From the Sector

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas issued a statement welcoming the appointment of Katherine White as Chief Textiles and Apparel Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR).

“Katherine White is an excellent choice for the critical position of Chief Textiles and Apparel Negotiator. We are also grateful to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai for elevating this position back to a political appointee role, which is historically how it has been designated.

Katherine comes to this position with an outstanding resume, including a strong knowledge base and expertise in manufacturing policy and on textile-related trade issues, having worked most recently as an International Trade Policy Advisor on the House Ways and Means Committee, and prior to that, at the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House.

Given the prominence of both the agency and her political appointment, we know she will play a highly instrumental role in shaping policy impacting our industry. She is a fantastic choice.  We thank Ambassador Tai for the redesignation of this critical office and her support for our textile industry and its workforce. We also sincerely thank Dr. Laurie-Ann Agama for her service in the role through this transition.

We could not be more delighted to work with Katherine in her new capacity and look forward to coordinating with her on manufacturing and worker-centered trade policy that will help bolster the vital domestic textile sector.”

Trends such as fitness lifestyle and vitality, the quantified self movement, active ageing and the outdoor boom will significantly change the sports, health and wellness sector in the coming years. In addition, technical innovations will redefine the way people stay fit and healthy. The DiMo - Digital Motion joint project aims to help shape the transformation process. It ran in its first round in 2023 and will be continued for another four years with DiMo-NEXT.

The project aims to conduct transdisciplinary research into how people's experience of exercise can be improved, performance increased and a sustainable lifestyle made possible. The potential offered by digital technologies, particularly in the field of sensors, plays a key role here. The topic of clothing is also important as an interface between technological solutions and people. This is why KARL MAYER and Grabher are among the 26 project partners from industry and research, representing the textile industry.

The textile machinery manufacturer KARL MAYER is contributing its expertise in the field of wearables to the project work. The TEXTILE CIRCUIT team of its TEXTILE MAKERSPACE has already successfully implemented various projects in this area. In addition, an MJ 52/1 S from KARL MAYER is used at V-Trion, Grabher's research company in Lustenau, for the production of electrically conductive textiles.

DiMo-NEXT will be launched on April 1, 2024, shortly before Techtextil 2024 in Frankfurt am Main. KARL MAYER will present its contribution to the project work at the trade fair for the sector.

On April 17, 2024, 312 shareholders, who represent 68.7% of the share capital, attended the 133rd Annual General Meeting of Rieter Holding Ltd.

Shareholders Adopt All Motions Proposed by the Board of Directors:

• Distribution of a dividend of CHF 3.00 per share approved
• Remuneration Report 2023 and future remuneration of Board of Directors and Group Executive Committee formally accepted
• All members of the Board of Directors who stood for re-election were elected
• Thomas Oetterli newly appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors
• Jennifer Maag newly appointed to the Board of Directors
• Amendments to the Articles of Association approved

HeiQ introduces an anti-odor product addition to its HeiQ Fresh range to eliminate persistent malodor on feather and down products. Biobased HeiQ Fresh for Feather & Down utilizes a combination of pre- and probiotics (synbiotics) which helps to break up the smelly components. This innovation will be showcased at the Techtextil 2024 Swiss Pavilion.

HeiQ Fresh for Feather & Down is a 100% biobased technology engineered to combat the persistent malodor often associated with feather jackets, duvets, and pillows. Developed to address a common challenge faced by manufacturers and consumers alike, this solution represents a leap forward in the field of odor management by removing a significant objection to purchase.

The key issue lies in the natural oil secretion of the duck or goose to provide its natural waterproofing. While essential, this oil becomes the source of the unwanted odors that persist despite conventional cleaning methods. HeiQ Fresh for Feather & Down tackles this problem head-on by harnessing the power of synbiotics (pre- and probiotics).

