From the Sector

RE&UP Recycling Technologies, an innovator in scalable recycling solutions for Next-Gen fibers, announces its recognition as one of the winners of the ITMF Start-up Award 2024. This accolade highlights RE&UP's commitment to advancing more sustainable practices in the textile industry through recycling technologies.

The ITMF Start-up Award, presented annually by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), aims to honor start-ups that showcase innovative and transformative ideas poised to make a impact on the textile sector. This year’s award ceremony will be held during the ITMF & IAF Conference 2024 from September 8-10 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, co-hosted by the Uzbek Textile & Apparel Industry Association (UZTS).

As one of the four winners of the ITMF Start-up Award 2024, along with Sci-Lume Labs, Sycoretec CAS, Syre Impact, RE&UP will have the opportunity to present its business model and technological advancements at the upcoming conference, where leaders from across the global textile value chain will gather. This platform will enable RE&UP to connect with established companies and explore collaborative opportunities to further integrate sustainable practices in textile manufacturing.

Doors will open next week for trade fair Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles, with over 900 exhibitors from 15 countries and regions set to welcome global buyers at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) 14 – 16 August. Leveraging its 30 years of expertise in the home and contract textiles industry, the Autumn Edition will serve as a sourcing platform for industry players to forge impactful business partnerships and exchange market insights.

With the fair spanning 100,000 sqm of exhibition space in Halls 5.1, 5.2, 6.1 and 6.2, visitors are preparing to explore the entire home and contract textile spectrum at the gateway to Asia’s home living. To help buyers streamline their sourcing and maximise relevant business opportunities, 14 product zones will be set up, each spotlighting in-demand segments within the industry. These zones and their exhibitors include:

• Bedding: Ideaz Lifestyle Limited, Kageyama & Co Ltd, Shaoxing Chuanshi Home Textile Company Limited, Zhangjiagang Coolist Life Technology Co Ltd, Zhejiang Huaxing Feather & Down Products Co Ltd
• Carpets & rugs: Beijing Home Value Co Ltd, Beijing U-living Home Decoration Co Ltd
• Curtains & curtain fabrics: Dongjae Co Ltd, JWL FABRICS CO LTD, Textile Depo Co Ltd, Xi'an Zhong Yang Window Blinds Article Co Ltd, Zhejiang XIDAMEN New Material Co Ltd
• Designer studios: Fine Art Inc, IKT Surfaces and Textures SL, Tela's Design Lda
• Editors: Beijing Ya Da Home Decoration Articles Co Ltd, Prestigious Textiles (Shanghai) Limited, Raffinato Shanghai Ltd Corp
• Leather: Anhui Anli Material Technology Co Ltd, Dongguan ARA Manufacture Co Ltd, Scope Leather Company, Zhejiang Changfeng New Material Co Ltd
• Upholstery & sofa fabrics: Hangzhou Eastern Fabric Co Ltd, Mobus Fabrics Ltd, Suzhou Larbene Textile Co Ltd, Zhe Jiang Maya Fabric Co Ltd

In addition, specialised product zones for accessories, textile design, intelligent equipment, loungewear & bath, sun protection, table and kitchen linen, trade publications, and whole home products will further enrich buyers‘ sourcing experiences.

In the 30th year’s edition, buyers will have the opportunity to procure products from suppliers covering 15 countries and regions across Asia, Europe and North America. International exhibitors such as Advansa Marketing GmbH (Germany), Elastron Group (Portugal), Mobus (UK) and Morgan (USA) are set to participate.

Additionally, the newly introduced Uzbekistan Pavilion will showcase locally distinctive products, while the returning Türkiye Pavilion and Belgium Zone will also be present. Key exhibitors in these areas include:

• Türkiye Pavilion: organised by Uludag Textile Exporters’ Association (UTIB), including Aleran Tekstil (Bona Home), Kucukcalik Tekstil and Weavers Tekstil.
• Belgium Zone: exhibitors include CTF2000 and Love Home Fabrics.
• Uzbekistan Pavilion: organised by Trade Development Company JSC, comprised of suppliers such as Great Kokand and Sam Rafoat Tekstil.

Buyers from 75 countries and regions have already pre-registered. Furthermore, 11 buyer delegations from 15 countries, including India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Myanmar, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam and more will augment the premier platform's diversity, and provide invaluable connections for building global business partnerships.

