From the Sector

Partnership between Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, Pellenc ST and ANDRITZ promotes circular economy for textiles.

France’s first industrial plant for automated sorting and recycling of textile waste was officially inaugurated at Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, Amplepuis, on November 30, 2023. The plant is the result of an ambitious partnership between textile recycling company Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, waste sorting specialist Pellenc ST and international technology group ANDRITZ, a specialist in textile recycling machinery and processes.

Capable of automatically sorting garments by composition and color, the new line meets the needs of both post-consumer and post-industrial waste markets. The line also removes hard parts such as buttons and zippers to prepare the material for further processing in an ANDRITZ tearing machine.

The automated textile sorting line at Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is dedicated to industrial-scale production, customer trials and projects, and the R&D activities of the partners. It will process textile waste to produce recycled fibers for the spinning, nonwovens, and composites industries.

Automated sorting was the last missing link needed to develop a complete ecosystem in France, where the fashion industry, social and solidarity economy actors, waste management companies, and textile producers from different sectors are working together towards a textile circular economy.

The EU's strategy for sustainable and circular textiles aims to ensure that by 2030 textile products are made to a great extent of recycled fibers and incineration and landfilling of textiles are minimized.

Carbios inaugurated its textile preparation line at its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand, in the presence of Mr. Lescure, French Minister for Industry. To streamline the textile preparation phase, which is currently carried out by hand or on several lines, Carbios has developed a fully integrated and automated line that transforms textile waste from used garments or cutting scraps into raw material suitable for depolymerization with its enzymatic biorecycling process. This patented line integrates all preparation stages (shredding and extraction of hard points such as buttons or fasteners), and provides Carbios with a high-performance, scalable development tool. The platform will help validate the biorecycling technology for textiles at demonstration plant scale (by 2024), and provides Carbios with expertise in working with collection and sorting operators to specify the quality of textiles and the preparation steps needed to make them suitable for enzymatic recycling. This expertise will also be invaluable to brands in the eco-design of their products.

Current collection, sorting and preparation infrastructures limit the amount of textile waste available for “fiber-to-fiber” recycling. Collection rates average around 15-25% worldwide^[1], and much of the waste collected is exported to Africa, Asia or Latin America for sorting.

Moreover, textiles are highly complex materials, with yarns of different composition (or nature) that are difficult, if not impossible, to physically separate. However, the highly selective enzyme developed by Carbios can specifically depolymerize the PET (polyester) present in textile material.

At present, textiles are sorted and prepared mainly by hand, with low yields, particularly for disruptors to recycling processes such as “hard points” (zips, buttons, etc.). To optimize this crucial phase, Carbios is contributing a textile preparation solution to accelerate the development of biorecycling in the textile industry. Enzymatic recycling, or biorecycling, therefore contributes to the construction of a textile recycling chain and the acceleration of textile circularity, also enabling brands to do away with used bottles.

^[1] Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017

For over 80 years Riri Group has established itself as a leading point of reference for the creation of details of style providing high-end fashion brands with top quality accessories – which now include zippers, buttons, metal components and fashion jewels.

All things style and sustainability: This year Première Vision Paris (08 – 10 February) will be once more the stage to show off the results. The new Spring/Summer 2023 line is inspired by three distinct eras and paths, but at the same time it conveys a total synergy and integration between the various divisions of the Group, coordinated and harmonised as well as united by their common interest in nature and sustainability.

SOUL COMFORT
Off-the-grid essentials between relaxation and style
Sparked from the contemporary need to balance happiness and security, while enriched by an aesthetic and provocative approach, this line embodies all the value and potential of a sustainabilityoriented communication for each and every product, as pieces feature the relevant information on the zip tape and on the button application support. This line presents softer colours that encompass a wide range of styles, including floral, summer satin and semi-transparency, accompanied by innovative yarns and sustainable materials, such as hemp, linen, silk, certified organic cotton, recycled nylon and bio-based polyester. The line also features stainless steel products, including mono-material buttons and zipper chains or the use of aluminium chains that stand out for their particular lightness.

OUTDOOR EXPRESSION
To always stand out
Inspired by nature and outdoor activities, in this section the focus is on attire codes that become the means through which everyone can express and enhance their look in every context, even when immersed in the surrounding environment. Coloured stripes and rubberized soft touch materials are the two essential concepts, combined with bright and flashy colours. The Storm Evo zip, reversed coated nylon zips (among which the one with the reflector catches the eye), and the recycled nylon buttons are back.

