From the Sector

• On October, 20th, 2020, the State Prize for Innovation was awarded to the Lenzing Group for their LENZING™ Web Technology.
• Lenzing thus received the highest award for particularly innovative achievements in Austria.

Lenzing – On Tuesday, October 20, 2020, the Lenzing Group was awarded the coveted “State Prize for Innovation”. Lenzing emerged as the winner with its project LENZING™ Web Technology and thus received the highest recognition for particularly innovative achievements in Austria. The novel process combines fiber and nonwovens production in only one step, setting new standards in terms of efficiency, circularity and ecological sustainability. Margarete Schramböck, Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs, presented the award to Gert Kroner, Vice President Global Research & Development.

“This award is a great recognition of our work. Our goal is to grow continuously with sustainable innovations and to look beyond our fibers, to the needs of our customers and partners and to the needs of consumers worldwide. With the LENZING™ Web Technology we have created an exciting and promising solution for eco-friendly products in line with our corporate strategy sCore TEN and support consumers in their daily needs in a sustainable way”, says Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group.

Biodegradable nonwovens for a clean environment

The pollution of the environment by plastics is one of the most urgent problems of our time. Every day, millions of hygiene products and wipes around the globe end up in garbage and sewage. Most of them consist of up to 80 percent polyester or other fossil, non-biodegradable materials and therefore pollute the environment. With the LENZING™ Web Technology, Lenzing has developed a patented technology to counter this problem: Sustainable and eco-friendly nonwovens are produced from the renewable raw material wood. These are not only plastic-free, they also score points for their particularly high environmental friendliness. “Thanks to a unique self-bonding mechanism, in which the filaments bond with each other during the spinning process, binders, which are found in many nonwovens, are no longer needed. As a result, the nonwovens produced with LENZING™ Web Technology are 100 percent biodegradable and do not pollute either humans or the environment”, says Gert Kroner, Vice President Global Research & Development of the Lenzing Group.

The Austrian State Prize for Innovation is awarded annually by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs to the most innovative Austrian company. In 2020, the competition took place for the 40th time.

Shanghai – Sateri has unveiled FinexTM as its new product brand for recycled fibre. FinexTM, short for ‘Fibre Next’, is an innovative next-generation cellulosic fibre containing recycled content. Internationally known outdoor brand Lafuma has produced FinexTM apparel ahead of 618, China’s major mid-year online shopping festival, while independent China designer Rico Lee will launch his FinexTM apparel next month.

Since its announcement in March this year of a breakthrough in commercial production of viscose using recycled textile waste, Sateri has worked closely with its downstream yarn and garment manufacturing partners to bring the recycled fibre product to the consumer market.

“We’re pleased to collaborate with Sateri as one of their first brand partners for FinexTM. Sateri’s dedication to this partnership made it possible for Lafuma to produce T-shirts with this fine quality fibre in a short time. T-shirts made with FinexTM will be among the offerings Lafuma has in store for the 618 festival as we look to support environmentally-friendly and excellent performance solutions to strengthen our position as a leading outdoor apparel brand,” said Wu Qian, General Manager of Lafuma China.

Echoing similar sentiments is Rico Lee who established his own independent label in 2014, “I jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Sateri when they approached me because FinexTM encapsulates what my brand stands for – Beautiful Technology that combines function and fashion.”

Tom Liu, Sateri’s Commercial Vice President said, “Like our flagship brand EcoCosy®, FinexTM is made from bio-based natural fibres. Innovation and technology has made cellulosic textile fibre recycling possible and FinexTM represents how nature not only renews itself but that products made from nature can also be regenerated. This, at its heart, is what circular fashion looks like. Our brand promise to customers remains constant– Sateri’s products are sustainable, high quality, efficient, and cost-effective. The FinexTM tagline ‘Together For A Better Next’ expresses our aspiration to be the partner of choice for next-generation fibre - we thank Lafuma and Rico Lee for pioneering with us on this quest.”

Last month, Sateri announced its entry into China’s Lyocell fibre market. The recent string of product portfolio expansion announcements is underpinned by Sateri’s business strategy to capture value. Allen Zhang, President of Sateri said, “Being the world’s largest viscose producer gives us the advantages that come with volume, but value is what we hope differentiates us. By this, we don’t only mean higher value products like Lyocell or FinexTM but also the value we bring to communities, country, climate and customers.”

