From the Sector

The RUDOLF GROUP is an uncontested agent of positive change especially when it comes to pioneering technologies that help transforming the textile and fashion industries. A shining example of conscious leadership played by the RUDOLF GROUP over the past decades is the invention and introduction of fluorine-free Durable Water Repellency (DWR) for textile and apparel. Since 2003, the RUCO-DRY product line has gradually convinced the industry that water-resistance can be achieved through the study and replica of natural models. “Biomimicry and the study of lotus leaves and bird’s feathers were instrumental in developing the very first fluorine-free DWR’s” says Dr. Gunther Duschek, Managing Director at RUDOLF GROUP.

Fifteen years later, RUDOLF GROUP does it again and takes a significant leapfrog. It pushes the boundaries of R&D well beyond fluorine-free, embraces nature and introduces water repellent performance entirely based on natural components. “We are launching two brand new, distinctive product propositions entirely manufactured from natural sources that do not compete with human and/or animal nutrition” continues Dr. Duschek.

RUCO®-DRY BIO CGR is an absolute breakthrough and the first Durable Water Repellent (DWR) agent based on plant-derived processing wastes. In fact, RUCO®-DRY BIO CGR is made of natural waste that accumulates as by-product during the processing of cereal grains in the food industry. The leftover material that would otherwise be disposed of is refined to create a powerful water and stain repellent textile finish.

“By turning natural waste into DWR we have optimized the biologic character of RUCO®-DRY BIO CGR where the active component is made of more than 90% bio carbon” states Dr. Dirk Sielemann, R&D Director at RUDOLF GROUP. He continues: “Although most of the product is composed by recycled biomass, RUCO®-DRY BIO CGR meets the performance and durability of conventional water repellent textile finishes”.

RUCO®-DRY BIO NPE is an equally outstanding product innovation where DWR is entirely based on a carefully selected mix of natural plant extracts. The well-balanced mix of plant-based ingredients combines excellent water and stain repellent effects with breathability and a natural handfeel. 

Unlike other 100% renewable raw materials, those used in the making of RUCO®-DRY BIO NPE are chemically and genetically non-modified and are not used as food, feed or fuel. Furthermore, all of the plant extracts that compose RUCO®-DRY BIO NPE are subject to a strict conservation and sustainability framework. “That’s why the supply of RUCO®-DRY BIO NPE is likely to remain limited to the creation and marketing of performance outdoor and sports apparel programs embedding state-of-the-art sustainable technology” concludes Dr. Duschek.

Both RUCO®-DRY BIO CGR and RUCO®-DRY BIO NPE are marketed through the BIO-LOGIC trademark, registered by RUDOLF GROUP.

• World Congress on Textile Coating, to take place on 11-12 & 18-19 February 2021.

The conference organisers have developed a well-structured programme of five sessions over four days with live discussion forums following each session for maximum attendee participation.

“The programme aims to be inspiring and informative, and will showcase the best innovations and collaborative actions in the industry. Functionality can be added to textiles and nonwovens at the beginning or the end of the supply chain, with an increasing range of raw materials, offering many options when designing and realizing a high-performance fabric. At the other end, there are many ways, such as applying a coating, to add functionality to an otherwise finished product. For example, the current pandemic has prompted new commercial anti-viral processes and four such presentations will outline the impact on industry and its response to the global pandemic,” says Dr Nick Butler, head of the conference organising committee.

World Congress on Textile Coating will feature time dedicated to networking, encouraging attendees to interact with conference speakers and industry peers throughout the online programme, offering the opportunity to expand professional networks. All the presentations and discussion forums will be recorded for post-event viewing. Event sponsors imogo AB, Lamberti SpA, JX Nippon ANCI and Weitmann & Konrad GmbH & Co. KG will give individual presentations and host Q&A during the four days of the event.

For the full programme, speakers and abstracts please visit https://www.technical-textiles.online/WCTC.

• The Bavarian Kelheim Fibres GmbH has become the first viscose fibre manufacturer worldwide to receive EMAS certification.

“Our aspiration is that our fibres offer an eco-friendly and high-performance alternative to synthetic materials”, says Craig Barker, CEO at Kelheim Fibres. “So, it’s not enough that our fibres are made from renewable resources and that they are fully biodegradable – our environmental awareness must include the whole production process and all that goes with it if we want to safeguard our credibility.

The EMAS certification proves that we take this responsibility seriously.” EMAS stands for “Eco Management and Audit Scheme” and is a standardised eco management certification system developed by the European Union. EMAS includes the globally applicable ISO 14001 standard and goes beyond its requirements by demanding more transparency and continuous improvement: Certified companies report in their annual EMAS Environmental Statement on their environmental goals and their progress in meeting them.

