From the Sector

Svegea of Sweden – a member of TMAS, the Swedish Textile Machinery Association – has recently installed an EC300-S collarette cutter for the high speed production of tubular apparel components as well as an FA350 automatic roll slitter at the plant of Löffler, in Ried im Innkreis, Austria.

The EC 300-S collarette cutter is equipped with the computer-controlled True-Drive II and high pre-feed device, which is used by garment manufacturers around the world for the production of tubular apparel components such as cuff and neck tapes and other seam reinforcements. It operates at speeds of up to 20,000 metres per hour. The integrated, fully automatic FA350 roll slitter FA500 roll slitter is equipped with three separately adjustable settings enabling three different band widths to be cut within the same cutting cycle. Automatic tube sewing units are provided for sewn tubes in optional rolled or flat folded forms, depending on customer preference.

Sports and knitwear specialist Löffler is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023. Its plant in Ried houses 25 circular knitting machines and three seamless knitting machines with an annual output of around 905,000 square metres of fabric, and in addition to product development, design, cutting and some sewing are all carried out in-house.

Löffler is known for its transtex under garments, which ushered in the two-layer principle of structures combining hydrophobic polypropylene and other fibres like cotton, Modal, Tencel or merino wool.

Before transtex, endurance athletes usually wore pure cotton underwear next to their skin, which became wet over time and cooled the body down. Löffler’s two-layer fabric prevented this, since the polypropylene does not absorb moisture and instead wicks it to the outside, where it can evaporate to keep the skin dry.

Innovation has been ongoing ever since, and in December, Löffler received an ISPO Award 2022 for transtex Retr’x – its latest functional underwear made from recycled polypropylene from textile waste and a combination of recycled and GOTS-certified organic cotton. Transtex Retr’x is neither dyed or bleached and is Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex as well as Made In Green by Oeko-Tex approved.

In addition to its own branded products, the plant makes sports garments for sister company Fischer, which is also based in Ried, and is at the same time involved in significant government tender projects, including the supply of polo shirts for the Austrian Red Cross and for the German and Austrian police forces. Combined, Löffler and Fischer employ approximately 700 people in the region of Upper Austria.

Carbios has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Martine Brisset as Senior Vice President from 1 January 2023. Martine will manage the Biodegradation Division and supervise the Human Resources, Legal, Regulatory, Project Management, Quality Health and Safety departments. Martine Brisset joins the Group’s Executive Committee, as does Delphine Denoizé, who remains Innovation Programs Funding, Regulation and LCA Director with an expanding team.

Martine Brisset has over 30 years of General Management experience in international groups within the plastic and paper packaging industry, most notably at Amcor, Huhtamaki, Linpac and Klockner Pentaplast.  Since 2021, she has held the position of General Manager of Carbiolice in order to integrate this high-potential subsidiary dedicated to biodegradation within the Carbios Group. In her new position as Senior Vice President of Carbios, her main mission will be to successfully deploy the biodegradation technology, facilitate the international expansion of Carbios’ activities, organise the recruitment and training of the Group’s employees. With numerous recruitments planned throughout the company in 2023, building Carbios’ attractivity will be a strategic topic.

After several years working in innovation within the agricultural industry, Delphine Denoizé joined the Carbios in 2016 and was one of its first twenty employees. Initially in charge of Innovation Funding and Regulation, then Project Management for PET biorecycling, she now oversees all the Group’s projects. Her responsibilities include French and European public funding for innovation, regulatory compliance of processes and products around the world, and assessment of their environmental impact through specific tools such as Life Cycle Assessment.

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.

• In Spring 2022, adidas announced its partnership with Impact Hub and Blavity.org to launch a new program called Cultivate & B.L.O.O.M. (Building Legacies Out of Movements), an accelerator program for social entrepreneurs of color.
• Through knowledge sharing and funding, the program cultivates a thriving ecosystem for changemakers to accelerate impact and deliver initiatives at the intersection of sport, equity and creativity for Black and Latinx communities.

In Spring 2022, adidas announced its newest program, Cultivate & B.L.O.O.M., designed to equip entrepreneurs of color with tools and resources to enable them to accelerate growth and maximize impact. As part of adidas’ United Against Racism commitments and celebration of boundary-breaking Black women, Cultivate & B.L.O.O.M. is further closing the opportunity gap that exists for Black and Latinx social entrepreneurs by elevating, co-creating with and funding entrepreneurs creating change in their communities.

