From the Sector

adidas is adjusting its outlook for the financial year 2022. While second quarter results were somewhat ahead of expectations reflecting continued strong momentum in Western markets and a return to growth in Asia-Pacific, the company has been experiencing a slower-than-expected recovery in its business in Greater China since the start of the third quarter. Previously, the company had assumed that in absence of any major lockdowns as of Q3, currency-neutral revenues in the region would be flat during the second half of the year versus the prior year level. However, given the continued widespread covid-19-related restrictions, adidas now expects revenues in Greater China to decline at a double-digit rate during the remainder of the year.

As a result, adidas now expects currency-neutral revenues for the total company to grow at a mid- to high-single-digit rate in 2022 (previously: at the lower end of the 11% – 13% range). Because of the less favorable market mix due to lower-than-expected revenues in Greater China as well as the impact from initiatives to clear excess inventories in this market until the end of the year, the company’s gross margin is now expected to be around 49.0% in 2022 (previously: around 50.7%). Consequently, the company’s operating margin is now forecasted to be around 7.0% in 2022 (previously: around 9.4%) and net income from continuing operations is expected to reach a level of around € 1.3 billion (previously: at the lower end of the € 1.8 billion – € 1.9 billion range).

So far, the company did not experience a meaningful slowdown in the sell-through of its products or significant cancellations of wholesale orders in any other market. Nevertheless, the adjusted guidance also accounts for a potential slowdown of consumer spending in these markets during the second half of the year as a result of the more challenging macroeconomic conditions.

Despite these headwinds, adidas continues to expect double-digit revenue growth during the second half of the year for the total company. In addition to easier prior year comparables, the acceleration will be driven by adidas’ strong product pipeline, the restocking opportunity with its wholesale customers given unconstrained supply as well as the support from major sporting events.

Based on preliminary numbers, adidas’ currency-neutral revenues grew 4% during the second quarter. This increase was driven by strong double-digit growth in North America and Latin America, high-single-digit growth in EMEA (also double-digit growth excluding negative Russia/CIS impact) as well as a return to growth in Asia-Pacific. In euro terms, sales increased 10% to € 5.596 billion. The company’s gross margin declined 1.5 percentage points to a level of 50.3% and operating margin reached 7.0% during the second quarter (2021: 10.7%). Net income from continuing operations was € 360 million in Q2 (2021: € 387 million) supported by a one-time tax benefit of more than € 100 million due to the reversal of a prior year provision.

EFI™ Reggiani, the industrial textile printing business of printing technology company Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (EFI), has broken ground on a new textile campus to accommodate ongoing growth. The new 20,000-square-metre campus in Comun Nuovo, Bergamo, Italy, is expected to be completed midyear in 2023.

Sustainability and employee well-being at the centre
The new facility was designed with environmental sustainability and employee well-being in mind. That focus includes plans to install 400 kilowatts of solar panels supplying 60% of the facility’s total energy requirements. Moreover, the building will benefit from superior thermal insulation that will ensure a reduction in heating and cooling costs. Numerous skylights in the facility will provide better natural lighting and a reduction in artificial lighting usage.
 
Green space on the campus was a priority in the design process, covering an estimated 20% of the total area. For a more welcoming work environment, the campus will also feature a canteen and gymnasium for employee use.
 
A 3,000-square-metre demo centre in the new facility will be nearly twice as large as the current EFI Reggiani demo centre in Grassobbio, Italy, offering a high-end, high-tech showcase for state-of-the-art EFI Reggiani printers, as well as Mezzera pre- and post-treatment and Jaeggli yarn treatment products. The demo centre will also feature EFI Reggiani’s recently acquired portfolio of Inèdit raster image processing (RIP) and workflow software solutions.
 
Transforming the textile industry through innovation in green
Since the launch of its first analogue printer, to its newest digital solutions, EFI Reggiani has at its core a heritage and expertise that have contributed to the transformation of the textile industry worldwide. With its total commitment to providing “Innovation in Green,” EFI Reggiani’s leadership is the result of extensive research targeted at improving productivity, quality and sustainability in its customers’ operations. The company is focused on optimising the textile manufacturing process – and reducing energy use, water consumption and overall environmental impact – to ensure customers’ business growth and profitability.
 
