From the Sector

Introducing PET fibers and filament yarns made solely from discard textile waste, lower carbon bio-fibers, and more, Indorama Ventures expands dejaTM portfolio to boost textile industry sustainability:
The company expands its fiber and filament yarn portfolio called dejaTM to boost sustainability. The goal is to actively drive circularity and decarbonization efforts in the global textile industry and to prepare for supporting the upcoming European Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR).

Three key offerings add to the company’s deja portfolio, addressing customers’ main sustainability challenges:

1. On-demand solutions for textile circularity, providing deja PET fibers and filament yarns made solely from enhanced recycled textile waste that was being discarded. Products available on customers’ request are high-tenacity yarns and cords for technical applications like airbags and seat belts, as well as fibers and filament yarns for lifestyle applications, such as apparel and home textiles. Customers interested to drive circularity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while keeping performance equal to standard solutions, are encouraged to request more information at enquiry.fibers@indorama.net.
2. deja Bio: Solutions to help customers reduce their carbon footprint. Thanks to its fully integrated, in-house PET supply chain, Indorama Ventures can deliver high-performing deja PET yarns out of Europe and Asia that have a substantially reduced carbon footprint. All of them comply with the accounting methodology of the ‘Together for Sustainability’ industry initiative.

Indorama Ventures takes a mass balance approach to increase the use of renewable sources, benefitting from eleven ISCC+ (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) certified sites across its entire business, including PTA, PET chips, fibers, and technical fabrics. The mass balance approach is a chain-of-custody method that allows manufacturers to mix sustainable and conventional inputs like renewable and fossil-based materials in a shared production system, while still allocating the environmental benefits of the sustainable inputs to a portion of the output.

High-tenacity yarns and tire cord fabrics available in the bio-based deja portfolio allow for a progressive bio-content introduction into customers’ products. Customers can benefit from avoiding or simplifying qualification procedures and receive the same performance as from fossil solutions. Further, these products can be given new life through mechanical or enhanced recycling.

1. deja Enhanced: Products that give hard-to-recycle packaging and textile waste new life. In close collaboration with like-minded partners along the value chain, Indorama Ventures is also looking at ways to convert hard-to-recycle packaging into fibers and yarns through enhanced recycling. These solutions are readily available at similar level of performance as fossil solutions. In future, these products will also be supplied with flexible proportions of reprocessed textile feedstock to accommodate customers’ circular targets.
2. Customers and brand owners are invited to take a closer look at what the expanded deja™ fibers & yarns portfolio offers during Textiles Recycling Expo on June 4-5 in Brussels, booth no. 1825. As one of the leading events dedicated to textile recycling and circularity, this expo brings together industry leaders, innovators, and decision-makers to shape the future of sustainable textiles.
3. Claire Mattelet, Global Sustainability Program Head for Indorama Ventures’ Fibers Business, says: With the expanded deja portfolio, we are turning ambition into action – empowering our customers to meet their circularity and decarbonization goals through innovative, high-performance PET fibers and yarns made from textile waste, bio-based inputs, and hard-to-recycle materials. This is how we shape the future of sustainable textiles without compromising on quality or performance.”
4. With most of the textile waste globally being incinerated or landfilled, the global fashion industry accounts for an estimated 3 to 8 percent of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to recent reports1,2, the industry’s emissions are expected to increase by about 30 percent by 2030 if no further action is taken1. In response, Indorama Ventures has set a 2030 target of 40% of recycled and bio-based feedstock of its current commodity feedstock. Taking a leading role and collaborating along the entire value chain to drive sustainable practices in the man-made fibers industry is at the core of Indorama Ventures’ commitment to shaping the future of textiles.

With a clear focus on sustainability, Barmag, a subsidiary of the Swiss Oerlikon Group, is presenting comprehensive solutions from its product brands Oerlikon Barmag and Oerlikon Neumag for DTY and carpet yarn production at the Morocco Stitch & Tex Expo in Casablanca. From May 13 to 15, trade visitors can talk to experts from Barmag and the joint venture BB Engineering (BBE) at the Unionmatex booth (booth B4) to get an idea of the portfolio of the chemical fiber machine manufacturer.

