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.

During the Innovate Textile & Apparel (ITA) virtual textile machinery show which will run from October 15th-30th 2020, Monforts will be emphasising its leadership position in three key fields – advanced coating, denim finishing and fabric sanforizing.

With its multi-head capability, the latest Monforts texCoat coating system provides flexibility with an unprecedented range of options and a wide range of modules available.

Refinements
“Since we acquired the coating technology that our systems are based on we have made a lot of refinements and all of them are reflected in higher coating accuracy and the resulting quality of the treated fabrics,” says Monforts Head of Technical Textiles, Jürgen Hanel.
“Our systems have the shortest fabric path from the coating unit into the stenter and we have all variations of coating application systems too – and all of these options are available in wider widths, with the engineering and manufacturing from a single source here in Europe.”

CYD
Denim finishing is meanwhile a field in which Monforts has an undisputed lead and it has been working closely with its many partners in the key denim manufacturing countries of Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Mexico Pakistan and Turkey to develop advanced solutions. The latest of these is the CYD yarn dyeing system.
“CYD is based on the proven Econtrol® dyeing system for fabrics*,” explains Monforts Head of Denim Hans Wroblowski. “It integrates new functions and processes into the weaving preparatory processes – spinning, direct beaming, warping and assembly beaming, followed by sizing and dyeing – in order to increase quality, flexibility, economic viability and productivity. The CYD system has been developed in response to a very strong market demand.”

Pre-shrinking
Monforts has also recently delivered a significant number of its latest Monfortex sanforizing lines to customers around the world.
Sanforizing is vital to final fabric quality, pre-shrinking it by compressing prior to washing, to limit any residual or further shrinkage in a made-up finished garment to less than 1%, for perfect comfort and fit over an extended lifetime.

As with industry-leading Montex stenters, Monfortex lines benefit from the latest Qualitex 800 control system which allows all parameters to be easily automated via the 24-inch colour touchscreen, including production speed, control of all fabric feed devices, rotation spray or steaming cylinder options, the width of the stretching field and the rubber belt pressure. Up to 10,000 separate process parameter records can be generated and stored by the data manager.

*Econtrol® is a registered mark of DyStar Colours Distribution GmbH, Germany.

Mountains of waste, plastic-infested oceans, negative CO2 footprints – the need for more sustainable ways of living has never been more urgent. Consequently, it is logical that recycling solutions are becoming increasingly important within the textile industry. This was also tapped into at the first virtual Global Fiber Congress in Dornbirn with a session that focused specifically on the topic. In front of around 400 participants, Markus Reichwein, Head of Product Management at Oerlikon Barmag, also spoke about solutions currently on the market.

As one of only manufactureres, the Oerlikon Group’s Manmade Fibers segment offers the entire mechanical recycling chain –from preparing the recycled materials, producing the melt all the way through to the textured package. Here, the company utilizes the VacuFil solution supplied by its subsidiary Barmag Brückner Engineering (BBE) –which, in addition to mastering bottle-to-bottle and bottle-to-textile processes, is also able to process textile waste into chips. This permits the running of textile production operations very much in line with the zero-waste philosophy.

VacuFil ensures a stable process in the case of recycled quality yarns
The reliable removal of contaminants is vital for a stable and efficient spinning process and outstanding yarn quality. At the same time, stable operating conditions with minimal fluctuations are essential. The greatest challenge here is the differing qualities of the bottle flakes fed into the system, as the extrusion process is barely able to balance these fluctuations. Here, the VacuFil concept counters with blending silos, which reduce the differences in the viscosity of the polymers considerably and guarantee high yarn and fabric quality.

The VacuFil concept is installed upstream to an Oerlikon Barmag POY system, which transforms the recycled melt into filament yarn of the accustomed high quality. As texturing solutions, Oerlikon Barmag offers its state-of-the-art automatic eAFK-series systems, including the latest generation of the eAFK Evo, which was unveiled at the ITMA Barcelona last year. Yarn manufacturers wishing to continue texturing manually can use the eFK series.