Through an advanced process, the technology applied during the production stage effectively removes bacterial nutrients present in the feathers and down, thereby preventing the formation of persistent and unpleasant odors. Extensive testing has demonstrated a significant reduction in malodor even after prolonged use, validating the efficacy of this solution. The human sensory testing method according to ISO 17299-1 is the recommended test method.

Stahl has published its 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report. The report outlines Stahl's recent progress on its ESG Roadmap to 2030 and the steps the company is taking to live its purpose of Touching lives, for a better world.

Stahl’s ESG Roadmap to 2030 includes interim targets for 2023, making this a year in which Stahl reached several important milestones. For example, the company reduced its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 22% versus 2022. Furthermore, in 2023 the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validated Stahl's scope 1, 2 and 3 targets, making it one of the first coatings companies on the SBTi-approved list.

To reduce its GHG emissions, Stahl is actively increasing its use of clean energy. At the end of 2023, renewable energy generation, such as solar panels, had been installed at four Stahl sites, compared to its target of three.

Measuring – and reducing – the impact of products is an important step in the company’s scope 3 emissions. As such, 353 Stahl products now have either life cycle assessment (LCA) or product carbon footprint (PCF) data, far exceeding the 2023 target of 50.
 
New ratings and certifications
In 2023, 2,161 of Stahl's products were certified by Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), in line with ZDHC MRSL V3.1. These products represented 70% of the company’s sales revenue, demonstrating increased demand for coatings with a lower risk to health and the environment.

Stahl was also proud to achieve a Platinum rating from EcoVadis for the second year in a row, which places it in the top 1% of companies evaluated. Stahl also exceeded its 2023 target of an average EcoVadis rating of at least 60/100 for their top ten suppliers, with an average rating of 68/100 reported in December 2023.
Fostering a safe and welcoming work environment

A core pillar of Stahl’s ESG approach is how it supports its employees’ physical and mental well-being. The 2023 ESG Report outlines several examples of this commitment, such as improvement in its key safety KPIs for the third year in a row.

Besides keeping people safe, Stahl continues to make progress in fostering an open and inclusive workplace. For example, in support of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Stahl appointed its first female leadership team member, trained 98% of its staff in DEI and established DEI committees at all Stahl sites. In addition, to strengthen communication, engagement and collaboration across the workforce, Stahl also established an internal workplace hub, MyStahl.

Archroma and ColorDigital GmbH, a company in textile supply chain digitalization, are joining forces to bring the library of engineered color standards to the DMIx ecosystem of fashion brands and suppliers.

All 5,760 color references in the Color Atlas by Archroma® will be integrated into ColorDigital’s DMIx interactive collaboration platform, enabling brands to embrace almost unlimited color creativity with an assurance of color precision. Based on digital twin technology, the DMIx solution ensures that color choices are aligned across design, sourcing and production, reducing sampling costs and collection development time as well as improving color accuracy and end-product quality. DMIx marks a significant step forward in enhancing color management processes for both digital product creation (DPC) and physical production.

Sustainability is an essential factor for both Archroma and DMIx. Colors in the Archroma Color Atlas are formulated to comply with leading eco-standards while also delivering consistent and accurate color reproduction. This complements the DMIx ImpAct approach, which provides data on the environmental impact of raw materials to enable brands to select inputs that meet their sustainability targets.

A new feature on the DMIx platform is DMIx eXcite, an inspirational material and color-trend hub that uses interactive moodboards to share new color and material scenarios ahead of each season. Designers and colorists will be able to directly use colors presented in the eXcite trend reports, including colors from the Color Atlas by Archroma®, across the DMIx color and 3D technology tools.

Quickly becoming the benchmark for sustainability, circularity presents a simple solution for many of the world’s complex waste issues. However, in a quickly changing textile marketplace with increasing regulatory pressures, designing circular products can be anything but simple.

To help demystify this accelerating paradigm shift, the Designing for Circularity panel is coming to Portland’s Functional Fabric Fair, where expert panelists will inform and inspire the next generation of product designers and developers.

