From the Sector

The EURATEX General Assembly has re-elected Mario Jorge Machado as President of EURATEX, renewing its confidence in his leadership at a crucial moment for the European textile and clothing industry. The sector is facing rising costs, global competitive pressure and an increasingly challenging transition towards sustainability and digitalisation. 

With a degree in Production Polymer Engineering from the University of Minho, Mario Jorge Machado brings extensive industrial experience and a strong commitment to innovation, competitiveness and sustainable transformation. 

Upon his re-election, Mario Jorge Machado said:
“My priority for this new mandate is clear: to strengthen the competitiveness of our industry, ensure that the same rules apply to all products sold in Europe, and support our companies through the green and digital transition. Europe must decarbonise its industry, not deindustrialise it.” 

Three priorities for the new mandate

1. Competitiveness as the foundation
Mario Jorge Machado has made clear that competitiveness must be the starting point for any successful industrial policy. In his recent Brussels address, he stressed that without competitiveness there can be no investment, no innovation, no sustainability and no strategic autonomy. He will therefore continue to push for a stronger business environment for textile companies, with support for investment in automation, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, skills and innovation, especially for SMEs. 

2. A genuine level playing field
A second key priority is to ensure that the same rules apply to everything sold in Europe, not only to what is made in Europe. Mario Jorge Machado has repeatedly called for stronger market surveillance, better border enforcement and more effective control of imports sold through digital platforms, so that European companies are not put at a disadvantage against products that bypass EU safety, environmental and consumer rules. EURATEX will continue to advocate for equal enforcement, fair competition and a market where compliance is rewarded. 

3. Supporting industry through the transition
Mario Jorge Machado also wants to ensure that the green and digital transition strengthens European industry rather than weakening it. He has underlined that sustainability must become a source of competitiveness, not a burden, and that companies need realistic rules, affordable energy, workable implementation and targeted support to adapt successfully. He has also stressed the importance of stimulating demand for sustainable European-made textiles, including through public procurement and transparency tools that are feasible for companies. 

Presidency Team
The General Assembly also confirmed the composition of the EURATEX Presidency Team, which will support the President in steering the organisation’s strategic direction:

• Mr. Franz Peter Falke, T+M, Germany
• Ms. Barbara Cimmino, Confindustria Moda, Italy
• Mr. Ismail Kolunsag, IHKIB, Türkiye 
• Mr. Grégory Marchand, UIT, France 

• B2B textiles are textile-based products used in commercial or industrial settings, rather than by consumers  
• While B2B textiles are considered better positioned for circularity than the B2C textile sector, solutions remain early-stage and have not yet scaled in line with the volume of waste generated 
• New research examines key barriers to circularity across five priority sub-sectors and the opportunities to unlock greater circularity  

Circular solutions for B2B textiles have yet to scale in line with the volume of waste generated, according to new research by Reconomy, the international circular economy specialist. 

B2B textiles include textile-based products used for commercial or industrial purposes such as soft furnishings, automotive interiors, agricultural textiles and construction materials rather than clothing worn by consumers. While these sectors are widely considered to be better positioned for circularity than the B2C sector due to established logistics and the fact that B2B textiles are typically more homogenous in material composition, solutions remain underdeveloped and have not yet scaled, leaving large volumes of material flowing into downcycling or disposal.   

The research examines waste flows and market dynamics across five priority B2B textile categories, including: soft furnishings; upholstery and furniture textiles; automotive textiles; agricultural textiles; and geotextiles and construction textiles. 

Across all five, the findings point to a common challenge, namely that while circularity is technically possible, it is impeded in practice by weak sorting, limited aggregation, poor data visibility and underdeveloped end-markets – meaning materials that could be reused or recycled are instead lost from the system. 

Within UK B2B soft furnishings, for example, the research found that products are dominated by bed, bath and table linen used by the hospitality and healthcare sectors which generate large waste flows. Despite the strong underlying recycling potential of these materials, reuse is structurally constrained by hygiene requirements and low unit value, resulting in most volumes sent to energy-from-waste facilities or landfill.  

The research identifies that the primary opportunity for the industry lies upstream, in improving sorting and aggregation at industrial laundries, which act as the key control point for circular and end-of-life material routing. 

