From the Sector

Autoneum has closed the acquisition of Chengdu Yiqi-Sihuan Automobile Interior Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese supplier of acoustic and thermal management solutions for the automotive industry. This strategic transaction marks a key step in Autoneum’s expansion in Asia and further strengthens its position in the world’s largest automotive market. 

Originally announced in May 2025 as the takeover of Chengdu FAW-Sihuan Group, the transaction includes all shares of Chengdu Yiqi-Sihuan. The company name was clarified during the process to better reflect the scope of the transaction. This takeover follows the recent integration of Jiangsu Huanyu Group. Together, these initiatives reinforce Autoneum’s commitment to its “Level Up” strategy and its goal to generate 20 percent of Group revenue in Asia over the medium term. 

Founded in 2011, Chengdu Yiqi-Sihuan operates four production facilities across China and em-ploys approximately 240 people. The company supplies major Chinese OEMs including FAW-VW, FAW-Audi, FAW-Toyota, and Geely. In 2024, it generated revenues of approximately CHF 27 mil-lion, with further growth expected in the coming years. 

“This acquisition is another milestone in our Asia strategy,” said Eelco Spoelder, CEO Autoneum. “We aim to grow with Chinese OEMs not only in China but also globally. Expanding our local presence in China allows us to be closer to the local customers and accelerate innovation cycles—both of which are critical for sustainable growth.” 

Autoneum will continue to operate the entities of Chengdu Yiqi-Sihuan under their existing Chinese names, while fully integrating them into its Business Group Asia. This approach aligns with Autoneum’s strategic focus on sustainability, innovation, and customer-centric solutions—particularly in the dynamic Chinese market.

Fashion for Good launches the first open-source blueprint for near-net-zero textile manufacturing, tackling one of fashion’s biggest emissions hotspots. Developed under the Future Forward Factory project, the blueprint offers Tier 2 manufacturers in India five practical, financially viable pathways to reduce carbon emissions by up to 93%. 

The urgent need for practical decarbonisation strategies
Textile dyeing, treatment, and finishing facilities (Tier 2 of the fashion supply chain) are a major source of pollution and emissions. These wet processes consume high amounts of water, energy, and chemicals, yet manufacturers face a tangle of barriers: prohibitive upgrade costs, a fragmented approach, and no clear path forward. Without a holistic playbook, decarbonisation remains out of reach and unjustified for most, hindering the industry’s biggest opportunity to decarbonise.
 
A blueprint for scaling the future of textile manufacturing
Developed as part of the Future Forward Factories project, this one-of-its-kind blueprint is freely available to manufacturers, brands, bringing together energy interventions, disruptive process innovations and best-in-class technologies. 

Designed as a practical guide for Tier 2 textile manufacturers in India producing cotton knits and wovens, the blueprint launches today through Fashion for Good. The initiative is backed by catalytic funders Laudes Foundation and H&M Foundation, as well as Apparel Impact Institute, IDH, and on-the-ground experts Bluwin, Wazir Advisors, Grant Thornton Bharat, and Sattva Consulting. Arvind Mills serves as the anchor partner supporting the blueprint’s development in India.

The blueprint provides five tailored pathways based on product type and production process, identifying best available technologies and innovative processes to achieve near-net-zero operations. In case of full implementation of all processes and infrastructure upgrades, factories can achieve up to: 

• 93% reduction in carbon emissions
• 33% reduction in water usage and 
• 41% reduction in electricity consumption.

Critically, each pathway includes financial analysis (payback periods, internal rates of return, and net present value calculations), revealing where additional support is needed. The blueprint also incorporates a Policy Landscape Overview that maps available government incentives, and includes a “How to Navigate” section enabling manufacturers to identify the scenario most applicable to them.

“The Future Forward Factory blueprint removes the guesswork and delivers a pragmatic solution to a complex problem,” said Katrin Ley, Managing Director of Fashion for Good. “By making this knowledge freely available, we are systematically dismantling the biggest barrier to decarbonisation: the lack of a clear, implementable ‘how-to.’ Every manufacturer now has access to concrete guidance and validated financial data. This is more than a roadmap; it is the essential guide for the industry’s factory transformation.”

