From the Sector

From November 2nd to November 6th, the leading denim innovator ISKO joined leading industry professionals from around the world at the 2020 Textile Sustainability Conference.

The Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference (November 2-6) is a formative event aimed at highlighting best practice and sustainability-related emerging trends and opportunities in the fashion industry.

Whilst taking the pulse of the evolving impact of international circumstances, ISKO participated in the event as a trusted partner and member of Textile Exchange since March 2019. The company took the chance to exhibit its R-TWO™ technology, through which it has achieved Textile Exchange certifications across its 25,000 products: these are at either the Content Claim Standard, Global Recycled Standard, Organic Content Standard or Recycled Claim Standard levels, ensuring trust and certainty in chain of custody and material sourcing.

This program reduces raw material impact and highlights its ambitious Life-cycle Assessments (LCAs) project to develop verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPD®s) assessing the impact of all the products in its portfolio. The company also presented its first Sustainability Impact Report, which sets bold targets and provides a detailed overview of the company’s work within the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and ILO standard frameworks. These were also a central theme of the conference, focusing on Science Based Target initiatives and the crucial role of embedding these into business strategy.

• A new collaborative business model gives life to ECONNECTION: an eco-high-tech collection designed thinking of the “end of life”

Three premium textile companies, one common goal: jointly offer ready to use, coordinated solutions that are design driven, performing and responsible also at the end of life.

Penn Textile Solutions/Penn Italia - international company producing and developing innovative fabrics through warp and weft knitting technologies, Tessitura Colombo Antonio, famous for the processing of lace and ribbons dedicated to the world of corsetry , Elastici Besana specialized in the production of narrow elastic for corsetry and underwear, have been working together to expand the frontiers of sustainable manufacture practices and to offer an innovative collection , a new set of incredible eco high tech innovations delivering a responsibility concept including also the end of life : ECONNECTION.

The responsible ECONNECTION collection, in which the words ECO and CONNECTION mixed to underline the importance of connect and come together for a sustainable project, features:

• 7 advanced knitted stretch fabrics by Penn Textile Solutions/Penn Italia,
• 3 precious laces by Tessitura Colombo Antonio
• 3 functional bands by Elastici Besana

So, 3 key leading companies with a key target : to design and deliver the market amazing responsible fabrics able to offer a responsible end of life. This opened up the door to new generation of ingredients such as:

• ROICA™ V550 made by leading fiber manufacturer Asahi Kasei, a premium sustainable stretch yarn that at the end of his life smartly breaks down without releasing harmful substances in the environment according to Hohenstein Environment Compatibility Certification and also boasting the Gold Level Material Health Certificate by Cradle-to-Cradle Product Innovation Institute** as it has been evaluated for impact on human and environmental health.
• Amni Soul Eco®, the world’s first biodegradable in anaerobic conditions polyamide 6.6 yarn that degrades in around 5 years* after disposing in landfill, developed by SOLVAY and produced and distributed in Italy by FULGAR.

The collection is presented in its BIO -BOX that will be sent to selected brands at worldwide level

A smart project that highlights the importance of synergies between companies know how, and new generation of materials , that is able to take products to a new level of responsible innovation, technology and exceptional performances where beauty and function will be able to carry the smart factor for the values they represent for the consumer and highlighting for the first time also the importance of their end of life.

• Sateri pledges to Be World’s Leading Net-Positive Fibre Producer

Sateri, one of the world’s largest viscose producer, has launched its sustainability vision for 2030 to guide the company’s strategic growth in the coming decade. The Vision is anchored around four key pillars in response to environmental and social challenges faced by the cellulosic fibre industry: Climate and Ecosystem Protection, Closed Loop Production, Innovation and Circularity, and Inclusive Growth.

The Vision comes with a time-bound roadmap and measurable targets. It encompasses notable targets including net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, achieving 98% Sulphur recovery rate at all its mills by 2025, utilising textile waste and produce viscose products with 50% recycled content by 2025 and 100% by 2030, and supporting more than 300,000 local families and smallholder farmers to develop sustainable livelihoods.