The report comes amid rising waste volumes, with more than 6,000 tonnes of hospitality textiles lost each year in the UK and four million linen items lost annually by the NHS, including bed sheets, pillowcases and surgical gowns. 
 
Commenting, Aimee Campanella, Development Director for Textiles EPR at Reconomy, said: “While much discussion around textiles circularity has centred on apparel, non-apparel textiles represent a significant adjacent area that has been largely overlooked. Given our expertise in textiles for clothing and footwear, we commissioned this new research to provide the industry with greater clarity on the structural barriers holding circularity back, and what needs to change to accelerate circular models that reduce waste, cut carbon emissions and lower costs for businesses.”

Carpets and upholstery fabrics from ships and hotels have significant recycling potential that is not currently being fully utilised. A Danish partnership aims to change that.

Many offices, hotels, ships and other public spaces are fitted with carpets and upholstery fabrics made from wool-nylon blends. The combination of materials gives the products a very long lifespan, but complicates the recycling process when they are replaced. Manufacturers, researchers and knowledge partners have joined forces in the UnBlend partnership, which aims to make textiles easier to reuse and recycle.

Aiming to extend the lifespan of wool-nylon textiles
Tons of high-quality carpets and upholstery fabrics go up in smoke when offices, hotels, ships, libraries, theatres and other public spaces refurbish their interiors. In the EU alone, an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of carpets are disposed of every year, and the vast majority are incinerated or end up in landfill.

The challenge with carpets and upholstery fabrics is that the textiles often consist of complex blended materials such as wool and nylon, which are currently difficult to recycle, even though the material quality is high. It’s a shame, says Business Manager Julie Brender Trads from Danish Technological Institute, who heads the UnBlend partnership:

– Wool-nylon blends are high-quality materials that are easily overlooked because they make up only a small part of the total textile stream. On the other hand, it is a large and uniform textile stream that can be collected when a hotel or ship changes its interior or undergoes renovation. A cruise ship can easily be covered with enough carpet to cover 5–10 football pitches. These large quantities are an advantage when the ambition is large-scale recycling.

From circular design to unique products
UnBlend takes a holistic approach to the challenge of wool-nylon blends. Rather than focusing solely on a single technical solution, the project partners are working in parallel on three tracks: better design, creative reuse and recycling technologies.

The design track explores how products can be constructed more intelligently, for example using fewer types of adhesive and more appropriate material combinations, facilitating later disassembly and recycling among other things. At the same time, the partners are experimenting with reusing and redesigning textile scraps into unique products. Finally, existing and new recycling technologies are being tested to find effective methods for separating wool and nylon, so that the two fibres can be recycled separately and returned to the cycle.

– If we succeed in separating wool and nylon effectively, we can ensure the continuous recycling of high-quality materials. By recycling materials in a closed loop, we can simultaneously reduce the environmental impact significantly compared to wool and nylon produced from new raw materials, says Jeppe Emil Mogensen, Design Director at the textile company Gabriel.

Interdisciplinary collaboration as a prerequisite
The UnBlend partnership was established by Danish Technological Institute, which has brought together textile manufacturers (Gabriel, Dansk Wilton, SheWorks), researchers and knowledge partners (DTU and Danish Technological Institute) and designers (Design School Kolding).

– For many years, we have been working in various ways on solutions within circularity and recycling, but there is a lack of commercial solutions for our type of material composition. That is why it is relevant for us to be part of UnBlend, which brings together many areas of expertise and enables new solutions, says Lone Ditmer, CEO at Dansk Wilton, a global manufacturer of carpets for the international hospitality industry.

About UnBlend
UnBlend is supported by just under DKK 11 million from TRACE and will run for two years. TRACE is a mission-driven research and innovation partnership working to create a circular economy for plastics and textiles by 2050.

Partners: Gabriel, SheWorks, Dansk Wilton, DTU, Design School Kolding and the Danish Technological Institute.

Wool-nylon blends are currently used in large quantities on cruise ships, in hotels, offices and public buildings, particularly in carpets and furniture upholstery. Yet tonnes of high-quality carpets and furniture textiles are sent for incineration or landfill when interiors are replaced.