From the Sector

On June 1, EREMA hosted the EREMA Discovery Day focusing on the post consumer segment from a European perspective. Live demonstrations showcased the latest machine innovations for PET and polyolefin recycling.

The invitation was accepted by around 400 customers and partners, mainly from Europe, to find out about the wide range of recycling technologies for PO and PET plastic waste. The technology that was presented and explained by EREMA experts and guest speakers during lectures in the morning, could then be seen live in-action in the afternoon when the recycling machines were demonstrated in operation. A total of six innovative recycling technologies were on display: INTAREMA® TVEplus® DuaFil® Compact, INTAREMA® TVEplus® RegrindPro® + ReFresher, the COREMA® cascade extrusion system, a VACUREMA® Inline Sheet line equipped with new EcoGentle technology, the new INTAREMA® FibrePro:IV machine, and the PCU-
TwinScrew. These allowed visitors to witness their performance and the high quality of recycled pellets that they produce.

"This wide range of technologies is necessary because the recycling process each of our customers choose depends on the type of plastic, the level of contamination of the input material, and which product will be made using the recycled pellets. Following the expansion of our Ansfelden site and with the new site nearby in St. Marien, we can now demonstrate all these processes, carry out test runs with customers' material and focus on development work independently of our Customer Centre," says EREMA's Managing Director Markus Huber-Lindinger.

EREMA is driving forward research and development work in the company's new R&D Centre. Two halls with a total area of 1,550 square metres and a new office building offering space for 50 workplaces has been built. Here, the company bundles cross-departmental test machines and laboratory facilities for post consumer and inhouse recycling applications. R&D is decentralised at EREMA. Employees from different departments handle process engineering challenges, innovations in mechanical engineering and automation technology - all with the aim of meeting customer requirements and achieving the highest possible quality of recycled pellets.  

On the evening before Discovery Day, EREMA celebrated its 40th anniversary together with customers and partners. A review covered the company's history - from the first workshop in a garage in 1983, to its position today as a innovation pioneer and one of the market leaders.

Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel Europe (Freudenberg) has expanded its facility in Sant´Omero, Italy, into a competence center for finishing and coating apparel interlinings. The Competence Center was officially opened on May 26, 2023.

The Freudenberg team in Sant´Omero has over 35 years of expertise in the manufacture of high-quality interlinings for menswear: base materials produced at the site are finished and coated to customers’ specifications. With the new competence center, the facility will now focus on coating and finishing all nonwoven, woven and weft apparel interlinings in Freudenberg’s portfolio. Customers throughout Europe will enjoy the advantages of greater manufacturing flexibility and a more diverse product offering.

Freudenberg installed the necessary finishing and coating technology at the new competence center in Italy over the last few months, building a new production hall for this machinery and equipment. Until recently, the bulk of interlinings were coated and finished in Weinheim, Germany. The facility there will now operate as a further competence center specializing in the production of base materials for apparel interlinings.

In addition to establishing the competence center, Freudenberg has also improved logistics. A new central warehouse in Italy now supplies customers in Southern Europe. It complements the central warehouse in Germany that delivers goods to customers in Northern Europe. As a result, Freudenberg is shortening both delivery routes and delivery times.

Lenzing Group, a global producer of wood-based specialty fibers, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its biorefinery and co-product brand LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased. The brand was first introduced on May 4, 1983, and has since become one of the leading and most trusted biobased acetic acid providers.

Over the past 40 years, LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased, which has a reduced carbon footprint that is 85% lower than that of fossil-based acetic acid, has continued to gain trust and support from customers. Specialty chemical company Evonik, and food production company Speyer & Grund Group, have been incorporating LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased in the production of their products since 1983. LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased has also been in high demand from the hygiene industry during the COVID-19 pandemic as an all-purpose cleaning agent in conventional and green products.

Pioneering a carbon neutral future in the biorefinery segment with a new offering
To mark the important occasion, Lenzing will introduce its first carbon neutral LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased to meet the growing sustainability needs of industries which predominately rely on fossil-based materials. Similar to the standard LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased, the carbon neutral LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased is produced using sustainably sourced beech wood as a universal replacement for non-renewable raw materials such as crude oil. By calculating, reducing and offsetting emissions during production processes, this expansion will create a more sustainable supply chain with highly functional products across various industries. From now on, Lenzing customers across the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical and textile industries will be able to choose between carbon neutral and reduced carbon footprint acetic acid products.