With the VarioFil R+, producers of smaller batches now also have a compact system with an integrated recycled materials preparation unit at their disposal. The system offers a special extrusion system for bottle flake materials, the very latest metering and mixing technology for spin-dying and expanded 2-stage melt filtration. The four spinning positions are each equipped with an Oerlikon Barmag 10-end WINGS POY winder.

While mechanical recycling has already been extensively developed, chemical recycling for mixed fabrics is still presenting the textile industry with huge challenges. The Oerlikon Group’s Manmade Fibers segment is currently working on solutions and concepts for transforming these fabrics into new textiles.

• There is an urban legend that hemp canvas was used to make the very first pair of Levi’s jeans.
• While this is a myth that originated in the counterculture of the 1960s, hemp is without doubt the fibre of the moment for the denim industry.

At the second Kingpins24 virtual denim show that was broadcast from New York on June 23rd and 24th, the sustainable benefits of hemp fibre were referenced by many Monforts customers who are now including it in their collections, including AGI Denim, Artistic Milliners, Black Peony, Calik, Cone Denim, Naveena Denim Mills (NDM) and Orta.

“Hemp is an easy to grow fibre which requires no irrigation, no fertilizers, no herbicides and no chemicals,” says Allan Little, Director of Product Development for Cone Denim, which has recently launched its Sweet Leaf collection featuring the fibre. “Significantly, it also uses fifty per cent or even less water than cotton in cultivation.”

It can also bring some new aesthetics to denim too, he adds.

“Hemp has a unique colour and adds a different cast to our indigo, the drape and texture of the fabrics is different and it even adds  a bit of a unique hand, so combined with its sustainable credentials we are proud to be bringing the Sweet Leaf collection to the market.”

US supply chain

Cone is currently sourcing its hemp from France, but with much of its manufacturing now in Mexico – and with the introduction of the US Farm Bill in 2018 which has legalised the growing of legal hemp – is exploring the possibility of investing in the US supply chain.

“With US hemp we’re really at the R&D phase,” Little emphasises. “It’s a unique crop, so coming up with the right stalk to provide the right fibre is challenging. We’ve experimented with different types of seed and various methods of decortication.”

Decortication, he explains, is the mechanical removal of the outside layer of the hemp stalk to useable fibre on the inside. A second process, cottonization, is necessary to make the fibre suitable for spinning, because compared to cotton, hemp is longer, stiffer, and less flexible.

100% success

At the end of 2019, Naveena (NDM), headquartered in Karachi, introduced fabrics featuring up to 51% hemp content in blends with Tencel and recycled polyester and this year has developed the first 100% hemp denims.

“The response to the fabrics we showed last year was incredible and we were looking forward to the response to this latest development – which everyone was asking for – at the Kingpins show in Amsterdam, which unfortunately was unable to go ahead,” says NDM’s Director of Marketing Rashid Iqbal. “We produced initial samples in an undyed state because we were not sure how the wet spun yarn would react in the dyeing, but I’m happy to say we have had success in this respect and are now able to provide one hundred per cent indigo dyed hemp denim.”

Environmental benefits

“Differentiation is the key in the highly-competitive denim industry and we have assisted our customers with trials and optimised processing parameters for a range of different fibres, including hemp, both at our Advanced Technology Centre in Germany and at their own mills around the world,” says Hans Wroblowski, Monforts Head of Denim. “Given the environmental benefits of hemp, and the liberalisation of its cultivation in many parts of the world, the interest in it now comes as no surprise. We have the technologies and know-how to help our customers to fully maximise their hemp denims at all post-weaving stages of production.”

Monforts has a dominant position in the field of denim finishing with its well proven Montex stenters. It has been enjoying further recent success with its Eco Line concept based on two key technology advances – the Eco Applicator and the Thermo Stretch.

The latest Monforts innovation for denim is the CYD yarn dyeing system. This technology is based on the effective and established dyeing process for denim fabrics that is now being applied for yarn dyeing.

The CYD system also integrates new functions and processes into the weaving preparation processes – spinning, direct beaming, warping and assembly beaming, followed by sizing and dyeing – to increase quality, flexibility, economic viability and productivity. A full CYD line is now available for trials at the company’s Advanced Technology Centre.