Over the years, EFI Reggiani’s product portfolio has continued to expand, ranging from rotary and flatbed printing machines, to scanning/multi-pass digital printers, to fast digital textile printers.

International technology group ANDRITZ will be presenting its nonwovens production solutions at CINTE 2022 in Shanghai, China – one of the main trade fairs for technical textile and nonwoven products in Asia. ANDRITZ will show its product portfolio covering state-of-the-art nonwovens and textile production technologies such as air-through bonding, airlay, needlepunch, spunlace, spunbond, wetlaid/WetlaceTM, converting, textile finishing, recycling, and natural fiber processing.

ANDRITZ supports nonwovens producers in the move to sustainability with the aim of reducing or eliminating plastic components while maintaining the high quality of the desired product properties. This applies to all types of sustainable wipes, such as flushable, biodegradable, bio-sourced, carded pulp or standard carded wipes. The latest development in this field is the ANDRITZ neXline wetlace CP line, which integrates the carded-pulp (CP) process. This is a fully engineered production line combining the benefits of drylaid and wetlaid technologies to produce a new generation of biodegradable wipes.

The neXline wetlaid aXcess targets smaller and medium production volumes and has been devised for new and existing lines. The line is easy and fast to ship due to the compact design, which also fits perfectly into containers. An operator-friendly configuration and versatile design ensure efficient production at affordable investment costs.

The aXcess range was specially developed at ANDRITZ (China) Ltd. Wuxi Branch to handle medium capacities. The facility in Wuxi has an experienced platform for production and service specially geared to serve the Asian nonwovens industry. With the aXcess range, ANDRITZ has developed a hybrid line combining European and Chinese machines, which is the ideal combination to obtain the best added value from each component in the line and be very flexible to accommodate different business cases.

• Goal: to further reduce the textile value chain’s impact on people and planet      

As the textile industry continues to grapple with evolving regulations, increased consumer and stakeholder pressure to meet sustainability goals, and the lack of verified data, bluesign® has updated its service offerings to help brands, manufacturers and chemical companies to better understand and manage their value chains.

The new initiatives expand Bluesign’s core competencies of reducing impact across the supply chain, providing reliable, third-party verified data, mitigating the use of hazardous chemicals through input stream management and replacing substances with bluesign® APPROVED chemistry (a positive list of chemical products with less impact on people and planet). Bluesign’s high value services are available for all companies willing to reduce the impact of their value chain without compromising on quality.     

Bluesign is extending its System Partnership services and launching DATA SERVICES and IMPACT SERVICES for brands and manufacturers. These tiered service packages provide expanded capabilities that enable brands to actively monitor and manage their supply chain through Bluesign verified impact data, covering the critical measures of water consumption, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, chemical consumption, and waste.

DATA SERVICES allow brands and manufacturers to access data from its unique supply chain and give a snapshot of their impact. Through the IMPACT SERVICE package, companies are provided this data plus a foundational assessment of its overall performance and detailed analysis of its suppliers.

The new IMPACT SERVICE enables manufacturers to present their achievements in impact reduction and their excellence in resource management.  The new tiered packages will allow companies to incrementally implement Bluesign’s services with the ultimate goal of attaining full SYSTEM PARTNERSHIP which includes company-specific action plans. At all service levels, a yearly impact report or dashboard is provided; access to this data enables accurate analysis for decision-making and reporting both internally and externally.

The Trützschler Group SE has appointed Dr. Ulrich Schwenken and Heinrich Krull to its Board of Directors with effect from July 1, 2022. Dr. Schwenken will serve as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Heinrich Krull will serve as Chief Operations Officer (COO).

