From the Sector

The Supervisory Board of adidas AG has extended the appointment of Harm Ohlmeyer as Chief Financial Officer of the company by another three years until the beginning of 2028. Harm Ohlmeyer has been member of the Executive Board of adidas AG since March 2017 and the company’s CFO since May 2017.

At the same time, the Supervisory Board appointed Arthur Hoeld as Executive Board member, responsible for Global Sales, as of April 1, 2023. Hoeld has been with adidas for 25 years, most recently as Managing Director of the company’s EMEA region since 2018. He will succeed Roland Auschel, who has decided to step down from his role, pass on the baton and leave the company after 33 years with adidas, including ten years as an Executive Board member.    

Furthermore, Brian Grevy, Executive Board member of adidas AG, responsible for Global Brands, has informed adidas AG’s Supervisory Board that he will step down from the Executive Board and leave the company. In mutual agreement with Brian Grevy, the Supervisory Board approved the termination of his appointment as an Executive Board member as of March 31, 2023. adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden will assume responsibility for Global Brands. In this role, Gulden will lead adidas product and marketing activities, which will enable the required fast decision-making across all business units and departments.

Thomas Rabe thanked Brian Grevy for his many important contributions during his years of service with the company. Grevy initially joined adidas in 1998 and held leadership positions of increasing responsibility for adidas on a local, regional and global level before leaving the company in 2016. At the beginning of 2020, Brian Grevy returned to adidas as the company’s Executive Board member for Global Brands.

As of April 1, 2023, the company’s new Executive Board will consist of Bjørn Gulden (Chief Executive Officer and Global Brands), Arthur Hoeld (Global Sales), Harm Ohlmeyer (Chief Financial Officer), Amanda Rajkumar (Global Human Resources, People and Culture) and Martin Shankland (Global Operations).

Kelheim Fibres, a leading manufacturer of viscose speciality fibres, has joined Recycling Atelier Augsburg. Recycling Atelier Augsburg is a unique centre for research and development in the field of textile recycling. It is located at the Institut für Textiltechnik Augsburg an affiliated institute of Augsburg University of Applied Sciences. The two institutions founded the Recycling Atelier in June 2022 together with twelve partners from the German textile industry.

In the Recycling Atelier, the focus is on the triad of technical and ecological sense as well as economic benefit. In this way, the partners of the Recycling Atelier are standing up against fast fashion, outsourced corporate responsibility and a general decline in raw material quality, which often fuels downcycling - the low-quality reuse - of materials.

As a model factory, the Recycling Atelier Augsburg combines the most important processes of textile recycling and offers holistic and comprehensive research along the value chain," explains Georg Stegschuster, head of the Recycling Atelier Augsburg. The scientists research on all process steps of textile recycling: from material analysis to sorting, preparation and textile processing to sustainable product design. Comprehensive data collection and the use of artificial intelligence as well as innovative materials play a central role.

Kelheim Fibres is a producer of high-quality viscose fibres, which consist of cellulose, the main component of the renewable raw material wood, and are used worldwide for products in areas such as hygiene, textiles, and technical applications.

"In New Business Development as well as Fibre and Application Development, we follow the Open Innovation concept - the cooperation with the Recycling Atelier offers us an ideal platform for this. Here we work with partners to advance sustainability and performance," explains Maik Thiel, project manager at Kelheim Fibres.

Recycled cotton fibres are often very short or of uneven length, which makes further processing of 100 % recycled material a challenge. Adding speciality fibres from Kelheim Fibres should enable the production of high-quality new products, such as nonwovens. In the future, the fibres provided by Kelheim Fibres will also be made from recycled pulp.

• Carbios strengthens its Board of Directors with the appointments of Prof. Karine AUCLAIR, Sandrine CONSEILLER, Amandine DE SOUZA and Mateus SCHREINER GARCEZ LOPES
• Carbios has reached its CSR objective of 60% independent directors ahead of 2024 target date, and has increased its female representation

Carbios‘four new members to its Board of Directors:  Prof. Karine AUCLAIR, professor of Chemistry at McGill University, Sandrine CONSEILLER, former CEO of Aigle, Amandine DE SOUZA, General Manager of LE BHV MARAIS, Eataly and Home, DIY and Leisure Purchasing at Galeries Lafayette Group, and Mateus SCHREINER GARCEZ LOPES, Global Director for Energy Transition and Investments at Raizen, have all been appointed members of Carbios’ Board of Directors.  In the new structure, Prof. Karine AUCLAIR succeeds Jacqueline LECOURTIER, Sandrine CONSEILLER succeeds Jean FALGOUX, Amandine DE SOUZA succeeds Alain CHEVALLIER, and Mateus SCHREINER GARCEZ LOPES succeeds Jean-Claude LUMARET.

Three of the new members have strong, proven expertise in various industries covering fashion, retail and energy, as well as business development and senior executive management in high-growth markets and sectors around the world.  The new scientific expertise will also help enhance and advance Carbios’ research into biological solutions for the life cycle of plastics and textiles.  In addition, a sensitivity to CSR issues and proven results in this field was also a key selection factor to join the Board.  The new members’ combined strategic vision, solid industry experience and CSR commitments will support Carbios in its industrial and commercial plans.
 
Prof. Karine AUCLAIR is Professor of Chemistry at McGill University and holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Antimicrobials and Green Enzymes.  She has received numerous awards over the years, including the Clara Benson Award of the Canadian Society of Chemistry, the McGill Tomlinson Professorship, the Leo Yaffe Teaching Award, and the McGill Fessenden Professorship, to name a few. She is an internationally recognized bioorganic chemist with significant scientific contributions to the fields of antimicrobial resistance, biocatalysis and enzymology. Her research led to several patents notably in the clean enzymatic depolymerization of untreated, high crystallinity PET plastics for closed-loop recycling.  Her work has been published in nearly 100 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, and often highlighted by the media.  As a recognized leader in her field, she is often invited to speak at industrial and academic conferences around the world, and to review theses and grant applications for worldwide institutions.
 
Sandrine CONSEILLER is former Chief Executive Officer of Aigle (the emblematic French brand committed to sustainable fashion).  Prior to joining Aigle, Sandrine was Group Marketing & Branding Executive Vice-President at Lacoste (another historic French fashion brand) from 2011 to 2015.  She contributed to the Lacoste maison turnaround with strong growth and numerous professional awards including several Cannes Lions Awards.  She was also Member of the Executive Board.  Sandrine began her career at Unilever and spent 20 years leading global businesses within various divisions, mainly in Personal Care, in Latin America, Europe, and Asia.  Sandrine is also Member of the Board of Phildar (the iconic French knitwear brand), Member of the Board of Raise Sherpa (the first philantropic endowment fund dedicated to start-ups) and is a funding partner of NEO FOUNDERS (a venture fund mentoring impact start-ups).
 
Amandine DE SOUZA is General Manager of LE BHV MARAIS (French retail, decoration and fashion department stores), Eataly (an Italian gastronomy concept franchise) and Home, DIY and Leisure Purchasing at Galeries Lafayette Group since 2018.  She has been a Member of its Executive Committee since 2020.  Amandine has 17 years’ experience in different types of companies of various sizes: from family business, to start-up,  and multinational.  She was General Manager for France at Westwing (an e-commerce start-up) from 2015 to 2018.  From 2009 to 2015, she was International Merchandise Director at Casino Group (food and non-food retail distribution).  Prior to this, she worked as a strategic consultant at Bain & Company within their Distribution and Consumer Goods Division in France and internationally.
 
Mateus SCHREINER GARCEZ LOPES is Global Director for Energy Transition and Investments at Raizen (global leader in bioenergy from Brazil), leading technology, new business development and intellectual property at the company.  He was previously Global Manager for Innovation and Business Development in Renewable Chemicals at Braskem (the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas and the world’s largest producer of biopolymers).  Before his transition to the corporate world, Mateus held several researcher and lecturer positions on Synthetic Biology and metabolic Engineering at Universities in Mexico, Germany, United States and Brazil.  He is also a Board Member of Iogen Energy Corporation, Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Brazilian Association of Bio Innovation, and Advisory Committee Member from the MIT Energy Initiative.

• Registered in majority as a class 1 medical device  

CELLIANT -  a performance textile that converts body heat into infrared energy - is designated as a Class 1 Medical Device in Australia, Canada, the EU and European Economic Area (EEA), Japan, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. CELLIANT is cleared to market in China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, with more countries and regions to follow.

In 2017, the FDA determined that products containing CELLIANT are medical devices as defined in section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and are general wellness products because they are intended to temporarily increase blood flow and local circulation at the site of the application in healthy individuals.
 
At Hologenix®, whose CELLIANT® infrared technology is an ingredient in world-class brands across many categories, science matters. The company has a distinguished Science Advisory Board composed of experts in the fields of photobiology, nanotechnology, sleep medicine, diabetes and wound care. The Science Advisory Board has overseen nine peer-reviewed published studies that collectively demonstrate CELLIANT’s effectiveness and the benefits of infrared energy. This claim set provides the basis for products containing CELLIANT to be designated as a Class 1 Medical Device in 38 countries and cleared to market in 15, with more countries and regions to follow. This elevated status in 53 countries translates to CELLIANT being an ideal partner for global companies who are seeking innovation in textiles to distinguish their products.   

“We have laid the groundwork for our partner brands to capitalize on the benefits of our infrared technology and to enhance their ability to do business,” said Seth Casden, Hologenix co-founder and CEO.  “We firmly believe that regulatory status matters and that is why we have grown the number of countries we have such relationships with by over a third in the last three years. It is definitely a competitive advantage of our company and CELLIANT.”

“Globally, the awareness of the benefits of infrared textiles, which absorb body heat and reflect it back as therapeutic infrared energy, has grown exponentially over the last 10 years,” continued Casden. “And in the United States infrared is gaining a strong foothold.”

The American subsidiary of the Swiss Oerlikon Group, Oerlikon Textile Inc., is expanding and moving into new, modern premises tailored to future needs just a few kilometers away from its previous location in Charlotte, North Carolina. A new service center for the polymer processing industry will be created on approximately 4500 m² of office and commercial space latest by the middle of this year.
Oerlikon expands service offering for customers in the USA

"We are the preferred technology partner in the field of man-made fiber production in the USA and not only want to remain so, but also to further expand our services for our customers. However, the previous premises no longer offered any opportunities for expansion," explains Chip Hartzog, President of Oerlikon Textile Inc., the logical step.

All processes will be optimized in the new buildings. Incoming goods, warehouse and dispatch will be merged, inventory control will be strengthened. On top, the range of services in the repair area will be expanded. "In addition to our services in the area of filament and carpet yarn systems, we will also be able to offer our customers repair services for staple fiber components such as crimpers or nonwoven systems in the future," says Chip Hartzog. This will further strengthen the market position for the Oerlikon Barmag, Oerlikon Neumag and Oerlikon Nonwoven brands.

Oerlikon Textile Inc. has been active in the manmade fibers business in the USA for over 55 years. In addition to the sale of Staple Fiber, BCF, IDY, POY, FDY and texturing plants, the product portfolio also includes upgrades and modernization of old plants, service and training offers as well as repair services and spare parts supplies.

All of AkzoNobel’s locations in North America are now operating on 100% renewable electricity – helping to drive the company’s ambition of reducing carbon emissions across the full value chain by 50% by 2030 (baseline 2018).

The milestone – reached at the beginning of the year – is the latest in AkzoNobel’s ongoing efforts to transition to 100% renewable electricity at all its sites globally, with Europe having achieved the landmark at the start of 2022.  

The transition to 100% renewable electricity in North America includes manufacturing sites, offices, warehouses and research and development facilities. However, the company is looking much further than its own operations.
Examples of how AkzoNobel is moving to 100% renewable electricity globally include:

• Self-generated renewable electricity – by installing solar panels at many of their locations and continue to make steady progress
• Sourcing renewable electricity – the electricity generated by their solar panels covers only part of their total electricity consumption needs. For the remainder, they'll continue to purchase renewable electricity with certificates of origin.

On January 19th, BOGNER staged an exclusive fashion show and after-show party in the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, to present the Fall/Winter 2023 collections. The guests, including VIPs, customers, press and influencers, experienced the new styles for next winter up close and personal at the historically significant location for the brand.

The show in the Hofbräuhaus in Munich was a homage to Maria Bogner, style icon and wife of company founder Willy Bogner Sr., who presented her first collection in 1948, exactly 75 years ago, in a fashion show at the same location. It was she who combined fashion and function with a casual elegance and thus laying the foundation for BOGNER as an international luxury brand.

The BOGNER fall/winter 2023 collection titled "The Alpine Express" is inspired by the past glamour of train travel to exotic lands and exudes the "Loose Elegance” Bogner is known for around the world. The collections convey a sense of luxury, whether on or off the mountain.

The Biden administration’s Section 301 penalty tariffs on finished textiles and apparel counteract China’s unfair trade advantages and give U.S. manufactures a chance to compete, two key American textile manufacturing groups told the Biden administration. Removing tariffs, the associations said, would reward China, put U.S. manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage and do nothing to reduce inflation.

In a formal submission to the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office, which is conducting a four-year statutory review of the tariffs, the associations, representing the entirety of the U.S. textile production chain, expressed strong support for the continuation of current Section 301 penalty tariffs on finished textiles and apparel imports from China and outlined the effectiveness of U.S. tariff actions.

“In some cases, such as on finished apparel, the tariffs have worked to partially offset and counteract China’s unfair trade advantages,” the groups said. “The tariffs on finished textile and apparel items are giving U.S. manufacturers the chance to compete, and we are seeing encouraging investment and growth in moving some production and souring from China back to the Western Hemisphere.”

“The CAFTA-DR [Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement] region has seen more than $1 billion in new textile and apparel investment this year, for example, which is historic and due to the textile and apparel rules negotiated under the agreement and sourcing shifts from China,” they added. “This investment and growing U.S. imports from the Western Hemisphere is attributable in part to the 301 tariffs on finished apparel.  The tariffs on finished items in our sector are broadly supported by textile/apparel producers in the hemispheric co-production chain, and it is essential that they remain in place, absent China reforming its practices.”

The submission was filed by the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and the U.S. Industrial and Narrow Fabrics Institute (USINFI), a division of the Advanced Textiles Association (AFA).

The groups have long advocated for a fair, transparent process to remove tariffs on textile machinery, certain chemicals and dyes and limited textile inputs that cannot be sourced domestically to help U.S. manufacturers compete against China.

They also stressed that lifting the tariffs on finished textiles and apparel products from China “will solidify their global dominance in this sector for generations to come and reward their abusive behaviors, exacerbate the migration crisis, hurt domestic manufacturers and workers, undermine our ability to recalibrate essential PPE supply chains, and blunt the positive supply chains shifts and investments in the Western Hemisphere that are happening.” They added it would “do nothing to solve the inflation crisis facing U.S. consumers and manufacturers right now.”

See the full submission here.

For the first time in two years, global automotive production recorded a significant increase in full-year 2022 with 82.0 million vehicles produced (2021: 77.2 million vehicles) and growth of 6.2%, driven by the regions Asia and North America, but remained below 2019 levels.
Autoneum's revenue in local currencies increased significantly by 8.5%, largely due to inflation-related compensation. In the regions Europe and Asia, Autoneum's production volumes developed below market. Compared to the July 2022 estimate, revenue was around CHF 90 million lower than assumed due to volume factors. The strong fluctuations in production volumes due to vehicle manufacturer supply chain issues continued in 2022 and were exacerbated by the war in Ukraine in Europe and by COVID-related lockdowns in Autoneum's Asian main market China. Consolidated revenue in Swiss francs increased by 6.1% year-on-year to CHF 1 804.5 million (2021: CHF 1 700.4 million) due to the strong Swiss franc.

Revenue development in the regions
In local currencies, revenue of Business Group Europe increased by 2.7%, while production volumes of vehicle manufacturers decreased by 1.3%. The growth in revenue resulted from inflation compensation, while Autoneum's production volumes were significantly lower compared to the previous year. Business Group North America increased its revenue in local currencies by 11.0%. The number of vehicles produced increased by 9.7% year-on-year. Volume development at Autoneum’s North American plants clearly improved compared with 2021 due to the allocation of semiconductors to the vehicle models supplied by Autoneum. Revenue of Business Group Asia declined by 2.7% in local currencies, and thus was significantly below the market (+7.7%). Autoneum's production facilities in its main market China are located in regions that were hit particularly hard by the COVID-related lockdowns. Growth in China was also driven by Chinese vehicle manufacturers, with whom Autoneum generated only little revenue last year.
Business Group SAMEA (South America, Middle East and Africa) achieved hyperinflation-adjusted revenue growth in local currencies of 65.2% year-on-year. This increase was mainly due to inflation compensation and in terms of volume slightly outperformed the market, which grew by 7.5%.

Due to significantly lower production volumes in Autoneum's regions Europe and Asia of around CHF 90 million compared to the half-year estimate and further increases in energy costs in the second half of the year, Autoneum expects the full-year 2022 result to be at the lower end of the guidance published on June 15, 2022.

The full year-end financial statements and the Annual Report 2022 will be presented at the Media Conference on March 1, 2023.

The international fashion sourcing platform Source Fashion, taking place from 12th – 14th February at Olympia London, has announced a compelling line-up of country pavilions and over 150 audited, quality manufacturers from around the world including Peru, India, China, Pakistan, Italy, Spain, Greece, North Macedonia,  the UAE, Madagascar, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, the UK and many more who will join the inaugural show, which runs parallel to Pure London.

Bringing a textile pavilion to the UK for the first time, the Peru Pavilion will showcase six manufacturers specialising in high-quality alpaca wool from the raw material right through to garment production, as well as cotton and other natural mixtures.

The main Indian Pavilion at this year’s Source Fashion, in collaboration with the Wool and Woollens Export Promotion Council, will showcase 20 established garment and textile exporters specialising in wool, woollen and acrylic fibres. The exhibitors will be showing full garments including men’s, women’s and kidswear as well as a selection of fabrics and raw materials. These exhibitors are regular export partners to the UK retail industry and already work with some big retailers in white label production.

The China Pavilion will present a selection of high-quality Chinese manufacturers ranging from full garment manufacturing through to raw materials, fabrics, cashmere and components.

Other producers and manufacturers attending Source Fashion from across Europe and the UK include:

• Mivania - an Italian knitwear manufacturer producing garments in 100% cashmere and cashmere blends.
• SATCoL (Salvation Army Trading Company) - a charity-owned textiles collector in the UK, actively working with retailers to reduce their carbon footprints.
• Kusilas - a Spanish company monitoring all the stages of the production process.
• Prime Casual - based in Leicester, UK, they specialise in the design and manufacture of ladies clothing from fast fashion, wholesale to bespoke tailoring.
• Athos Pallas - a fashion and textile agency located in Thessaloniki, Greece.