From the Sector

For the third time, nova-Institute awards the “Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year” award in the frame of the “Cellulose Fibres Conference 2023” (8-9 March 2023). The conference advisory board nominated six remarkable products, including cellulose fibres from textile waste, banana production waste and bacterial pulp, a novel technology for producing lyocell yarns and a hygiene product. The innovations will be put to the vote of the conference audience on the first day of the event, with the awards ceremony taking place in the evening. The innovation award “Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year 2023” is sponsored by GIG Karasek (AT).

Here are the six nominees
Vybrana – The new generation banana fibre – GenCrest Bioproducts (India)
Vybrana is a Gencrest’s Sustainable Cellulosic Fibre upcycled from agrowaste. Raw fibres are extracted from the Banana Pseudo stem at the end of the plant lifecycle. The biomass waste is then treated by the Gencrest patented Fiberzyme technology. Here, cocktail enzyme formulations remove the high lignin content and other impurities and help fibre fibrillation. The company's proprietary cottonisation process provides fine, spinnable cellulose staple fibres suitable for blending with other staple fibres and can be spun on any conventional spinning systems giving yarns sustainable apparel. Vybrana is produced without the use of heavy chemicals and minimized water consumption and in a waste-free process where balance biomass is converted to bio stimulants Agrosatva and Bio Fertilizers & organic manure.

HeiQ AeoniQ™ – technology for more sustainability of textiles – HeiQ (Austria)
HeiQ AeoniQ™ is the disruptive technology and key initiative from HeiQ with the potential to change the sustainability of textiles. It is the first climate-positive continuous cellulose filament yarn, made in a proprietary manufacturing process and the first to reproduce the properties of polyester and nylon yarns in a cellulosic, biodegradable, and endlessly recyclable fibre.
HeiQ AeoniQ™ can be manufactured from different cellulosic raw materials such as pre- and post-consumer textile waste, biotech cellulose, and non-valorized agricultural waste, such as ground coffee waste or banana peels. It naturally degrades after only 12 weeks in the soil. Each ton of HeiQ AeoniQ™ saves 5 tons of CO2 emissions. The first garments made with this innovative cellulosic filament fiber were commercially launched in January 2023.

TENCEL™ LUXE – lyocell filament yarn – Lenzing (Austria)
TENCEL™ LUXE is LENZING’s new versatile lyocell yarn that offers an urgently needed sustainable filament solution for the textile and fashion industry. A possible botanical alternative for silk, long-staple cotton, and petrol-based synthetic filaments, is derived from wood grown in renewable, sustainably managed forests, and produced in an environmentally sound, closed-loop process that recycles water and reuses more than 99 % of organic solvent. Certified by The Vegan Society, it is suitable for a wide range of applications and fabric developments, from finer high fashion propositions to denim constructions, seamless and activewear innovations, and even agricultural and technical solutions.

Nullarbor™ – Nanollose & Birla Cellulose (Australia/India)
In 2020, Nanollose & Birla Cellulose started a journey to develop and commercialize tree-free lyocell from bacterial cellulose, called Nullarbor™. The name derives from the Latin “nulla arbor” which means “no trees”. Initial lab research at both ends led to a joint patent application with the patent “production of high-tenacity lyocell fibres made from bacterial cellulose”.
Nullarbor is significantly stronger than lyocell made from wood-based pulp; even adding small amounts of bacterial cellulose to wood pulp increases the fibre toughness. In 2022, the first pilot batch of 260kg was produced with 20 % bacterial pulp share. Several high-quality fabrics and garments were produced with this fibre. The collaboration between Nanollose & Birla Cellulose now focuses on increasing the production scale and amount of bacterial pulp in the fibre.

Circulose® – makes fashion circular – Renewcell (Sweden)
Circulose® made by Renewcell is a branded dissolving pulp made from 100 % textile waste, like worn-out clothes and production scraps. It provides a unique material for fashion that is 100 % recycled, recyclable, biodegradable, and of virgin-equivalent quality. It is used by fibre producers to make staple fibre or filaments like viscose, lyocell, modal, acetate or other types of man-made cellulosic fibres. In 2022, Renewcell, opened the world’s first textile-to-textile chemical recycling plant in Sundsvall, Sweden – Renewcell 1. The plant will eventually reach 120,000 tons of annual capacity.

