From the Sector

Dyneema^® announced the launch of a next-generation unidirectional (UD) material innovation based on its third-generation fiber at the polymer level: a development poised to enhance the safety and mobility of law enforcement officers and military forces through molecular engineering.

This evolution enables a higher-tenacity fiber – resulting in increased ballistic stopping power when used in the new UD material, Dyneema^® SB301, for protective armor applications. The seismic shift in performance enables body armor manufacturers to design soft armor vests 10–20% lighter than previous protective solutions.

Beyond strength, Dyneema^® SB301 has the advantage of being made from bio-based Dyneema^® fiber, which enables a carbon footprint up to 90% lower than generic high modulus polyethylene (HMPE) fiber.

Now available for use in law enforcement vests for the US market, Dyneema^® SB301 material is manufactured in Greenville, North Carolina, in compliance with the Berry Amendment, with additional markets to follow.

“In every situation, weight is now considered to be the top priority after ballistic stopping power,” said Marcelo van de Kamp, global business director for personal protection at Avient. “That’s because survivability is directly tied to weight savings when speed and agility determine outcomes. We’ve long been known as the ‘world’s strongest fiber™,’ but that won’t stop us from finding new opportunities to get stronger. This new product is the latest demonstration of our commitment to both innovation and protection.”

Since 1967, ‘OETI - Institute for Ecology, Technology and Innovation’ has made a name for itself worldwide as an accredited and notified centre of excellence. With decades of experience as a service provider, the company specialises in the testing and certification of textiles, leather, personal protective equipment (PPE), floor coverings and interior furnishing materials. It also assesses indoor air quality. As a founding member of the international OEKO-TEX® association (1992) and official OEKO-TEX® testing institute, OETI also comprises the entire OEKO-TEX® product portfolio.

Between its own international branches and the branches of OETI’s Swiss parent company, TESTEX AG, OETI’s network of locations spans several continents. Recently, one more branch has been added in Pakistan (headquartered in Faisalabad).
OETI Pakistan is managed by Akhlaq Hussain, who has decades of experience in the textile and apparel industry for testing, inspection, certification, auditing, product safety, training and sustainability management.

Akhlaq Hussain’s main goal is to ‘create visibility for the OETI brand in Pakistan. We want to offer sustainable, reliable, and competitive services to Pakistan’s textile industry. My aim is to foster Pakistan’s exports by offering more sustainable certifications and training in environmental and social topics as well as due diligence in supply chains, which are in high demand in European countries.’

Markus Lang’s - OETI’s Global Head of Marketing & Sales – main goal is to ‘increase the awareness of sustainability within Pakistan’s textile and leather industry, which is also the main objective of our future development.’

International technology group ANDRITZ has successfully started up the new carding machine and opening/blending line it delivered to Albis in Roasio, Vercelli, Italy.

With its large working width of 5.10 meters, the machine allows for the production of nonwoven fabrics tailored to specific customer requirements while maintaining excellent properties and consistent quality. One example is Albis Curacell ®, a multilayer composite nonwoven fabric in a weight range between 35 and 70 gsm that is produced with a fully water-free patented process and is able to absorb liquid flows of over seven times its own weight. The production line also includes an advanced upstream opening and blending system from ANDRITZ.

Albis, a privately owned group founded in Italy in 1995 by Gianni Boscolo, has been a major player in the nonwoven market for over three decades. Through continuous research and development, the company offers innovative, high-quality nonwoven solutions across various sectors, including hygiene, medical, personal care, textiles, filtration, and agriculture.

The Lenzing Group has received certification from the internationally recognized EU Ecolabel for its fibers at the Indonesian site. This means that Lenzing fibers produced in Purwakarta (PT. South Pacific Viscose) meet high environmental standards. The product portfolio thus expands and qualifies for the production of LENZING™ ECOVERO™ brand fibers for textiles and VEOCEL™ brand fibers for nonwoven applications.

