From the Sector

Billi London is shaping the future of fashion with eco legwear. Founded by Sophie Billi-Hardwick and Marie Bouhier in November 2020, the pair’s goal was to create durable and comfortable hosiery that was no longer seen as disposable or for single-use.
 
Each piece is made with innovative enhanced degradable yarns Amni Soul Eco® nylon and ROICA ™ V550 elastane. Amni Soul Eco® is degrading in a time of 5 years*, 20x faster than the normal 40–100-year timeframe. The materials break down into biomass and biogas, create renewable energy and do not leave behind microplastics in landfill. The soft yet chic fabrics have revolutionised the legwear industry as well as pioneering a change across the fashion sector which rarely goes beyond just using recyclable materials.

This year, Billi London was selected as one of only five brands to present as an Organic Exhibitor at the Salon International de la Lingerie (SIL) from 18-20 June at Porte de Versailles in Paris.

*In landfill conditions. Reference system: ASTM D5511 - Std test 

Premium Group and JOOR have renewed their partnership to power the SS23 PREMIUM and SEEK trade shows through JOOR’s digital platform, underpinning their belief in the power of a hybrid approach to wholesale.

From 7 - 9 July, buyers visiting the shows in Berlin will be able to learn more about and shop from exhibitors in a new hybrid way. Buyers can discover the full PREMIUM and SEEK portfolio of brands both in-person and online 24/7 by visiting JOOR Passport, JOOR's digital trade show destination.

Premium Group unites its various show locations to one cosmos for SS23 at Messe Berlin. The PREMIUM and SEEK shows will be joined by two further components— The Ground is a D2C creative platform for brands and consumers to meet, connect, and collaborate through one-of-a-kind experiences, engaging content, and innovative products, while FASHIONTECH, features masterclasses and panel discussions from the fashion industry’s most brilliant minds. A calendar of content includes deep dives into strong, successful, and sustainable strategies. As part of the content offer, JOOR will facilitate a masterclass on ‘Digital Wholesale’ and a future-looking roundtable discussion with four leading fashion brands on the FASHIONTECH stage.

Throughout the duration of the show, in-person buyers and visitors will have the ability to shop via the Premium Group mobile app. By simply scanning a brand’s corresponding QR code, visitors will link to the brand’s custom profile on JOOR Passport and be able to shop collections directly on the platform. JOOR Passport will also extend the duration of the shows by up to three months, allowing brands to continue wholesale selling digitally outside the window of the physical show.

JOOR and Premium Group’s flexible hybrid format allows visitors and brands a seamless digital and physical introduction to each other and their collections, the opportunity to connect in an efficient, effective, and longer term way, and the convenience to shop the show 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world.

Brands participating include Drykorn, Closed, Bertoni of Denmark, Veja, Ecoalf, Wrangler and Absolut Cashmere.

With an annual report entitled 'Here.We.Go' and a sustainability report 'Shaping sustainable living, together', B.I.G. is also publishing a strong ambition for a sustainable future.

Offering sustainable flooring and material solutions will be the number one priority for the coming years.

The Group's first sustainability report is built around a self-designed sustainability model - "Route 2030" - which is based on achievable commitments, covers the main priorities and reflects B.I.G.'s vision in a sincere way.

Their vision for the B.I.G. change is to actively build a better future by their our carbon footprint to zero and doing business in a transparent, integer way. In this sense, it is the translation of the Group's purpose defined in 2021: shaping sustainable living, together.

Pol Deturck adds “By 2030, together with a broad group of suppliers, stakeholders and partners, we want to be the leader in sustainable flooring and material solutions. Specifically, our future value proposition is based on products and services that are environmentally & climate friendly, circular and offered by talented, innovative people with an emphasis on integrity and respect for values. This results more in a recurring value proposition for the future.”

Clear growth ambitions
As a 100% family-owned international Group with a clear long-term vision, B.I.G. stayed true to their plans and kept on investing in all areas of their business.
“The ambition for 2021 was to invest over 100 mio euro. But we were held back by external, unforeseen factors: from delays on quotes and execution to the lack of availability and resources due to the pandemic. If all goes as planned, we’ll make up for it in 2022 with an investment budget well over 100 million euro. The main areas of interest will be sustainability, innovation and Industry 4.0.” says Pieter-Jan Sonck, CFO of B.I.G.

Adding to the gradual top-line growth of recent years, the Group can look back on an unprecedented financial boom. The driving forces: favorable market conditions, a revitalized growth strategy and a team of nearly 5.000 first-class employees.