Sparkle sustainable sanitary pads – Sparkle Innovations (United States)
Globally, around 300 billion period products are discarded every year, resulting in millions of tons of non-biodegradable waste. Since most conventional sanitary pads contain up to 90 % plastics, they do not biodegrade for around 600 years. Sparkle has designed sustainable, plastic-free, biodegradable and compostable Sparkle sanitary pads. From product to packaging, they are made up of around 90 % cellulose-based materials with top sheet, absorbent core, release paper, wrapping paper and packaging made of cellulose-based fibres. Whether Sparkle pads end up in a compost pit, are incinerated or end up in a landfill, they are a more sustainable alternative compared to conventional pads that contain large amounts of plastics, complex petro-chemical based ingredients and artificial fragrances. When tested according to ISO 14855-1 by a leading independent lab in Europe, Sparkle pads reached over 90 % absolute biodegradation within 90 days in commercial composting conditions.

Archroma announced the renewal of its EcoVadis “Platinum” status and further improvement of its overall rating.

Following an assessment by EcoVadis, covering 21 criteria grouped into 4 themes - Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement - Archroma further improved its score by 4 points (from 78/100 to 82/100), thanks in particular to its ongoing efforts in sustainable procurement, focusing on supply chain transparency and best practice sharing with suppliers and industry peers.

More details on Archroma’s sustainable sourcing activities can be found in the company’s Sustainability Report for its fiscal year 2022, released on 8 December 2022. The report includes an assurance report by KPMG, who conducted a limited assurance on several core ESG metrics, including CO₂ emissions, water intake, occupational safety and gender diversity. Archroma passed the audit successfully, providing another validation of the company’s commitment to its ESG objectives and roadmap.

Es sind Projekte mit Wirkung in Zeiten des Wandels – das verbindet die Titelträger*innen der Kultur- und Kreativpilot*innen miteinander. Jedes der 32 ausgezeichneten Projekte fokussiert sich darauf, Lösungen zu finden, die eine gesellschaftliche Transformation mit kreativer Kraft gestalten – und dabei unternehmerisch erfolgreich sind. Mit der Auszeichnung würdigt die Bundesregierung bereits zum dreizehnten Mal die innovativsten Unternehmer*innenpersönlichkeiten der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft in Deutschland.

Claudia Roth, Staatsministerin für Kultur und Medien, betont, dass für die vollständige Entfaltung des gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Potenzials die Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft in ihrer Arbeit unterstützt und ermutigt werden muss: „Die diesjährigen Titelträger*innen zeigen, dass die Branche gesellschaftliche Verantwortung in all ihren Facetten übernimmt und Lösungen für soziale Missstände bietet. Damit diesen zukunftsweisenden Ideen alle Türen offenstehen, müssen wir den kreativen Köpfen in Deutschland Rückenwind geben und sie auf ihrem unternehmerischen Weg begleiten.“

Trendanalyse 2022: Missionsorientierung der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft nimmt zu
Die Wirkungsorientierung der 32 Titelträger*innen ist Ausdruck eines Trends in der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft. Das zeigt die Auswertung der 700 Bewerbungen in diesem Jahr, die das inotiv-Netzwerk gemeinsam mit den Zukunftsforscher*innen von Third Wave durchgeführt hat. „Jede siebte Projekt-Einreichung formuliert eine präzise Mission, die immer auch eine klare Weltverbesserungsabsicht beinhaltet. Das jeweilig vorgestellte Projekt belegt die Mission faktisch und konkret. Ein solch ansteigender Verbreitungsgrad aktiver Zukunftsgestaltung kann doch nur Hoffnung stiften!“, sagt Zukunftsforscher Jonas Drechsel.