Scheduled for Wednesday, April 17th at 2:00pm and hosted by textile industry communications agency Formidable Media, the Designing for Circularity panel will bring together experts in materials sourcing, textile finishes, trims, sustainability, recycling, natural materials, and more, to help designers, product developers, and brand representatives make the choices needed to become leaders in the future of sustainable products.

“Fashion is regularly listed among the top five largest polluting industries in the world and our panel of experts hope to  help shape future design and sustainability decisions to mitigate fashion’s outsized impact on the environment,” said Scott Kaier, Founder and President of Formidable Media. “Informed and innovative design is the first step in creating circular products, so today’s designers will be instrumental in creating a cleaner, more sustainable future.”

Hand-picked from across the outdoor, fashion, lifestyle, and footwear industries, the Designing for Circularity panelists include:

• Daniel Uretsky, President, ALLIED Feather + Down
• Martin Flora, VP of Business Development, Green Theme Technologies
• Sarah Schlinger, R&D Commercialization Manager, Woolmark
• Sharon Perez, Senior Business Development Manager, Lenzing Group
• Brian La Plante, Senior Manager of Sustainability, YKK
• Theresa McKenney Director of Sustainability, NEMO Equipment

In accordance with California’s Proper Labeling of Wet Wipes law (AB 818), state wastewater agencies and industry experts went deep to find out exactly what is passing through—and clogging up—municipal wastewater systems. The Responsible Flushing Alliance (RFA) alongside the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) and the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA) released the results from the largest known domestic sewage collection study conducted to reveal what’s really being flushed down the drain – and shouldn’t be.

“We took a forensic approach to this collection study, engaging industry and wastewater experts to examine our findings and determine what exactly is being flushed and how much of it,” said Adam Link, Executive Director at CASA, a co-sponsor of the Proper Labeling of Wet Wipes Law. “Now that we have the data to see what Californians are flushing and the types of non-flushable items that are causing issues within wastewater systems, local agencies can refine their public outreach and messaging to target specific problems and educate more efficiently.”

Collection and material investigation took place in October 2023 at two locations: Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) in Southern California and Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (Central San) in the greater San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. Wastewater and wipes experts collected, sorted and identified more than 1,700 items pulled from the two locations during peak flow times. Kennedy Jenks, an independent engineering firm, designed the study and compiled the findings into the report.

Why Study What’s Being Flushed?
When products that aren’t meant to be flushed down the toilet wind up in the sewer system, it can cause serious threats to public and environmental health. In fact, estimates show that local public agencies throughout California (and the ratepayers they represent) are spending more than $47 million annually to repair wastewater treatment equipment and respond to sewer overflows caused by improper flushing.

“Part of keeping communities healthy requires not flushing things we shouldn’t,” said Lara Wyss, President of the RFA. “However, the data to support which non-flushable items to target as part of education campaigns has been lacking. That’s likely why when we surveyed Californians about what they are flushing, the results revealed that approximately 25% think baby wipes are flushable (which is never true) and 60% self-reported that they flushed something they knew they shouldn’t have.2 Our study results reinforce that finding, as more than 99% of materials collected were items that shouldn’t have been flushed.”

The breakdown of items collected from pipes at the two study locations included:
•    34.1% wipes labeled with the “Do Not Flush” symbol (baby wipes, cleaning wipes, makeup wipes, etc.)
•    64.9% other non-flushable items (paper towels, period products, trash, etc.)
•    0.9% wipes labeled as flushable

“We pulled material larger than 1-inch square directly from the bar screens, and it wasn’t until everything was sorted and identified that we could see what we actually had,” said Matt O’Sickey, Director of Education and Technical Affairs, INDA. “There were a lot of paper towels and baby wipes and all of the ‘Do Not Flush’ labeled wipes we collected were fully intact, showcasing why they should never be flushed.”

