From the Sector

Rieter is presenting the latest innovations in its systems, components and services at the upcoming India ITME 2022 in Uttar Pradesh (India), taking place from December 8 – 13, 2022.

Autoconer X6
The automatic winding machine Autoconer X6 completes the Rieter ring and compact-spinning systems. The machine serves as the final quality assurance in the ring and compact-spinning process and is key to the performance of the subsequent process stages. The Multilink system with Multilot offers maximum flexibility to handle a different type of yarn.

The latest splicer generation OZ1 and OZ2 provides an optimum splice quality based on an open prism. With only two prisms spinning mills can splice the entire spectrum of cotton yarns as well as blends. They are also used for the splicing of cotton-based elastic core yarns in combination with the Elastosplicer. The splice zone exhibits an impressive elasticity in the fabric.

Compacting Solutions
The Rieter compacting devices include the COMPACTapron, COMPACTeasy and COMPACTdrum. Spinning mills can change quickly between ring and compact yarn and offer customers a broader product range.

Recycling Expertise from Rotor to Ring
Rieter offers solutions for the integration of recycled raw material into yarn production to help close the textile loop and make fashion more circular. Both rotor and ring yarns can be produced with a considerable amount of mechanically recycled fibers.

ESSENTIALorder
Based on existing customer information, the webshop ESSENTIALorder visualizes which Rieter machines andn systems are available inside each spinning mill. It therefore offers a personalized shopping experience and facilitates order management, enabling spinning mills to optimize their internal stock levels.

ROBOspin
The piecing robot ROBOspin reduces personnel requirements in the ring spinning section by 50%. The robot also attains productivity increases thanks to higher spindle speeds at equal or higher efficiency.

SSM NEO-FD
SSM is presenting NEO-FD, the assembly-winding machine for precision wound packages for twisting. It meets all requirements for efficient production. The machine features the auto-doffing option and the online back-pressure system for low and high package densities.

Temco CoolFlow Disc
Temco’s CoolFlow texturing discs offer longer lifetime thanks to a brand-new geometry and the latest polyurethane technology. The texturing discs now generate a disc surface that operates at a lower temperature, resulting in slower ageing and abrasion. Further benefits are more stable yarn quality, higher productivity, and an overall process cost reduction.

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 Italian company offers its dyeing technology for practical and theoretical design explorations at the Fashion For Good Museum in Amsterdam.

On Saturday October 22nd in Amsterdam, Andrea Venier, Officina39 Managing Director, took part in the Denim & Dyeing seminar to talk about Recycrom™, the patented revolutionary and sustainable dyestuffs range obtained through an innovative upcycling process that involves textile fibers from used clothing and manufacturing waste for dyeing and printing applications.

The seminar was organized inside the Fashion For Good Museum by the Stichting Textielcommissie Nederland, together with a Design Challenge to which took part a selection of young designers who have explored Recycrom™’s colorful potential in their creations. The winning designs are exposed in a 2-week pop-up show at Fashion For Good Museum.

The Museum is also hosting the “Knowing Cotton Otherwise” exhibition, that highlights the relationship between cotton and the fashion industry, the role of cotton in an increasingly intertwined web of global cultures, and the sustainable innovations driving its circular transformation.

Innovative solutions from Fashion for Good Innovators Oritain and Officina39, which tackle some of the challenging aspects of cotton’s production such as origin and traceability, dyeing and water use, are also used by the artists in their installations. Three of them have been inspired by the ecofriendly dyeing potential of Recycrom™: the protagonist of the meeting between art and fashion, sustainability and design, past, present and future of the industry. The first artist that has challenged herself is Caithlin Courtney Chong, who has realized an artwork installation with Recycrom™ in the print room, and a suggestive installation dedicated to Officina39’s sustainable dyestuffs.

• Patented SILASTIC™ LCF 9600 M Textile Printing Ink Base addresses growing demand for improved performance in textile applications

With the continued global growth of the apparel market, the use of polyester, nylon and blends of these materials with elastane is also on the rise, especially in sportswear and loungewear. To support this higher demand for synthetic textiles, Dow is launching a patented silicone ink – SILASTIC™ LCF 9600 M Textile Printing Ink Base – that can be used for printing on synthetic and cotton fabrics, particularly highly elastic garments.

The increased use of synthetic yarns in recent years has resulted in greater performance requirements on ink chemistries such as durability, elongation and ease of use in highly elastic sportwear. To address these needs, Dow leveraged the exceptional benefits of silicone ink bases with products such as SILASTIC™ LCF 9600 Textile Printing Ink Base and SILASTIC™ 9601 Textile Printing Ink Base.

Designed for an increased matte effect and improved hand feel, the patented SILASTIC™ LCF 9600 M offers excellent wash durability, high elongation, very soft low tack touch and avoids the “orange peel effect” on cotton substrates. Additionally, SILASTIC™ LCF 9600 M enables safer textile development with its ability to be formulated without the use of PVC, phthalates, solvents, organotins and formaldehyde.