During the audit preceding the certification, the independent environmental auditor thoroughly investigated all departments of the company, from the production itself to the company canteen. He found no non-conformances and was impressed by the competence and the high sense of responsibility among Kelheim’s employees. In contrast to the EU Ecolabel and similar certifications, EMAS does not apply to individual products or services, but certifies the complete environmental performance of the company. This benefits not only the protection of the environment and climate, but also the improvement of a company’s ecoefficiency.

Craig Barker: “An efficient environmental management system ensures that economy and ecology go hand in hand – that gives us a decisive competitive edge.”

Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, has been recognised by global environmental non-profit organisation, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) with the distinguished ‘A-’ leadership score for implementing current best practices in sustainability for climate change. Tata Communications score is higher than the global average of ‘C’ and higher than the Asia region average of ‘D’. The Company scores the highest global score for playing a leading role in Climate Change governance, value chain management, energy efficiency, risk and opportunity disclosures in CDP 2020 reporting.

Tata Communications is among the top 34% companies globally to have received the leadership score for best practices out of 9,600+ companies that reported environmental disclosures this year. The scores are attributed basis a comprehensive peer benchmarking and sustainability performance.

The company made some strategic shifts in implementing several energy efficiency measures and this recognition reaffirms its focus on sustainability. In fiscal 2020, Tata Communications sourced approximately 15 million units of renewable energy and implemented emission reduction initiatives resulting in energy savings to the tune of 0.8 million units.

Tata Communications Sustainability strategy is based on the three facets of environment, social and governance (ESG) principles. The Company’s objective is to drive value creation for its stakeholders and drive sustainable business growth by managing risks and embracing opportunities, implementing robust governance practices and optimising the economic, environmental and social performance.

• The nonwoven and technical textiles industry has become the focus of the whole world during the pandemic process.
• Most countries carried out works for these sectors with their investments, production and innovations.

During the pandemic process, a new one is added every day to the works for the nonwoven and technical textiles sector, whose importance is increasing in line with the needs. Turkey has become a center of  technical textiles by showing that its accumulation in these field and power.

In the Turkish technical textiles sector, which has an export market of 107 billion dollars worldwide and continues to break its own export record every month, R&D and innovation investments continue without slowing down. Technical textile exports, which increased by 77 percent in last November compared to the same month of the previous year, increased by 55 percent in January - November period and reached 2.5 billion dollars. Thus, technical and smart textiles and production technologies both attracted more attention and gained more importance in line with the needs of the pandemic process.

HIGHTEX 2021 International Technical Textiles and Nonwoven Fair, which will be held at Tüyap Fair and Congress Center on 22-26 June 2021, will be the exhibition where the latest technologies and products for nonwoven, technical and smart textiles which have become more important during the pandemic period and have become the focus of the whole world. Especially the products and technologies produced for the pandemic will attract more attention at the exhibition. HIGHTEX 2021 Exhibition, which will gather its exhibitors and visitors under one roof, will also allow new collaborations. At the same time, the exhibition, where developing technologies and products are exhibited, will provide a great advantage in terms of the formation of new business ideas.
HIGHTEX 2021, the first and only exhibition in Turkey in its field are expected to sign a new record in terms of number of exhibitors and visitors. You can visit www.hightexfairs.com website for more information about HIGHTEX 2021, which is preparing to attract more attention and host people than ever before.

Dibella has been selected by the German Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) as a model case study for due diligence in the context of human rights. The showpiece for responsible supply chain management is presented on the Ministry’s homepage.

For many years now, Dibella has been engaged in developing a fair and ecologically responsible textile supply chain and was therefore one of 25 enterprises nominated for the prestigious CSR award of the German government in the year 2020. The responsible Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) has now selected the human rights due diligence activities implemented by Dibella as a positive case study. A presentation of the company's extensive activities for sustainable action is now available on the BMAS website.

An encouraging, positive example
"Corporate social responsibility means illuminating the impacts of one's own entrepreneurial actions at all levels and integrating responsible action into all business activities. We have been consistently implementing this philosophy for many years. We attach great importance to the sustainable production of our textiles and to good working conditions throughout our value chain. It therefore makes us proud that our approach is presented by the BMAS as a good example of a positive contribution to society, which can serve as motivation for sustainable commitment in all industries," says Ralf Hellmann, Managing Director of Dibella.

First edition of JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect, an online event platform devoted to medical and sports equipment manufacturers using composites, ended last week going above and beyond its set goals. JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect brought together professionals from the whole composites value chain and allows decision-makers to evolve and inspire through a subsequent event program. This summit was the first in a long line of events devoted to composites in the Sports and Health industry that are to come within the next two years.