B.I.G. reported a turnover of EUR 2,5 billion, an increase of 45 % compared to 2020. The Group ebitda amounted to EUR 451 million, an increase of 120 % compared to 2020 and a net result of EUR 274 million, a growth of 215% compared to 2020.

Fruitful year for all Business Units
It was a fruitful year for all 3 business units, but the Group's business unit Polymers stood out. Exceptionally strong demand in Europe and North America, combined with raw material shortages and unplanned shutdowns of competitors, pushed prices and margins up to highs. The Polymers facilities ran at full capacity to meet the customers’ needs and hit all-time profit records during several months.

The Group's business unit Flooring Solutions also fared well. Most divisions and regions outperformed amid surging energy prices, disrupted supply chains, cost volatility in transport and raw materials, and other challenges. Their sustained focus on innovation, design and product differentiation led to an improved operating result at the end of 2021.

The achievements by Engineered Solutions echo those of the other two business units, from volume increases to budget increases. B.I.G. took big leaps forward in all its key markets, including the automotive sector, geotextiles and filtration.

Carbios announces the appointment of two new members to its Executive Committee: Lionel Arras, Industrial Development Director, and Mathieu Berthoud, Sourcing and Public Affairs Director.

Lionel Arras joined Carbios’ teams in 2021 to support the industrial growth of PET enzymatic recycling technology as Industrial Development Director. He was appointed to the Company’s Executive Committee on May 2. An engineer who graduated from ENSIC Nancy and holds an MBA from the Lyon School of Management, Lionel Arras has more than 25 years of experience in the field of process engineering and the chemical industry.
At Carbios, he now heads a team of around 50 people mobilized around three major divisions:
- the industrial demonstration plant, inaugurated last September in Clermont-Ferrand,
- technological development,
- the first Reference Unit project, installed on the Indorama Ventures site in Longlaville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France.

Lionel Arras, Carbios’ Industrial Development Director: “After the successful start-up of our industrial demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand, we are continuing our scale-up with the construction of the first enzymatic recycling plant in the world in Longlaville, France. Its launch, scheduled for early 2025, will enable the processing of 50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste or the equivalent of 2 billion bottles. It is a great source of pride for me to be able to support Carbios in this strategic development phase.”

Mathieu Berthoud will join Carbios as Sourcing and Public Affairs Director on June 1, 2022. With more than 30 years of experience, including 10 years at Rhodia (now Solvay) and more than 20 years at Suez, in various commercial development or subsidiary management positions, he was most recently Technical and Performance Director for the Group’s recycling and recovery activities. A university-trained scientist, he also holds an MBA from HEC Paris. At Carbios, he will be responsible for securing the supply of PET waste for the future reference plant in Longlaville and the other industrial sites that will follow. He will also manage the Company’s public affairs.

RadiciGroup's sustainable Repetable yarn took to the field alongside Liverpool and Chelsea during the Emirates FA Cup final, which took place on 14 May at Wembley Stadium.
 
Over 47,000 plastic bottles were collected from previous events at Wembley stadium and transformed into Repetable, the innovative RadiciGroup yarn made from PET flakes, which was then used to make the red banner 105 meters long and 68 meters wide, unveiled during the opening ceremony of the event and decorated with the logos of the two teams.
 
Compared to virgin polyester, Repetable® allows lower CO2 emissions (-45%), lower water consumption (-90%) and lower energy consumption (-60%), guaranteeing high performance.

The red banner will be recycled again to make backpacks and sports bibs that the FA will donate to the local community to inspire the eco-players of the future: an initiative in the name of circularity!

Cobra International has launched an innovation report highlighting its key composite manufacturing innovations that have reshaped the Windsurfing industry.
Having first begun building windsurf boards in 1978, Cobra continues to drive technology development in the sport and 44 years later, manufactures approximately 80% of the world’s composite windsurf boards. Manufacturing for leading brands such as Fanatic, Starboard, Naish, RRD, JP and Quatro Goya, Cobra has consistently evolved and improved the construction and finishes of the boards that it builds, balancing stiffness, comfort, weight, strength, durability, and aesthetics.
Cobra’s report details key manufacturing innovations including:

• The introduction of its innovative vacuum moulding technique that Cobra perfected just as the popularity of the sport exploded.
• The manufacture of its own composite EPS forming moulds producing strong, watertight cores that are ready to use in production directly from the mould.
• The mass production of sandwich boards with thermoformed PVC foam wrapped around the rails, increasing the board’s strength whilst keeping weight to a minimum.
• Seamless rail construction
• High-volume manufacturing capacity optimized for the finest prepreg carbon foils satisfying the current demand for windsurf foiling equipment
• Development programs with on of the world’s leading carbon fibre fabric producers to create ever lighter biaxial fabrics.