Fashion for Good aims to support a selected set of manufacturers in India to retrofit their facilities with the help of this blueprint, with the support of Apparel Impact Institute (Aii). Selected facilities will gain hands-on guidance, technical expertise, and financial clarity to implement the blueprint. Manufacturers interested in taking part in the programme can register their interest here. 

 “As we build this facility, we are committed to sharing what we will learn. The Future Forward Factory blueprint is proof that a holistic understanding of the decarbonisation journey can unlock an investment case and create operational efficiencies for long-term profitability. Moving from assessments to the actual deployment of solutions.” Abhishek Bansal, SVP-Sustainability at Arvind Mills.

Moving beyond theory, the blueprint‘s viability will be concretely demonstrated by Fashion for Good and Arvind. The partners are aiming to transition from concept to reality and are in the process of exploring the set-up of the first Future Forward factory using this blueprint. This near-net-zero textile production facility will function as a demonstrative, operational proof of concept and will set the foundation for future blueprints, which Fashion for Good is already looking to develop in South Asia and Latin America, developing bespoke solutions to suit the diverse needs of different manufacturing contexts. 

To get the blueprint, please visit the Fashion for Good website at this link.

Imagine a road cyclist or downhill skier whose clothing adapts to their wind speed, allowing them to shave time just by pulling or stretching the fabric.

Such cutting-edge textiles are within reach, thanks to researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). Led by SEAS mechanical engineering graduate student David Farrell, a study published in Advanced Materials describes a new type of textile that uses dimpling to adjust its aerodynamic properties while worn on the body. The research has potential to change not only high-speed sports, but also industries like aerospace, maritime, and civil engineering.

The research is a collaboration between the labs of Katia Bertoldi, the William and Ami Kuan Danoff Professor of Applied Mechanics, and Conor J. Walsh, the Paul A. Maeder Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  

On-demand golf ball dimples
Farrell, whose research interests lie at the intersection of fluid dynamics and artificially engineered materials, or metamaterials, led the creation of a unique textile that forms dimples on its surface when stretched, even when tightly fitted around a person’s body. The fabrics utilize the same aerodynamic principles as a golf ball, whose dimpled surface causes a ball to fly further by using turbulence to reduce drag. Because the fabric is soft and elastic, it can move and stretch to change the size and shape of the dimples on demand.  

Adjusting dimple sizes can make the fabric perform better in certain wind speeds by reducing drag by up to 20%, according to the researchers’ experiments using a wind tunnel.

“By performing 3,000 simulations, we were able to explore thousands of dimpling patterns,” Farrell said. “We were able to tune how big the dimple is, as well as its form. When we put these patterns back in the wind tunnel, we find that certain patterns and dimples are optimized for specific wind-speed regions.”

Farrell and team used a laser cutter and heat press to create a dual-toned fabric made of a stiffer black woven material, similar to a backpack strap, and a gray softer knit that’s flexible and comfortable. Using a two-step manufacturing process, they cut patterns into the woven fabric and sealed it together with the knit layer to form a textile composite. Experimenting with multiple flat samples patterned in lattices like squares and hexagons, they systematically explored how different tessellations affect the mechanical response of each textile material.

Lattice pattern
The textile composite’s on-demand dimpling is the result of a lattice pattern that Bertoldi and others have previously explored for its unusual properties. Stretch a traditional textile onto the body, and it will smooth out and tighten. “Our textile composite breaks that rule,” Farrell explained. “The unique lattice pattern allows the textile to expand around the arm rather than clamp down.

“We’re using this unique property that [Bertoldi] and others have explored for the last 10 years in metamaterials, and we’re putting it into wearables in a way that no one’s really seen before,” Farrell said. 

The paper was co-authored by Connor M. McCann and Antonio Elia Forte. The research had federal support from the National Science Foundation under award No. DMR-2011754. The Harvard Office of Technology Development has safeguarded the innovations associated with this research and is exploring commercial opportunities.