Four themes shaping the future of the industry
This year, the fair will stage a slate of concurrent events, organised around four central themes pivotal to the industry's growth. Key events on the agenda include:

Design Inspiration
The display area illustrating the central aspects of the upcoming Trends 2025 ‘Healing Home’ concept will be located in Hall 6.1 – the main focus of an exclusive tour guided by the trend designer. About Healing, the featured six-designer panel discussion on Day 1 afternoon, will further delve into the healing theme from an international perspective.

Other highlighted seminars, awards ceremonies and display areas include: 30th China Home Textiles Design Festival & Designer Recommended Brand Awards; China Intangible Cultural Heritage of Textile Exhibition; Design for Fun, Using Playful Methods to Support Sustainable Development by Mr You Zhou; Psychology at Play in Design by Ms Pallavi Dean, and Weaving Paths to Sustainability: the Impact of Textile in Interior Spaces by Mr Saverio Quaia.

Business O2O
Conducted by Ms Esra Lemmens, the theme’s highlighted seminar is titled Unlocking Opportunities: Successful Business Strategies for the Middle Eastern Design Market. Along with the 10th Home Textiles and Furniture Industry Ecological Integration Forum, the events under this theme will explore effective business strategies across sectors on Day 1 afternoon.

Industry Empowerment
Bridging Borders: A Designer x Producer Talk on Sustainability will bring together designers and manufacturers from the East and West to address sustainability challenges and strike a balance among all stakeholders – this round table discussion is scheduled for Day 2 afternoon.

Textiles & Technologies
Within the Econogy Talks umbrella, the Sustainable Fibre Forum in Home Textiles will provide a platform for green producers such as 3M, Advansa, and Indorama to share their latest eco-friendly innovations with home textile applications. Moreover, attendees interested in integrating sustainability into their Messe Frankfurt trade fair involvement, can gain insights on the Texpertise Econogy programme during an extensive session held on Day 2 morning.  

Beyond the stage, the 7th China International Fibre Art Exhibition will present artisic creations in its display area in Hall 5.1, with previous iterations well-received by fairgoers.

The Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games are just around the corner and a global sports frenzy is underway. However, intense summer workouts often lead to sportswear absorbing excessive sweat, becoming clingy and cumbersome, causing discomfort and potentially impacting performance. A research team from the School of Fashion and Textiles at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has developed the iActive™ sportswear range which features a root-like liquid transport system and a skin-like active perspiration dissipater and utilises nature-inspired, anti-heat textile fabrics to expedite sweat removal, effectively reducing the weight and stickiness of activewear caused by sweat accumulation during exercise.

The human body has millions of sweat glands that are vital for regulating body temperature by dissipating sweat for evaporation to cool the skin’s surface. With unabating greenhouse gas emissions, the number of very hot days annually is expected to increase significantly. This will lead to elevated energy consumption and increased sweating during physical activity and outdoor labour. Even when wearing highly breathable clothes with good sweat-wicking properties, individuals may still experience discomfort due to excessive sweat accumulation.

A research team led by Dr SHOU Dahua, Limin Endowed Young Scholar in Advanced Textiles Technologies and Associate Professor of the School of Fashion and Textiles at PolyU, has invented the iActive™, intelligent, electrically activated sportswear with a nature-inspired active perspiration function.

Its nature-inspired technologies, including low-voltage-driven artificial “sweat glands” created by skin-like anti-heat textile fabrics and a root-like branching liquid transport system that aligns with the body’s sweat map, can actively and programmably remove sweat to a perspiration dissipater at the lower region of the sportswear. The all-textile sweat dissipater is compact and operates at a safe output voltage of approximately 5-9V, and its battery is easy to detach from the clothing, making it convenient for users to repeatedly wash the clothing by hand or in a washing machine to maintain hygiene. When the human body’s sweat rate is low, iActive™ can still be used independently without the battery.

Based on the optimised wettability pattern and gradient, the research team utilises a skin-like textile fabric to transport sweat one-way quickly and dissipate it from the inside to the outside. This feature reduces the stickiness and weight of clothing, improves breathability and ensures the garments remain dry and comfortable to wear. Experimental findings indicate that iActive™ creates a breathable and dry skin microclimate by dissipating sweat at a rate that is three times faster than the maximum human sweating rate. This innovation can also prevent discomfort from coldness and moisture after a workout. In comparison to traditional fabrics, the textile materials in iActive™ are 60% lighter and 50% less clingy when soaked, providing the wearer with all-round comfort and enabling sports enthusiasts and athletes to perform at their best.