The substantial investment of EUR 100 mn to modernize the Indonesian site has enabled Lenzing to significantly reduce its specific emissions. In addition, the site recently began sourcing energy from renewable sources and is driving the conversion to biomass in line with Lenzing's goals of reducing group-wide carbon emissions per ton of product sold by 50 percent by 2030 and achieving carbon-neutral production by 2050.

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the most pressing problems of our time, to which both the global textile and nonwovens industries make a major contribution. LENZING™ ECOVERO™ viscose fibers (for textiles) and VEOCEL™ Viscose (for nonwovens) have been proven to cause significantly less greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution than conventional viscose. At the Indonesian site, Lenzing also plans to produce the innovative LENZING™ ECOVERO™ Black fibers in the future, which also require less energy and water in textile chain thanks to the spun-dyeing process and thus also have a lower carbon footprint in their life cycle as a textile product.

Deakin University has signed a partnership agreement with Geelong-based company Xefco as part of its Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub (REACH) to conduct new research to transform how our clothing, including jeans, get their colour.

Jeans are one of the most worn garments in the world, but they are also one of the least environmentally friendly, taking around 75 litres of water to dye just one pair.

Deakin’s work with Xefco is helping to explore if a waterless manufacturing process can replace the water intensive processes the clothing industry has used for hundreds of years. The new technology in development is called ‘Ausora’.

Associate Professor Alessandra Sutti, from Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials, said it was exciting to be on the commercialisation journey with Xefco, working with the company to discover what is possible and hopefully reduce the world’s fashion footprint.

“If successful, the Ausora technology, which colours fabrics without the need for large quantities of water, will put us a step closer to more efficient and sustainable clothing manufacturing,” Associate Professor Sutti said.

Xefco CEO Tom Hussey said the company’s new pilot plant, housed at Deakin in Geelong, will test different materials, including specialised fabrics such as waterproof items like outdoor jackets and jeans.

“This is the first stage of Xefco’s vision for the technology, with the REACH project focused on demonstrating the commercial viability of the technology at pilot scale and developing processes so it can be scaled up for commercial production,” Mr Hussey said.

“Together, Deakin and Xefco will push the limits of innovation and see what is possible.”
Xefco’s pilot plant is co-located with Deakin researchers at ManuFutures, the state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing hub at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus.

Founded in 2018 Xefco now employs 17 people and its products are already making a difference across the world. Its XReflex technology, which reduces consumption of insulation materials, is being used by some of the world’s leading apparel and fashion brands including The North Face.

Backed by a $50 million grant from the Australian Government’s inaugural Trailblazer Universities Program, with industry and university support taking the total project value to $380 million, REACH is facilitating the development of greener supply chains and accelerating business success as markets move from a throughput economy to a circular economy.

Rudolf GmbH, a provider of chemicals to the textile industry, can now offer side-by-side performance tests of the age-old “dip and squeeze” pad versus precision spray finishing with the delivery of Baldwin Technology Inc.’s TexCoat ™ G4 lab-scale unit.

The new TexCoat lab-scale unit at Rudolf’s Geretsried, Germany-based Customer Solution Center, tests the sprayability of chemicals on fabrics as an additional tool to help the market transition to precision spray with confidence in the performance and sustainability of the end result.
 
With Baldwin’s innovative system, the chemistry is precisely distributed across the textile surface and is applied only where it is required, on one or both sides of the fabric. The non-contact technology eliminates chemistry dilution in wet-on-wet processes, allowing full control of maintaining consistent chemistry coverage rates.
 
Plus, pad bath contamination is eliminated, and changeovers are only required when there is a change of finish chemistry. On wet-on-dry processes, the finish is applied with 50% of the amount of water required for pad finishing. Dryer fabric entering the stenter means less water to evaporate resulting in less energy and higher production speeds.
 