The three-day event was conceived as a forum to gather composites professionals, affiliates, and high-profile speakers to share their expertise in composites materials involved in creating state-of-the-art medical devices and sports equipment.

“Following the enforced postponement of many trade shows, we took the step of becoming the first organizer to stage an online event dedicated to composites in the sports and health industry. We put together a high-level conference agenda and speaker roster, and devised some great ideas for virtual networking, said Christian Strassburger, Event Director at JEC Group. “I could not be prouder of what we achieved with many delegates from Europe and Americas tuning in, including representatives from more than 36 countries. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors and partners. Their trust, support, and input were a crucial part of both the quality and success of the summit.”

The event attracted an audience of more than 1,100 professionals from the composites industry, from 36 countries, and helped organize 216 pre-arranged one to one meetings between buyers and sellers via our dedicated online meeting rooms, this without mentioning informal networking between participants. It reached these numbers, as participants logged on in considerable numbers to learn from the insights and ideas of the unparalleled line-up of high-level speakers who took part in the summit’s twenty-track conference.

The agenda for the JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect featured tracks on current trends and Innovations in sports & health composite applications, with keynotes delivered by Dominic LeBlanc Senior Concept Engineer, at Callaway Golf, Christophe Lecomte, Director of Biomechanical Solutions R&D, at Össur, Fleur Jong, Professional Sprinter, and Co-founder of the Para Athletics Foundation and Damiano Salvatori, Materials Research Engineer, at the Straumann Group.

The panel of high-profile experts from Europe and America offered perspectives and inspiration for the next generation of medical and sports devices made of composites materials. The line-up included Bjorn Ivar Austrem, Technical Director, at Madshus, Laurine Calistri, Research Engineer, at Proteor, Anatole Gilliot, CEO of Suprem, Julien Duplay, Composites Methods Engineer, at Decathlon, Eric Jackson, President of Apex Watercraft, Stéphan Vérin, General Secretary, at EuraMaterials, Maximilian Segl, Principal Expert Composites, and Johannes Wölper, Development Engineer, both from Ottobock, and Matthew Dickinson, Senior Lecturer in Engineering, at University of Central Lancashire. Christos Karatzias, at Mitsui Chemicals Europe and Anthony Bert, at Helicoid Industries.

And one cannot omit the international startups that pitched all through the three-day event: ProsFit (Bulgaria), Alchemy (Greece), moi composites (Italy), Mercuris (Germany), Arevo/Superstrata (USA), Checkerspot/WNDR Alpine (USA), Ambrocio (Finland) Nairoby (Argentina). All gave inspiring and promising perspectives in the sector and what to look for in the near future.

Kelheim Fibres has been named as one of the finalists for the “Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year 2021” innovation award to be presented at the 2nd International Conference on Cellulose Fibres. With their plant-based and biodegradable fibres, the Bavarian viscose speciality fibres manufacturer presents a significant contribution to a plastic-free future for AHP (absorbent hygiene products). In contrast to other natural fibres, which are already available in fibre form and can only be treated on the surface, Kelheim’s technological flexibility offers the possibility to modify cross-sections and to introduce additives into the fibre matrix for intrinsic functionalisation. Through these modifications, Kelheim tailors its fibres specifically to the requirements of the individual nonwoven layers of the AHP and is able to achieve comparable performance values to synthetic fibres. 

In addition to this, the speciality fibres from Kelheim offer a very attractive ratio of cost to performance in comparison with other fibres of natural origin such as organic cotton. They are therefore not only able to enhance the performance of the final products more effectively than other bio-based alternatives, but are, at the same time, financially attractive. "Consumers of absorbent hygiene products are often faced with a choice between sustainable solutions made from fibres of natural origin and products with better performance and good fluid management properties produced using synthetic fibres,“ says Dominik Mayer, from Kelheim’s R&D team. „Our goal is to offer products to the consumer which combine both sustainability and performance. Our sustainable and functional fibre technologies now make this possible.“

The project is a good illustration of the central element of Kelheim Fibres‘ innovation philosophy: the identification of unsolved problems in the market and the development of solutions in close cooperation with experts along the value chain using open innovation techniques. Fibres from Kelheim also offer a significant contribution to overcoming one of the biggest global challenges of our time, by reducing the amount of plastic waste in the environment. Step by step, or in this case layer by layer – Kelheim Fibres is moving towards a vision of a plastic-free future.

Kelheim’s developments include the hydrophobized Olea fibre (for fast acquisition and efficient transfer of liquid and for better rewet values in the topsheet) as well as the Galaxy® fibre (for an efficient and optimised distribution of liquids in the Acquisition Distribution Layer (ADL) via capillary channels) and the Bramante fibre (which can store up to 260% of its own weight of liquids in chambers inside the fibre). Kelheim’s fibres can also be processed in the textile sector, to enable solutions in the field of reusable hygiene products such as menstrual underwear. All these fibres are already commercially available. Kelheim Fibres is cooperating with an innovative AHP manufacturer and an innovative nonwoven supplier to incorporate the fibres into new end products.