Globally, less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing. This presents a big opportunity for textile fibre recycling, particularly in China which is the largest textile producing country in the world. Last month, Sateri became a council member of the China Association of Circular Economy (CACE). The company will work closely with CACE’s Textile Waste Comprehensive Utilisation Committee to establish standards and promote industrial-scale textile waste recycling. Sateri is part of the Singapore-based RGE group of companies which has committed USD200 million into next-generation textile fibre innovation and technology.

STAMFORD – German ultralight aircraft specialist Flight Design has chosen Hexcel as its key supplier adopting low-temperature curing prepreg into its aircraft production. Hexcel’s HexPly® M79 Carbon Fiber prepregs deliver a more consistent final product by ensuring constant material quality and processing parameters and produce a lighter and stronger aircraft at a more competitive overall cost.

Flight Design has always relied heavily on composites for its aircrafts’ ultralight construction and turned to long-term composite materials partner Lange + Ritter, part of Hexcel’s European distribution network, when they began searching for a prepreg material solution. Hexcel and Lange + Ritter created several new product codes specifically for Flight Design and then supplied materials for initial handling trials and prototyping. Hexcel’s HexPly M79 low temperature curing out of autoclave solution was first used in the new F2 prototype. As part of its material supply package, Lange + Ritter also sent a team for on-site training and technical support, allowing the Flight Design production team to get up to speed with prepreg as quickly as possible.

HexPly M79 prepregs can be cured at temperatures as low as 70˚C for eight hours or 80˚C for four hours, reducing tooling costs and increasing build rates. When combined with Hexcel’s innovative air venting Grid Technology, HexPly M79 UD carbon tapes can also be laminated with reduced debulking steps to produce void contents <1% irrespective of laminate thickness. With consistently low void contents and improved mechanical properties, designers and engineers are able to further optimize highly loaded composite aerostructures.

As more and more of its composite aircraft parts are transferred to prepreg technology, Flight Design is seeing the benefits of its switch to HexPly M79. Lay-up is cleaner and more precise, low temperature oven curing is quick and energy efficient, and the manufacturing process consistently outputs exceptionally high-quality laminates and components. The long-term strategy is to integrate HexPly M79 across the range, with Hexcel materials lightening the ultralight aircraft at Flight Design even further.

“The materials and technology package from Hexcel and Lange + Ritter has been a big success for us at Flight Design,” comments Daniel Gunther, Managing Director at Flight Design. “When we took the decision to switch to prepreg, we looked at many options but only Hexcel and Lange + Ritter could offer us low temperature out-of-autoclave (OOA) curing, globally respected material quality and the customer service levels we were searching for.”

• Move is in line with global growth strategy with a strong focus in the Asia Pacific region
• Zhejiang plant will be able to produce 50,000 tons of nylon compounds annually in the longer term
• Plant will be located in the convenient transportation port area of DuShan Pinghu city

DOMO Chemicals, a leading producer of high - quality engineering materials for a diverse range of markets, has announced plans for a new state - of - the - art plant in Zhejiang, China. The new plant will be capable of producing 50,000 tons of sustainable and innovative engineered nylon compounds each year. The company signed a new factory project through “cloud contract” with PingHu DuShan port Economic Development District on February 20, 2020. Production is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of this year.

DOMO Chemicals will invest €12 million in the new plant, which will have more than 11,500 m 2-floor space. The company plans to install multiple production lines at the first stage of development, which would offer an estimated capacity of 25,000 tons/year. There will be enough additional space available to cope with future demand requirements. The move is in line with the company’s global growth strategy with a strong focus on the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

The integrated sustainable network making fashion circular, Made in Italy and 100% traceable

World leading textile manufacturer Manteco presents its sustainable path for a better future: The Manteco System. A strategy and a vision shaping the company’s sustainable imprint since 1943. The system consists in the development and engineering of a production network involving 100 partner-companies from the whole supply chain “We all team up responsibly to create premium collection based on transparent , traceable  circular economy practices,” comments Matteo Mantellassi, co-CEO of Manteco.
 
To achieve meeting the demand for fair and sustainable fashion that consumers believe in, and is expected  from our clients, the company and its partners have created and accomplished to a Protocol of Sustainable Values and Commitments in line with the highest standards of the global market.