Sustainable and efficient – the production of DTY yarns
Oerlikon Barmag offers a wide range of DTY machine configurations for the efficient and sustainable production of high-quality textured yarns made of various polymers – from polyester and polyamide to polypropylene, PLA and PTT. The modular machines – whether manual or automatic – produce yarns for excellent downstream processing at optimal OPEX costs.

Fancy yarns increasingly in demand
The demand for textiles with special characteristics is continuously increasing. For the production of these effect yarns, such as cotton-like DTY, linen-like DTY or wool-like DTY, Oerlikon Barmag offers a variety of processes and additional components. With its high-quality and flexible technology as well as its detailed knowledge of the yarn path and the required parameter settings, Oerlikon Barmag is the ideal partner for the successful and flexible production as well as the continuous further development of these specialty yarns.

Extended product range for carpet yarns
Thanks to its comprehensive knowledge of all relevant technologies in manmade fiber spinning, Oerlikon Barmag is the only manufacturer worldwide that can expand its range for the production of carpet yarns. The system concept, based on a POY and texturing process, is designed for the carpet and home textile sector and produces particularly soft and bulky polyester threads with BCF-like properties. The aim is to produce yarns with a titer of up to 1300dtex and over 1000 filaments, such as 1300dtex f1152, 660dtex f1152 and 990dtex f768. The machine concept includes the well-known WINGS HD POY winder and the eAFK Big-V texturing machine.

Innovative bicomponent BCF yarn for the carpet market
Quality, efficiency and performance – with its latest development in the field of bicomponent yarns for carpet production, Barmag's product brand Oerlikon Neumag is meeting the carpet market's demand for innovative BCF yarns. The new BICO-BCF yarn is characterized by a richer and higher volume and simultaneously significantly reduces the raw material consumption during carpet manufacturing.

VarioFil® – versatile compact spinning system for diverse applications and specialties
The VarioFil® system from BBE is ideal for a broad range of products, whether it be carpets, upholstery fabrics, fashion, sports, seat belts or airbags. This compact turnkey spinning line is particularly suitable for producers of small batches or specialized products. It flexibly processes various polymers such as PET, PP, PA 6, PA 6.6 and PBT. In combination with Oerlikon Barmag texturing machines, a wide range of textile standard yarns as well as textured yarns with BCF-like properties can be produced.

The VarioFil® R+ enables the direct recycling and processing of PET bottle flakes and PET waste from the start-up process into POY. This sustainable machine concept offers a high degree of product flexibility, including the production of spun-dyed yarn.

JeTex® air texturing offers a versatile product portfolio
BB Engineering also offers flexible solutions for the subsequent texturing of yarns. The JeTex® air texturing system perfectly complements the Oerlikon Barmag DTY systems and expands the product portfolio to include high-quality ATY based on POY and FDY for various textile applications. The centerpiece of the system is the texturing box developed by BB Engineering, which ensures gentle yarn treatment with reliable texturing effects and production efficiency.

“From waste to value” with VacuFil and Visco
BBE's VacuFil PET recycling system transforms textile waste into high-quality rPET melt. The technology is based on decades of experience in extrusion, filtration and spinning and combines gentle large-area filtration with targeted IV control. VacuFil processes various input materials, from bottle flakes to production waste and post-consumer waste. The patented Visco+ component removes volatile contaminants and automatically regulates the IV. The recycled melt can be added to the main melt stream, pelletized into chips or fed directly back into the spinning mill. The VacuFil system is modular and flexibly adaptable to customer needs.

When PERFORMANCE DAYS opens its doors on March 5-6, 2025, at halls C4 and C5 at Messe München, visitors will once again discover fabric innovations for Spring/Summer 2027 across the Performancewear, Bodywear, and Accessories segments. For the first time, a dedicated Wool Forum will be introduced alongside the existing Trend, Footwear, and Bodywear Forums. A jury of renowned industry experts carefully reviewed the submissions for the upcoming season and awarded a total of four prizes.