Carbon dioxide-based fibre for climate protection and interdisciplinary training with novel Smart Textiles test rig

The Wilhelm-Lorch-Stiftung, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, honours a project of the Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University, short ITA, and awards a sponsorship prize to the ITA graduate Ricarda Wissel on 25 June 2020. She is awarded for her outstanding bachelor thesis " Implementation of elastic yarns made from carbon dioxide based thermoplastic polyurethane in socks " with funding for a subject-specific continuation of her education. The ITA receives the project sponsorship prize for the project "Smart Textiles - an interdisciplinary training course to promote young scientists in future technologies", which was submitted to the Wilhelm-Lorch-Stiftung by ITA´s PhD candidate Simon Kammler.

Carbon dioxide-based fibre from industrial waste contributes to climate protection

ITA scientist Dr.-Ing. Pavan Manvi has developed a melt spinning process at ITA for the production of elastic yarn from thermoplastic polyurethane, in which carbon dioxide is used as one of the raw materials. In her bachelor thesis, Ricarda Wissel successfully developed a process chain for the CO2-based yarn in a textile end product for the first time. In cooperation with the company FALKE and Dr Manvi, who supervised Ms. Wissel's work, the yarn was used to produce a sock (see figure "FALKE sock with carbon dioxide filaments").

By reusing carbon dioxide from industrial waste as a raw material for textile and clothing products, the carbon dioxide balance can be improved and thus contributes directly to climate protection. The sponsorship prize of the Wilhelm-Lorch-Stiftung is endowed with 6,000 € for the specialist further training of Ms. Wissel.

Interdisciplinary training with development of a new type of measuring stand for the future-oriented research field "Smart Textiles

The development of textiles with additional digital functions, so-called "Smart Textiles", is considered a future-oriented field of research. In his project submission, ITA´s doctoral candidate Simon Kammler presented a concept for a lecture series on Smart Textiles at ITA and develops a new type of measuring stand for measuring the capacity and conductivity of fibres. The project is funded by the Wilhelm-Lorch-Stiftung with a prize money of 10,000 Euro.

Smart Textiles enable the textile to interact with the environment and the human user. Today they are therefore in demand in many areas of everyday life such as sport, health, living, life and mobility and offer completely new practical solutions. In combination with digital networked services, Smart Textiles promise support and innovation in almost all situations of daily life.

With the conception of a new lecture series, Mr. Simon Kammler is supporting ITA in its goal of providing the best possible training for young scientists. The focus is on imparting far-reaching interdisciplinary skills in order to master the challenges of current fields of research.

Background:

The Wilhelm-Lorch-Stiftung supports particularly talented young people from all areas of the textile industry. Its purpose is the promotion of subject-specific education and further education as well as the promotion of projects at universities, academic schools and vocational schools, which are characterised by the sustainable communication of innovative learning content in science and research. In total, thirteen sponsorship prizes were awarded in 2020. Due to the Corona crisis, the forum of TextilWirtschaft, which is normally the venue for the awards ceremony, unfortunately had to be cancelled in 2020.

• Since the end of March 2020, COVID-19 has led to very low demand in all Business Groups
• Comprehensive crisis management implemented
• Loss in the mid double-digit million range expected in the first half of 2020
• Plans to introduce short-time working to adjust capacity in Switzerland and Germany
• Strategy will continue to be implemented

Due to COVID-19, a large number of spinning mills have stopped production worldwide. Since the end of March 2020, this has led to low demand for spare parts and wear & tear parts and delays in testing programs during the development of new machines. Customers are postponing investment projects or unable to implement them due to restrictions imposed by national governments. This results in low demand for new machines.

Comprehensive crisis management
Rieter has implemented comprehensive crisis management. Priorities are being given to protecting employees, fulfilling customer commitments and ensuring liquidity. The necessary measures to protect employees have been implemented worldwide.
The order backlog of well in excess of CHF 500 million is being processed largely according to plan, despite the existing bottlenecks in the supply chains. Less than 5% of the orders in the order backlog have been canceled.
Rieter has already implemented measures to ensure liquidity and reduce costs. The company has good net liquidity and undrawn credit lines in the mid three-digit million range.
Loss expected in the first half of 2020
As already reported, Rieter expects sales and earnings in the first half of 2020 to be significantly below the prior year level.