Die diesjährigen Titelträger*innen mit Fokus Mode und Textilien (alphabetische Auflistung)
Avenir Garment
Mit Avenir Garment will der gebürtige Tunesier Aladin Amiri die Zukunft der Mode mit kreativer Streetwear mitgestalten, sie mit sozialer und ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit paaren und Vorreiter einer Modeindustrie sein, die divers, kreativ und verantwortungsbewusst ist. Sein Ziel ist es, Ressourcen, Beratung und Unterstützung zu bieten, um die Visionen junger Kreativer umzusetzen. Ebenso im Fokus stehen die soziale Verantwortung für Produzent*innen in Tunesien, denen faire Löhne und hohe Arbeitsstandards geboten werden sowie die Möglichkeit für tunesische Kreative, ihre Botschaft nach Deutschland zu bringen. Zudem startet Avenir Garment ein Upcycling-Programm, in dem Künstler*innen aus nicht verkauften Textilien neue Produkte schaffen, die kreativ und einzigartig sind.

Fashion Africa Now
Fashion Africa Now ist ein digitaler Informationsraum und ein zukunftsorientiertes interdisziplinäres Netzwerk für Kreative aus Deutschland und Europa, der afrikanischen Diaspora und Afrika, das mit Stereotypen bricht, BIPoC-Perspektiven Raum gibt und neue Narrative erzählt. Das Team von Fashion Africa Now bringt Kreative, Experten*innen und Unternehmen zusammen und kreiert Ausstellungen, Workshops, Podcasts, Mode-Kooperationen, Veranstaltungen und ein Magazin, das sich auch gesellschaftspolitischen Themen widmet – mit der Vision einer aufklärenden, nachhaltigeren und inklusiven Zukunft in der Kreativ- und Modebranche. Fashion Africa Now schafft Sichtbarkeit für marginalisierte Kreativschaffende und repräsentiert die komplexe und vielfältige Welt des afrikanischen Modedesigns.

FEAT Boddies helpwear
„Ich fühl mich wohl in meiner Haut“: FEAT Boddies helpwear möchte funktionale und dabei optisch ansprechenden Textilien für alle Körper entwickeln, die ihre Träger*innen versteht und dabei sanft zu Haut und Körper ist. Das erste Produkt sind LUGGERS, hautfreundliche Oberschenkelbänder, die lästiges Aneinanderreiben vermeiden. Wichtig ist den Gründerinnen dabei, auf Materialien zu setzen, die die Umwelt schonen. Entsprechend verwenden sie nach Möglichkeit recycelte Materialien und lassen Luggers unter fairen Bedingungen in Europa herstellen.

FettFressHair
In deutschen Friseursalons fallen jährlich ca. 40.000 Kubikmeter Haarschnitt an – oder anders ausgedrückt: 222.222 Badewannen voller Haare. Ein Rohstoff, der weltweit ständig nachwächst und bisher im Restmüll landet, obwohl er eigentlich Gutes für die Umwelt tun könnte. Denn: Haare sind lipophil, lieben also Fett und fressen es förmlich auf. Somit eignen sie sich bestens, um Verunreinigungen im Wasser aufzunehmen. Das macht sich FettFressHair zunutze und baut aus dem anfallenden Haarschnitt innovative Schadstoffsammler in Form von Schlängeln, Matten und Vliesen. Auf diese Weise können sie Öle und andere Verunreinigungen aus allen Gewässern filtern. Die Erkenntnisse des Kieler Teams halfen beispielsweise schon den Einsatzkräften in Lima dabei, bei der Beseitigung der Ölkatastrophe im Januar 2022 effektiv zu reagieren. Über die Nutzung im Wasser hinaus prüft das Team stetig neue Einsatzgebiete. So wird aus Abfall Umweltschutz.

Re-Shirt
Was wäre, wenn man Textilien nur kurzfristig bedrucken könnte? Dann würde bei großen Veranstaltungen viel weniger Textilmüll entstehen und sehr viel Wasser gespart werden – 300 Liter für jedes nicht neu produziertem T-Shirt. Deswegen haben Emmy Schumacher und Anna Hadzelek Re-Shirt entwickelt, die erste temporäre Textildrucktechnik. Damit schlagen die beiden Gründerinnen die Brücke zwischen schnelllebigem Gestaltungsbedürfnis und Ressourcen schonendem Mindset.