At the heart of the event, the Trend Forum will showcase the award-winning fabrics for the first time, including the winners of the PERFORMANCE AWARD and the ECO PERFORMANCE AWARD. As the dedicated Footwear Area will now only appear at the fall fair, this year’s Footwear Forum will also be integrated into the Trend Forum in Hall C4. Additionally, visitors can explore the first-ever Wool Forum, located in the Wool Area, which mirrors the setup of the Bodywear Forum in the Bodywear Collective.

The jury, led by Marco Weichert, CEO of PERFORMANCE DAYS, along with Clarissa Stadelmann (Product Manager), Jury Head Alexa Dehmel, Regina Goller (Head of Innovation & Future Trends), and guest juror Laura Howe, Fabric Technologist at Mountain Equipment, expressed their enthusiasm for the outstanding submissions.

Sustainability and innovation in focus: Wool makes a grand comeback
The materials were divided into 13 categories, including 3-layer membranes, baselayers, workwear, bags, waterproof 2-layer fabrics, wool, and others. A particular emphasis was placed on this season’s Focus Topic: “Certifications – Which Ones Matter?”. The top 28 fabrics from each category, along with insights from the Focus Topic compiled by CSR specialist Anna Schuster, will be presented in the Trend Forum.

Previous focus topics have significantly elevated the quality of submissions. The Fall 2024 topic, “Colorization: Chemistry is Everywhere,” spurred a rise in the use of bio-synthetic dyes. Meanwhile, the Spring 2024 theme, “The Future of Polyester: Beyond the Bottle,” showcased advancements in textile-to-textile recycling materials.

This year, developments in the categories of Membranes, Safety & Durability (including aramid fibers), and Wool particularly stood out. Wool demonstrated exceptional versatility, being used in applications ranging from windbreakers to shirts. There was also notable growth in materials such as hemp-lyocell blends, recycled polyamide, and multi-component yarns. Two standout fabrics included a “Hulk fabric” featuring color-shifting effects under tension and a luxuriously soft modal-cashmere knit.

The award-winning innovations and highlighted materials will be on display during PERFORMANCE DAYS on March 5-6, 2025, in halls C4 and C5 at Messe München.

Project Re:Claim, a joint venture between the Salvation Army Trading Company and Project Plan B, has been nominated for the Plastics Industry Awards 2024 in the "Recycler of the Year" category. Using an ISEC evo system from PURE LOOP to process used garments and other textiles, the project is Europe’s first polyester textile recycling system. The award ceremony will take place on 22 November in London.

The UK produces more than half a million tonnes of polyester textile waste every year. Project Re:Claim aims to recycle post-industrial and post-consumer clothing and textiles. The focus is on the recycling of post-industrial polyester from contract textiles for hospitals or hotels (e.g. bed and table linen), workwear and school uniforms, as well as promotional banners (e.g. printed sports banners). The fabrics and textiles come from controlled material streams (closed-loop systems), ensuring minimal impurities. The recycling technology used is an ISEC evo 302 E from PURE LOOP. This innovative technology, developed by the EREMA Group’s member, enables efficient production of high-quality rPET from textile waste.

Europe’s first polyester textile recycling system
The plant, installed at a Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) processing centre in Kettering in early 2024, represents Europe’s first commercial scale polyester textile recycling system specialising in post-consumer polyester. SATCoL is the trading arm of The Salvation Army and UK’s largest charity owned textile collector.

Together with Project Plan B, a specialist in garment design with a focus on design for recycling, PURE LOOP optimised its integrated shredder-extruder combination ISEC evo for the specific requirements. "Plan B has a vision, and we are convinced something great can come out of it," emphasises Manfred Dobersberger, Managing Director at PURE LOOP. Thanks to the configuration of shredder and extruder on one drive shaft and the patented double feed ram system, the ISEC evo 302 E gently processes discarded polyester into rPET, which can be reused for new yarns and other products. "Up until now, polyester that had no useful life left would have been disposed of," explains Tim Cross, CEO of Project Plan B. "With the ISEC evo, we can now return textile waste as a valuable material back to the supply chains. It’s a carbon saving solution, and it plays a significant role in helping our collective journey to Net Zero."

