From the Sector

On 29 April 2026, ITA student Tobias Dickmeiß was awarded a sponsorship prize by the Wilhelm Lorch-Stiftung for his innovative approach, to replacing conventional elastane with elastic yarns made from thermoplastic copolyester elastomers (TPC). Thanks to their thermoplastic nature and compatibility with typical polyesters used in the textile industry, elastic TPC yarns offer improved recyclability. Furthermore, the use of the melt-spinning process in yarn production eliminates the need for solvents that are harmful to the environment and human health.

Elastic textiles have become an integral part of our everyday lives, as they ensure comfort, a good fit and freedom of movement. At the same time, the increasing use of traditional elastic yarns, known as elastanes, significantly complicates textile recycling. Even small amounts of elastane can impair thermomechanical recycling processes and prevent a closed recycling loop.

As part of his bachelor’s thesis, Tobias Dickmeiß carried out extensive empirical process studies on a pilot-scale melt-spinning line. By systematically analysing the influence of various process parameters on yarn properties, he succeeded in specifically improving the properties of the resulting TPC yarns. The findings of his bachelor’s thesis thus provide a promising basis for the further development of recyclable elastic yarns and textiles.

Tobias Dickmeiß was granted a sponsorship prize of EUR 5,000 for specific further training in recognition of his outstanding bachelor’s thesis, ‘Development of a melt spinning process for elastic yarns made from thermoplastic copolyester elastomers at pilot scale’.

During his bachelor’s thesis, hr was supervised by ITA PhD student Ricarda Wissel.

EIM (Environmental Impact Measurement), the global reference platform for measuring the environmental impact of garment finishing, presents the second edition of its annual report Denim Industry Progress & Insights 2025. The study analyses over 100,000 real denim finishing processes, providing an accurate and up-to-date view of the industry’s evolution towards more sustainable models.

The textile industry, as one of the sectors with the greatest environmental impact, plays a key role in the transition towards more sustainable production models. To move forward, measuring, understanding, and acting are essential. EIM acts as a compass for the industry, enabling the objective assessment of process impacts and supporting decision-making towards more eco-efficient production.

The report confirms that the denim industry continues to make progress in reducing its environmental impact. Currently, 66% of processes are already classified as low impact, reflecting a positive trend driven by process optimization and the adoption of more efficient technologies.

In terms of resource use, significant progress has been made in optimizing water and energy, although there is still room for improvement to reach more advanced standards. Water consumption remains stable at around 30 liters per garment, indicating a plateau after years of continuous improvement. Energy shows the strongest performance, with 85% of processes classified as low impact, driven by equipment modernization and automation.

However, the report highlights that chemical impact remains the industry’s main challenge, with 27% of processes still classified as high impact. Factors such as the use of generic chemicals, lack of transparency in formulations, and the persistence of legacy practices, such as pumice stones or potassium permanganate, continue to limit progress, despite the availability of more sustainable alternatives.

At the same time, worker health impact has improved significantly, with 68% of processes classified as low impact, driven by the increasing adoption of automated technologies replacing more harmful manual techniques.

“The industry has proven that it can improve when it measures its impact, but the next step requires accelerating the adoption of technologies and leaving behind practices that are no longer sustainable,” says Begoña García, creator of EIM and co-author of the report. “Today more than ever, we need reliable data to make informed decisions and move towards a real transformation of the industry.”

This second report further establishes EIM as a global reference standard to measure and track environmental impact in denim finishing. Its annual nature allows brands and manufacturers to benchmark performance, identify improvement areas, and move forward together towards more ambitious sustainability goals.

The full report is available for download and will be updated annually, reinforcing the industry’s commitment to transparency, continuous improvement and environmental impact reduction.

EIM, a global standard to measure and compare environmental impact
EIM, Environmental Impact Measurement, is a globally recognized tool for assessing the environmental performance of garment finishing processes.

It evaluates four key categories, water consumption, energy consumption, chemical impact and worker health impact. Each process is assessed and classified into three levels, low, medium or high impact, according to standardized benchmarks.

EIM includes specific benchmarks for denim finishing, garment washing and garment dyeing, ensuring that results are accurate, comparable and relevant for each type of process.