Revoltech
LOVR – unter diesem Akronym („lederähnlich, ohne Plastik, vegan, reststoffbasiert“) hat Revoltech ein nachhaltiges Textil entwickelt, das aussieht wie Leder und sich auch so anfühlt. Es ist zudem verformbar und abriebfest sowie biologisch abbaubar und recyclingfähig. Das Beste: LOVR hat einen minimalen ökologischen Fußabdruck, da nur 0,3 Prozent der CO2-Emissionen im Vergleich zur Lederherstellung anfallen und auf Chemikalien und Kunststoffe verzichtet wird. Hergestellt wird die Alternative zum tierischen Produkt aus den Nebenprodukten des deutschen Hanfanbaus und pflanzlichen Zusatzstoffen.

Hosted outside of Copenhagen for the first time in its 13-year history, on 3 November, Global Fashion Summit assembled over 250 stakeholders representing manufacturers, garment workers, retailers, brands, suppliers, NGOs, policy, and innovators in Singapore and online to spur industry action. The Summit was presented by Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the non-profit organisation that is accelerating the transition to a net positive fashion industry.
 
The latest edition of the Summit was centred around the theme ‘Alliances for a New Era’, building on dialogues from the June edition in Copenhagen and gathering leaders from across the entire value chain to elevate diverse voices and foster alliances within the fashion industry and beyond, to drive sustainable impact.
 
The Summit’s first international edition facilitated more conversations with manufacturer and supply chain voices to discuss crucial challenges and opportunities around working collaboratively with brands on equal terms. The programme featured bold panels, case studies, masterclasses and leadership roundtables reflecting on topics including ‘Data Scarcity: A Crisis of Measurement?’, ‘Disruption for Better Wage Systems’, ’Community and Circularity’, ‘Connecting the EU Textiles Strategy with the Value Chain’ and ‘Our Energy Transformation Moment’.
 
Attendees heard from over 50 speakers including H.E. Sandra Jensen Landi, Ambassador of Denmark to Singapore & Ambassador-Designate of Denmark to Brunei; H.E. Iwona Piórko, Ambassador of the European Union to Singapore; Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer, PUMA; Baptiste Le Gal, Chief Revenue Officer APAC, Vestiaire Collective; Christian James Smith, Head of Sustainability Stakeholder Engagement, Zalando; Ninh Trinh, Director of Responsible Sourcing & Sustainability, Target; Roger Lee, CEO, TAL Apparel; Wilson Teo, President, Singapore Fashion Council; Edwin Keh, Chief Executive Officer, The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel, Ashila Dandeniya, Founder, StandUp Lanka; and more.

Key takeaways and highlights from the event include:

• Global Fashion Agenda announced a new alliance with BBC Storyworks Commercial Productions to launch a film series on BBC.com, which is currently in the early stages of development. The new series will present human-centric stories focusing on both social and environmental sustainability in the fashion industry. It will be released to a wide audience in 2023.
• Federica Marchionni outlined the crucial need for accurate and robust data to substantiate sustainability claims and credentials but acknowledged that the focus on finding ‘perfect’ data cannot be allowed to stifle progress. Global Fashion Agenda will build upon Summit discussions to reflect on how the industry can accurately measure and communicate sustainability performance and illuminate the data credibility challenges.
• The session ‘Establishing circular fashion systems in Cambodia & Vietnam’ outlined the first steps taken by the Global Circular Fashion Forum to establish circular fashion systems in Vietnam and Cambodia with regional stakeholders, government, brand and manufacturer representation.
• Throughout the Summit, the Innovation Forum connected fashion companies with sustainable solution providers. Exhibitors included Better Work , Circular Fashion Partnership, Compreli, Kno Global, Planatones by Noyon Lanka, Redress Design Award and The ID Factory.
• Through conversations such as ‘Disruption for Better Wage Systems’ and ‘Empowering the Worker Majority’, there was a resounding message for people to consider the real people in the value chain. Ensuring dignified livelihoods for these workers should have the same sense of urgency as emissions reductions. 