Dr. Schwenken will assume responsibility for Development, Digitalization, IT and Corporate Communications. As a doctoral graduate specialized in engineering, he has many years of experience in automotive and mechanical applications. Since 2008, he has held various management positions in the areas of Service, Sales and Development at companies including Porsche AG and Volkswagen AG, where his responsibility covered a range of key topics such as digital transformation. Most recently, Dr. Schwenken served as CSO, CTO and CDO at Leistritz AG, and was responsible for the strategic focus on innovative growth areas.

Mr. Krull joined Trützschler Group SE in September 2020. As a graduate engineer for production engineering and management with international experience in mechanical and production site engineering, he has comprehensive expertise related to operations. He also has extensive experience of production technologies, including in-depth knowledge of Lean Management methods and expertise in post-merger integration. As COO, he will be responsible for the areas of Production, Purchasing and Logistics, Quality Assurance as well as Supply Chain.

Until his scheduled retirement at the end of 2022, Dr. Dirk Burger will act as Co-CEO to Dr. Schwenken.

The responsibilities of the Board of Directors of Trützschler Group SE as of July 1, 2022 are as follows: Dr. Ulrich Schwenken (CEO) is responsible for Development, Digitalization, IT and Corporate Communications; Dr. Dirk Burger will take over the role of Co-CEO to Dr. Schwenken until the end of 2022; Dr. Ralf Napiwotzki (CFO) is responsible for Finance and Controlling, Human Resources, Legal and Compliance; Alexander Stampfer (CSO) is responsible for Sales, Marketing and Service; Heinrich Krull (COO) is responsible for Production, Purchasing and Logistics, Quality Assurance as well as Supply Chain.

ROICA™ strengthens its presence in the apparel segment thanks to its established network of partners, who will present their latest innovations at the upcoming Première Vision.

ROICA™ partners are the “artists” and “heartists” of premium stretch in fabrics: because they have at heart all the values for which ROICA™ stands for. These partners presenting at Première Vision are:

• Iluna Group, whose journey into the new dimension of responsibility continues with developments in GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified recycled yarns aimed at unprecedented effects in looks, performance and hands. Brand new for this edition of Première Vision is the inclusion of GOTS-certified organic cotton in GRS-certified galloons and allover lace containing ROICA™ EF, so as to meet market demands for natural comfort in the underwear sphere.
• Innova Fabrics, which recently enhanced its smart offering by launching the RF (Residual Free) line, with the goal of reducing the impact of microplastics derived from the fashion industry. This is made possible by mixing two responsible ingredients, SENSIL® BioCare by Nilit and ROICA™ V550 by Asahi Kasei, which give birth to both sporty and casual fabrics.
• Inplet, which enriched its production of smart elastic and rigid knitted fabrics with three new products: a powernet fabric in 77% polyamide RECO and 23% ROICA™ EF with good recovery; a net fabric in 55% polyamide RECO and 45% ROICA™ EF characterized by a soft hand and good elasticity; and a 79% polyamide and 21% ROICA™ V550 good power, good recovery and a soft touch.
• Penn Textile Solutions/Penn Italia, whose highlights of the new collection are on one side fabrics developed with the use of Neride eco yarns by Nurel with ROICA™ V550, characterized by restraining lace effect, soft touch and breathable, in combination with tulle as a sustainable basic, and on the other side charmeuses with soft hand, raw cut in combination with a band fabric from the dreamshape family with reinforced gripping edge, made again in Neride eco yarns by Nurel with ROICA™ V550
• Tessitura Colombo Antonio, which in its new A/W 23-24 collection expands its proposal of regenerated lace from the ECO-LACE line: new designs inspired by fashion trends using ROICA™ EF. Also, in its BIODEGRADABLE line it uses ROICA™ V550 for the realization of new designs. The new MICROMODAL line uses ROICA™ V550; the effect of this lace range is softness, elegance and relief effect.

Archroma launched Perapret® AIR liq, a new light-activated air purification technology for all kinds of fabrics. The new innovation was presented at the Techtextil last month.

The mineral-based Perapret® AIR liq eliminates air pollutants and airborne smells by imitating the natural process of photocatalysis under normal day and artificial light sources.

The chemistry usually used in such applications is nano-sized TiO2 (dioxide titanium), which attack every organic matter, including the textile fiber, and not only pollutants.