The Turkish textile industry, which continues its exports and investments without slowing down despite the devastating pandemic, once again proved its strength, especially in this period. ITM 2021 Exhibition, which will be held in Istanbul between 22 and 26 June 2021, will provide a great advantage to companies that desire to expand their investments and introduce their brand new technologies.

Although there were slowdowns in the textile industry in April and May this year due to the troublesome coronavirus pandemic , the Turkish textile industry succeeded a big breakthrough with the removal of restrictions in June, thanks to both its textile production infrastructure and international exports capacity. The exports of the textile and raw materials sector increased and the companies turned to new investments. While many local companies enlarged their facilities, some of them made new investment decisions. For example, while a giant hygienic and medical fabric production facility was invested in Çorlu, another Turkish company, a global brand in textile machinery production, decided to invest 40 million Turkish Lira. Gaziantep-based spunbond and meltblown nonwoven manufacturer company added two new meltblown lines to its operations. Another company also began to invest in the production of raw materials that they import. This investment activity in Turkey, where is a manufacturing base of European customers whet the appetite of international investors. One of South Korea's largest conglomerates has rolled up its sleeves for an investment of 430 million US Dollars in Çerkezköy. Due to the investments, the purchase of textile machinery increased by 37.1 percent in the first nine months of 2020 amounting to over 1 billion US Dollars.

The Accurate Address for Investment Decisions: ITM 2021 Exhibition
Although the companies took advantage of the pandemic period as an opportunity and continued their investments, many of them are waiting for the ITM 2021 Exhibition for large machinery purchases. ITM 2021 Exhibition, which will be held between 22 and 26 June 2021 at Istanbul Tüyap Fair and Congress Center, will gather thousands of participating companies and visitors under one roof. The company officials, who will have the opportunity to observe the latest technological products to be exhibited by the international and domestic exhibitors, will direct their investments by meeting with the experts of the sector. The machines produced for technical textiles, which became even more important during the devastating pandemic period, will attract the attention of visitors. Thanks to the machinery purchases and business partnerships of both domestic and international companies, there will be great dynamism in the textile industry and the national economy.

• "Dibella up" records its first big success

Aalten, "Dibella up" is bearing its first fruits. Since the launch of the recycling concept initiated in August 2020, six tons of sorted laundry items have already been returned to Dibella and converted into new ones by the company in farsighted reuse projects. The customer who has been involved in the project from the very beginning is Lamme Textielbeheer from Nederhorst den Berg. The Dutch textile service provider sees the initiative as an important measure for more appreciation of resources.

Dibella has taken the closed-loop approach of the textile service as a model and has taken a step towards a completely closed cycle with the "Dibella up" project. The system includes unlimited reuse and recycling of the fibre raw materials bound in the textiles. To this end, the company's own textile qualities, which are selected from laundries, are taken back and passed on to selected upcycling projects. Polyester-cotton blended fabrics are processed there into high-quality bags. Pure natural fibre textiles as well as blended fabrics with at least 50 percent cotton are chemically converted into an important raw material for cellulose fibre production, while the remaining polyester is still being thermally recycled for technical reasons.

Six tons of laundry from the Netherlands

Lamme Textielbeheer was immediately enthusiastic about the "Dibella up" initiative. The committed company has been involved in various Dibella sustainability projects for many years and recognises the future-oriented character of the new project. "Our will to cooperate was immediately clear after Dibella's managing director Ralf Hellmann presented the upcycling project, because we see it as an important measure for the prudent use of resources," reports Jan Lamme, managing director of the company of the same name. "Within a very short period of time, we therefore jointly started to take back our discarded, no longer usable old textiles. In this way, we have already been able to return six tonnes of laundry for a new product cycle. This corresponds exactly to our idea of upcycling!". "Dibella provides stable, reusable cartons for shipping," says a delighted Frank David, Lamme's Assistant Operations Manager. "This makes collection much easier for us and we don't have to take any means of transport out of our laundry".

Prepared for the mega-trend of recycling management

Dibella would like to build on the initial joint success and further expand the initiative for a closed textile cycle in the industry. "The awareness of sustainability is high in the textile rental service. But the next mega-trend is already emerging. The future lies in closed-loop recycling. With "Dibella up", we are offering our customers the opportunity to get involved now and make resources usable in the long term. We are happy about every new cooperation partner who appreciates the value of textiles as much as we do".