WISE EXCLUSIVITY
Smart and sustainable luxury
Each creation in this line is studied down to the smallest detail, to achieve luxury products that increase their value over time thanks to their sustainable process and long life cycle, achieved through multiple possibilities for use in different ways and areas. We find here the use of diamond, recreated in the laboratory with more sustainable techniques, but also zips with elegant and refined lines, the use of stainless steel and PVD and finally, the use of precious galvanic finishes on buttons, but also on chains and pullers. This path shows the important role collaboration plays between the divisions of the Riri Group, making it possible to create something unique and valuable.

The year 2021 is expected to end on an extremely positive note for the Swiss Group, with an organic turnover record (significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels) and an acceleration of the product range completion strategy: after the addition of Amom, in June, Riri is proud to share the closing of the acquisition and integration into the Group of DMC, a company specialized in the metal components sector for haute couture, more specifically leatherwear. This is another step towards creating a single hub dedicated to luxury accessories, whose goal is to develop a balanced portfolio including zips, buttons, metal hardware, and fashion jewels.

DMC, established in 1976 in Scarperia e San Piero a Sieve, near Florence, has a consolidated experience with major luxury brands and a strategic position, being located close to the Tuscan leatherwear district. Originally a family-run business, today it is a company which combines highly skilled Italian artisan tradition, which has a strong connection in the region, with the use of cutting-edge technologies. Its comprehensive vertical integration system allows for in-house management of all production process phases.

“The addition of DMC to the family” – explains Renato Usoni, CEO of the Riri Group – “is not just a bonus for our offer in terms of product range. It means also a fundamental milestone in the creation strategy of a fully integrated business model”. As a matter of fact, the operation is a further improvement in the Group’s designing potential, increasingly able to provide tailor-made accessories, as requested by each client, achieving very high levels of customization while keeping up massive investments in new technologies, organization systems and sustainability projects with a cross-cutting impact.

“Our Group” – Usoni adds – “is, to all intents and purposes, a leader in terms of innovation, thanks to its state-of-the-art plants, which are located in seven production factories, and thanks to its constant search on emerging technologies and materials”. More specifically, DMC’s proposal – in line with Riri’s – is increasingly focused on the use of sustainable products and on processes with a low environmental impact.

Furthermore, the new company in the Group is committed to integrating the economic development of its business with the ensuing social accountability. Evidence of this attention is shown by its having been awarded the certifications ISO 9001, due to the quality of its processes, products and services, and SA 8000, for its ethical management of human resource. Moreover, every year DMC produces a social report which, in line with what have always been distinctive values of Riri, bears witness to its intent of communicating its achievements clearly and transparently.

The Swiss group presents three creative inspirations to explore new shapes, colors, materials and define a new offer featuring a variety of solutions and ideas.
A tribute to health and to balance with nature, to the advanced goldsmith craftsmanship and to the effortless sophistication of industrial luxury: the FW 2022-23 collection by Riri Group is a true kaleidoscope of shapes, colors and materials, where three different creative inspirations meet – Biophilic, Stones&Gold and Industrial Luxe – for a high-end line of accessories.

All three paths are the result of state-of-the-art techniques, of an R&D effort and of the renowned expertise of the Swiss group. Part of the offer is also a selection of pieces by Cobrax Metal Hub, among which stand out buckles and locks with peculiar shapes and finishing.

Looking to the new season with a positive and enthusiastic attitude, the Group continues to work towards an increasing sustainability when it comes to products and processes. The collection, in fact, is a further step toward Riri’s path of green responsibility that the company has taken to bring actual improvement in its sustainable performance. This year, Riri Group published its first Sustainability Report, calculated in compliance with Global Reporting Initiative Standard (GRI), and adopted recycled polyester as production standard for zips’ tapes.

Biophilic
A way to honor love for life, this line emphasizes the importance of physical and mental wellbeing, answering the questions raised during the challenges faced in the last year. Balance with nature becomes a concrete product circularity operation resorting to manufacturing processes with a low environmental impact and to organic and biodegradable materials. Among them stands out recycled polyester for zips which is Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified, Global Organic Textile Standard certified organic cotton and other alternative fibers, such as nettle, a natural resource that is a great alternative to synthetic fibers. Rivets, zips, buttons and metal components are made of stainless steel, which guarantees durability and resistance, 100% recycled copper and aluminum – light, ductile and resistant to oxidation. Among the most interesting solutions are rice peel powder – used on buttons’ overseals – and eco-sustainable thermoplastic polyurethane, obtained from renewable raw sources.