“As we set aside time during the pandemic to upskill, innovate, and look to the future, it was also important that we referred back to our key technology successes. This got us thinking about so many of our developments which led us to create this innovation report. Customers can draw great confidence from the fact that the Cobra team is always working on tomorrow’s next generation product as well as building exceptional quality into each of today’s boards.” Bruce Wylie, CCO, Cobra International

Cooperating alliances for lightweight technology: The European Lightweight Association (ELA) and the European Lightweight Clusters Alliance (ELCA) have decided to work together. Both European lightweight clusters are united by the common goal of giving the enormous economic and ecological potential of lightweight technology more visibility in politics, business and science at European, national and regional level. In addition, complementary expertises of work form the basis for the future partnership, from which European lightweight technology can optimally benefit.

"We see great potential in the future cooperation of the ELA and the ELCA to advance lightweight technology in Europe with combined forces," says Dr Katharina Schöps as representative of the ELCA. "In this way, we are strengthening the global competitiveness of European companies and at the same time making a significant contribution to climate protection," says Jean-Pierre Heijster of the ELA about the cooperation of the European lightweight technology networks.

Together, ELCA and ELA represent a growing network of more than 4,500 companies and more than 600 research institutions from 12 European countries active in lightweight technology across different
sectors and industries. This brings together the two largest lightweight technology communities in Europe. Lightweight solutions from Europe can thus gain visibility and be implemented more quickly in global markets.

Joining forces to strengthen lightweight technologies ́ market position at the European level ELCA and ELA want to improve the positioning of lightweight technologies and materials with joint activities and events, in particular to prioritise them on the agenda of the European Commission. The cooperation thus wants to send a clear signal to Brussels. Especially with the view to achieve European climate protection goals; lightweight technology has the potential to conserve valuable resources and reduce CO 2 emissions. At the same time, the improved sustainability with the same or even optimised performance brings valuable competitive advantages for companies. Lightweight products and technologies Made in Europe can thus become a unique selling point for European stakeholders on international markets.

With this cooperation, ELCA and ELA combine their respective strengths: ELCA, as the European Lightweight Clusters Alliance, has very successfully created a resilient pan-European innovation ecosystem for lightweight technology in recent years. ELA, on the other hand, is particularly characterised by its close ties to industrial users. As a result, the existing ecosystem is enriched and a more demand-oriented development and faster market introduction is made possible. In this way, both lightweight technology networks will complement each other optimally in the future in order to bring technology and markets together in a targeted manner.

Standard & Poor's Global Ratings (S&P) raises its long-term rating for SGL Carbon to B- and its issue rating on its financial instruments to B. The outlook for the company is rated as stable by the renowned rating agency.

S&P Global Ratings explains the upgrade of SGL's rating with the company's improved capital structure and the reduction of net debt. The rating agency expects SGL Carbon to generate positive free cash flow in the coming years, which will support the reduction in absolute debt.

For the future development of SGL Carbon, S&P assumes an improvement in profitability based in particular on the expansion of products and materials for the future-oriented core markets of mobility, energy transition and digitalization, besides the savings from the restructuring.

"We are pleased that our operational successes and the already advanced trans-formation of SGL Carbon have been honored by the two major rating agencies - Moody's and S&P - by upgrading the ratings. We also see this as a motivation for the further development of SGL Carbon," explains Thomas Dippold, Chief Financial Officer of SGL Carbon SE.

• Innovation packages from STOLL - a company of the KARL MAYER Group

Optimizations, further developments and innovations are an integral part of STOLL's activities. The industry leader in flat knitting technology has recently launched a new offering in the form of defined innovation packages. The aim here is to make STOLL's high innovative strength even clearer and enable customers to benefit from it more quickly. "The demands made on flat knitting technology are changing all the time, whether in the case of technical textiles for transportation and furniture fabrics or medical solutions well as in the fashion sector, where new yarns - such as recycled yarns or innovative technologies, such as smart textiles - have to be taken into account all the time," knows Erhard Vöhringer, Sales Manager of the STOLL Business Unit in the KARL MAYER Group "Our customers always have to keep abreast of the latest developments. We are therefore continuously developing appropriate improvements, and with our innovation packages we are now offering even more detailed demand-oriented solutions."

Detail optimisations for more overall performance
The innovation packages have the benefits for customers in focus and were tailored to the respective target groups. Every optimization contained therein leads to a decisive improvement in production. All of the solutions developed can be easily integrated into existing STOLL machines.  

Innovation package Number One
Innovation package Number One will be launched on the market in a few weeks' time and is aimed explicitly at knitters who focus on technical textiles. The focus is on convenience and process acceleration. Simple network configuration, expansion of the number of NP values, extended functionality when loading and saving the pattern and also improvement of handling in connection with Production Management from PPS are just some of the features of the package. "The corresponding updates for the machine control system are available to our customers for download free of charge on Customer_Net. In the future, there will also be a cloud-based offering," explains Erhard Vöhringer.

Innovation package Number Two
Still in the pipeline, included in the Number Two innovation package, are improvements for the maintenance area – regarding the use of lubricants and the maintenance intervals (predictive maintenance) – as well as optimizations in terms of sustainability, for example when it comes to reducing consumption of oil and increasing reliability. These solutions will be suitable for all machine types and applications.
The focus here is on improvements in belt take-down, the import and export of data and support for additional storage feeders.
A physical improvement in handling is promised by the new lighting including mirror directly on the machine.
In addition, the development teams are currently working on optimizing various knitting qualities and increasing user-friendliness. So you can already be curious!

Concentrated innovative power
The STOLL development team, with several hundred engineers and technicians in the fields of electronics, software, patterning, and design, never runs out of topics. Questions like "What is the market looking for? What do customers want?  Which changes do the machines have to meet and which ones do the software control and design program have to meet?" are first discussed, evaluated and debated together as a team and then go into the development phase. "Our customers can be absolutely sure that all our innovations are meticulously tested before we go to market with them" emphasizes Erhard Vöhringer. This also applies to the solutions in the innovation packages.

Small solutions, big impact
STOLL flat knitting machines impress with their great application and production potential. Almost 150 years of extensive practical experience in flat knitting technology - the STOLL company was founded in 1873 - is unique in the industry. As a Business Unit of the KARL MAYER Group, STOLL continues to do everything in its power to inspire its customers with innovative strength. Productive, flexible and reliable - simply STOLL! This slogan has not lost any of its meaning today. Quite the contrary: With the new innovation packages, customers benefit not only from the latest high-tech flat knitting machines, but also from an always up-to-date performance upgrade of their existing machine park.
With its innovation packages, STOLL has found a flexible and very fast way directly to the customer. Anyone who wants to know more about this is cordially invited to this year's trade fairs. STOLL looks forward to seeing you at the KARL MAYER Group stand at ITM (Istanbul), Techtextil (Frankfurt), Techtextil India (Mumbai) and ITMA ASIA. (Shanghai).

B.I.G. Yarns has secured its debut spot at the return of Clerkenwell Design Week (24-26 May 2022) and will showcase its sustainable contract flooring to carpet makers, architects and designers.

B.I.G. Yarns’ polyamide-based collections are high-performing with a strong emphasis on elevating design through remarkable colour contrasts and patterns: from bulk continuous filament (BCF) to twisted and heat-set yarns, one-colour to multi-colour, between 650 and 15000 dTex.

Designers can tap into the Class 33 resilience and various comfort levels of its one-step 3Ply Resilya, Softitude, and new two-step ColorMind solutions to meet application requirements, as well as access monthly inspiration care of #CatchtheColor. ColorMind offers yarn diversity to support a new level of design sophistication in high-end carpet segments. The ColorMind colour bank features predefined colours, always in stock, meaning short lead times. Manufacturers can also benefit from customized lot sizes and bobbin length, creating even more flexibility and design freedom.

B.I.G. Yarns continues to extend its ranges to reduce fossil-carbon in the industry and encourage greater product circularity. Its EqoCycle PA6 yarns incorporate recycled content originating from recycled and regenerated PA6 and are fully recyclable, improving resource efficiency and other environmental benefits throughout the value chain. Carpet tufters can also contribute to a sustainable future through less use of fossil resources and reduced greenhouse gas emissions with EqoBalance yarns. Both ranges offer the same high-quality performance as virgin-based yarns.