“On a hand, the protocol preserves the unique ‘genius loci’ of our territory – it respects the heritage of all our partners, from the smaller businesses to the more structured ones - on the other hand, it works like a shared compass of sustainable values, allowing the whole supply chain behind Manteco products to stand out and be competitive on the global stage” adds Mantellassi.
 
The protocol and its monitored and traceable system cover virtuous management of resources – e.g. Water, energy and chemical products - waste management and low production impact on the environment but also responsible standards in terms of employment, quality of the working environment, equal rights and anti-discrimination policies.

One of the key  results of such commitment and sustainable development is the creation of an upgraded version of the recycled wool  MWool™: a top ingredient made from premium recycled wool process guaranteed by the Manteco System.The System works like a symphony where management, measurement and controls  are not there just to test  the quality of each single phase of processes or  products , but to make sure and offer the complete traceability of Manteco production.  From raw material, to yarn, spinning, finishing, testing and final fabric.

Some productions tips about Manteco:

•  5.3 million kg of raw materials processed annually.
•  6.860 tests on raw material per year.
•  34.400 tests on finished products.
•  100% made in Italy system completely based in the Prato district since 1943.
•  Total transparency and traceability thanks to a highly skilled management system.

With a turnover of over 91m Euro in 2019 and an annual growth of 17,80% since 2012, Manteco SpA is the 4th textile company in Italy, listed in the TOP30 companies of the Italian fashion system. “The unique Manteco system adds value to our products while highlighting the sustainable path we share with all our partners both upstream and downstream”.

Shanghai - ROICA™ lands in Shanghai to showcase its complete range of premium stretch fibers for the modern wardrobe and disclose its visionary approach and strategy for a cutting-edge and sustainable fashion.

On show, leading material innovator Asahi Kasei introduces a premium stretch fiber starting from the ultimate ROICA Eco-Smart™ Family. The certified and multi-awarded range has astonished the textile world for its hyper-performative features. “The new premium stretch is synonymous of transformation: from standard to speciality, from basic to special, from ordinary to clever and from standard to Smart.” Explains Shinichiro Haga, Senior Executive Manager - ROICA™ Division.

Sustainability and a responsible approach are the true core of research and development to create high-tech engineered yarns.Such visionary imprint imbues all ROICA™ innovations:

• ROICA Eco-Smart™ family: A true world-first with the most contemporary sustainable range of responsibly produced premium ingredients. ROICA Eco-Smart™ family offers 2 sustainably designed stretch yarns

- ROICA™ EF is GRS by Textile Exchange certified, thanks to the fact that more than 50% of yarn content comes from the recycling of pre-consumer waste.
- ROICA™ V550 yarn got the Cradle-to-Cradle® Innovation Institute’s GOLD LEVEL Material Health certificate for impacts on human and environmental health. This yarn is also Hohenstein Environment Compatibility Certificated, signifying at its end-of-life, ROICA ™ yarn smartly breaks down without releasing harmful materials.

• ROICA Feel Good™ family: A unique range of advanced stretch yarns that deliver personal performance and measurable wellness, freshness and comfort metrics for travel, sport, leisure and more.
   
• ROICA Colour Perfect™ family: A range of yarns that can give excellent, flawless and world unique colour dimensions in advanced fit solutions.
   
• ROICA Resistance™ family: A high performance range of stretch solutions with performance resistance designed for match particular applications.
   
• ROICA Contour™ family: A range of yarns that create new shaping, stretch and silhouette solutions for a calibrated fit, effortless control, softness, comfort and support.

ROICA™ already entered the most advanced collections of leading brands as: Wolford for exceptional European Skinwear including legwear, Sarah Borghi for hosiery, SITA Active for Smart pret-a-porter,  Daquini for athleisure, Livy for sensual lingerie, SCOTT Racing Team for cycling uniforms, Closed for denim, Un-Sanctioned for running suits, Vitamine A for beachwear and many others.

In Shanghai, ROICA™ is set to stand out as leader in Smart Innovation. As tangible proof of this, the company brings to Intertextile Shanghai some of its ultimate collaborations across China and the Far East.