Furthermore, a mobile app further aids personalised sweat management by wirelessly adjusting the sweat level of iActive™. This innovation is versatile and can be seamlessly integrated into a variety of textile materials to facilitate sustainable mass production. Beyond sportswear, iActive™ is also well-suited to protective clothing and workwear for individuals engaged in prolonged, high-intensity physical labour and outdoor occupations, including healthcare professionals, construction workers, firefighters, law enforcement officers and others, thereby significantly enhancing their work performance.

Dr Shou Dahua stated, “The extreme weather and high temperatures resulting from global warming have elevated the importance of heatstroke prevention and cooling measures on a global scale. Drawing on the vivid phenomena of thermal insulation and directed liquid flow in nature, we aim to foster innovation and sustainable advancement in garment manufacturing by inventing intelligent clothing and materials to address global challenges. We seek to harness the power of technology to infuse fresh perspectives into the traditional clothing industry, thereby enhancing its competitiveness.”

His research team has also developed a premium fabric named Omni-Cool-Dry™, drawing inspiration from volcano dwelling beetles. This fabric not only provides ultra-fast sweat dissipation and ensures all-day comfort with its dry and breathable features under dynamic thermal conditions, but also reflects solar radiation and emits body heat into the cold universe, enabling passive cooling. The team is working hard to leverage the benefits of both inventions to further enhance the sweat-dissipating and cooling capability of iActive™ sportswear.

Dr Shou Dahua, a core member of the PolyU Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems and the Research Centre of Textiles for Future Fashion, has recently been bestowed with the 2023 Distinguished Achievement Award by The Fiber Society for his outstanding contributions to the fields of personal thermal and moisture management, intelligent wearables and soft robotics. The accolade is presented annually to an individual researcher worldwide. He has also received international innovation awards, including consecutive TechConnect Global Innovation Awards in 2021 and 2022. Moreover, his research papers have been published in various internationally renowned academic journals including Science Advances, PNAS, Advanced Functional Materials, and Advanced Energy Materials. Dr Shou will be chairing The Fiber Society Spring 2025 Conference at PolyU.

Registration is open for RISE^® 2024 (Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics). Industry leaders will convene to discover cutting-edge nonwoven research and advancements, October 1-2, James B. Hunt, Jr. Library, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. The theme for this year’s event is “Sustainability Solutions: Manufacturing More with Less.”

The RISE program will focus on these key topics:

• Disruptive Innovation & Enabling Technology
• Advancements in Natural & Bio-Based Fibers
• Sustainability in Chemistry
• Energy Efficiencies in Machinery
• Advanced Recycling Techniques & Methods
• In the News: Legislation & Regulation

Prior to RISE, continuing the program begun last year, there will be complimentary webinars featuring technology advancements and innovations. More details and topics will be announced at a later date.

The program highlights for RISE include:

• RISE^® Innovation Award – three finalists will compete for the Award with the winner being announced Wednesday afternoon, October 2nd. Nominations may be submitted through July 29th via the INDA website: https://www.inda.org/awards/rise-innovation-award.html
• The Nonwovens Institute will host a tour of their $65 million-plus, 60,000 square-foot facilities featuring state-of-the-art equipment, pilot lines, and analytical laboratories on Tuesday, October 1st. An RSVP is required and space is limited.
• A Welcome Reception on Tuesday evening, October 1st, at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course.
• Graduate Student Poster session with their latest research during the Welcome Reception.
• New to RISE: Nonwoven Bonding Fundamentals course which will provide a detailed overview of the major fabric bonding processes used to make nonwovens. More details are available here: https://www.inda.org/training/advanced-training.php
• 18-hole Golf Tournament, Monday, September 30th, Lonnie Poole Golf Course, with a start time of 12 pm. Space is limited and registration is required.

Salvation Army charity shops have won two major awards from the Charity Retail Association for Outstanding Charity Retailer of the Year, and Environmental and Sustainability at the CRA Annual Conference held at the Harrogate Convention Centre on 26th June 2024.

This is the second time the charity has won the Outstanding Charity Retailer of the Year Award in the past four years - winning it outright in 2022 and 2024, and also being shortlisted in 2021 and 2023.

The Environmental and Sustainability Award sets out specific criteria that organisations must demonstrate, including the introduction of green policies, and new ways of dealing with textile recycling.

Both award categories focused on retail initiatives and key achievements over the previous 12 months. SATCoL recently announced its highest trading results and a record-breaking donation to its parent charity of over £11.2m.

In 2022 SATCoL launched its 5-Year Strategic Plan under the theme of ‘Dare to CARE’ – this included new performance measures for People, Planet and Profit. CARE represents SATCoL's values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Equality. The company continues to invest in its donation centres and refurbishing more high street shops – 10 new donation centres opened and 9 high street shops were refurbished in the year 2022-23.