Stones & Gold
Sophistication and advanced craftsmanship mark the pieces of this creative path which, inspired by goldsmith and glyptic craft tradition, reveals a delicate sense of positivity and richness. Gems, lapis lazuli, marble, and mother-of-pearl are protagonists of a refined selection of accessories designed to amaze and catch the eye, resembling actual jewels. Essential the use of gold, especially in its liquid form: dominating zips and buttons’ finishes, this precious and versatile metal becomes a decorative feature on printed tape.

Industrial luxe
The third proposal embodies the unique style and timeless elegance that have always defined Riri’s products, embellishing them with new engineering details which makes them very relevant. The accessories come with golden and black finishes, both glossy and matt, and explore shapes developed to bring life to a range of luxury accessories with a sophisticated industrial aesthetics. A dominating role goes to stainless steel, along with a selection of impactful and elegant tapes which includes jacquard options, for a retro-futuristic look that is revealed also through the use of mechanical elements, such as screws and etched metal sheets, and in the clean and boxy shapes of pullers and buttons.

• Technology, creativity and sustainability
• Recycled materials, bright colours, eclectic shapes: excellence is in the details, and the new creations by the Italian-Swiss group have plenty to say.

Mendrisio – Looking at the new Fall-Winter 2021-2022 collection of the Riri Group, it almost seems as if the difficult months to which the pandemic has forced the whole world, have been another new – though unwanted – challenge for the Italian-Swiss company. A testbed that sparked the mind and lit the fire of creativity. Therefore, today, the brand ingredient which for over 80 years has embellished the
garments designed by major fashion system brands with top-quality zips and buttons, also introduces a wide range of heterogeneous creations, intended to cover different aesthetic and functional requirements on the market.

This collection has been divided into three macro-topics; it is a new chapter in the history of the Group.

LIFE SERVING
Keyword: sustainability. Or, more romantically, “Reuse with love”. From the use of materials produced using organic waste and recycled plastics to actual destocking – the re-introduction on the market of unsold items to give them new life through a restyled shape: the topic of “life serving”, for Riri, translates into the meticulous and constant search for materials with a low environmental impact and in the committed attempt to reduce the use of plastic to a minimum. This is why the Group has decided to use recycled polyester tapes, made with new organic cotton, pullers coated with cork, created using 100% recycled plastics or rubber taken from the sole of shoes. Stainless steel – an exceptionally resistant and sturdy material, as well being subject to no galvanic treatments and highly recyclable – characterizes chains and pullers, while the Nylon zip consists of fully recycled tape and chain, and Decor introduces a new 100% polyamide version. On the button side, “life serving” includes buttons with a cork coating, the Zero button with coating made of recycled Meryl polyamide and the F4 with a 100% recycled Nylon head and the heads made of APILON 52 (rubber made of 65% vegetable oils and energy from renewable sources) coated with microfiber from the company Alcantara.

ENGINEERING
This is definitely the most rigorous yet progressive section in the collection, drawing on technological innovation and on uncertainties related to the current situation, to play with shapes, colours and materials. Between zips and buttons there is a prevalence of squared and minimal shapes, also on the tapes of the zips through sublimation and digital printing techniques. The leading colour is grey in its variation of hues, where the insertion of coloured tones sometimes stands out. The leading material, on the other hand, is metal.

OVER SHOCK
A creative topic where “exaggeration” is the keyword, a trend whose style and character somehow remind us of Gen-Z, apart from being especially suitable for outdoors. “Over state” uses the hip hop mood and settings of the Nineties, taking them to the extreme, enlarging shapes and focusing on bright and fluorescent colours such as purple, yellow, blue, orange or green. An example of this is Storm Evo, a zip which is popular in the outdoor sector for its high levels of water resistance and strength, which features a new electric blue chain and tape with reflecting side strips. Also outstanding in terms of originality is the new purple puller, with its anti-theft shape, fixed onto a fluorescent yellow chain. The perfect expression of this category are zippers such as Decor, Nylon and Aquazip, especially recommended for the outdoor sector in general.