• Organic Waste Systems and TÜV confirm fiber biodegradability also in fresh water
• All white LENZING™ Viscose, Modal and Lyocell fibers are now certified for all environments
• Global legislators aim at limiting plastic waste persisting in the environment for centuries
• EU Single-Use Plastics Directive partly regulates usage of plastic products
• Biodegradable materials such as wood-based fibers are the best alternative to single-use plastics

The Lenzing Group received confirmation of the full biodegradability of its fibers in fresh water by the independent research laboratory Organic Waste Systems (OWS). The new and existing international certifications conducted by OWS and issued by TÜV Austria verify that LENZING™ Viscose fibers, LENZING™ Modal fibers and LENZING™ Lyocell fibers are biodegradable in all natural and industrial environments: in the soil, compost as well as in fresh and in marine water.

The biodegradability of cellulosic products and the synthetic fiber polyester was tested in fresh water at OWS according to valid international standards, e.g. ISO 14851. At the end of the trial period, LENZING™ wood-based cellulosic fibers, cotton and paper pulp were shown to be fully biodegradable in fresh water in contrast to synthetic polyester fibers. The fact that synthetic materials are not biodegradable leads to major problems in wastewater treatment plants and potentially marine litter. In turn, this not only harms fish and birds living in and close to the oceans but also all marine organisms and us humans.

“The Lenzing Group operates a truly circular business model based on the renewable raw material wood to produce biodegradable fibers returning to nature after use. This complete cycle comprises the starting point of the core value of sustainability embedded in our company strategy sCore TEN and is the ‘raison d’etre’ of our company”, says Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group. “In living up to this positioning, we not only enhance the business of our suppliers, customers and partners along the value chain but also improve the state of the entire textile and nonwovens industries.”

Both the textile and nonwovens industries face huge challenges with respect to littering. If current trends continue, the oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050. Therefore, legislative bodies worldwide can no longer ignore the issue and have moved towards plastics legislation aimed at limiting the vast amount of waste. In response, European lawmakers issued the Single-Use Plastics Directive currently being transposed into national legislation in the EU member states.

Conventional wet wipes and hygiene products mostly contain plastic and were thus identified as one of the product categories to be singled out. Less polluting alternatives are generally encouraged by NGOs and legislators, e.g. products made of biodegradable wood-based cellulosic fibers. Plastic waste including microplastic can persist in the environment for centuries. In contrast, biodegradable materials are the best alternative to single-use plastics because they fully convert back to nature by definition and thus do not require recycling.

• Successful acquisition of Austrian plastics recycling company Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling GmbH

Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, announces today that it has fully acquired the Austrian plastics recycler Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling GmbH (“Ecoplast”). Based in Wildon, Austria, Ecoplast processes around 35,000 tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste from households and industrial consumers every year, turning them into high-quality LDPE and HDPE recyclates, primarily but not exclusively for the plastic film market.

The expectation of Borealis is that the recycled PO market will grow substantially by 2021, which is the strategic rationale behind the acquisition. The company has made PO recycling a key element of its overall PO strategy because of its potential to support both growth and sustainability. Borealis has been an industry frontrunner in making polyolefins more circular. In 2014, it began offering high-end compound solutions to the automotive industry, consisting of 25% and 50% post-consumer recycled content. Borealis was also the first virgin PO producer to explore the possibilities of mechanical recycling, by acquiring one of Europe's largest producers of post-consumer polyolefin recyclates - mtm plastics GmbH and mtm compact GmbH – in July 2016. Since then it has continued to invest into the development of technology and new products in the area of circular polyolefins.

“Borealis recognises the increasing need for plastic recycling and sees the Circular Economy as a business opportunity. Borealis already has a long-term collaboration with Ecoplast and this acquisition is the next logical step in building our mechanical recycling capabilities. As an important complement to mtm in Germany, Ecoplast will help us address critical sustainability challenges and become a polyolefin recycling leader. Eventually, we want to use our experience to develop an effective blueprint for the end-of-use phases for plastics that can be applied in other parts of the world,” says Borealis Chief Executive Alfred Stern.

“We are very happy that the transaction with a strong and reliable partner such as Borealis has been successfully concluded and are looking forward to our common future activities on the recycling market. We have located potential synergies in many operative and strategic areas, especially in product quality R&D and future applications of polyethylene-film-recyclates. The combination of Ecoplast and Borealis holds the potential to be groundbreaking for the market,” says Ecoplast’s Managing Director Lukas Intemann.