Loss expected in the first half of 2020
As already reported, Rieter expects sales and earnings in the first half of 2020 to be significantly below the prior year level. The effects of COVID-19 will place an additional burden on the first half of 2020. Rieter therefore expects sales in the first half of 2020 to be less than CHF 300 million. Despite the countermeasures implemented at the net profit level, this will lead to a loss in the mid double-digit million range.

Plans to introduce short-time working to adjust capacity
Rieter plans to apply for short-time working for the areas with forecasted low capacity utilization at the locations in Switzerland and Germany. The application will be for 40% short-time working in the third quarter of 2020. Talks with staff representatives will begin next week.
As a sign of solidarity, Rieter’s Board of Directors, Group Executive Committee and the senior management will waive 10%-20% of their salaries temporarily.

Implementation of the strategy
In recent years, Rieter has consistently implemented the strategy based on innovation leadership, strengthening the business in components, spare parts and services and the adjustment of cost structures. The company intends to forge ahead with the implementation of the strategy in the coming months, thus strengthening its market position for the time after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The next information on the course of business is planned with the publication of the half-year results on July 16, 2020
 

Forging Ahead with Circular Bioeconomy

Sateri, the world ’ s largest producer of viscose, has successfully produced on commercial scale viscose fiber regenerated from textile waste. The high-quality new fiber uses a mix of dissolving pulp made from recycled post-consumer textile waste by Swedish company Södra, and other PEFC - certified wood pulp.

Trialed at Sateri ’ s Linz Nanjng yarn spinning mill using two advanced technologies, Siro compact and Vortex, the new fiber has proven compatibility with existing spinning technologies, ensuring stable yarn production without the need to adjust existing processes or parameters. The fiber also has excellent spinning efficiency and delivers yarn evenness and tenacity.

Sateri ’ s breakthrough comes on the back of RGE’s announcement in October last year of a USD200 million investment towards next-generation cellulosic fiber innovation. Sateri is working with several dissolving pulp producers using various innovative technologies to aid the push towards a circular bio-economy. Sateri will be partnering yarn customers, garment manufacturer s and fashion brands to market and officially launch this new recycled viscose fiber product in the coming months, with the eventual goal of making recycled fiber available to the mass market.

The Indian yarn manufacturer Polygenta, specialized on the manufacturing of sustainable recycling yarns, recently commenced production of recycled polyester FDY yarns at its facilities in Nashik. The yarn is produced using a combination of perPETual Global Technologies patented chemical recycling technology and Oerlikon Barmag’s direct spinning system equipped with the 32-end WINGS concept.

The spinning plant was commissioned by Oerlikon Textile India technologists in close collaboration with the process experts at Oerlikon Barmag, with various FDY products currently being developed. The yarn produced caters to the requirements of premium-segment clients demanding high quality, cost effective sustainable solutions.

As one of the world’s first companies, Polygenta has, since 2014, been producing 100% recycled POY and DTY from post-consumer PET using the patented chemical recycling process developed by perPETual Global Technologies. perPETual’s process reduces CO2 impact by more than 66% compared to virgin PET. The yarn is spun using Oerlikon Barmag systems and equipment. As a result, Polygenta is able to produce a wide range of DTY and FDY yarns that comply with the Global Recycled Standard (GRS).

Featuring the innovative ISKO’s R-TWO™ program, the collection has a new take on sustainability: it relies on fabrics made of reused and recycled materials as well as an advanced design research for the development of a new, conscious style.

Sustainability through the use of highly responsible materials and the experimentation of fits: this is Reloved, the new collection developed by haikure in partnership with leading denim ingredient brand ISKO. Presented with an exclusive preview during Milan Fashion Week, it is an act of love for the planet, the environment and the people.

The project perfectly embodies all the values that made the longstanding partnership between the two brands possible – a responsible approach to innovation and the development of cutting-edge concepts.