Advancing circularity and carbon neutrality through efficient use of valuable resources
Lenzing’s biorefinery concept ensures that 100% of wood components are used to produce pulp for Lenzing’s botanic fibers, biorefinery products, as well as bioenergy, which is used to power Lenzing’s facilities. This makes Lenzing’s biorefinery sites almost fully energy self-sufficient to remain as carbon neutral as possible. To ensure a low carbon footprint, rail transportation is the preferred means for transporting LENZING™ biorefinery products, with trucks being leveraged in regions where rail transportation is not available.

Together with ClimatePartner, a recognized global leader in the design, development, and delivery of corporate climate action programs, Lenzing strives to reduce carbon emissions to net-zero through a mix of higher production efficiencies, use of renewable energy sources, low-carbon materials, and the dedicated support of an external nature-based carbon removal project. For instance, to offset remaining carbon emissions that cannot be reduced, Lenzing works with ClimatePartner to support and finance the switch to biomass as an energy source at a ceramic factory in Kitambar in northeastern Brazil. Using natural waste materials, like coconut shells, as renewable biomass for its energy production, the factory is able to produce roof tiles in a more climate-friendly way while saving on carbon emissions. Besides contributing to the fuel switch, the project also helps to reduce the deforestation rate in Brazil and avoid methane emissions that could result from the uncontrolled rotting of biomass.

adidas announced it will begin selling some of the remaining inventory of adidas YEEZY products, with an initial release end of May 2023. A significant amount will be donated to selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism. These include but are not limited to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.  

The release will mark the first time that products have been available to consumers since adidas terminated the YEEZY partnership in October 2022. The products will be existing designs and designs initiated in 2022 for sale in 2023.  Additional releases of existing inventory are currently under consideration, but timing is yet to be determined. Today’s announcement has no immediate impact on the company’s current financial guidance for 2023.

Since terminating the YEEZY partnership in October, adidas has been exploring multiple scenarios for the potential use of the existing YEEZY inventory. The process involved seeking feedback and listening to a diverse group of employees, organizations, communities, and consumers for how to responsibly manage the existing product. The company went ahead with already committed production orders after the partnership was terminated. This was done to help protect its supply chain partners from being negatively affected by cancellations.

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.

A total of 20 European fashion and design schools took part in the 2nd “Fashioning Sustainability” competition organized by Freudenberg Performance Materials together with Macpi and Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei, two co-branding partners in the textile industry.

Freudenberg invited talented young designers to create and submit their ideas for sustainable clothing. The initiative aims to show that sustainability is a key factor in the fashion industry.

Two of the most innovative outfits from each school were selected for the final round and presented to an international jury at the “Bagni Misteriosi” event location in Milan in May. Fashion design experts and opinion leaders as well as journalists were invited to select the most sustainable designs in the categories of “Technology” and “Design”.

The winners
First place in the “Technology” category went to Judith Marquant while the second to Jagoda Sokolowska, both students of the fashion school Esmod in Paris. Ilaria De Martino, from the fashion institute Modartech, Italy, and Xiaodan Liao from Polimoda, Italy, were awarded first and second place in the “Design” category. The first-place winners received €2,000, while the second places won €1,000.

All participants benefited from the platform to network with leading players in the garment industry and learn more about concrete steps for embracing sustainability. Creating true sustainability in the fashion industry means reducing the material flow of clothing, addressing both sustainable production and consumption.

Members of the Jury:
Cristiano Zanetti, Sales Director Italy, Freudenberg Performance Materials
Maurizio Cazzin, Male Modeller, Maison Giorgio Armani
Riccardo Bullio, Apparel Industrial Division Director, Dolce & Gabbana
Caterina Cuoghi, Industrial Director, Area NYC
Simone Bigi, Style and Product Office Manager FAY line, Gruppo TOD’S
Roberto Cibin, Model and Pattern Development Manager, Caruso
Bruno Landi, Sales Director, Vitale Barberis Canonico
Luisella Allegretti, Pattern Designer Boss MW Business Specialist, Hugo Boss
Eugenio Balordi, Product Manager, Maison Margiela
Ettore Pellegrini, Sales and Marketing Manager, Asahi Kasei Fibers Italia

Lectra’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting held on April 28 appointed two new Directors, Karine Calvet and Pierre-Yves Roussel for a four-year term. They both will become members of the Strategic Committee, replacing Bernard Jourdan, Lead Director, and Anne Binder. Karine Calvet also becomes a member of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee.