• Revenue increased by 5.9 percent to EUR 2.26 bn
• EBITDA up 17.3 percent to EUR 502.5 mn
• Dividend proposal of EUR 3.00/share plus a special dividend of EUR 2.00/share
• New brand strategy to generate a strong message to consumers
• Limited visibility for coming quarters

In 2017, the Lenzing Group reports its best financial performance ever with record revenue and earnings due to a better product mix and higher selling prices in combination with a generally favorable market environment.

Group revenue grew by 5.9 percent in the 2017 financial year to EUR 2.26 bn (2016: EUR 2.13 bn). Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved by 17.3 percent to EUR 502.5 mn (2016: EUR 428.3 mn). The corresponding EBITDA margin rose to 22.2 percent (2016: 20.1 percent). Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 25.2 percent to EUR 371 mn, resulting in a higher EBIT margin of 16.4 percent (2016: 13.9 percent). The net profit for the year totaled EUR 281.7 mn, a rise of 23 percent from the prior-year figure of EUR 229.1 mn. Earnings per share in the 2017 financial year amounted to EUR 10.47 (2016: EUR 8.48).

The Management Board and the Supervisory Board will propose at the upcoming Annual General Meeting a stable dividend of EUR 3.00 per share plus an increased special dividend of EUR 2.00 per share (2016: EUR 1.20 per share). In total, the dividend will amount to EUR 5.00 per share, corresponding to a dividend payment to shareholders of EUR 132.75 mn.

“The Lenzing Group looks back at a very successful year 2017. We continued to implement our corporate strategy sCore TEN with great discipline and focus on our investment projects and successfully captured value in a positive market environment. Our commitment to innovation and customer centricity was underpinned by the opening of an application innovation center in Hong Kong and the creation of the new sales and marketing office in Turkey. In line with sCore TEN we decided to revamp our brand architecture and image to sharpen Lenzing’s corporate and product profiles for customers and consumers. We want to put a stronger emphasis on our ambition to make the textile and nonwoven market more sustainable”, says Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group.

“We are very positive about our chosen strategy as it will help us to be more resilient as we expect more headwinds in the upcoming quarters”, he adds.

Bobingen - On the 4th October 2017 a new brand was introduced at Trevira: Trevira SINFINECO®. This label may be carried by all textiles that contain sustainable Trevira products. Sustainable, innovative, high-value and responsible – these are the values the new brand stands for.

As an industrial enterprise, Trevira is conscious of its special responsibility for an intact environment and has long advocated the recycling of valuable raw materials and waste products. Trevira CEO Klaus Holz: “We at Trevira wish to preserve the environment and at the same time work to create value. These are the criteria of our sustainability concept.“

Creation of the new brand is therefore only a logical step, one that enables customers to label their sustainable Trevira products as such. Trevira is known for the high quality of its products. In every way recycled products are as good as the original materials in terms of quality and performance.

Two vital elements in Pre-Consumer Recycling and an important concept in Post-Consumer Recycling form part of the sustainability strategy of Trevira to conserve resources and maintain value. :

In the area of Pre-Consumer Recycling, on the one hand, residual materials resulting from the manufacture of polyester fibres and filaments in Bobingen and Guben, dependent on the manufacturing step, are processed in the agglomeration plant and restored to become serviceable primary material. The recyclates are then fed back to our fibre and filament spinning mills, to be made into new top-quality products.

On the other hand, in fibre production there occurs in the manufacture of tow a small proportion of tow that cannot be used for converting and has to be cut out. Instead of selling this material as waste, it is cut up, pressed into balls and then carded / combed by a partner, resulting in a 1A quality product. The GRS certification (Global Recycled Standard) is requested for this. As with converter tow from new material, the recycled tow is mostly incorporated into polyester wool blends (55 % PET / 45 % wool), which are used primarily in corporate wear and uniforms.

In the area of Post-Consumer Recycling, Trevira offers filament yarns consisting of 100 % recycled PET bottles. Our parent company Indorama manufactures very high quality recycled chips from PET bottles. Since only transparent PET bottles are used in Thailand, the flakes and chips are of a particularly good and very uniform quality. The recycled chips, fibres and filaments from Indorama bear the GRS certificates (Global Recycled Standard) and RCS-NL (Recycled Claim Standard). Trevira processes the regranulate made by Indorama from bottle flakes into filament yarns consisting 100 % of recycled material. The filament yarns are available in titres 167 and 76 dtex normal polyester. Alongside technical applications, they are used in the automotive and apparel sectors. In addition, many promising developments with the recycled material are on their way.