Taking into account both materials and design, Reloved features the pioneering ISKO’s R-TWO™ program, which relies on a blend of reused cotton and recycled polyester.

During the processing of raw cotton into yarn, for every 100 kilos of cotton approximately 10% is lost. ISKO collects it and prevents it from becoming waste, adding it back into the spinning process obtaining cotton that is fully traced, documented and audited. This verification process has been invented by ISKO in partnership with its yarn supplier Sanko, offering full clarity into the traceability of reused cotton from field to fabric. It is also certified with the Content Claim Standard – or CCS – of the Textile Exchange.

Recycled polyester comes from clear plastic bottles or, alternatively, it can come from other certified waste: in either case the source material is collected, sorted, stripped of labels and caps, and cleaned to be ground into plastic pellets. These can then be re-spun into new fiber filaments.

Depending on the content percentages, for the recycled polyester ISKO can provide either the Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) or Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certifications, both of which track the recycled raw material through the supply chain from input to final product to verify its integrity.

Designed to tackle over-sourcing, the platform improves the environmental performance impact of yarn-to-fabric production. As ISKO’s latest responsible evolution, ISKO’s latest responsible evolution has resulted also in the perfect solution to enhance the responsible character of the Reloved collection.

The collection’s fresh and innovative take on style combines unisex concepts and oversized fits, is available in one shade of color featuring a variety of prints and is crafted with the planet and its inhabitants in mind. To provide full clarity and traceability from field to shelf, materials and processes are kept under the control of Made By, an independent agency that controls the social and environmental conditions of all elements of the production process.

“haikure and ISKO have always shared the same values and approach to innovation,” explained Elena Faleschini, ISKO Global Field Marketing Manager. “When we have the opportunity to work together, we know that the result is going to be astounding. Reloved is a testament to how fashion can be both innovative and responsible, without compromising on style.” A preview of Reloved was presented on Febuary 22nd, during a special happening that took place at Clan Upstairs (Vicolo Fiori 2, Milan), gathering friends, partners and denim lovers.

The Trevira CS joint booth at Heimtextil 2020 was once again a success.

Trevira looks back on a successful trade fair appearance at Heimtexil 2020. The concept of a joint booth together with customers along with the presentation of product innovations and a special exhibition dedicated to the contract sector has once again proved its worth. Trevira hosted 31 co-exhibitors thus increasing the number of participants again compared to last year. Members of the entire textile value chain were present at the Trevira stand: from the fibre production and yarn manufacture, to the colouring, weaving and warp and weft knitting stages, to the textile editor.

Klaus Holz, CEO Trevira GmbH: „We are pleased about the very positive feedback we got on our joint booth at Heimtextil 2020 from our customers and the visitors to our stand. It shows that our concept is successful and that the booth works well as a market place for Trevira CS.”

Product novelties were presented in an Innovation Park. Under the headline “Recycling at Trevira” the fibre producer presented its sustainable product range and diversified approaches to recycling: flame retardant fibres are produced from residual materials, which are reprocessed in an agglomeration plant. The recyclates are then deployed in the spinning facility to make new, high-quality products consisting of 100 % pre-consumer recycled material. Recycled, flame retardant filaments are produced from PET bottles and have a recycled content of 50 %. Standard polyester spun-dyed filament yarns are also available in a recycled version. Produced from PET bottles these yarns have a recycled content of 100 %.

In order to produce flame retardant fabrics which are also high-performing  in outdoor applications, Trevira now offers six more colours in addition to the existing colour range of 24 UV-stable, spun-dyed filament yarns. Trevira had been awarded the „Brandenburger Innovationspreis Kunststoffe und Chemie 2019“ for this innovation.

Cationic dyeable fibres and filament yarns enhance the Trevira portfolio of flame retardant specialties. They are used to create melange designs in fabrics, which still represents a strong trend in the home textile sector.

To meet the ever more complex demands of the market for more flexibility in design and additional functions as well as for sustainable products Trevira has introduced an enhanced Trevira CS branding concept, consisting of the three brands Trevira CS, Trevira CS flex und Trevira CS eco. Assigned according to product features, all of them stand for tested safety.