To further advance the system, the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is significantly raising the requirements for GOTS-certified gins, to ensure transparent and traceable processing for organic textiles from field to finished product:

1. GOTS is introducing a compulsory farm-gin registry for all farms and farm groups whose certified raw material enters the GOTS system, including information on farm yields. The registry will be implemented progressively, starting in India.
2. Raw cotton is not allowed to travel more than 500 km from the farm to the certified gin. The shorter trade chain protects vulnerable points and optimises the process for buyers.  
3. Increase of unannounced audits of gins where there is a high perception of risk.

These new requirements are added to the numerous checks and balances which are already performed throughout every processing stage. Seed cotton entering the GOTS supply chain is tested for the presence of genetically modified organisms according to the applicable ISO protocol. GOTS-approved Certification Bodies (CBs) include further testing (such as pesticide residue) and are fully authorised to reject material that does not meet GOTS requirements. Additionally, before certification bodies issue a Transaction Certificate (TC), GOTS requires that a thorough assessment takes place, including a plausibility check in the form of volume reconciliation.

To strengthen integrity and traceability, GOTS also stipulates that the Farm TC number appears on the first GOTS TC at the ginning plant, which is the first step for cotton in the GOTS supply chain. The TC must state the origin for raw material, including region, state, and province. This effectively traces material back to the field and adds another layer of accountability to GOTS-certified fibre. It also supports all buyers in their purchasing decisions.

GOTS is not only improving its own system but also coordinating efforts with other key players to support the integrity of organic textiles. As GOTS provides certification of first processing stages to Textile Exchange's Organic Content Standard (OCS), GOTS and TE discussed new requirements for OCS while they were being developed. GOTS supports these requirements as they provide a dual protection shield for materials entering the GOTS or OCS supply chains, at the same time maintaining necessary data privacy. The new requirements will help increase traceability and transparency throughout the organic textile sector which are among the main objectives of GOTS. There are no changes necessary to the requirements of GOTS regarding any of the new OCS rules.

Der Architekt und Designer Fabian Freytag zeigt mit seinem ganzheitlich konzipierten Farb- und Interior Konzept im Büro des Immobilien-Start-ups 26 HOMES in Berlin-Mitte, was moderne Farbgestaltung mit CAPAROL ICONS leisten kann.

Auf 43 Quadratmetern ist ein Büro entstanden, das das Prinzip Wandfarbe aus einem progressiven Blickwinkel betrachtet: Der Farbmix aus soften Candy Colors schafft einen Arbeitsplatz, der gute Laune macht und zum kreativen Denken einlädt. Dabei stand nicht nur die Wahl der passenden Farbe im Mittelpunkt der Überlegungen, sondern auch die Art und Weise, wie man diese einsetzt.

Die ganzheitliche Gestaltung der Räume stand stets im Fokus der Office-Konzeption. So zieht sich der stilsichere Mix der sanften Candy Colors von CAPAROL ICONS durch sämtliche Räume des Berliner Start-ups und gibt neben Decken und Wänden auch Türen, Türrahmen, Heizungsrohren und Küchenfronten ein farbenfrohes Updat.

The future of e-mobility will be determined in particular by safe battery enclosures. As batteries for electric vehicles become more performant, higher volumetric energy density plays a crucial role. If more energy is to be stored in less installation space, new material and design solutions are required. The development of suitable enclosures made of safe and highly robust lightweight materials is also required. This is a case for the Aachen Centre for Integrative Lightweight Production (AZL). A project on cell-to-pack battery enclosures for battery-electric vehicles, which has been eagerly awaited in the industry, will start in October this year there.

The design of battery housings is crucial for safety, capacity, performance, and economics. The Cell-to-Pack project, which is starting now, will focus on developing concepts for structural components and for producing them based on a variety of materials and design approaches. The concepts will be compared in terms of performance, weight and production costs, creating new know-how for OEMs, producers and their suppliers throughout the battery vehicle value chain. Companies are now invited to participate in this new cross-industry project to develop battery enclosure concepts for the promising and trend-setting cell-to-pack technology.

