From the Sector

Autoneum Holding Ltd signed a new loan agreement with a syndicate of banks led by UBS and Credit Suisse on the 31st of October 2022. This loan agreement replaces with immediate effect the existing syndicated loan, which was due to run until December 31, 2022.

The credit line specified under the new agreement remains at CHF 350 million and includes a substantial financial reserve for the Company. The main provisions of the previous loan agreement also apply unchanged to the new loan agreement, which runs for five years until October 31, 2027.

“We are pleased to have concluded this loan agreement, which secures the Group’s long-term financing,” said Bernhard Wiehl, Chief Financial Officer at Autoneum. “It is also important to say at this point that Autoneum has managed to further strengthen its financial stability over the last three years despite the corona crisis and a challenging environment in the automotive industry. Positive cash flow development over the past two years has enabled Autoneum to continuously reduce net debt since 2020.”

With the syndicated loan, the Group’s liquidity and long-term financing continue to be sustainably secured through a broad-based syndicate of twelve banks.

The Gleaming line by the Marchi & Fildi Group includes a wide range of metalloplastic yarns for the most varied of uses. Reflex, the new range of reflective yarns, will join the line.

In addition to uses in the worlds of fashion and furnishings, for fancy yarns, decoration and accessories, an important application for the Gleaming collection is in the sector of technical clothing with high-visibility features.

Reflex, used for the production of fabrics and tapes, able to reflect the light and ensure good visibility for people wearing them in low-light situations, is augmented by new colour shades in addition to the traditional greys.

The innovative reflective yarns in white, black, and light and dark multicolours offer new possibilities for:

• tapes, external labels and accessories;
• technical fabrics for work clothing with specific safety standards;
• uniforms, sports clothing and accessories;
• hosiery, gloves, bibs and hats for night use, for winter clothing and for northern markets.

The latest addition to the range, with an important functionality, is the Reflex stretch yarn, which, apart from in the sectors described above, also finds application in flat bed or circular knitting and sewing. Its composition makes it softer and more versatile in comparison to traditional reflectives.

The Gleaming line represents a completion of the range of yarns produced by the Marchi & Fildi Group. The yarns are available in various thicknesses, widths and types in both metallised and transparent versions, and iridescent, reflective and phosphorescent effects. Also articles are included with particular features of resistance to chemical and dyeing treatments.

Amongst the most recent innovations is the line of metalloplastic yarns in 100% polyester obtained from post-consumer recycling with GRS (Global Recycle Standard) certification.

After two years of joint collaboration and research the Swiss Textile Recycling Project “Texcircle” comes to an end. Partners and stakeholders have worked on the vision of a textile cluster where materials flow in circular loops. The goal of the project was to develop high-quality yarns and products incorporating such a large amount of recycled textiles as possible. In the end, several product prototypes from carpets, socks, and curtains to pullovers, padding and accessories have been developed with at least 50 % recycled fiber up to 80 % recycled fibers and yarns.

Europe has a waste problem of 7.5 million waste of which only 30-35 % is collected and less than 1 % of the textile and clothing worldwide is recycled into textiles and clothing again. It is as well found that around 80 % of the impact of a textile product lies in the design.

Together with the design research expertise of the Lucerne University of Applied sciences and arts, the spinning expertise of Rieter and the sorting and collection expertise of Texaid, systems should be created where products of high quality can be produced of recycled fiber. On board were the expertise of further Cluster partners of Brands, Retailers, and the public sector to see how a joint Cluster and system coukld be established.

The Project Texcircle and cluster is led by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Art  & Design, and in collaboration with Coop, Rieter, Jacob Rohner AG, Ruckstuhl AG, TEXAID as well as workfashion.com ag. Furthermore, Bundesamt für Zivildienst ZIVI, NIKIN AG, and Tiger Liz Textiles are supporting the project. The project is funded by Innosuisse.

Furthermore, collaboration partners from all over Europe contributed to the project to enable these prototypes and systems.

Through joint developments from the design, the collecting, sorting trials, tearing, and spinning trials until the actual production trials and product testing. The partners were able to recycle 2.5 Tons of pre-and post-consumer textile waste into product prototypes with a promising commercial interest. From socks, west, and pullovers to non-woven felts and accessories to carpets and curtains. Through our 2 years of collaboration, the teamcame across several hurdles in the textile recycling value chain which could be tackled. This was a proof of concept that a circular system is possible and the industry now has to enable this at full scale.

The identification of profitable new niche markets has been central to the success and continuous expansion of Germany’s Dolinschek, a leading knitting, dyeing and finishing specialist, located in Burladingen in Baden-Württemberg.

“There is so much more to textiles than just clothing,” says Theo Dolinschek, who runs the company with his brother Erwin. “We handle many different technical materials such as automotive components, geotextiles and wallcoverings, but also those for more unusual applications such as inlays for extractor hoods, cut protection fabrics and even wool felts which are employed as insulation on wind turbines.

“We have also recently started to produce compression stockings in a variety of colours, because not everyone wants them black, beige or skin coloured. The most important product areas for us now are in sportswear, corsetry and lingerie, as well as orthopedic and medical products, workwear and protective clothing, but in addition, many other technical applications.”