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS: RESTYLING AND INNOVATION
All the macro-categories selected for the FW 21-22 seasons are included in some special product innovations, most notably the even more minimal and thin shapes of some buttons and the introduction of five different colours for the small synthetic ring, a real point of strength in Cobrax pressure buttons. Also the range of magnetic buttons is complemented by the addition of two extra snaps. As regards zips, the Riri Group team has been working on careful restyling of shapes, more specifically in the shapes of Decor zip bodies – ideal for the luggage industry – further improved from both an aesthetic and functional viewpoint.

• Italian expertise, research and green innovation.
• METALBOTTONI ups the stakes with one-of-a-kind interpretations, to enhance its market presence.

At Première Vision Accessories (Paris, 19-21 September) the company presents the new collection VÀNITA, a mix of leatherwear and sportswear, based on Made in Italy craft, with an increasingly wide and coordinated range.

Based on product experience, combining new trends in accessories. The METALBOTTONI strategy is enriched with product novelties which aim at exploring new existing market segments. A strategy which increasingly leads great artisan production skills to meet constant research and expansion of the range, with the world of sportswear becoming more and more pivotal; without forgetting the important sustainable innovations of the NO IMPACT protocol.

No Impact becomes “Committed Accessories”

The guideline for restyling the METALBOTTONI range over the past two years has been the recent implementation of the NO IMPACT corporate sustainability protocol, which has just acquired a new “dress”, associated with the following pay-off: “Committed Accessories”. It is a way of underscoring the constant green development of the company over the past few years, in terms of process and product: use of recycled raw materials, development of finishing without chemicals, implementation of processes which today have allowed to reduce electricity and water consumption to almost zero.

Moreover the range of NO IMPACT proposals for this season has expanded to include not only new metal finishing but also leather label completely made from processing scrap, thus establishing Metalbottoni as “partner for branding elements” also in terms of sustainability. Pure Made in Italy and constant expansion of collections towards sportswear The great skill in metal processing, which for sixty years now has characterised the top-of-the-range quality of METALBOTTONI products, is now combined with constant research work conducted by our in-house Style Office, resulting in new collections which are more and more in line with the trends emerging from major trade fairs. Maintaining a presence on strong markets (central Europe, Northern Europe and United States), increasing the depth of segments and intercepting new ones. This is the main goal also chosen for the Première Vision Accessories Exhibition where, alongside the autumn-winter 2019/2020 collections, there will be a preview of VÀNITA, the new collection dedicated to leatherwear and more.

METALBOTTONI is proving to be one of the most dynamic companies in the accessory industry.

Over the past two years, in fact, it has introduced numerous product and process innovations, aiming at increasing its range especially as regards sportswear accessories. This trend was driven by a substantial increase in demand by read-to-wear and luxury brands in the past two seasons, and today it means new proposals which account for 35% of the range for METALBOTTONI. New collections have been presented in the past two seasons expressly dedicated to the sportswear world, namely GRAVITA, the first line designed by the company for pressure buttons, and MÀRYA, the new beachwear collection. Also the line called LABORA, the classic collection of accessories for fashion and ready-to-wear has been constantly enhanced with proposals combining style and technical performance. This mix of fashion and sport elements is increasingly evident in the company’s product range, for example in the combination of different materials, using metal with nylon or other resins to create new and unique accessories.

Vànita: beyond leatherwear, a world of accessories

The meeting between fashion, luxury and sportswear has produced VÀNITA, the brand new collection which presents a new approach to accessories dedicated to leatherwear, from an allround perspective from luxury to sportswear. Developed starting from solid product research by the company’s in-house Style Office, VÀNITA is a true meeting of styles and elements, a combination of high product standards with unique elegance. This line introduces one-of-a-kind visions for accessories, exploring highly original pathways dedicated to the world of leather. The VÀNITA proposal ranges from accessories for leatherwear and small leatherwear, to those for shoes, bags and the sportswear worlds. There are two main lines within this collection: one is expressly designed for the world of luxury, the other has a more technical and sporty approach. A true mix between artisan metal processing, based on the great METALBOTTONI expertise in this sector, and “ingredients” such as nylon, rubber finishes or innovative 3D processing, which are often combined together.

“Our goal is to offer an increasingly comprehensive range which allows us to explore new segments on the markets where we are present” - says Gregorio Valli, CEO and President of METALBOTTONI S.P.A – “a ‘recipe’ which should be able to integrate our unmatched product expertise with a constant expansion of our range and continuous implementation of our pathway towards corporate responsibility and sustainability”.