With its new strategic roadmap for 2023-2025, the Group aims to use its expansion – mainly due to the acquisition of Gerber in June 2021 – to accelerate its growth, significantly increase the share of SaaS in its sales, and seize opportunities for external growth. Supported by the commitment of its staff and recognized by its customers, Lectra will also be at the forefront of a more sustainable future.

Karine Calvet is Vice-President EMEA responsible for Partners at AVEVA, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric. She began her career at CGI in 1993 and has spent most of it in IT: sixteen years in services companies, seven years in telecommunications, and six years in software. She has had leadership roles in telecommunications environments for leading global companies (CGI, Capgemini, Alcatel-Lucent, Verizon, Microsoft and currently Schneider-Aveva), focusing on digital transformation. Karine Calvet served as Head of Industry at Capgemini, then managed worldwide teams at Alcatel-Lucent as Vice-President, Eastern Europe then at Verizon as Managing Director. Her time at Microsoft strengthened her software expertise, her direct and indirect channels skills, and her experience in IT services. In the last two years, as Vice-President, Southern Europe then Vice-President, Partners and Alliances at Schneider-Aveva, Karine Calvet has worked closely with industrial companies to help them meet the challenges of operational efficiency, safety, cost management, sustainability and decarbonization by taking advantage of digitalization.

Pierre-Yves Roussel has been CEO of leading US fashion label Tory Burch since January 2019. He began his career in investment banking with HSBC in Brussels, then at Morgan Stanley in London. In 1990, he joined management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in France, where he led numerous consultancy assignments in the fashion, luxury, distribution and media sectors in Europe and Asia. In 1998, he was elected Partner then, in 2004, Global Senior Partner (Director). In 2004, he joined the LVMH Group Executive Committee as Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Operations, reporting directly to Bernard Arnault. In 2006, he was appointed Chairman and CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, one of the LVMH Group’s five branches of operational activity. From 2006 to 2018, he was Chairman of the Board of the brands Céline, Givenchy, Loewe, Kenzo, Pucci, Rossimoda, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Berluti, JW Anderson and Nicolas Kirkwood. He has also been a member on several prestigious fashion juries including Andam, CFDA Fashion Incubator, and the LVMH Fashion Prize. He was a member of the management committee of the Chambre Syndicale de la Mode et de la Couture from 2010 to 2018. In 2018, he left the LVMH Group to take up the post of CEO – based in New York – of the company Tory Burch. Founded by his wife in 2004, the private family-run company has more than 350 stores worldwide, 13 retail websites, and nearly 5,000 employees.

Fibre Extrusion Technology Ltd (FET) of Leeds, UK will be exhibiting at ITMA 2023, taking place between 8-14 June Milan, Italy. FET has commissioned its biggest ever stand to reflect the company’s commitment to this event and the textile industry.

FET designs, develops and manufactures extrusion equipment for a wide range of high value textile material applications worldwide. Central to FET’s success has always been its ability to provide customers with advanced facilities and equipment, together with unrivalled knowledge and expertise in research and production techniques.

The new FET Fibre Development Centre will further improve this service, allowing clients to trial their own products in an ideal environment. Resident equipment in the Fibre Development Centre reflects the wide range of fibre extrusion systems offered by FET to clients worldwide and will enable continued growth of the company through innovation.  

For the first time at ITMA, the new FET Spunbond range will feature. This system provides opportunities for the scaled development of new nonwoven fabrics based on a wide range of fibres and polymers, including bicomponents. Recent customers to benefit from FET spunbond systems include the University of Leeds and an integrated metlblown / spunbond system at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.

FET’s established expertise remains in laboratory and pilot meltspinning equipment for a vast range of applications, such as precursor materials used in high value technical textiles, sportswear, medical devices and specialised novel fibres from exotic and difficult to process polymers. FET has successfully processed almost 30 different polymer types in multifilament, monofilament and non-woven formats, collaborating with specialist companies worldwide to promote greater sustainability through innovative manufacturing processes. Where melt spinning solutions are not suitable, FET provides a viable alternative with pilot and small scale production wet spinning systems.

A major theme at ITMA will again be sustainability. The FET range of laboratory and pilot extrusion lines is ideally suited for both process and end product development of sustainable materials. “This year we are celebrating FET’s 25th anniversary” says FET Managing Director Richard Slack “and we look forward to meeting customers at ITMA, where we can discuss their fibre technology needs.”

Stahl announces that its near-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Stahl is one of the few coatings companies to receive this validation. To date, 145 companies in the chemicals sector have submitted an emissions reduction target to the SBTi, of which 61 have had their targets validated.