This methodology enables brands and manufacturers to measure their processes with precision, track improvements and communicate environmental performance in a transparent and verifiable way.

From August 31 to September 2, 2026, Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris will once again bring together all international players in textiles and apparel at the Paris-Le Bourget Exhibition Center.

A strategic platform for buyers
As a global sourcing hub for fashion professionals, the event will offer direct access to nearly 1,200 international textile and apparel companies across two main areas: Texworld, dedicated to fabrics and raw materials, and Apparel Sourcing, focused on finished products and accessories. These two shows stand out for their broad offering, centered on mid-range and premium segments, meeting the growing expectations of buyers seeking quality and added value. They will be complemented by the key Avantex sector, dedicated to innovative solutions for high-performance and responsible fashion. 

This 59th edition continues to build on a strategy of qualitative consolidation. In line with previous editions, the overall structure of the show remains unchanged to ensure a smooth and intuitive visitor experience: Halls 3 and 4 will bring together the full offering, organized by expertise and end use. Synergies between exhibitors from both shows will be strengthened to optimize visitor flow, with a focus on womenswear, casualwear and sportswear. Hall 2 will host Avantex exhibitors, the Trend Forums, and the conference and service areas, forming a spacious zone designed to encourage interaction.

An enriched international offer for Texworld
Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris reinforces its position as a barometer of the global textile industry. Alongside major historic producing countries (China, Türkiye, India, Korea, etc.), the 2026 edition stands out for the upgrading of the expertise presented and the growing interest in new sourcing regions.

On the Texworld side, the exceptional participation of La Lainière de Picardie marks a first and highlights the value of European know-how in export markets. Specializing in high-end wool linings, this French company embodies industrial excellence, textile innovation, and a commitment to natural and sustainable materials. In a spirit of international openness, an ECO-HUB dedicated to China’s Zhejiang province will bring together around thirty exhibitors committed to 100% sustainable production. Located in Hall 4, this key area underscores the evolution of supply chains toward more responsible and traceable models, aligned with market expectations.

Apparel Sourcing: confirmed momentum and new perspectives
Following a record edition in September 2025, Apparel Sourcing continues its trajectory of qualitative growth. The interest shown by new countries, particularly Mongolia, Pakistan and Taiwan, reflects the industrial capabilities of these production regions while responding to European buyers’ demand for a broader sourcing offer.

In a continued effort to improve clarity and visibility, new pavilions dedicated to leather and jewelry will better showcase these specific finished-product sectors. Similarly, a new Outdoor area, positioned at the intersection of Texworld and Apparel Sourcing, will bring together around fifty exhibitors and offer a cross-category selection combining technical fabric manufacturers (active wear fabrics) and sportswear garment makers, meeting the needs of a rapidly evolving market.
Finally, the new Apparel Sourcing Initiatives area, an extension of the existing Texworld concept, will highlight high-value-added industrial know-how, production flexibility, and premium services offered by a selection of finished-product exhibitors.

Avantex: innovation and commitment for the fashion of tomorrow
Once again this year, the Avantex sector will confirm its role as an innovation laboratory, showcasing technological solutions and sustainable initiatives for the fashion industry. Conferences, workshops and professional meetings will enrich discussions around these key issues in a context of profound transformation within the textile sector. True to its DNA, Messe Frankfurt reaffirms its commitment to supporting and promoting industry players working toward a more responsible, transparent and competitive global model. The creation of the Texworld ECO-HUB is part of this vision.

Polartec®, a Milliken & Company brand and the creator of synthetic fleece, introduces Standard Issue, a unified pre-dyed option now available in black on the company’s best-selling Fleece fabric platform. The technology will be progressively rolled out across the entire Polartec® portfolio and expanded in its color availability based on market demand. Developed to address an industry-wide problem, Standard Issue offers brands a simplified approach to producing one of the most widely used colors in outdoor apparel. 

Every year, top brands independently order thousands of rolls of fleece fabric in nearly identical shades of black. Yet because each variation requires its own dye batch, minimum order quantity and production setup, custom dyeing adds unnecessary time and complexity without necessarily delivering meaningful differentiation.