What Not to Flush—and How We Tell Consumers
According to the Proper Wet Wipes Labeling law, manufacturers of non-flushable wipes, including products such as baby wipes, cleaning wipes, makeup removal wipes and many others that are primarily used in a bathroom setting must include the “Do Not Flush” symbol on the front of the packaging.
The #FlushSmart consumer education campaign promotes the “Do Not Flush” symbol and provides information on what should and should not be flushed. The message shared with consumers is simple: Look for the “Do Not Flush” symbol on wipes packaging, and if you see it – throw the wipe out. Extrapolating from the results of this study, refraining from flushing “Do Not Flush” labeled wipes, paper products and feminine hygiene products would capture over 90% of items clogging sewers.

ACG Kinna Automatic and ACG Nyström – members of TMAS, the Swedish textile machinery association – have delivered the first microfactory for the production of fully finished filter bags to an international filtration industry customer, in cooperation with JUKI Central Europe.

The microfactory’s configuration is based on two separate interconnecting modules – the Smart Filter Line (SFL) and the Filtermaster 2.0. The SFL handles the fabric feeding from rolls and its folding prior to seam construction, which can either be by automatic sewing, welding or with sewing and taping, depending on specifications. Very rapid changeover of the modular seaming methods can be achieved during product changes. The specific size of the now fully-tubular fabric is then precisely cut to size for each individual unit and further folded ready to be fed into the Filtermaster 2.0. The Filtermaster 2.0 then automatically attaches the reinforcement, bottom and snap rings onto the filter tube with a second Juki sewing head on a robotic arm, to form the fully finished filter bag ready for packaging.

Filter bags are employed in a wide range of industrial processes and while they may be largely under the radar as products, they represent a pretty significant percentage of overall technical textiles production.
They are used in foundries, smelters, incinerators, asphalt plants and energy production plants. Other key manufacturing fields – often where dust is generated – include the production of timber, textiles, composites, waste handling and minerals, in addition to chemicals, food production, pharmaceuticals, electronics and agriculture.

As a further example of the scale of the industry and the high volumes of fabrics involved, one supplier has delivered a single order of 30,000 filter bags to be used for flue gas cleaning at a European power plant. The bags can also be anywhere up to twelve metres in length and frequently have to be replaced.

Building on a renewed five-year strategy, Fashion for Good selects ten new innovators for its 2024 programme to receive tailored support validating their technologies. This cohort represents an increased focus on novel footwear material and recycling technologies, man-made cellulosics, and nylon recycling.

The 2024 Innovation Programme provides support based on the development stage and ambitions of each innovator, matching them with relevant industry partners to drive technology and impact technology and impact validation as well as investing activities.

The selected innovators joining the 2024 Innovation Programme are:

• Algreen Ltd: Algreen co-develops alternative materials from algae and biobased sources that can replace fossil-based products such as PU.
• Balena: Balena creates biodegradable partly biobased polymers for footwear outsoles.
• Epoch Biodesign: Epoch Biodesign is an enzymatic recycler of PA66 and PA6 textile waste.
• Fibre52: Fibre52 is a bio-based solution replacing traditional bleach prepared-for-dyeing and dye processes.
• Gencrest BioProducts Pvt Ltd: Gencrest works with various agri-residues to convert them into textile-grade fibres using their enzymatic technology.
• HeiQ AeoniQ: HeiQ AeoniQ™ is a continuous cellulose filament yarn with enhanced tensile properties.
• Nanollose - Nullabor: Nullarbor™Lyocell is developed from microbial cellulose which is converted into pulp pulp to produce a lyocell fibre with their partner Birla Cellulose.  
• REGENELEY:  REGENELEY pioneers advanced shoe sole recycling technologies by separating and recycling EVA, TPU, and rubber components found in footwear.
• Samsara Eco: Samsara Eco is an enzymatic recycler of PA66 and PET textile waste.
• SEFF: SEFF Fibre produces cottonised fibres and blends of hemp fabrics utilising a patented HVPED process.