From February 2 to 4, 2026, Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris will again bring together key players in textiles and clothing at the Paris-Le Bourget Exhibition Center. For 3 days, visitors will discover, compare and select among 1,300 suppliers who will shape the collections of tomorrow, from ready-to-wear to luxury. 
 
Crossroads for fashion professionals 
As a barometer of the international textile industry, this 58th edition of Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris will gather over a thousand exhibitors, fabric makers and manufacturers of finished products, coming from around thirty major producing countries. This diversity confirms the lasting role of European markets in global demand and highlights Paris’s strategic position as the capital of fashion, sourcing and creativity. 
 
The development of the Spring-Summer 2027 collections will remain at the heart of discussions with buyers, with creative directions revealed by the show’s artistic directors, Louis Gérin and Gregory Lamaud. Sustainability and supply chain traceability, central concerns for market players, will also be highlighted through dedicated itineraries, conferences and the Texpertise Econogy tools developed by Messe Frankfurt to identify innovations and industrial partners committed to more responsible production (Econogy Finder, Econogy Talks, Econogy Tour...). The Econogy HUB, located in the passage between Hall 2 and Hall 3, will focus on the sustainable initiatives and actions of the show’s partners. 
 
A redesigned sector layout 
While the overall structure of the show, centered around Halls 2, 3 and 4, remains unchanged from the past two editions, Messe Frankfurt France has decided to rethink the distribution of major sectors within the exhibition space. The goal is to meet the expectations of buyers who want to explore fabrics and finished products in one continuous flow while optimizing their visit. The Apparel Sourcing area dedicated to women’s wardrobes (All about her) and Texworld’s Knit offer will move to Hall 3, alongside the national pavilions. In Hall 4, Texworld’s Activewear sector will be grouped with the Casual & sport clothing area, while Print and Jacquard will be placed closer to Silky Aspects, strengthening the women’s ready-to-wear offer. Hall 2 will remain dedicated to trend forums, round tables and services areas (food, networking...) while also offering comfortable breathing zones. 

This new organization makes it easier to connect different product worlds according to their uses and types, strengthening synergies between Texworld and Apparel Sourcing exhibitors. Buyers can now move naturally from one skill to another and circulate freely between materials, accessories and finished product lines, enjoying a smoother sourcing experience with easier navigation. 
 
Areas dedicated to showcasing products and expertise 
Visitors will find several features that were highly appreciated in previous editions. Initiatives, the showcase area dedicated to craftsmanship and collective projects from industries or countries, will be accessible at the entrance of the show. As an area that highlights textile identities and the know-how of French and European training schools, it will offer an expanded view of international expertise. The Ready to Sell area, located in Hall 2 near the trend forums, will present a carefully curated selection of finished products chosen by Texworld’s artistic directors. Buyers will be able to quickly identify collection suggestions available from exhibitors, in line with the creative trends shaping the coming season. These features help make Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris both a practical and forward-looking service platform. 

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, a leader in spider silk technology*, launched a key hiring initiative at its production operations in Southeast Asia. This expansion of the company's production workforce is driven by rapidly increasing throughput, an expanded operational footprint, and preparations for the opening of its newest production center, now in active development.
 
The company is ramping up staffing to support what it expects to be a significant increase in production volumes over the coming quarters. These new team members will play a critical role in supporting the deployment of the Company's advanced spider silk technologies and modernized sericulture systems across its growing network of facilities.
 
All incoming production staff will receive specialized training under Dr. Nirmal Kumar, one of the world's foremost sericulture experts. Training under Dr. Kumar will prepare new hires to support operational growth at Kraig Labs' newest production center, currently in development, increasing capacity, resilience, and commercial production of its high-performance spider silk.
 
"This hiring initiative reflects the incredible momentum we are building and the strength of our forward-looking production strategy," said Kim Thompson, Founder and CEO of Kraig Labs. "As we scale up our next-generation spider silk technology and expand our production footprint, we are focused on assembling a team capable of supporting the high growth trajectory we anticipate. Bringing new staff into the fold and having them train directly with Dr. Kumar ensures that we are building the strongest possible foundation for the future of our operations."
 