With Standard Issue, Polartec® is helping streamline production and reduce resource impact. And because the pre-dyed fabrics can be seamlessly integrated into product development, the initiative also helps simplify sourcing decisions and accelerate timelines without compromising the durability, performance, and reliability outdoor brands expect from Polartec® fabrics. More importantly, the new standard is designed to complement, not replace, the multiple customization options Polartec® already offers its partners.  

“Sometimes the biggest opportunities for progress come from questioning the most familiar parts of our industry,” said Ramesh Kesh, Senior Vice President at Milliken & Company and Business Leader for Polartec. “Standard Issue invites the industry to consider a shared alternative to producing countless variations of a visually identical color like Black. It’s a solution whose practical benefits for our partners include simplified development in addition to smarter and more efficient production practices across the global supply chain.”

“This initiative highlights Polartec’s long-standing tradition of solving real-world challenges through material innovation,” added Karen Beattie, Director of Product Management at Polartec. “By providing brands with a consistent, ready-to-use color option, we are helping design teams move from concept to production more efficiently without sacrificing the technical performance their products rely on.”

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:

1. 4D-printed textiles
   4D textiles are textile structures capable of selectively altering their shape or function over time. The ‘fourth dimension’ refers to their response to external stimuli such as temperature, humidity, light or electrical impulses. These are typically based on active materials such as shape-memory polymers, shape-memory alloys or hygroscopic fibres, which are integrated into textile structures. Their role lies in the development of adaptive, functional systems: from climate-regulating clothing and textile-based actuators in soft robotics to self-deploying or medical applications. 4D textiles transform textiles from passive flat structures into responsive, intelligent systems.
2. AlgaeTex sports shoe
   Algae have immense potential as a bio-based raw material to replace petroleum in synthetic textiles: they grow rapidly and can absorb carbon dioxide more efficiently than other bio-based raw materials derived from land plants. Furthermore, their cultivation requires less land – including land unsuitable for other crops – and avoids the use of pesticides. The use of algae as a renewable resource for the production of biopolymers and textiles circumvents the challenges of competing with low fuel prices by creating higher-value applications. In this way, the German textile industry can act as a catalyst for the shift away from fossil fuels towards a bioeconomy in which algae represent an important source of biomass.
   
   The AlgaeTex project demonstrates that the production of thermoplastic biopolymers from algae for textile applications is technically feasible. These novel biopolymers are melt-spun and processed into high-quality textiles that are of significance to the sporting goods industry, such as knitted shoe uppers or T-shirts. 
3. Visionary Agrotextiles
   Agrotextiles are of particular importance for specialised crops such as strawberries, lettuce and kohlrabi, as they have a significant influence on growing conditions. For instance, they can raise soil temperature, channel water to the plants and protect seedlings from external influences, particularly during early growth stages. Agrotextiles consist almost exclusively of petrochemically produced polymers that are not biodegradable. This demonstrator therefore showcases a carded fleece made from biodegradable polymers, which is used to bring forward the harvest in strawberry fields. In the same crop but serving a different purpose, a monofilament net is on display; its deep red colour and a coating of ultra-fine silicate particles serve to protect the plants from invasive insect species.
4. Bionic Oil Adsorber
   On various biological surfaces, oil is adsorbed from the water’s surface and transported along floating leaves.
   ITA postdoctoral researcher Dr Leonie Beek has transferred this effect to a technical textile using her Bionic Oil Adsorber (BOA), which, at maturity level 4, can remove up to 4 litres of diesel per hour from the water.
   
   The BOA differs from technical solutions in that the oil-water separation takes place without external energy and without toxic substances. The work on the BOA has been recognised with the Bionics Award – only in German available - and the Paul Schlack Prize.
5. BioPEtex – A PE-based, solution-dyed and sustainable T-shirt made from organic raw materials
   In the multi-billion-pound fibre market, fossil-based polyesters (PES) dominate the clothing sector, accounting for 52% of the market. Unfortunately, PET, the most commonly used PES, cannot be produced on an industrial scale as 100% bio-based material, unlike polyethylene (PE). Bio-based PE (bioPE), a drop-in polymer derived from fermented starches or sugars, has properties identical to those of fossil-based PE and is easily recyclable. It is also more cost-effective than other biopolymers used in fibres and can be processed at lower temperatures, which saves energy. Solution-dyed bioPE offers significant environmental benefits: it consumes 50% less energy and water than conventional dyeing processes and emits 60% less CO2.
   