More specifically, with Baldwin’s TexCoat G4, textile finishers can track and control the finishing process. Changeovers are quickly performed thanks to recipe management, including automated chemistry and coverage selection. Furthermore, the system takes speed information from the drying process to insure exact coverage regardless of any change in speed. TexCoat G4 measures every drop of chemical usage ensuring that the amount of chemical add-on is precise.
 
In addition, the TexCoat G4 system can process a wide range of low-viscosity water-based chemicals, such as durable water-repellants including PFAS-free, softeners, anti-microbials, easy care resins, flame retardants and more. Baldwin’s technology utilizes the same chemicals used in the traditional pad bath, with no special auxiliaries required.

Kelheim Fibres, a manufacturer of specialty viscose fibres, showcases its latest developments at this year's Global Fiber Congress in Dornbirn. The focus is on innovative solutions that not only promote environmental sustainability but also strengthen the European supply chain.

In his presentation "Towards high performing plant-based AHP products - a joined approach of Pelz and Kelheim Fibres," Dr. Ingo Bernt, Project Leader of Fiber & Application Development at Kelheim Fibres, together with Dr. Henning Röttger, Head of Business Development at PelzGROUP, introduces the development of a plastic-free yet high-performance panty liner. The water-repellent Kelheim specialty fibre Olea plays a crucial role in both the top and backsheet of the panty liner. This product emerged from the ambition to offer eco-friendly alternatives to conventional disposable hygiene solutions without compromising on product performance.

A similar approach is pursued in the second presented project. Under the title "Performance Fibres meet Sustainable Design - example of a reusable Baby Diaper," Natalie Wunder, Project Leader from Kelheim Fibres' New Business Development team, together with Caspar Böhme, Co-Founder of Sumo, introduce the washable and reusable SUMO diaper. Made from biobased materials and featuring a unique construction with Kelheim specialty fibres, this combination offers double environmental benefits compared to conventional disposable baby diapers.

Both the panty liner and the SUMO diaper are manufactured entirely in Europe, resulting in shorter transportation routes and a reduced CO2 footprint. Moreover, these innovations contribute to strengthening the European textile and nonwovens industries by fostering innovation within Europe.

Ananas Anam, the provider of innovative low-impact textile solutions made from pineapple leaf waste, announced the appointment of Manel Echevarria as the new CEO. The Spanish executive who had previously worked as CEO for Grupo Excens Sports and Lacoste Iberia, as well as in senior executive roles for Swarovski and MontBlanc, will lead the global business from its European research and production site near Barcelona in Spain.

At the beginning of the year, the company reported the successful closing of a funding round led by HALTRA Group, a family-backed sustainable investment firm in Luxembourg and a group of strategic investors, including the French Compagnie Fruitière, one of the leading producers in Europe and major fruit producer in the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific region, as well the global automotive technology supplier Forvia, and Asahi Kasei Corp, a leading Japanese multinational group working in innovative materials and technologies.

“The appointment of Manel Echevarria as a seasoned CEO with an impressive track-record in the fashion and luxury industry marks another important milestone in setting Ananas Anam up for the next phase of growth” says Dr. Christian Kurtzke, Chairman of Ananas Anam. “Following our investment in the development of an impressive portfolio of next-generation innovative biodegradable, traceable and sustainable materials, and into the setup of its network of strategic partners on the supply and shareholder side, Manel will provide the leadership for driving growth and industrial scale of this pioneering sustainability brand amidst a continued challenging global market environment in fashion, interiors and automotive.”

With Ananas Anam’s core portfolio of innovative materials, the company has successfully collaborated with well-known brands including Nike, Hugo Boss, H&M, Paul Smith and Cat Footwear and sustainable-fashion pioneers like Ecoalf to drive innovation in footwear, as well as with fashion brands like Carolina Herrera in the area of bags and accessories, substituting animal leather in the product design with its vegan, cruelty-free, low-impact and sustainable pineapple leaf fibre based textiles. In July 2023, at the Premiere Vision exhibition in Paris, the company presented the next generation of Piñatex as well as its breakthrough innovation Piñayarn as a biodegradable, traceable and sustainable yarn, and introducing Anam PALF, as a commercially available premium textile grade pineapple leaf fibre, opening up a world of new applications and markets.

