atelier of ITA Augsburg at booth H3-A207 and see the textile cycle from used textile to solution steps for industrial implementation together with industry partners. Join us on the Walk4Recycling and follow the path from used textile to a new knitted pullover on a tour of the trade fair. This is how we live up to our claim as the ITA Group: sustainable - digital - individual."

ITA Aachen - Digital ring spinning tester for recycled fibres enables spinning of fine yarns with high recycled fibres content
The Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University (ITA) will be exhibiting a digital ring spinning tester, which spins recycled fibres directly and conventionally with a particularly high content of 60-70 percent. Up to now, recycled yarns have mainly been rotor-spun in this blend ratio. This results in rather coarse yarns and is not suitable for finer textiles such as outerwear. Ring spinning of recycled yarns now enables the spinning of finer yarns and thus a higher application level for recycled materials.

A unique selling point of the ITA ring spinning tester is the simultaneous spinning in the direct spinning process from the sliver and in the classic ring spinning process. For this purpose, the strength and elongation of the spun yarn are determined online and digitally for the first time. The real-time measurement allows process parameters and yarn properties to be adjusted iteratively and quickly. The ring spinning tester was upgraded from an existing tester to Industry 4.0 standard and is operated via a tablet. Operation via tablet enables the adjustment of process parameters including online quality monitoring remotely from anywhere in the world.
 
For this purpose, the ring spinning tester is also able to produce fine ring spun yarns. These yarns made from recycled material opens up a multitude of further fields of application for woven and knitted goods. Now, for example, clothing and technical textiles can be made from recycled material, the production of which was not possible before - such as outerwear made from recycled material. The development of new industries and fields of application opens up new market potential for recycled yarns - also and especially for processing in Europe. This creates the opportunity to preserve key technologies and jobs in cost-intensive locations.

ITA Augsburg - Recycling Atelier: Walk4Recycling
The Recycling Atelier of the Institut für Textiltechnik Augsburg gGmbH on stand H3-A207 presents the textile recycling from used textiles into new products via the various process steps and, together with the industrial partners, opens up solution paths for industrial implementation.

Under the headline "Walk4Recycling", a tour of the fair shows the cycle of used textiles from used knitwear into a new knitted pullover via a ring yarn made from a blend of 65 percent recycled cotton and 35 percent virgin polyester. The key innovation here is the high proportion of recycled fibres from post-consumer textiles for a ring yarn of this fineness. Today, mainly coarse rotor yarns for low-quality textiles are spun from these materials. The industrial partners participating in the Walk4Recycling are partners of the Recycling Atelier and contribute with their technologies to the fact that fibre material from old clothes can be processed in various process stages into a yarn of new value and high-quality ready-made garments.

The Walk4Recycling offers visitors the opportunity to experience a complete recycling cycle with the numerous process stages from tearing the old textiles, preparing and spinning the fibres and knitting a new jumper live during the fair. Get detailed information on the mechanical recycling of clothing via QR code, website and flyer about the participating exhibitors and their machines and technologies. A short movie will give you additional insights into the various processes involved in the production of the jumper.