Perapret® AIR liq is produced using a patented Core Shell technology that partially surrounds the TiO2 molecules, solving the issue of fiber damage, and at the same time still allowing the photocatalytic process to work efficiently.

Therefore, the innovative Core Shell technology behind Perapret® AIR liq makes it possible to use the capabilities of nano-sized TiO2 also on organic based substances such as cotton, polyester, polyamide, viscose and any additional fiber and its blends.

In addition, the treatment is highly durable, as the product doesn’t self-consume and retains its performance over time.

Perapret® AIR liq is ideally suited for indoor applications, such as curtains, textile wall coverings, as well as cars and other automotive interiors, allowing to reduce air pollutants and airborne smells and thus improving overall air quality*.

The technology is at the core of CLEAN AIR, a new system that combines Perapret® AIR liq with other recent innovations such as Smartrepel® Hydro TS liq for PFC-free** durable water repellence, and Sanitized® T27-22 liq antimicrobial agent.

• The Borvida™ portfolio introduces sustainable base chemicals to Borealis’ range of product offering
• The range will initially be based on non-food waste biomass, and chemically-recycled waste; in the future it will also draw from atmospheric carbon capture
• The traceability of the content will be based on Mass Balance, which is ISCC PLUS certified
• This is the next step in an ambitious sustainability journey, which will see Borealis move away from traditional fossil-based feed

Borealis is strengthening its EverMinds™ circular product offering with Borvida™, a range of sustainable base chemicals.

The Borvida portfolio will offer base chemicals or cracker products (such as ethylene, propylene, butene and phenol) with ISCC Plus-certified sustainable content from Borealis sites in Finland, Sweden and Belgium. The move is part of Borealis’ broader commitment to a Future-Positive Revolution, in which the unrivalled benefits of base chemicals and polymers can be enjoyed at minimal impact to the planet.   

The portfolio will initially comprise Borvida B, from non-food waste biomass, and Borvida C, from chemically-recycled waste. In the future, the range will evolve to include Borvida A, sourced from atmospheric carbon capture. Borvida is complementary and is the building block to Bornewables™, a portfolio of polyolefins based on renewably-sourced second generation feedstocks, and Borcycle™, which offers circular polyolefins produced from mechanically- and chemically-recycled plastic waste.

Borealis produces a wide range of base chemicals for use in numerous industries based on various feedstock, such as naphtha, butane, propane and ethane. Through its olefin units (steam cracker and propane dehydrogenation), it converts these into the building blocks of the chemical industry: ethylene, propylene and C4 hydrocarbons (butylenes, ethyl tertiary-butyl ether (ETBE) and butadiene), and C5-6 hydrocarbons (pygas, phenol) among others.

The basis of the Borvida portfolio is Mass Balance, a Chain of Custody model that enables sustainable content to be tracked, traced, and verified through the entire value chain, offering sustainability-assured products from feedstock to end product. Using this model, circular alternatives can be offered in a cost-effective and environmentally-conscious way, which can be scaled up quickly without compromising on quality or efficiency.

Borvida can be used for a wide range of different polymer and chemical applications, also beyond polyolefins (PO). Non-PO polymers, such as polycarbonates, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), super absorbant polymer (SAP) and other chemicals, are utilised for various end applications including coatings, plasticizers, adhesives, automotive, electronics, lubricants, detergents, appliances and sports equipment.

Together with key strategic partners, including Neste and Covestro, Borealis strives to provide a long-term solution in order to allow value-chain partners to meet their sustainability goals. Borvida will enable our customers to increase the sustainability of their products, keeping them ahead of forthcoming legislative changes, and meeting their customers’ demands for climate-conscious products.

Introduced on a smaller scale in early 2020, early renewable base chemicals customers include Covestro. “The use of alternative sustainable raw materials is one important pillar of our strategic ambition to become fully circular”, comments Frank Dörner, Managing Director Covestro Procurement Services GmbH & Co. KG. “The new product line is a good example for joint solutions, another strategic pillar, in order to establish new and reliable supply chains creating benefits for our customers.”