• Strategic partnership for automation system in the field of slot dies and coextrusion adapters

Reifenhäuser Extrusion Systems (RES) - the Reifenhäuser Group's business unit specializing in extrusion components - announces a strategic partnership with maku AG at K 2022, the world's largest plastics trade fair. The aim of the cooperation is the joint marketing and further development of the automation system designed by maku for coextrusion adapters and slot dies.

The so-called PAM system (precise, autonomous, mechatronic) is available immediately and exclusively as an automation option for new Reifenhäuser dies and adapters, as well as for aftermarket dies across all manufacturers. PAM enables producers in the field of flat film and sheet production as well as extrusion coating to precisely control the entire hot part (coextrusion adapter and die) via the line's control panel. This is significantly faster and more accurate than conventional control by hand or expansion bolt automation. It enables faster start-up of good production, higher output with lower energy consumption, and thus significantly improved overall equipment efficiency (OEE). The decisive advantage lies in the use of motorized manual adjustment bolts that replace conventional thermal expansion bolts. Reifenhäuser presented the system for the first time at the K 2022.

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.

Hologenix, creators of CELLIANT®, and global textile solutions provider UNIFI®, makers of REPREVE®, have announced their partnership to introduce CELLIANT® with REPREVE®. CELLIANT with REPREVE has the infrared properties of science-backed CELLIANT infrared technology and the sustainable footprint of REPREVE, a brand of recycled fiber.

CELLIANT is a blend of IR-generating bioceramic minerals, which, when embedded into textiles, allows them to convert body heat into infrared energy, returning it to the body and temporarily increasing local circulation and cellular oxygenation. This aids significantly in muscle recovery, increases endurance, and improves overall performance in healthy individuals, among other benefits.

REPREVE recycled performance fiber consists of high-quality fibers made from 100% recycled materials, including post-consumer plastic bottles and pre-consumer waste. It is also certified and traceable with U TRUST® verification and FiberPrint™ technology, to back up customers' recycled claims. Compared to virgin fiber, REPREVE helps to offset the use of petroleum, emitting fewer greenhouse gasses and conserving water and energy in the process.

CELLIANT with REPREVE’s official preferred North America knitting partner is Beverly Knits, one of the largest circular knitters in the US, developing fabric for all markets including intimate apparel, activewear, outdoor products, mattress and bedding, automotive, industrial and medical. Beverly Knits also operates Creative Dyeing & Finishing, LLC.

Madewell has created a denim style using bluesign® APPROVED ISKO fabrics, prioritizing sustainability in the production of a pair of women’s denim jeans. The jeans are made with ISKO’s fabrics that are dyed and finished with bluesign® APPROVED chemical products and produced in a resource-conserving way with a minimum impact on people and the environment. ISKO’s Reform™ technology, one of the denim ingredient brand’s most successful patented stretch innovations, has obtained bluesign® APPROVED status, which is a unique challenge for a denim mill.

The bluesign® APPROVED label is awarded only to the bluesign® SYSTEM PARTNER manufacturers that meet the strict safety and environmental requirements of the bluesign® CRITERIA, such as ensuring production sites are safe for workers, reducing CO2e emissions and water consumption, as well as avoiding hazardous substances in production among many others.

During an awards ceremony on Monday, October 17, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation awarded Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman its preeminent recognition in people leadership, the Tharseō CEO of the Year Award.

SHRM is the world's largest HR professional society, representing more than 300,000 HR professionals across the globe, impacting 115 million workers and their families. The Tharseō (thar-seh'-ō)—derived from the Greek word for "courageous, confident and bold"—awards are given to those who demonstrate innovative and impactful business practices leading to better workplaces and a better world by serving as visionaries, innovators and change agents.

Chapman has been the CEO of Barry-Wehmiller since 1975. Since then, he has applied a blend of strategy and culture to create a thriving global organization. Chapman’s work is chronicled in his 2015 Wall Street Journal bestseller Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, co-authored by Raj Sisodia, founder of Conscious Capitalism. In 2016, Harvard Business School released a case study about Barry-Wehmiller’s approach to business that is now taught at 80 business schools. A non-profit, Chapman Foundation for Caring Communities, and a leadership consulting firm, Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute, bear Chapman’s name and share some of the foundational learnings that helped transform the culture of once-traditional Barry-Wehmiller into a caring, dignity-honoring, fulfilling place to work.

In recent years, Chapman has focused on creating caring leaders of tomorrow by sponsoring programs in K-12 schools and universities. In 2021, Chapman and his team partnered with Fordham University and other Jesuit business schools to launch the Humanistic Leadership Academy which helps professors and students become more human-centered.

A sought-after global speaker, Chapman recently addressed the United Nations PRME conference on transforming education, the China Organizational Evolution Forum, Brazil’s Virtuous Leadership Conference, Vizient CEO Network, and the Healthcare Burnout Symposium, to name a few.