Textile recycling: an industry with growth potential
The plant aims to recycle 2,500 tonnes of polyester in its first year, doubling this amount in the second year. In addition to the environmental benefits such as diverting unwearable textiles away from landfill, initial estimates indicate that the production of pellets from Project Re:Claim uses only one-tenth of the energy compared with pellets produced from virgin polyester. One prerequisite for this is an energy-efficient recycling machine such as the ISEC evo.

Trützschler and the Indian company Gimatex have a long relationship that began in 2006. Gimatex has used Trützschler’s IDF in direct spinning and are now using it to turn textile waste into ring yarn.

Gimatex Industries Pvt. Ltd. operates fully integrated facilities with ginning, spinning, recycling, weaving and processing units in Hinganghat, within India’s cotton-growing region of Vidarbha. It also runs a fabric processing unit in Dholka, near Ahmedabad. Together, Trützschler and Gimatex are working in close collaboration with the shared aim of extending that long history far into the future.

Trützschler’s Integrated Draw Frame (IDF) technology is at the heart of this collaboration. Gimatex is using these solutions to produce high-quality yarn. In particular, IDF enables Gimatex to produce yarns from a wide variety of raw materials – from 100 percent cotton through to polyester, recycled fibers and blends of various different inputs.

Gimatex mainly uses Trützschler IDF to manufacture rotor yarns in a direct spinning process. Direct spinning means shortening the spinning process by eliminating draw frame passages. Fiber slivers are fed directly from the card into the integrated drafting passage. This direct spinning concept uses less electricity and less space than conventional draw frame passages, which helps Gimatex to cut costs while increasing output volumes – with no compromise in quality. Most often, IDF technology is used for rotor and vortex spinning. However, the team at Gimatex is now also one of the first spinning mills in India to develop a special IDF process for producing traditional and recycled ring yarn. This allows the company to leverage the same setup it uses for open-end yarn. The ring yarn produced in this unusual way is mostly coarser varieties and recycling blends for cotton / spandex (lycra) products, with Ne 10s and Ne 16s. The yarn goes through a blow room into a TC 15 card with IDF, before entering a Trützschler TD 10 draw frame, a speed frame and a ring frame.

The current European Football Championships 2024 in Germany will be played on natural turf, which is very costly to maintain, does not tolerate high frequency of use and has a limited service life of only 6 months in some cases. Artificial turf is easier to maintain and correspondingly popular. In Germany, there are estimated to be more than 5,000 artificial turf pitches and as many as 25,500 across the EU. The drawback: the enormous annual emission of microplastics in the form of infill material, the high CO2 impact and the not environmentally friendly disposal. Researchers in Aachen presented a sustainable alternative: BioTurf is a new artificial turf system made from bio-based polymers that no longer requires polymer infill material!

"Every year, around 500 kilograms of plastic granules are produced per artificial turf pitch, which have to be refilled as infill. This also corresponds to the amount that potentially enters the environment as microplastics per sports pitch," explains Dr Claudia Post from TFI. With an estimated 25,000 artificial turf pitches in the EU, artificial turf in Europe alone produces 12,750 tonnes of microplastics that end up in the environment every year! The TFI - Institut für Bodensysteme an der RWTH Aachen e.V., Institute for Research, Testing and Certification in Europe for Indoor Building Products, has developed the innovative artificial turf system together with the ITA (Institute for Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University) and in collaboration with the company Morton Extrusionstechnik (MET), a specialist in artificial turf fibres.