The Dolinschek brothers moved their business to the historic site of the former Ambrosius Heim textile company in Burladingen in 2001 in order to expand. At the time, the company – founded by their father in 1980 as a textile wholesaler before moving into dyeing – employed just 13 people. Within a year, the company had bought additional space at the site.

Now, with Theo in charge of technology and sales, and Erwin responsible for production, the company employs almost 100 people and operates on an integrated site of 35,000 square metres.

In 2005, a laminating department was established by the company and since 2012 investment in knitting machines has been ongoing.

“The further we went into vertical integration, the more of our own products we were able to position on the market and so we were also able to make ourselves more independent,” says Theo. “We have continued to develop and today we can produce high-quality fabrics for many fields, with 42 knitting machines, 36 dyeing machines, three stenter frames and many other production and processing machines.”

Dolinschek has also developed its own proprietary TMG dyeing machines which have subsequently been successfully sold to many other companies all over the world. There are currently 11 of these machines  in operation at the Burladingen site and around 45 installed at other companies.

For finishing technology, however, the company relies on Monforts, and has installed a new seven chamber Montex TwinAir stenter range with a Montex®Coat coating unit in knife execution, enabling the coating of dimensionally stable knitted fabrics with polyurethane or acrylate. Another unique feature is the Teflon-coated (non-stick) transportation belt through the system.

The Montex line is also equipped with integrated heat recovery and exhaust gas purification to ensure the most resource-efficient processing available on the market. The exhaust air goes from the Monforts heat recovery system into an existing air/water heat recovery system and then into an electrostatic precipitator.

Highly-intuitive Monforts Qualitex visualisation software allows all machine functions and process parameters to be assessed and controlled easily.

Freudenberg Performance Materials (Freudenberg) has concluded a high-volume, multi-year contract with a global automotive tier one supplier to supply high-performance gas diffusion layers for the stacks forming the core of the fuel cell systems produced by the leading automotive supplier. Global target applications are mid-sized and heavy commercial vehicles as well as buses. Freudenberg is supporting the customer’s global fuel cell activities, thereby also accelerating the breakthrough of mass-produced fuel cell stacks.

Fuel cell technology is an important element of a successful energy transition. Gas diffusion layers play a key role in this context: they are indispensable for the functioning of a fuel cell and have a significant impact on the performance of a fuel cell stack.

A fuel cell converts the chemical energy of hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen into electricity. Functionally-optimized gas diffusion layers made of carbon-fiber based nonwoven are installed on both sides of a catalyst-coated membrane positioned in the middle of the fuel cell. The gas diffusion layers distribute hydrogen and oxygen evenly to the membrane and remove the electricity, heat and water generated by the CO₂-free chemical reaction. They also protect the sensitive membrane and are optimized to suit the bipolar plate. A fuel cell stack is made up of several individual fuel cells.

Freudenberg already has more than 20 years of unique expertise in the development and production of gas diffusion layers for fuel cell applications in the mobility sector and for porous transport layers used in electrolyzers. Freudenberg is currently expanding its production capacity at its Weinheim headquarters by installing additional lines. Further investments are on the verge of implementation.

Viscose speciality fibres manufacturer Kelheim Fibres partners with TextileGenesisTM, a traceability platform that creates radical transparency from fibre-to-retail and ensures authenticity d provenance of sustainable textiles against generics.

“Our wood-based fibres are an environmentally friendly basis for sustainable textiles - it's just that consumers often don't know what's behind their garments. But they need to know it’s in their hands to minimise the ecological footprint of the textile industry. Transparency and traceability are the foundation that enables consumers to make informed decisions.”, says Dr. Marina Crnoja-Cosic, Director New Business Development at Kelheim Fibres.

TextileGenesisTM uses blockchain technology to track and verify the use of sustainable fibres all the way from fibre to garment. A digital fibercoin ensures transparency and reliability throughout the entire production line and beyond.

Amit Gautam, Founder & CEO at TexileGenesisTM:"Fashion and textile value chain is undergoing major transformation driven by sustainable materials, shifting consumer demand for sustainable products, and increasingly stringent regulations on transparency. Great to see Kelheim moving the industry forward by actively participating in the traceability journey."

and textile technology company Infinited Fiber Company’s work to build the world’s first commercial-scale Infinna™ textile fiber factory in Kemi, Finland, has progressed largely according to plan since the announcement of the factory site in June 2022. The company is increasing its focus on scaling Infinna™ production volume further as quickly as possible. This is in response to the continued and growing customer demand for the company’s high-quality regenerated textile fiber Infinna™. The market impacts of the ongoing war in Ukraine – including the increased uncertainty on the global utility, commodity and financial markets – have highlighted the need to proceed rapidly with technology scaling on multiple fronts.
 