SATCoL has also invested heavily in innovations including FibersortTM, an automatic sorting process that identifies and sorts second-hand garments by fibre type, and Project Re:claimTM, a commercial-scale polyester recycling plant designed to recycle end-of-life textiles. Project Re:claim is a joint venture with Project Plan B.

The Sustainability Report 2023, which is now digitally available, provides insights into the past financial year and summarizes the main ecological, economic and social developments. Sustainability is an integral part of the corporate strategy of the CHT Group.

• The CHT Group uses the terms PEOPLE, PLANET and PERFORMANCE to emphasize its commitment to the 3 dimensions of sustainability worldwide and sets itself further goals. The CHT Group consistently aligns its sustainability strategy with all three ESG dimensions
• Responsibility for sustainability lies with the Chief Sustainability Officer
• Climate protection plays a central role worldwide - the corporate carbon footprint (Scope 1-3) 2023 adds up to 456 kt CO2(e)
• The Group is pursuing the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045
• At the end of 2021, the CHT Group signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and committed to the 1.5 °C target
• SBTi has validated the CHT Group's reduction targets - by 2030, Scope 1+2 emissions will be reduced by - 42 % and Scope 3 emissions by - 25 %. 82 % of sales were achieved with sustainably classified products
• In 2024 EcoVadis awards the CHT Group's sustainability management with the Gold level for the first time

At PRSE in Amsterdam, the DischargePro control system from EREMA's POWERFIL business unit was presented with the Plastics Recycling Award Europe in the "Recycling Machinery Innovation of the Year" category. The smart technology for the EREMA laser filter improves process stability over the entire operating period and reacts automatically to fluctuations during the recycling process.

The DischargePro system automatically compensates for fluctuations in the input material, thereby ensuring uniform thickening during melt filtration and thus a consistent process. Depending on the application and contamination, POWERFIL was able to reduce melt loss by up to 50 percent with the DischargePro compared to the previous EREMA laser filter control system. These facts convinced the jury, who described the technology as an intelligent technological advance in the extrusion process.

With the DischargePro control system, POWERFIL significantly increases the degree of automation in the filter process. The discharge control system reacts to specific disruptions in the process. In this way, the speed of the scraper star is adjusted at short notice and returns to the setpoint speed as soon as the contamination peak has been discharged. Furthermore, the control system also recognizes changes in throughput and adjusts the discharge rates accordingly. In the event of a higher pressure drop across the filter screen, which is caused by a higher viscosity of the melt, DischargePro adjusts the setpoint value to ensure a consistent discharge rate. Long-term changes, such as the condition of the filter screen, are also taken into account in all adjustments.

The EREMA Group, based in Ansfelden near Linz, Austria, closes the financial year 2023/24 with total revenues of EUR 380 million. A joint venture with the Lindner Group sees the group of companies expand its portfolio to include washing technology. EREMA Group GmbH now has eight subsidiaries: EREMA, PURE LOOP, PLASMAC, KEYCYCLE, Lindner Washtech, UMAC, plasticpreneur and 3S.

"With our machines and components, we have now reached a recycling volume of more than 25 million tonnes per year worldwide, which makes a significant contribution to the development of a circular economy for plastics," says Manfred Hackl, CEO of the EREMA Group. The group of companies manufactured 290 extruders for recycling plastic in the past financial year, supplemented by over 100 add-on components such as filter systems and ReFresher anti-odour technology. These recycling solutions generated total sales of EUR 380 million. Around 8,500 machines and components from the group are in operation in more than 100 countries. The EREMA Group employs 950 people worldwide.

Strategic investments in all areas of the plastics recycling industry
In recent years, the EREMA Group has invested in developing specific machines, applications and infrastructure. "The opening of the new R&D Centre in Ansfelden last summer and the new machines in the Customer Technology Center at EREMA North America at the beginning of this year, have seen us complete the largest phase of investment in our history to date. We have invested more than EUR 110 million in the expansion and modernization of our international locations over the past five years," emphasizes Horst Wolfsgruber, CFO of the EREMA Group. Another important milestone is the founding in August 2023 of the holding company BLUEONE Solutions together with the Austrian family-owned company Lindner. Incorporating Lindner Washtech means that the EREMA Group's extensive portfolio now also includes washing technology.