Stahl’s science-based targets, which reflect the company’s commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement goals, are:  

• Stahl Holdings B.V. commits to reduce absolute scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions 42.0% by CY2030 from a CY2021 base year.*
• Stahl Holdings B.V. commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions 25.0% by CY2030 from a CY2021 base year.

The SBTi classifies emissions reduction targets according to two potential temperature pathways: 1) limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and 2) limiting temperature rises to well below 2°C. The SBTi has determined that Stahl’s Scope 1 and 2 target is in line with a 1.5°C trajectory, while Stahl’s Scope 3 target has been validated in line with the well-below 2°C pathway.

Maarten Heijbroek, CEO of Stahl: “The validation of our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reduction targets by the SBTi is an important milestone on our ESG journey as we strive to limit our contribution to global warming, in line with the Paris Agreement. Our targets are ambitious, and rightly so. Realizing our goal to help create a more responsible coatings value chain starts with being accountable for our own environmental impact, and taking concrete steps to reduce our emissions wherever possible.”

A clear strategy to reduce GHG emissions
Stahl’s approach to realizing its near-term emissions reduction targets is outlined in the company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Roadmap to 2030. This strategy defines the specific metrics against which progress on the company’s ESG commitments will be measured.

Stahl’s Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction targets, as submitted to the SBTi, cover emissions from all manufacturing sites where Stahl products are produced, as well as the company’s largest non-manufacturing locations. Stahl aims to lower these emissions by reducing its overall energy consumption and increasing the use of renewable energy at its sites. To achieve this, the company plans to increase its self-generated electricity capacity (using solar power, for example) and continue investing in more energy-efficient equipment.

Stahl plans to reduce its Scope 3 upstream emissions primarily by replacing fossil-based raw materials in its products with renewable alternatives, such as bio-based and recycled-based feedstocks. In addition, the company plans to introduce more low-impact raw materials into its product design.

* The target boundary includes biogenic land-related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstocks.

• Revenue grows to EUR 623.1 mn – fiber sales recovered over the course of the quarter
• EBITDA and net result for the period down compared with the first quarter of 2022
• Cost reduction program of more than EUR 70 mn being implemented according to plan
• Production of TENCEL™ brand modal fibers successfully launched in China
• Lenzing confirms guidance for 2023

The business performance of the Lenzing Group during the first quarter of 2023 largely reflected market trends. However, after the market environment had deteriorated significantly in the third and fourth quarters of the previous year, signs of recovery emerged during the first quarter in terms of demand as well as raw material and energy costs. Textile fibers recorded moderate but steadily improving demand. Business with fibers for nonwovens and with dissolving wood pulp performed better than expected. Raw material and energy costs were still at an elevated albeit decreasing level.

Outlook
The war in Ukraine and the more restrictive monetary policy pursued by many central banks in order to combat inflation are expected to continue to influence global economic activity. The IMF warns that risks remain elevated overall and forecasts growth of 2.8 and 3 percent for 2023 and 2024 respectively. The currency environment is expected to remain volatile in the regions relevant to Lenzing.

This market environment continues to weigh on the consumer climate and on sentiment in the industries relevant to Lenzing. However, the outlook has brightened somewhat recently.

Demand picked up tangibly after the Chinese New Year. As a consequence, capacity utilization improved and stocks were further reduced both at viscose producers and at downstream stages of the value chain.

In the trend-setting market for cotton, signs are emerging of a further buildup of stocks in the current 2022/23 crop season. Initial forecasts for 2023/24 anticipate a more balanced relationship between supply and demand.

However, despite signs of recovery in both demand and raw material and energy costs, earnings visibility remains limited overall.

Lenzing is fully on track with the implementation of the reorganization and cost reduction program. These and other measures are aimed at positioning Lenzing in the best possible way for the expected market recovery.

Structurally, Lenzing continues to anticipate growth in demand for environmentally responsible fibers for the textile and clothing industry as well as for the hygiene and medical sectors. As a consequence, Lenzing is very well positioned with its “Better Growth” strategy and plans to continue driving growth with specialty fibers as well as its sustainability goals, including the transformation from a linear to a circular economy model.

The successful implementation of the key projects in Thailand and Brazil as well as the investment projects in China and Indonesia will further strengthen Lenzing’s positioning in this respect.

Taking into account the aforementioned factors and assuming a further market recovery in the current financial year, the Lenzing Group continues to expect EBITDA in a range between EUR 320 mn and EUR 420 mn for 2023.