“We are not immune to the global market context in which we operate. The supply chain issues stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic are still wreaking havoc, and the ongoing war in Ukraine has dealt a heavy blow to the global utility, commodity, and financial markets – and to us. We are satisfied with the progress at the site of our planned commercial-scale factory and the opening of the factory remains our key priority. The current, unstable market environment has highlighted the need for us to also accelerate efforts to simultaneously pursue other avenues for scaling production, with the ultimate aim of serving our customers in the best possible way in the long run,” said Infinited Fiber Company CEO and cofounder Petri Alava.
 
Infinited Fiber Company said in June that it planned to build a factory to produce Infinna™, a textile fiber that can be created 100% from cotton-rich textile waste, at the site of a discontinued paper mill in Kemi, Finland. The factory is expected to create around 270 jobs in the area and to have an annual production capacity of 30,000 metric tons, equivalent to the fiber needed for about 100 million T-shirts. The future factory’s customer-base includes several of the world’s leading apparel companies, with most of the future production capacity already sold out for several years.
 
Since June, Infinited Fiber Company has advanced the site-specific basic engineering, recruitment planning, vendor selection, and permit processes according to plan. The limited component availability caused by the continuing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have, however, prolonged significantly the delivery times for some of the key equipment and machinery needed for the factory. As a result of these developments, Infinited Fiber Company has re-evaluated its overall factory project timeline. The first commercial fiber deliveries from Kemi are now expected to begin in January 2026. The scope of the project remains unchanged and construction work at the site is expected begin during 2023 as previously communicated.
 
In addition, the European energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine has caused the electricity prices in Finland to roughly triple, and the prices of some of the key chemicals needed in the fiber regeneration process have risen by some 200-300% since the start of the war.
 
“We of course don’t have a crystal ball. But according to our advisors and other experts, utility and commodity prices are forecast to normalize before 2026, when we now expect the first commercial fiber deliveries from Kemi to be shipped. In addition to the likely normalization of the market, the extended timeline enables us to undertake the necessary measures to develop the profitability of the future factory. The growing demand for Infinna™, despite the general turbulence, is an encouraging and clear indication of the fashion industry’s commitment to circularity,” said Petri Alava.

• Collaboration between Indorama Ventures and Toyobo to meet growing global demand for airbags
• Newly completed plant in Thailand will supply high-performance nylon yarn to customers in the automotive safety sector

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) celebrated the completion of a plant to manufacture high-performance nylon yarn for automobile airbags. The new plant in Rayong, Thailand, was constructed by Toyobo Indorama Advanced Fibers Co., Ltd. (TIAF), a joint venture that Indorama Ventures established with Toyobo Co., Ltd in November 2020.

The plant, which has been built on the site of Indorama Polyester Industries PCL (IPI) in Rayong Province, will deliver 11,000 tons of high-performance yarn per year to meet global demand for airbags that is expected to grow by 3 percent to 4 percent annually as automakers equip vehicles with more airbags and emerging economies require cars to adopt more safety features. Test production is scheduled to start in October 2022 with the goal of starting commercial production in the middle of 2023.

In 2014, Indorama Ventures and Toyobo jointly acquired Germany’s PHP Fibers GmbH, a leading airbag yarn maker. Since then, both companies have strengthened their relationship with a focus to expand in the automotive safety sector. Mr Christopher Kenneally, based in Bangkok, leads IVL’s Fibers segment, which produces fibers and yarns across its Hygiene, Mobility and Lifestyle verticals. Mr Ashok Arora, with over 30 years of experience in fibers and polymer operations, will helm TIAF as CEO while maintaining his role as CTO with IVL Fibers.

Long-standing BTMA member James Heal is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, the company’s formation dating back to 1872, when it was listed as an oil and tallow merchant and mill furnisher in Yorkshire, UK.

Today, as a testing equipment manufacturer for textiles and nonwovens, James Heal continues to expand its range, with a focus on making testing simple – most notably with the introduction of its Performance Testing collection of instruments, most recently the AirPro and HydroView systems.

AirPro
The new James Heal AirPro air permeability tester is used to test the resistance of the flow of air through woven, knitted and nonwoven textiles. Its software offers flexibility with standards and  comprehensive reporting options and different test head sizes are available, making it suitable for a range of applications and standards

HydroView
The HydroView hydrostatic head tester is meanwhile designed to measure the penetration of water in materials which have an end use that requires water resistance, such as those in the medical, geotextiles and nonwovens sectors. It is also proving essential in the testing of end-use applications for technical textiles, such as in protective gloves, diving dry suits and winter sports apparel, to fishing waders, roofing, tenting, ground sheets and more.

The fashion industry currently produces 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions. Improvements can be made for example localizing fashion, using more on-demand digital printing (it can save up to 4kg of CO₂ per item) and digital textile printers (they reduce water use by up to 90% and energy use by up to 30%). Increasing the use of sustainable materials is vital and extending the lifecycle of use would make a serious difference.

Together with designers, producers, retailers, and customers, Paolo Crespi, Sales & Marketing Director Printing Technologies at Epson, will discuss how each stage of the fashion production can be made more sustainable, and how circularity and longevity can be build into the lifecycle of fashion.

The panel will take place on Tuesday, 11 October 2022 at 09:30-11:00 am CET.

Click here for more information.