“Driving the sustainability transformation in fashion, as well as in interiors and automotive has become a key priority on the agenda of brands and OEMs around the world,” says Manel Echevarria, CEO Ananas Anam. “I am proud to have the opportunity to lead the company in this decisive time, and I am looking forward to collaborating with our exceptional Spanish founder, Dr Carmen Hijosa, and Josep Taylor in Spain, with Bruno de Penanster and his team in the UK, as well as with Chuck Lazaro and his team in the Philippines to turn this amazing sustainability ambition and purpose into a reality.”

On 5th September 2023, the Amsterdam: Best of Bangladesh Europe’ started in the venue of Wastergas in Amsterdam. The 2-day nation branding event was organized by Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE), with support from the Embassy of Bangladesh, Ministry of Commerce, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh and in association with PDS.

Tipu Munshi, MP, Commerce Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Michiel Sweers, Vice Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Kingdom of the Netherlands; Shahriar Alam, MP, State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Md Siddiqur Rahman,  Former president of BGMEA; M Riaz Hamidullah, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Netherlands; Leslie Johnston, Chief Executive Officer, Laudes Foundation; Pallak Seth, Founder & Vice Chairman, PDS Limited; and Mostafiz Uddin, Founder & CEO, Bangladesh Apparel Exchange; attended the inaugural ceremony of the ‘Best of Bangladesh’.

Three MoU were signed in the inaugural for the development of the industries of Bangladesh.
The 1st MoU was signed between Bangladesh Apparel Exchange and Eindhoven International Project Office (EIPO). The 2nd MoU was signed between Bangladesh Apparel Exchange and Apparel Impact Institution. The 3rd MoU was signed between Bangladesh Apparel Exchange and Oxfam.
More than 35 companies from various fields, including apparel, textiles, agriculture, handicrafts, and other sectors, participated in the initiative.

The event held six interactive panel sessions on the topics "Bangladesh – Perspectives from an Emerging Economy", "Sustainable Sourcing Realities: Challenges, Achievements & Next Steps”, “Empowering the Future: Advancing Safety & Well-being for Garments Workforce in Bangladesh", "Bangladesh Agro-Food: A Next Opportunity for Collaboration", "Impact Investing - The Next Frontier", and “Sustainable Synergy: Circular Economy, Climate Action & Bangladesh’s Future".

A Bangladesh Innovation Runway was presented by Pacific Jeans at the event. The Bangladesh Innovation Runway showcased the ability of the country in producing high end, sustainable and innovative apparel products.

Das OETI, Institut fuer Oekologie, Technik und Innovation, kooperiert mit der unabhängigen Plattform "MeineRaumluft".

OETI, führend auf dem Gebiet der Innenraumluft-Zertifizierung in Österreich, will gemeinsam mit MeineRaumluft einen nachhaltigen Beitrag zur Optimierung des Raumklimas leisten. Ab kommenden Herbst setzen sie eine Initiative in Österreich um. Das Hauptziel ist, das Bewusstsein für die Bedeutung der Raumluft als Faktor für Gesundheit und Produktivität in Arbeits- und Büroumgebungen zu stärken. Dies durch Messungen der Innenraumluft, den Austausch von Erkenntnissen sowie praktische Empfehlungen umgesetzt.

OETI verfügt über eine profunde Expertise im Bereich der Innenraumluft-Messungen und -Zertifizierungen. Es ist gemäß ISO 16000 Teil 2, 3, 6, 9 und 11 sowie EN 16516 für Emissionsmessungen akkreditiert. Darüber hinaus setzt OETI mit seiner CLEANAIR Zertifizierung Standards für die Luftqualität in Innenräumen.