The Company's expanded workforce will contribute to Kraig Labs' increasing production capacity and its readiness to meet both near-term production targets and longer-term commercial opportunities. As construction and development of the new production center takes shape, these newly trained team members will be positioned to support the facility's launch and help drive the Company's next major phase of growth.
 
Kraig Labs expects to continue adding staff and resources as it advances its mission of delivering the world's first cost-effective, eco-friendly, industrial-scale recombinant spider silk.

Deren and Dibella are joining forces and have agreed to a partnership for the French market. Through this strategic collaboration, both companies combine their strengths: Dibella’s expertise in high-quality, durable, and sustainably produced textiles, and Deren’s market knowledge and trusted customer relationships across France. 

Together, Deren and Dibella will offer French customers a comprehensive portfolio of long-lasting, responsibly manufactured textiles alongside excellent service. The alliance cooperation represents an important step in Dibella’s international growth strategy, and reinforces the shared commitment both companies have to providing professionals with sustainable textile solutions that stand for quality, reliability, and responsible business practices. 

Deren and Dibella look forward to a successful collaboration and to jointly shaping a more sustainable future for the French market.

TrusTrace, a leader in supply chain traceability and compliance, announced a strategic partnership with Åhléns, one of Sweden’s most iconic retail brands, to enhance traceability, improve sustainability risk management, and streamline compliance across its value chain.

Åhléns offers a curated mix of quality brands across fashion, home, beauty, and children’s products, serving approximately 60 million visitors each year. Åhléns has a turnover of approximately 4.9 billion SEK and the company employs around 3,000 team members and includes Åhléns Outlet and Designtorget as subsidiaries.

Founded in 189 and following a period of renewed focus on restoring profitability and establishing a stronger foundation for the future, Åhléns is now accelerating its sustainability agenda. As part of this next phase, the company has selected TrusTrace to help deepen visibility into the supply chain, strengthen risk mitigation, and streamline adherence to emerging European sustainability regulations.

TrusTrace’s AI-integrated traceability platform will support Åhléns in mapping and analyzing sustainability data across multiple tiers of the supply chain, enabling a more structured, scalable, and data-driven approach to due diligence and regulatory compliance.

The partnership reflects a broader industry movement toward stronger traceability infrastructure, particularly as the EU introduces new legislation requiring brands to demonstrate robust due diligence, transparent data collection, and responsible sourcing.

CARBIOS announced the signing of two new multi-year commercial agreements with major players in beverage industry, for the supply of recycled PET (r-PET).

The signing of these two new commercial agreements marks CARBIOS’s entry into a new strategic sector: beverages. Thgey are part of the pre-commercialization process for CARBIOS’s future industrial site, bringing the current level of pre-sales to approximately 50% of the site’s maximum production capacity.

Negotiations are ongoing with other partners to reach a pre-commercialization level of 70% of the Longlaville site’s maximum capacity, a threshold constituting one of the conditions for obtaining additional non-dilutive funding necessary to resume construction of the Longlaville plant.

A regional grant of €12.5 million has also been signed, bringing the total amount of public funding already secured to €42.5 million.

Hong Kong–based New Focus Textiles is adopting Haelixa’s Swiss DNA traceability technology to strengthen trust and transparency in recycled cotton production. 

Haelixa, the Swiss-based global leader in DNA-based traceability, has enabled New Focus Textiles to provide forensic proof of recycled cotton content across its textile-to-textile manufacturing operations. This marks a significant move towards evidence-based verification in recycled material sourcing, addressing one of the main credibility gaps in the circular materials market.  

DNA-based forensic traceability for recycled cotton  
Haelixa’s DNA marker is applied directly to post-industrial and post-consumer waste, before shredding, staying intact through New Focus Textiles’ mechanical recycling process. The non-toxic DNA marker, which is derived from Swiss mountain herbs, is a permanent tag, and cannot be removed or copied, remaining embedded throughout spinning, weaving, dyeing, and finishing.  

At any point, the material can be tested in an accredited laboratory using a simple PCR analysis to confirm origin and verify the presence of recycled content. This method provides physical proof of the recycled fibre identity, going beyond certification schemes that rely on documentation and chain-of-custody declarations.  