Highlighting the significance of the Vision to the company, Sateri’s President Allen Zhang said, “As a raw material supplier, Sateri will do our part and respond to the urgent need to decouple growth from further resource impact. This is something that will underpin our growth, in addition to QPC (Quality, Productivity, Cost) and continuous improvement which are well-embedded in the company.”*

Sateri’s 2030 Vision was conceived after months of discussions with management members and external stakeholders including customers, brands and NGOs. The process was facilitated by BSR, a sustainability consultancy, led by its Asia Pacific Vice President, Jeremy Prepscius.

“The challenges facing the garment industry require all value chain participants to invest, innovate and integrate sustainability into their business models. This requires leadership and alignment and will need determination to succeed, which is what Sateri is striving to do,” said Prepscius.*

In the coming months, Sateri will form workgroups to develop action plans to deliver on the identified targets. Progress towards realising Sateri 2030 Vision will be reported in the company’s annual sustainability report and online sustainability dashboard.

Read more about Sateri 2030 Vision: www.sateri.com/sustainability/vision2030/

*Please see attached document for more information

• Conservation and Biodiversity Information Now Available

Asia Pacific Rayon’s (APR) Follow Our Fibre is a blockchain-based tool that allows users access to information in real-time on the source of the raw materials in their garments and the origination of the fibre.

Launched in May 2019, the platform is now refreshed to include information of its suppliers’ conservation and biodiversity efforts, taking information transparency and richness to a new level. The refresh comes at a time when the fashion industry, through the Fashion Pact, is beginning to embrace biodiversity as a core focus on its agenda.

Follow Our Fibre now maps APR’s supply chain right down to locations of forest plantation concessions and conservation areas. The textile fibre producer’s suppliers are collectively responsible for the conservation of more than 3.12 million hectares of forests around the world, including boreal and peat swamp forests. These protected forests have rich biodiversity like the elusive Sumatran Tiger and Canadian Boreal Caribou, and provide ecosystem services, including 22 rivers and tributaries totalling over 900km.

“It is vital that we work with our supply partners to protect and strengthen forest landscape conservation areas rich in flora and fauna, and home to threatened and endangered species for today and future generations. These efforts are part of APR’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) 13 on Climate Action, and 15 on Life on Land,” said Cherie Tan, Vice President of Sustainability and Communications.

By providing a snapshot of the forest landscapes and biodiversity, APR hopes to quantify its ecological footprint and, as a next step, seek opportunities to partner its stakeholders to further strengthen forest conservation and enhance biodiversity in areas it sources from. Follow Our Fibre reflects the company’s long-term objectives for sustainable pulp sourcing and responsible manufacturing, and is a tool for its customers and stakeholders to trace finished products back to forest plantation origins, as well as monitor the environmental performance of APR’s supply chain.

Leading suppliers of hotel textiles in Europe, the Danish company Beirholms Væverier and the German/Dutch company Dibella, begin circular collaboration with Swedish Reused Remade, known for its climate-smart textile bags made of reused hotel bedlinen. Together, they will extend the life cycle of hotel textiles and contribute to the circular economy by upcycling discarded textiles from laundries turning them into new textile bags for the retail market.

In Europe, millions of tons of hotel bed linen are discarded each year and can no longer be used in the hotel’s operations due to wear and tear. Thanks to Reused Remade's patent-pending method of up-cycling hotel bed linen into climate-smart textile bags, enormous amounts of natural resources are saved. Because the textiles are reused, as opposed to being downcycled, as is usually the case today, this partnership offers a climate-friendly alternative to today’s disposal of discarded textiles.

By 2025, all EU member states will have introduced an extended producer responsibility for textiles (EPR for textiles). This will place demands on the industries concerned to jointly find smart solutions and contribute to the transition to a circular economy. Beirholm and Dibella both have a strong focus on sustainability and are constantly looking for new and smart solutions for their customers' discarded textiles. The purpose of this partnership is to enable more laundries in Europe to join Reused Remade's circular solution with climate - smart textile bags made of reused hotel bed linen.

With an impressive growth journey since its inception in 2016, Reused Remade’s climate-smart textile bags for everyday use can now be found at prominent Nordic and European retailers such as Edeka, Clas Ohlson, Ica, and Systembolaget.

"The goal for 2021 is to collect 300 tones of hotel bed linen in order to meet our customers demand. It feels fantastic to be able to collaborate with Beirholm and Dibella, whose values about sustainability we share. We see that together we can make a big difference to our environment, our climate and our common future", say Pia Walter and Josephine Alhanko, founders of Reused Remade.