   Life cycle assessments (LCA) predict that PE could significantly reduce the textile industry’s ecological footprint, with solution-dyed bio-PE further enhancing this reduction. Furthermore, PE textiles are IR-transparent and thus provide passive cooling for the body.
   
   Despite these advantages, PE is not yet used in the clothing industry. Preliminary research findings from the ITA suggest that PE can be processed into spun, dyed filaments and knitted fabrics with promising textures. The T-shirt on display is spun and dyed and features an elastic surface made from bio-based raw materials. A bio-based elastic finish enhances the T-shirt, which is made from a single source and is thermomechanically recyclable. Contact: Mathias.Ortega@ita.rwth-aachen.de
6. FungalFibers – Leggings
   Against a backdrop of limited resources such as oil, water and arable land, as well as increasing environmental degradation and potential for conflict, there is significant social and commercial interest in providing competitive, socially and environmentally sustainable alternative raw materials for the textile industry. The aim of this project is to develop a completely new process chain for the production of bio-based, vegan textiles from chitosan fibres (filament and staple fibre yarns).
   
   Chitosan is chemically closely related to chitin, the second most abundant substance in nature after cellulose. It occurs naturally in a variety of sources: in insects, crab and shellfish shells, and as a structural component of the cell walls of all fungi. Chitin can therefore be obtained from by-products of crab meat production, insect protein or fungal biomass waste from industrial processes. Chitosan, in turn, can be easily produced from chitin through deacetylation. Contact: Leonie.Beek@ita.rwth-aachen.de.
   
   ITA Group will be presenting the latest developments in sustainable textile products and production processes at Techtextil 2026, taking place from 21 to 24 April 2026 in Frankfurt am Main. The exhibits from ITA Augsburg gGmbH and ITA Technologietransfer GmbH will be on display at the Elmatex joint stand in Hall 12.0, Booth D05.

ITA Group will showcase various approaches to mechanical and thermo-mechanical recycling, addressing potential applications in the textile, materials and automotive industries. ITA Augsburg gGmbH, which specialises in mechanical textile recycling, will present innovations in the fields of composites, mechanical textile recycling and artificial intelligence in production. These include sound and thermal insulation panels from the “IsoTex” project, a towel from the “EcoYarn” recycling project, and the “ColoSens” demonstrator, an AI-based solution for automated colour recognition of fibres in the recycling process.

ITA Technologietransfer GmbH demonstrates thermo-mechanical recycling using numerous examples within the Fabric2Fabric cycle. Using a 3D-printed car seat demonstrator as an example, the recyclable filament yarns are incorporated into a seat cover.

In addition, ITA Technologietransfer GmbH is showcasing its patented ‘Textile Anchor’ concept, an innovative anchoring system designed to protect and secure structures in geotechnical environments such as mountains, in the ground and underwater, as well as for use in building construction. The textile anchor offers an ultra-lightweight solution with high flexibility and optimal adaptability, and is manufactured from extremely durable or biodegradable and sustainable textiles.

At ITA Group’s ‘shared booth’, ITA Technologietransfer GmbH will be providing information on innovations from various industrial partners:

• technofibres s.a. from Luxembourg offers solution-dyed PET and sustainable trPET filament yarns with a wide range of matting levels, filament cross-sections and packaging options for bespoke solutions, even in the smallest batch sizes, making it unique in Europe.
• Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. from Japan offers Xarec™, a syndiotactic polystyrene (SPS) fibre for use in fabrics and nonwovens. The advantages of this semi-crystalline high-performance material, which acquires its syndiotactic structure through the polymerisation of polystyrene and a metallocene catalyst, are demonstrated in nonwoven samples for the filtration sector in comparison with conventional materials.
• The Swedish company Luma Wire Tech AB is an innovative specialist in fine wires, with expertise in advanced plating. Each wire, ranging from 4 to 300 microns and produced from tungsten, molybdenum, or other advanced materials, is tailored to meet each customer’s specific needs— available either uncoated or with high-performance coatings of gold, silver, palladium, or other.