Strengthening supply chain assurance  
New Focus Textiles produces GRS-certified recycled cotton fabrics from post-industrial and post-consumer feedstock under its T2T™ (Textile-to-Textile) programme. The integration of Haelixa’s DNA-based traceability ensures each recycled batch is scientifically identifiable and can be aligned with digital records on platforms such as TextileGenesis, enhancing material transparency at supplier, auditor, and brand level.  

Preparing for regulatory compliance  
The system supports upcoming EU Digital Product Passport requirements and wider regulatory scrutiny over green claims. It reduces reputational and compliance risk for brands that prioritise recycled materials. 

Ultrafiltration membranes used in pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes have long relied on separating molecules by size. Now, Cornell researchers have created porous materials that filter molecules by their chemical makeup.

Two molecules of identical size and weight but different chemistry, such as antibodies with distinct molecular structure, are difficult to separate using current ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technology. But in a study published Nov. 13 in Nature Communications, researchers find that blending chemically distinct block copolymer micelles – tiny self-assembling polymer spheres – could be applied to making membranes capable of filtering molecules by chemical affinity.

Scanning electron microscopy image (left) shows the surface of a porous asymmetric UF membrane created at Cornell by mixing chemically distinct block copolymer micelles. Machine-learning segmentation (right) identified patterns formed by different micelle types and chemistries, revealing how the approach could lead to UF membranes that sort by chemical affinity.

“This is the first real pathway to creating UF membranes with chemically diverse pore surfaces,” said Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and the study’s senior author. “In principle, post-fabrication processes may achieve this, but the cost would be prohibitive for industry to adopt it. This new approach could truly revolutionize ultrafiltration.”

Taking inspiration from nature – such as protein channels in cells that can distinguish between similar-sized metal ions using pore wall chemistry – lead author Lilly Tsaur, Ph.D. ’24, of the Wiesner group, explored how neutral and repulsive interactions among micelles influence their self-assembly within the top separation layer. By combining up to three distinct block copolymers, the team demonstrated how these competing interactions control where different chemistries appear in the pores of the film’s surface.

“While in principle this is a really simple idea, in practice, developing this experimentally is really difficult,” said Wiesner, also a professor in the Department of Design Tech. “In particular, identifying where the different micelle chemistries are located in the top separation layer is nontrivial.”

Using scanning electron microscopy, Tsaur imaged hundreds of samples to study how the different micelles arranged themselves. Because imaging could not easily identify the chemistries, she used machine learning to detect subtle differences in pore patterns to identify where each micelle type appeared.

Co-author Fernando A. Escobedo, the Samuel W. and M. Diane Bodman Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (Cornell Engineering), ran molecular simulations to help reveal rules that govern how the micelles self-organize – a challenge due to the large number of micelles and their tendency to assemble into states relatively far from equilibrium.

“This necessitated the use of highly coarse-grained models and numerous calibrations to capture the time and length scales involved in the experimental process,” said Escobedo, who conducted the research with Luis Nieves-Rosado, Ph.D. ’25.

The study builds on the Wiesner group’s previous advances in block copolymer self-assembly that led to the founding of Terapore Technologies, a startup company led by Rachel Dorin, Ph.D. ’13, that uses the group’s scalable block copolymer process to make cost-effective UF membranes that separate viruses from biopharmaceuticals. The new research paves the way for companies to use the same manufacturing process to produce membranes that can perform affinity separations based on programming pore surface chemistry.

“Companies simply want to change the recipe, the ‘magic dust,’ that goes into the same process they’ve been using for decades in order to give membranes chemically diverse pore surfaces,” Wiesner said. “Our method has the potential to lead to a paradigm shift in UF-based operations, and to open a whole new avenue for how to use UF membranes.”

Beyond filtration, the research could lead to new materials with novel properties for applications such as smart coatings that respond to their environment and biosensors that detect specific molecules. Wiesner’s group is continuing the work and developing methods to probe deeper into the top separation layer of these materials to see how the chemical patterns extend below the surface.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and was enabled by the Cornell Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the Cornell Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility.