From the Sector

To reach its goal of being the world’s leading supplier of enhanced recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), gr3n is signing a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with its shareholder Intecsa Industrial to set up a Joint Venture.

gr3n together with Intecsa Industrial will join forces and build a “First-of-a-Kind” manufacturing facility able to produce 40.000 tons of virgin-like PET, commencing EPC phase in Q4-2024 and aiming to be operational in 2027. gr3n’s chemical recycling technology is capable of processing PET from various industries including textile waste, closing the loop for hard-to-recycle PET applications.

The world’s first industrial-scale MADE PET recycling plant will have the capability to process post-industrial and post-consumer PET waste including hard-to-recycle waste, to produce approximately 40.000 tons of virgin PET chips from the recycled monomers saving nearly 2 million tons of CO2 during its operating life. The post-consumer and/or post-industrial polyesters will be both from bottles (colored, colorless, transparent, opaque) and textiles (100% polyester but also mixtures of other materials like PU, cotton, polyether, polyurea, etc. with up to 30% of presence in the raw textile).

The technical concept of the MADE plant is to break down PET into its main components (monomers) so they can potentially be re-polymerized endlessly to provide brand new virgin PET or any other polymer using one of the monomers. Polymers obtained can be used to produce new bottles/trays and/or new garments, essentially completely displacing feedstock material from fossil fuels, as the recycled product has the same functionality as that derived traditionally. This means that gr3n can potentially achieve bottle-to-textile, textile-to-textile, or even textile-to-bottle recycling, moving from a linear to a circular system.

gr3n’s process has the potential to change the way PET is recycled worldwide, enabling huge benefits for both the recycling industry and the entire polyester value chain. Many efforts have been made in the past to transfer enhanced recycling from research laboratories to the manufacturing industry, but the economics and skepticism of the first adopters have constantly blocked the progress of the proposed solutions. Thanks to the MADE technology developed by gr3n, this approach is now feasible and makes gr3n one of the few companies with the potential to provide a reliable enhanced recycling solution that closes the life cycle of PET, and also offers food grade polymer material, processes a large variety of waste and reduces the carbon footprint of these materials usually destined for incineration or landfill.

Flat knitting solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan has launched its “SHIMA HelpCenter” customer support site. SHIMA HelpCenter integrates Help, FAQ, Operation Manual, and Glossary functions for SHIMA SEIKI products, and supports cross-content keyword search to improve user convenience. In addition, video content provides easy-to-understand explanations of various product functions, as smart solutions to questions and problems that may arise during product use. With support for smartphones and tablets, our product users can use the service anytime, anywhere. Operation manuals that were previously provided in printed form are being converted to the online version in order to provide services more efficiently in an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and convenient manner.

SHIMA online is a web service platform which features “APEXFiz®” design software subscription service, “yarnbank®” digital yarn sourcing service, “SHIMA Datamall™” digital content service, “SHIMANAVI®” e-learning system and “SHIMA KnitManager™” knit production management software, all of which are designed to improve operational efficiency and create attractive and sustainable products. With a SHIMA online account, both SHIMA HelpCenter and SHIMA Datamall can be accessed using the same ID.

Three strong women, each different from the other, but who have managed to leave their mark on the history and evolution of the female role, and despite living in different eras, have left an indelible mark on society: Madame De Pompadour, nicknamed Reinette, the favourite of King Louis XV, Luisa Amman, called Corè by the great poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, and the iconic Vivienne Westwood, Miss Viv.
The three women are the FOREVER ICONS chosen and celebrated Iluna, where each woman becomes the protagonist of a “traveling exhibition” that will accompany Iluna between events and fairs.

Reinette
The nickname "Reinette" belonged to Madame De Pompadour, the favourite of King Louis XV. She had a significant influence in politics, arts, and fashion, shaping the style of the first half of the 18th century. Beauty and grace are represented in a floral theme, featuring small romantic details that become opulent with the use of lurex and golden cords. The color palette is soft, muted, and powderyry.

Corè
Luisa Amman, born in the late 19th century into a wealthy bourgeois family, married at a young age and became Marchesa Casati. "Corè" is the endearing nickname given to her by her lover Gabriele D'Annunzio, inspired by Kore, the Queen of the Underworld. She was a patron of the arts, an eccentric and transgressive collector. This theme celebrates opulence, from peacock feathers to Liberty-style designs in deep colours and warm metallic glimmers. An innovative proposal for the theme is the pleating technique, achieved directly in the weaving process of the Ultralight jacquardtronic laces.

Miss Viv
Vivienne Westwood, an extraordinary protagonist with an intense and irreverent life. Her insights have forever marked fashion and transformed the general standards of dressing. Rock and rebellious, she drew inspiration from street trends, anticipating avant-garde movements. In the 1990s, she brought back Tartan, mixing it with sensual roses in a maximalism that went against the prevailing trends, featuring vibrant colours. At the beginning of the third millennium, she grasped the importance of preserving the planet and left us with a motto that is more urgent and relevant than ever: "Buy Less, Choose Well, Make it Last." Within this theme, there is a new GRS-certified print that saves water, applied to ultra-fine Lurex nets, which are also certified.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) signed Thailand’s first sustainability-linked Trade Finance facility of US$50 million to support Indorama Ventures’ contributions to its ambitious sustainability commitment. This new facility reflects Indorama Ventures’ leadership in leveraging sustainable financing in Thailand.

The new facility is short-term working capital finance linked to the company’s sustainability performance targets, including reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 10% by 2025 (from a 2020 base), increasing post-consumer PET bale input for recycling to 750,000 tons by 2025, and boosting renewable electricity consumption to 25% by 2030.

Indorama Ventures has secured a total US$2.4 billion in long-term sustainable financing from various national and international financial institutions between 2018–2022. The funds are supporting the company’s expansion and sustainability projects in line with its strategy under Vision 2030 as a purposeful company with ESG at its core.

Indorama Ventures, in partnership with Polymateria, has been honoured with the INDA Innovation Award for their collaboration in developing pioneering Biotransformation technology to create wipes, which totally biodegrade, leaving no harmful substance or microplastics behind.

The award was presented at the recent World of Wipes International Conference in Atlanta, USA, and recognizes the level of technical innovation and investment that led to developing wipes that both deliver against the sustainability challenges of today while meeting the demands of Indorama Ventures’ customers worldwide.

Through its 10-year partnership agreement with technology innovator Polymateria, Indorama Ventures is applying Polymateria’s unique biotransformation technology to fibers and spunmelt nonwovens. Biotransformation is the world's first biodegradation technology that is capable of delivering full biological consumption of Polyolefin products in the open terrestrial environment. Polyolefin-based materials produced by this technology are especially useful for applications where materials may be leaked into the environment as unmanaged waste.

“We are constantly innovating to live up to our responsibility to optimize the Earth’s resources, as we combine nature and science in our Biotransformation PP - designed to be recycled or returned to nature,” he said. “By bringing Biotransformation technology to Hygiene markets, we hope to offer a real-world solution to waste management. We particularly hope to address aspects of the creation of fugitive waste and remove this from the environment without causing additional, and potentially more dangerous, problems.”

As a leading company in the collecting, sorting, reselling, and recycling of post-consumer textile waste, TEXAID has enabled the recycling of post-consumer textile waste into new textiles and clothing. Working together with brands and retailers, TEXAID and their partners are continuing to take action to shift from a linear to a circular system.

Today’s linear system of «take – make – waste» needs to change. New textiles are produced used and discarded instead of putting them to a second use. The production of new textiles requires natural resources that are limited, and the current system has a significant negative impact on our planet. The transition to a circular system, where garments are kept in use for longer, is an opportunity to harness untapped potential around customer loyalty, economic growth, and ecological sustainability. To move away from the linear system and enable products to be made out of post-consumer textile waste, TEXAID continues to expand its offering for in-store collection programs throughout Europe and the USA

Aligned with the launch of the PUMA Switzerland 23/24 Women’s World Cup home jersey, PUMA and TEXAID have partnered for the Swiss division of their RE:FIBRE Program. PUMA is working to have a more sustainable, long-term solution for recycling polyester jerseys. To achieve this goal, they have developed their RE:FIBRE Program, which transforms textile waste, along with other used materials, into new textiles.

To enable this textile to textile program in Switzerland, specific feedstocks are requires, which is TEXAID’s role as the operator of the collection and sorting. Newly launched in the PUMA Zurich location at Jelmoli, customers can bring garments of all brands and deposit them in-store. TEXAID collects and sorts all deposited items, sending eligible polyester garments into the PUMA RE:FIBRE program, to be recycled into new garments. All other garments are channeled by TEXAID to their next life cycle.

Baldwin Technology Co. Inc. has launched a new set of resources for sheet-fed and web offset printers at PrintEnomics.com with the release of the “Video Didn't Kill the Radio Star. And Digital Didn't Kill Print” eBook.

Its PrintEnomic$ website offers curated resources that analyze trends and issues impacting not only sheet-fed and web offset printers but also narrow web and corrugated printers. Separate eBooks, videos, podcasts and instructional guides are available to help maximize printer profitability in all three specialized areas.

Baldwin is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of innovative process-automation equipment, parts, service and consumables for the printing, packaging, textile, plastic film extrusion and corrugated industries.

More than 5,000 print industry professionals have already downloaded or viewed earlier-released eBooks centered on narrow web (“Untangling the Web”) and corrugated (“From Beast to Beauty”).

Through interviews with customers, industry insiders, in-house engineers – and reviews of the latest reporting – Baldwin explores four trends in the “Video Didn't Kill the Radio Star. And Digital Didn't Kill Print” eBook:

• The resurgence in book publishing
• Labor challenges
• Direct mail marketing as a cure for screen fatigue
• Sustainability

adidas unveils its new campaign to celebrate the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™. The campaign is dedicated to next gen icons Alessia Russo, Lena Oberdorf and Mary Fowler and looks to drive more global attention for the game and inspire other young women and girls to follow in their footsteps.