The basis for the project is the lightweight engineering expertise of the AZL experts, which they have already demonstrated in previous projects for multi-material solutions for module-based battery housings. Together with 46 industry partners, including Audi, Asahi Kasei, Covestro, DSM, EconCore, Faurecia, Hutchinson, Johns Manville, Magna, Marelli and Teijin, 20 different multi-material concepts were optimized in terms of weight and cost and compared with a reference component made from aluminum. All production steps were modelled in detail to obtain reliable cost estimates for each variant. Result: depending on the concept, 20% weight or 36% cost savings potential could be identified by using multi-material composites compared to the established aluminum reference.

It is expected that the design concept of battery enclosures will develop in the direction of a more efficient layout. In this case, the cells are no longer combined in modules in additional production steps, but are integrated directly into the battery housing. The elimination of battery modules and the improved, weight-saving use of space will allow for higher packing density, reduced overall height and cost saving. In addition, various levels of structural integration of the battery housing into the body structure are expected. These new designs bring specific challenges, including ensuring protection of the battery cells from external damage and fire protection. In addition, different recyclability and repair requirements may significantly impact future designs. How the different material and structural options for future generations of battery enclosures for the cell-to-pack technology might look like and how they compare in terms of cost and environmental impact will be investigated in the new AZL project. In addition to the material and production concepts from the concept study for module-based battery enclosures, results from a currently ongoing benchmarking of different materials for the impact protection plate and a new method for determining mechanical properties during a fire test will also be incorporated.

The project will start on October 27, 2022 with a kick-off meeting of the consortium, interested companies can still apply for participation until then.

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, has named experienced operations and development officer Ryan Ragan as its new Director of Membership and Industry Relations to retain and grow memberships and enhance member values. He brings 20 years of experience from various bio-medical and healthcare organizations.

For the past four years he worked in domestic and international business development at the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, (ACHC).
He began his career the U. S. Marines before transitioning to business after being discharged. Ragan also helped the Central Jersey Blood Center achieve record-setting growth in his first two years as its Chief Operating Officer. In another role, he trained management candidates at Grifols to take over and run both existing and start up biomedical facilities.

As Business Development Manager for ACHC, he helped develop and launch pharmaceutical and home health programs in Italy and Saudi Arabia.  Ragan’s team also oversaw relationships with state and national associations.

At INDA, he will work with members to help identify opportunities and work internally to determine how INDA can be a resource for solutions.  He will strive to add additional value to INDA members through education and new service lines.

Ragan holds a bachelor’s degree in Business, from the University of Phoenix.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular disease is one of the most common natural causes of death. Every year, it is the cause of death of around 17 million people worldwide. The Peter Dornier Foundation Prize 2022 has now awarded a research work that is to improve the medical care of people with insufficient heart valve function in the future and prolong the patients' lives.

The human heart is a high-performance machine: over the course of a person's life, it beats almost three billion times, pumping around 200 million litres of blood through the body. Enormous stresses that can sometimes lead to life-threatening signs of wear and tear. If a heart valve gets out of step, patients usually get artificial-mechanical or biological valves as a replacement. However, mechanical solutions imply patients to take blood-thinning medication for the rest of their lives. In addition, there may be audible closing noises. For example, almost a quarter of patients with mechanical heart valves complain of sleep disturbances. Biological heart valves, on the other hand, such as those made from animal tissue, require a great deal of manual work and have a shorter lifetime.

Potential of weaving for medical products demonstrated
For this reason, Graduate Engineer Mathis Bruns at the Institute for Textile Machinery and High-Performance Textile Materials Technology (ITM) at the TU Dresden is researching an implant alternative made of fabric. As part of a research project that also involved heart surgeons from the Dresden Heart Centre and the University Hospital in Würzburg, Mr. Bruns provided important findings for weaving an artificial heart valve in his diploma thesis. For his work entitled "Development of tubular structures with integrated valve function", Mathis Bruns has now received the Peter Dornier Foundation Prize 2022, endowed with 5,000 euros. In his laudation, Dr. Adnan Wahhoud, former head of the development department of air-jet weaving machines at DORNIER in Lindau, said: "With his work, the winner of the award demonstrates very clearly the potential of weaving technology to produce fabrics of complex form, geometry and structure with the aim of prolonging and improving people's lives." The award-winning thesis enriches research into three-dimensional tissues for use in medicine.