Through an intentional selection process, eight Black women social entrepreneurs were identified to participate in the first-ever Cultivate & B.L.O.O.M. cohort. The first cohort kicked off in July 2022 and will graduate in March 2023.

Throughout their nine months in the program, entrepreneurs have access to a tailored portfolio of resources and opportunities from within and outside of the adidas ecosystems that will serve to accelerate their impact. These resources include funding, access to industry experts, mentorship, workshops, fireside chats and visibility into adidas’ networks.

After graduating from the program, participants become a partner in the “Innovation Network”, a network of social impact partners that seek to drive forward change within their communities and organizations. This portfolio of partners will enable adidas to continue strengthening the diversity of our partnership network, increase our reach within key markets and deepen our relationships over time.

• Lenzing again recognized for sustainable sourcing, innovation and transparency
• Lenzing achieves the highest category for the third time already

The Lenzing Group achieved first place in the “Hot Button Ranking” of the Canadian non-profit organization Canopy, thus confirming its leading role in the areas of sustainability and responsible wood and pulp sourcing. Lenzing can also once again celebrate a dark green shirt, synonymous with the highest category.

In this ranking, which receives a lot of attention in the textile and apparel industry, Canopy evaluates the world’s 34 largest producers of cellulosic fibers in terms of their sustainable wood and pulp sourcing, their efforts with regard to the use of alternative raw materials and their achievements in the protection of ancient and endangered forests. Resource preservation is a key element of Lenzing’s corporate strategy and at the core of its innovation agenda. The sustainable production of TENCEL™, VEOCEL™ and LENZING™ ECOVERO™branded specialty fibers is based on these principles.

Promoting the circular economy
With its REFIBRA™ and Eco Cycle technologies, Lenzing offers solutions for transforming the textile and nonwovens industries towards a circular economy. In line with its vision for the circular economy, “We give waste a new life. Every day.” Lenzing is driving the industry toward a full circular economy by striving to give waste a new life in all aspects of its core business and developing circular solutions together with potential partners inside and outside the current value chain. A milestone on this path is the cooperation with the Swedish pulp producer Södra. The two global market leaders, who have been proactively promoting the circular economy in the fashion industry for many years, are joining forces to give the topic a further boost and make a decisive contribution to solving the global textile waste problem by making fibers from post-consumer textiles.

Today, Lenzing offers lyocell fibers made from 30 percent recycled cotton waste. The company aims to launch lyocell, modal and viscose staple fibers with up to 50 percent recycled post-consumer content on a commercial scale by 2025 and to develop a new circular business model by closing the loops for post-consumer waste. By 2025, the company plans to enter into further partnerships with 25 key supply chain companies.

Grosvenor, an international retail development and investment company, has launched a search for new technologies that promote innovation and create a social customer experience. A major aim of the challenge was to drive retail recovery in a post-pandemic world where bricks and mortar stores saw footfall slump. Zyler’s try-on solution impressed the judges and the companies will launch the technology with Grosvenor’s retail tenants.

Zyler’s patented technology allows customers to see themselves in any outfit with a head and shoulders photo and basic measurements virtually. For retailers, the try-on experience can be embedded into a website or existing app with only a small snippet of code needed.

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry convened 500 absorbent hygiene and personal care professionals from 30 countries and throughout the supply chain to participate in the eighth edition of Hygienix™ – the premier event for absorbent hygiene & personal care markets – held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 14-17.

The program kicked off with recycling approaches for disposable absorbent hygiene waste, followed by business impacts of period product legislation and regulation, new menstrual products, consumer trends, and three finalist presentations for the 2022 Hygienix Innovation Award™.

The event also included presentations from 18 other industry experts along with 13 hours of scheduled face-to-face networking, and 50 tabletop display exhibits and banquet receptions on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

One highlight of the event was the presentation of INDA’s prestigious Hygienix Innovation Award™ to Egal Pads for Pads on a Roll™ a wrapped super-thin absorbent period pad that dispenses like toilet paper in public bathroom stalls. The product aims to prevent the personal embarrassment of not having a menstrual product when needed.

INDA President Tony Fragnito presented the 2022 INDA Lifetime Service Award to Dave Rousse, INDA President Emeritus, for his long-established service to the nonwovens industry and INDA. Rousse led the acquisition of the INSIGHT conference, and combined the INDA Vision Conference to launch the Hygienix™ conference for the absorbent hygiene and personal care market in 2015, and initiated the purchase of INDA Media.

Hygienix™ 2023 will be held Nov 13-16, in New Orleans, Louisiana .

Confirming its commitment as a global sustainability player.

The Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP 27) has turned out to be one of the most closely watched events in recent years, an opportunity to bring together leaders from around the world in the face of a pressing and undeniable need

ISKO had the honor to be the only manufacturer representative of the fashion industry at the United Nations event by taking part on 12 November at the focus talk “Circular Systems for a Net Positive Fashion Industry” organized by the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme).

Elena Faleschini, Senior Manager Brand Partnerships ISKO, and the other speakers (Federica Marchionni, Lily Cole, Miranda Schnitger, Samata Pattinson, Holly Syrett and Tarek Alkhoury) have agreed that:

• Harmonization and transparency in goals are critical.
• Vertical and horizontal partnerships are key.
• Investment in innovation is vital to a circular business model in fashion.
• Fashion must be part of the discussions around climate change and net positive.

The philosophy guiding Officina39's innovation and development ranges fluidly between exploration of color, denim heritage and artistic expression, but has sustainability and the search for environmentally friendly chemical solutions for the fashion industry as its cornerstones. This is the core vision that accompanied the Italian company, when presenting its latest technologies and collaborations at Denimsandjeans in Tokyo from November 1-2.

Denim & Art
Juan Manuel Gomez, Officina39 Creative Leader, represents the company’s multidisciplinary approach and combines artistic expression with a thorough technical experience. His explorations were drawn on the Denim Art Wall at the fair. Furthermore, in the interactive seminar “Art & Denim As A Process Of Repetition” he explained that there is a constant act of repetition as automatic drawing or pictorial act in the processes of the textile industry.

The SS24 collection
The Multicolor Denim Dreaming collection is a combination of several Officina39’s sustainable key technologies:

• Nebudye D: a wide range of fresh colors to obtain a unique dyeing effect in nebulization/fog system machinery and can be discharged in a creative way with Oz-One Powder, an advanced product to give garments a bleached yet eco-friendly treatment, and Remover IND/J-N, Officina39’s solution to replace the use of Potassium Permanganate (PP) on denim and obtain a worn and distressed vintage look.
• Novantic series: a combination of selected dyestuffs with a special mordanting agent suitable to obtain surface dyeing to provide vintage or old look effects.
• Recycrom™: a patented dyestuffs range obtained through a cutting-edge upcycling process that involves textile fibers from used clothing and manufacturing waste for dyeing and printing applications. Its sustainable and revolutionary powders assure a whole universe of denim effects: from classic authentic vintage to acid wash look (Eco Marble), from printed effect (Indigo Replica) to worn and distressed vintage look (Recycrom™ Dirty).
• Just One Step Process: an innovation that saves time, energy, space and of course water, by combining several phases of the Aqualess Mission at the same time: a raw garment enters the machine and a garment with a basic vintage effect comes out ready to be dried, already treated, bleached and softened.
• Remover Activator: a technology that in combination with PP replacement products creates in one step general bleaching, localized corrosion and highlights effects on jeans.

Recreational boaters now have an easy way to be more sustainable following the introduction of a new biocide-free (B-Free) fouling control range from AkzoNobel’s Yacht Coatings business.

The first product to be launched from the new B-Free range is B-Free Explore. It features a specially-developed, unique silicone polymer technology which produces an exceptionally smooth and slick hull – helping to reduce drag.

Fouling is controlled by preventing microorganisms such as barnacles, slime and algae from forming strong bonds with the hull of the boat. Any that do adhere can be simply wiped away by hand or water jet.

“We’ve developed high-performance technology which allows boaters to maintain a clean, smooth hull,” explains Simon Parker, Director of AkzoNobel’s Marine and Protective Coatings business. “It’s based on proven technology and exemplifies the restless spirit of innovation which has been the cornerstone of our International brand for more than 140 years.”

Adds Jemma Lampkin, Global Commercial Director for AkzoNobel’s Yacht Coatings business: “Boaters are becoming more aware of the impact they can have on the environment, but they still require technologies that deliver high-performance fouling control. B-Free Explore provides a stand-out solution for both of these challenges.”

Specially crafted for the leisure boat market, B-Free Explore is the culmination of a five-year development program. It can be applied to new hulls or directly to existing antifouling, without the need for the removal of the previous antifouling coating. This makes it simple for boaters to upgrade from their traditional coatings to the new technology.

The new product is also better for the marine ecosystem. Being biocide-free, it provides a smooth surface for improved hull efficiencies, which can lead to a reduced carbon footprint.

Currently being introduced in Northern Europe, B-Free Explore will be rolled out across Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden in January 2023.