"New artificial turf pitches will be phased out by 2031 at the latest due to the ban on plastic granules. Even now, artificial turf pitches with infill material are no longer being subsidised," says Dr Claudia Post. For grassroots sports, clubs, cities and local authorities, converting their existing artificial turf pitches will be a mammoth task in the coming years, as artificial turf pitches have to be replaced every 10-15 years. With BioTurf, an environmentally friendly alternative is now available! The surface can be played on like any other, whether running, passing or kicking. Short, heavily crimped blades support longer blades and this simple approach increases playing comfort. BioTurf fulfils all quality requirements and standards for the highest footballing demands.

"BioTurf is an innovative, holistic solution," emphasises Dirk Hanuschik from TFI. "We use rapeseed oil and agricultural waste that does not compete with food production. BioTurf is also almost completely recyclable".
This is in stark contrast to conventional artificial turf, which can currently only be thermally utilised, i.e. burned to generate heat.

As BioTurf does not require the traditional latex process at all, the energy-intensive drying process can be dispensed with, which has a positive effect on the price. Latex is also difficult to recycle. In contrast, BioTurf uses the new thermobonding technology. Here, the thermoplastic pile yarns are thermally fused to the backing. Further development steps still need to be taken in the endeavour to develop a 100% mono-material artificial turf, as a few percent polypropylene still needs to be processed in the backing in addition to the polyethylene fibre material in order to protect it during thermobonding. However, this does not hinder its recyclability.

A new type of pure synthetic leather meets the requirements of the European Ecodesign Regulation. Made from a bio-based plastic, it is biodegradable and meets the requirements for a closed recycling process.

Many synthetic leathers consist of a textile substrate to which a polymer layer is applied. The polymer layer usually consists of an adhesive layer and a top layer, which is usually embossed. The textile backing and the top coat are usually completely different materials. Woven, knitted, or nonwoven fabrics made of PET, PET/cotton, or polyamide are often used as textile substrates. PVC and various polyurethanes are commonly used for coatings. The use of these established composite materials does not meet today's sustainability criteria. Recycling them by type is very costly or even impossible. They are not biodegradable. The search for alternative materials for the production of artificial leather is therefore urgent. In 2022, the EU adopted the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI) ("Green Deal"). It includes an eco-design regulation that considers a product's life cycle in the conservation of resources. For textile and product design, this means incorporating closing the loop or end-of-life into product development.

In an AiF project carried out in close cooperation between the DITF and the Freiberg Institute gGmbH (FILK), it has now been possible to develop a synthetic leather in which both the fiber material and the coating polymer are identical. The varietal purity is a prerequisite for an industrial recycling concept.

The aliphatic polyester polybutylene succinate (PBS) was recommended as the base material because of its properties. PBS can be produced from biogenic sources and is now available on the market in several grades and in large quantities. Its biodegradability has been demonstrated in tests. The material can be processed thermoplastically. This applies to both the fiber material and the coating. Subsequent product recycling is facilitated by the thermoplastic properties.

In order to realize a successful primary spinning process and to obtain PBS filaments with good textile mechanical properties, process adjustments had to be made in the cooling shaft at the DITF. In the end, it was possible to spin POY yarns at relatively high speeds of up to 3,000 m/min, which had a tenacity of just under 30 cN/tex when stretched. The yarns could be easily processed into pure PBS fabrics. These in turn were used at FILK as a textile base substrate for the subsequent extrusion coating, where PBS was also used as a thermoplastic.

With optimized production steps, PBS composite materials with the typical structure of artificial leather could be produced. Purity and biodegradability fulfill the requirements for a closed recycling process.

Green Theme Technologies, suppliers of the EMPEL® water-free and PFAS-free textile finishing platform, continues a trajectory of exponential growth by partnering with Korean-based global textile innovator Hwasung International. Hwasung is the first Korean mill to offer the EMPEL® high performance technology to global footwear brands and regional Korean mill customers.
      
Known globally for providing high performance textiles that incorporate functional yarns such as Dyneema, Kevlar and Cordura, Hwasung will now broaden their high performance and sustainable offerings by scaling EMPEL into their global supply chain.
      