Weaving replacement heart valves without seams
"A particular advantage of our approach is the integral production method", says foundation prize winner Mathis Bruns. “The geometry and function of a heart valve is that complex that woven heart valves could not be produced in this form previously. Through the combined use of a rigid rapier weaving machine with bobbin shield and a Jacquard machine, it is possible to weave the replacement heart valve in such a way that it no longer has be sewn together. Even the tubular structures for the blood vessels and the integrated valve function are ‘all of one piece’. Seams are always a weak point in textile medical products," Mr. Bruns adds. “Another advantage of the woven heart valve is the possibility to insert it by the help of minimally invasive surgery. Hence, the folded valve which is about the size of a tea light is to be pushed with a catheter via the bloodstream to the target position in the heart and unfolded there. The patient's chest and heart would then no longer have to be cut open”, explains prize winner Mr. Bruns.

Textile structure is similar to human tissue
A wide variety of medical products have always been produced on DORNIER weaving machines. Customers use them to produce fabrics for bandages, prostheses, blood filters and orthoses among other things. For Mathis Bruns, it is only evident that implants such as heart valves will more and more be woven on the machines from Lindau in the future. "Textile tissue is very similar to human tissue," he says. The human body consists largely of thread-like materials, just as a textile fabric is made up of thousands of individual threads. "Muscle fibres convey force impulses, nerve tracts send stimuli such as pain and brain cells convey information via thread-like dendrites and axons." Because of their ‘thread-like properties’, woven implants are therefore particularly suitable for medical applications.

The 50th INNATEX fair opens its gates to a Green Fashion trade audience from 29 to 31 July 2022 in Hofheim-Wallau, near Frankfurt. At this anniversary fair, over 200 labels will be exhibiting, a wide range of experts and organisations will be gathering, and elaborate features and facilities are planned for the Rhein-Main exhibition centre.

According to INNATEX project manager Alexander Hitzel, one highlight is the Community Area, which brings together a range of experts. In short lounge talks, they reveal insights into what they are currently working on and a dialogue format encourages personal discussion. Mirjam Smend, whom we know well from Greenstyle Munich, introduces her recently launched sustainability magazine, Pureviu, and facilitates the morning talks.

Alongside standard bodies such as IVN and GOTS, which have taken part in INNATEX for many years, younger projects such as Fairmodel and the digital platform Retraced will be part of this special area. Fairtrade Germany, Femnet and the VDMD are to be found there too. Almost all of them are joining in with the Ask Me Anything dialouge format. Interested attendees can pre-book a slot of up to ten minutes for a personal discussion with the expert of their choice.

The supportive activities that had to be suspended during the pandemic are enjoying a comeback at this year’s summer fair: five newcomers to INNATEX designated DesignDiscoveries will be presenting their projects in another special area. Vegtus, from Barcelona, produces sneakers and other products from cactus leather. Natural textiles such as organic cotton are used by Lounge Cherie, a yoga fashion label.

Products for kids through to seniors, classics and streetwear, footwear and accessories
Nordlicht similarly relies on recyclable, renewable natural fibres for its outerwear, bags and accessories. The field of circular fashion is also served by the remaining two Design Discoveries. Both Nature is Future, with its handmade sneakers, and Freibeutler, with its functional rucksacks, make extensive use of recycled materials, while also paying due attention to broader sustainability aspects.

Regular INNATEX exhibitors include Lana, Chapati and Didymos, all of whom are also celebrating anniversaries. Labels such as Anokho with their colourful accessories in jacquard fabrics and Danish label Angel Circle with its plus-size fashion are exhibiting for the first time.