Marking adidas’ most impactful Women’s World Cup campaign to date, the brand unites its global family of football legends and advocates of the women’s game. Headlined by a series of fast-paced films, the campaign welcomes a star-studded line up of David Beckham, Leon Goretzka and Ian Wright, actor and football fan, Jenna Ortega, as well as Argentina’s World Cup hero, Lionel Messi. They come together to celebrate the skills that Russo, Oberdorf and Fowler are renowned for, from vision and interception to power, creativity and accuracy.

The films are part of a new creative proposition from adidas for the upcoming tournament. ‘Play Until They Can’t Look Away’ aims to platform and showcase some of the world’s greatest football players on the biggest stage – whose skills and passion for the game demand global attention and support.

Set against the soundtrack of SL2’s iconic song, On a Ragga Tip, fans see World Cup winner, Lionel Messi, alongside Mary Fowler, guiding both viewers and Jenna Ortega across the world to Fowler’s home country of Australia , with preparations for the biggest women's sporting moment underway.

Meanwhile, David Beckham and Ian Wright, alongside his granddaughter, Women’s Arsenal FC player, Raphaella Wright-Phillips, are unable to look away in a supermarket as Russo spectacularly weaves her way through the narrow aisles, in her own creative fashion. Finally, Goretzka is expertly interrupted while bowling as Oberdorf whizzes around an arcade, powerfully intercepting balls in each scene to achieve a high score of her own.

Paying respect to those who have gone before, the films are also filled with subtle references to memorable moments that football super fans will revel in, including shirt numbers, iconic tournament balls, plus much more.

OETI – a member of the internationally active TESTEX Group – has bought the German company ECS to expand its service portfolio in the field of personal protective equipment (PPE).

OETI has been offering testing services for textile work clothing since 1983 – for about 40 years. Since the introduction of CE labelling for personal protective equipment and the enactment of the PPE Directive by the European Union in 1993, OETI has not only been testing textile personal protective equipment, but now on also certifies it in conformity with EU standards. In 1995, OETI was certified in Brussels as a Notified Body (0534) for type-examinations and quality assurance monitoring of personal protective equipment end products. Testing and certification is carried out in accordance with the current PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425.

Testing and Certification Body for Eye and Face Protection, based in Aalen, was founded 15 years ago and is a globally active institution for testing and certification of eye and face protection equipment. The company is one of the leading independent testing institutions for personal protection products in laser applications and for welding work.

ECS tests and evaluates occupational health and safety goggles with and without a filter action, passive and active switching protection filters and shields for welders, and laser protection filters, goggles, and shields. The company also tests the optical properties of sunglasses, sports glasses, ski goggles, swimming goggles and motorbike goggles.

With OETI’s takeover, the ECS location in Aalen is retained, and all employees will continue working at ECS. The new Managing Director of ECS GmbH as of 1 July 2023 is Dipl.-Ing. Rolf Diebolder.

‘We are present on the European market, on the American market and, via a representative office, on the Chinese market. With the aid of the new distribution channels through OETI and TESTEX, we want to steadily advance ECS’ expansion and be present on all five continents’, says Managing Director Rolf Diebolder, explaining his strategic plans for ECS. ‘I would like OETI and ECS to develop a joint strategy in order to be able to offer existing and new customers of both companies a complete package which, when combined, will give us a unique selling point in the marketplace’, says Diebolder.

Diebolder also sees further potential in the cooperation with regard to protective laser clothing. According to him, this is where the laser laboratory commissioned by ECS could be used to make textiles laser-safe. In the future, there will be more and more ‘hand-held’ devices, i.e. laser welding devices, for which gloves and protective jackets are needed.

Archroma is bringing the entire portfolio of 5,760 Archroma Color Atlas colors to swatchbook, a platform for material digitalization and sourcing.

The new partnership provides fashion, apparel and textile designers and manufacturers with an elevated standard for color accuracy that meets the needs of today’s increasingly technology-driven and integrated supply chain. This will help the textile and fashion community to improve sustainability, whilst lowering costs and shortening turnaround times.

The Color Atlas by Archroma® was launched in 2016 to provide fashion designers and stylists with off-the-shelf color inspiration that can be implemented in production with just a few clicks.

Designers will use the 5,760 Archroma Color Atlas colors on swatchbook to rapidly develop accurate digital colorways and visualize their final product. They can then share these digital swatches with their manufacturing partners, providing access to the swatchbook metadata, which can include information such as the materials’ composition, weight and color.

This will streamline the overall design and production process for color-critical fashion and textile products, allowing for faster turnaround. Digital materials supported by trusted coloration technology also reduce the need for samples and eliminate physical swatchbooks, bringing environmental benefits and lower costs to brands and suppliers.

All 5,760 Color Atlas by Archroma® colors are now available free of charge to subscribers on the swatchbook platform.