Green Theme’s EMPEL® platform can be applied successfully to a wide range of synthetic knit, woven, non-woven and novel fabrics that are traditionally hard to treat. The diverse list of EMPEL® markets include: Outdoor, High Fashion, Footwear, Automotive, Furniture, Workwear, Athleisure Wear and Military. Because no water is used during the treatment application, EMPEL® can remove pollution and waste from any textile manufacturing process.

The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) have modernized and expanded their melt spinning pilot plant with support from the State of Baden-Württemberg. The new facility enables research into new spinning processes, fiber functionalization and sustainable fibers made from biodegradable and bio-based polymers.

In the field of melt spinning, the DITF are working on several pioneering research areas, for example the development of various fibers for medical implants or fibers made from polylactide, a sustainable bio-based polyester. Other focal points include the development of flame-retardant polyamides and their processing into fibers for carpet and automotive applications as well as the development of carbon fibers from melt-spun precursors. The development of a bio-based alternative to petroleum-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers into polyethylene furanoate (PEF) fibers is also new. Bicomponent spinning technology, in which the fibers can be produced from two different components, plays a particularly important role, too.

Since polyamide (PA) and many other polymers were developed more than 85 years ago, various melt-spun fibers have revolutionized the textile world. In the field of technical textiles, they can have on a variety of functions: depending on their exact composition, they can for example be electrically conductive or luminescent. They can also show antimicrobial properties and be flame-retardant. They are suitable for lightweight construction, for medical applications or for insulating buildings.

In order to protect the environment and resources, the use of bio-based fibers will be increased in the future with a special focus on easy-to-recycle fibers. To this end, the DITF are conducting research into sustainable polyamides, polyesters and polyolefins as well as many other polymers. Many 'classic', that is, petroleum-based polymers cannot or only insufficiently be broken down into their components or recycled directly after use. An important goal of new research work is therefore to further establish systematic recycling methods to produce fibers of the highest possible quality.

For these forward-looking tasks, a bicomponent spinning plant from Oerlikon Neumag was set up and commissioned on an industrial scale at the DITF in January. The BCF process (bulk continuous filaments) allows special bundling, bulking and processing of the (multifilament) fibers. This process enables the large-scale synthesis of carpet yarns as well as staple fiber production, a unique feature in a public research institute. The system is supplemented by a so-called spinline rheometer. This allows a range of measurement-specific chemical and physical data to be recorded online and inline, which will contribute to a better understanding of fiber formation. In addition, a new compounder will be used for the development of functionalized polymers and for the energy-saving thermomechanical recycling of textile waste.

Haelixa, the trailblazer of physical traceability solutions, has partnered with Trudel Silk, a market leader for sustainable organic and recycled silk products. This collaboration brings traceability and transparency to silk production.

Silk is one of the finest and smoothest fabrics; the better the quality of the silk, the more luxurious it feels to the touch. To create the best quality silk, the conditions for mulberry cultivation must be up to the highest standards. A healthy micro-ecosystem in the fields translates to top-grade silk cocoon quality. At Trudel, this is the environment they have created for the vertical integration of their business. Trudel aims to succeed at every stage of the process, which can only be accomplished through the active involvement and visible cooperation of all market players. These players include farmers, reeling mills, twisting/spinning mills, weaving mills, dyeing and printing mills, and brands. They are involved in every step, from the cultivation of mulberry trees to the production of silk fabrics.

Haelixa and Trudel have collaborated to improve silk’s robust and consistent traceability. As the demand for validation of the silk value chain increases, they have partnered with groups from Italy and Asia to develop a unique solution that uses DNA markers to trace the entire supply chain of silk production. This innovative approach ensures each silk product’s ethical sourcing.

The silk fibers used in their spun silk yarns are marked with a specific DNA per farm set selected by Trudel. Throughout the supply chain, samples of yarn, fabrics, and finished products undergo testing to verify the presence of original silk fibers. Based on the reporting, the brand can trace the finished accessories or garments to Trudel.