Developments in post consumer and PET recycling
The new DuaFil® Compact technology, which EREMA developed specifically for challenging applications with high levels of contamination and moisture, is proving successful. Since the launch at K 2022, around 20 INTAREMA® TVEplus® DuaFil® Compact systems have been sold. In the post consumer segment, ReFresher technology for the production of odour-optimised recycled pellets is also gaining ground and is now in use worldwide with a total capacity of one million tonnes per year for film and regrind applications. Another interesting new component is the DischargePro control system for the EREMA laser filter, which has been nominated for this year's Plastics Recycling Awards Europe. The discharge control system responds automatically to fluctuations in flow rate during the recycling process and reduces melt loss by up to 50 percent. With its new Fast-Track scheme, EREMA is responding to the demand for machines available at short notice at an attractive price-performance ratio.

For bottle applications, VACUREMA® systems have been proving their performance for 25 years. Over 400 EREMA PET systems for food grade are in operation worldwide, notching up a total capacity of more than 4.5 million tonnes per year. PET recycling is also becoming increasingly important in the textile industry. FibrePro:IV technology was developed especially for fibre-to-fibre recycling, which is used together with machine combinations from EREMA or PURE LOOP, who specialise in shredder-extruder technology, depending on the geometry and contamination of the PET fibre waste. For these applications, the EREMA Group has set up a fibre technical centre at its headquarters in Ansfelden.

Big potential for plastics recycling
The amount of plastic produced worldwide is currently around 400 million tonnes per year - and the figure is still rising. Around 9 percent of it is recycled globally. This represents big potential for the EREMA Group, as Manfred Hackl emphasizes.

At the Techtextil trade fair in Frankfurt, the Chairman of the Walter Reiners Foundation of the VDMA, Peter D. Dornier, presented awards to six successful young engineers. Promotion and sustainability prizes were awarded in the categories bachelor/project theses and diploma/master theses. Academic theses in which, for example, solutions for resource-saving products and technologies are developed are eligible for the sustainability prizes.

The Walter Reiners Foundation awarded Anna Markic a sustainability prize worth 3,000 euros in the Bachelor's category. The topic of her thesis, written at Reutlingen University, was the recycling of carbon fibres.

Mark Zenzinger, Albstadt-Sigmaringen University, received a 3,000 euro promotion award in the Bachelor's category. His topic was the automation of the process chain for the production of welded textile hard goods.
 
Lena Fink from the TU Dresden received another promotion award worth 3,000 euros. Her construction engineering project work focused on a device to simplify the maintenance of braiding machines.

Fabio Bussmann from RWTH Aachen was awarded a promotion prize in the Master's category, worth 3,500 euros. In his thesis, he analysed the life cycle assessments of alternative semi-finished products for geotextiles.

Katharina Maria Ernst, TU Dresden, was honoured with a sustainability prize of 3,500 euros in the Master's category. Her work focused on the development of a suitable process for the treatment of chitosan fibres as an alternative starting product in the production of carbon fibres.

Lennart Hellwig, RWTH Aachen University, was awarded a 3,500 euro prize in the Master's category. He focused on the topic of machine learning using the example of a nonwovens plant.

Using bio-based and bio-degradable, recyclable insulation textiles to sustainably insulate heat and reduce energy consumption and the carbon footprint - the Aachen-based start-up SA-Dynamics has developed a solution for this dream of many building owners together with industrial partners. SA-Dynamics won the second Innovation Award in the "New Technologies on Sustainability & Recycling" category at the leading textile trade fairs Techtextil and Texprocess for this development.

The bio-based recyclable insulation textiles consist of 100 percent bio-based aerogel-fibres. They contain up to 90 percent air, trapped in the nano-pore system of the aerogel-fibres. The bio-based raw material is sustainably sourced and certified. The insulation textiles made from bio-based aerogel fibres are said to insulate the same or even better than synthetic insulating materials of fossil origin like PET, PE or PP and mineral or stone wool.

"By using bio-based aerogels, we are doing away with fossil-based materials and doing something for the environment and climate," explains Maximilian Mohr, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at SA-Dynamics. "We are thus meeting the regulatory measures of the EU and the governments of many countries for more climate and environmental protection. By using bio-based, recyclable aerogels, we can revolutionise the world of construction.“

The Aachen-based start-up SA-Dynamics is made up of researchers from the Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) and the Institute of Industrial Furnace Construction and Heat Engineering (IOB) at RWTH Aachen University.

The bio-based aerogel fibres originate from the LIGHT LINING research project of the BIOTEXFUTURE innovation area. The LIGHT LINING research project focussed on sports and outdoor textiles. The research results are transferable to the construction sector.

The Techtextil and Texprocess Innovation Awards ceremony will take place on 23 April 2024 at 12.30 pm in Hall 9.0 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.