As of 30 May 2022, EREMA Group GmbH acquired 19.8 percent of plasticpreneur® gmbh. plasticpreneur® is an Austrian start-up company founded two years ago that manufactures at its production site in Klagenfurt recycling solutions for plastic waste that are mobile and can be operated without prior knowledge. The machine portfolio covers the recycling process and the production of new end-products. Due to it´s wide range of applications, it is in demand both in the Global South and in industrialised countries.

In the two years since the company was founded, plasticpreneur® has already sold 330 machines to customers in over 70 countries on all continents. In addition, they have made over 750 application-specific moulds, many of them custom-built to comply with individual customer specifications.

While plastics recycling has gained enormous momentum in the industrialised countries, more remote and poorer regions of the world have hardly benefited from high-tech solutions for industrial recycling processes so far. They are held back by a lack of infrastructure and know-how. That is why waste is often incinerated or disposed of in landfills, rivers and the surrounding environment. "Our mission - Another life for plastic, because we care - is also aimed at supporting these regions with solutions for plastic recycling, and with plasticpreneur® we have found the ideal partner for this," says Manfred Hackl, CEO EREMA Group.

The start-up company's machines can process HDPE, PP, PS, LDPE, PLA, AB and TPU separately. Their product range includes a shredder, injection moulding unit, extruder unit for the production of end products, air filters as well as custom-built moulds. "For our machines to be used in regions with little infrastructure, they must be easy to operate without prior knowledge. The fact that we also develop end-product solutions needed locally makes our range of services particularly attractive here," explains Sören Lex, CEO and co-founder of plasticpreneur®. As soon as recycling also becomes a source of income for the operators, they become entrepreneurs. That explains the name of the start-up, a word created from "plastic" and "entrepreneur". plasticpreneur® customers in these countries include e.g. social enterprises and operators of refugee camps, where everyday consumer goods - from clothes pegs and school supplies to toys and fence posts - are produced and sold using plastic waste. This means that the added value stays local.

The demand for plasticpreneur® machines is also increasing in industrialised countries. On the one hand by educational institutions and organisations that use them to raise awareness of the need for a circular economy in workshops and to give pupils as well as adults a better understanding of plastic recycling. On the other hand by customers who are developing new end-products for plastic waste together with plasticpreneur®. Because the machines are so easy to operate they enable a low-theshold use of recycled plastics in product development processes, starting from generating prototypes to launchin small series production. Small companies, product designers and developers therefore are another steadily growing customer segment.

Monforts is introducing a range of modular upgrades that can be added to existing finishing lines already in production.

The Monforts universal Energy Tower – a flexible, free-standing air/air heat exchanger for recovering the heat from the exhaust air flow of thermal processes – can result in a 30% reduction in the energy consumed by a line, depending on the exhaust air volume and operating temperature.

A Monforts Eco Booster, completely integrated into the chamber design of the Montex stenter, is another retrofitting option. As a single state-of-the-art heat recovery system with automatic cleaning, it can be added to existing ranges. For ranges of up to eight chambers only one module is necessary to achieve significant energy savings.

On an eight-chamber stenter with an operating width of two metres carrying out a fixing process on a 150gsm woven fabric, for example, the energy savings have been calculated to be 35% over an annual schedule of 6,000 operating hours.

In addition, the Eco Booster consumes only minimal amounts of water during the cleaning cycle and the entire process is controlled and monitored automatically.

The Matex Eco Applicator is an alternative to the conventional padding process for energy-conscious finishing and achieving considerable savings in the energy required for drying treated fabrics. The precise amount of chemical can be applied to the fabric and with less residual moisture after application of only approximately 35% so that less drying capacity is required in the stenter, which leads to huge energy savings.

Finishes can be evenly applied on either or both sides of the fabric, and two separate treatments can be applied to front and back. This makes the unit ideal for the production of, for example, double-performance hydrophobic/hydrophilic fabrics for professional clothing, as well as the over dyeing or finishing of denim fabrics.