Please read the attached document for more information

• The CHT Group is constantly expanding its sustainable product range for a circular economy according to the Cradle to Cradle principles

Progress in itself does not necessarily have to be sustainable but in the CHT Group it certainly does. For this reason the company has defined progress more precisely. The developers and chemists from Tübingen show true inventive talent with sustainable innovations.

According to the CHT Group's self-perception, sustainable innovation always includes a responsibility component for the future. With decades of experience along the textile value chain, the globally active CHT Group offers an incomparably wide range of services focusing on sustainable, resource-saving and forward-looking speciality chemicals and the efficient shaping of textile processes.

The circular economy takes over a decisive role: In the CHT Group we are convinced that recyclable textile products are the right means to protect resources and reduce the environmental impact. Therefore, our team works closely with textile manufacturers and brands to achieve the common goal of avoiding waste and harmful substances along the textile production process and thus producing more ecological textiles.

The Cradle to Cradle approach provides a trend-setting concept in the textile world that perfectly fits the company's sustainable strategy: Right from the start products shall be created which are suited for the biological (compostable) or technical (recyclable) circulation.

The CHT Group focuses on the development of dyes, pigments and auxiliaries for textile finishing which can be decomposed without leaving any residues and easily returned to the natural circulation.

For textiles which are to be developed and produced strictly according to the Cradle to Cradle principle, CHT offers a comprehensive, constantly growing, compostable range for textile finishing. With 57 textile auxiliaries and 32 dyes/pigments CHT has succeeded in achieving the highest rating, the Platinum Material Health Certificate of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

These products help textile manufacturers to achieve the Platinum rating in Material Health, one of five categories of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ product standard on finished textiles. This contributes to giving textiles a positive ecological footprint.

Textiles can be given the decisive distinguishing feature through the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ product standard. Cradle to Cradle Certified™ is the world's leading science-based standard for safe, recyclable and sustainable materials and products. CHT offers the possibility of designing tomorrow's sustainable textiles already today and is therefore part of the Circular Economy.

Cradle to Cradle Certified™ is a registered trademark of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

Baldwin Technology Company Inc. will be offering two virtual opportunities for customers to learn more about the company’s innovative non-contact spray finishing systems. These technologies will be showcased in October during an in-depth webinar event, as well as during the Innovate Textile and Apparel Virtual Trade Show.

The interactive and free webinar “How to Deliver Sustainability with Non-Contact Spray” will be held twice on October 13, with a recording provided for all who register for later viewing. During this event, industry veteran Rick Stanford, Baldwin’s Business Development Leader for textiles, will discuss the sustainable functionality of the Precision Spray and Ahlbrandt Rotor Spray technologies.

The Innovate Textile and Apparel Virtual Trade Show will take place online October 15 to 30. In Baldwin’s virtual booth, the company will showcase its non-contact spray systems for finishing and remoistening. Its TexCoat G4, TexMoister G2 and Ahlbrandt Rotor Spray technologies are designed to save chemistry, time and production costs, while enabling sustainable textile production.

“We are excited to present our revolutionary non-contact spray systems during the webinar and the virtual Innovate Textile and Apparel show,” said Stanford. “Participants will learn how non-contact spray has become a game-changing technology in sustainable textile finishing. It dramatically cuts chemical waste and energy consumption, while increasing productivity and quality. We will show attendees how our systems work and in what applications they are ideal for, as well as take questions. These are great opportunities to experience innovations that drastically improve both the process and product quality, while saving time and chemistry, and contributing to a more sustainable future.”

Singapore – As global interest in sustainable textile production continues to soar, mills that have adopted Huntsman Textile Effects’ all-in-one ERIOPON® E3-SAVE textile auxiliary for polyester processing, which launched one year ago, have collectively saved more than 130 million liters of water.

Demand for polyester fabric is being driven by seemingly insatiable consumer appetite for sportswear and athleisure clothing. Sales in the sector have been on an upward trend for several years and are even proving resilient amid Covid-19 market disruption. However, dyeing of polyester and its blends has traditionally been resource intensive, time consuming and costly.

Huntsman Textile Effects’ next-generation ERIOPON® E3-SAVE textile auxiliary was engineered to address these challenges. It eliminates the need for separate pre-scouring, allowing pre-scouring, dyeing and reduction clearing to be combined in a single bath. Mills that use ERIOPON® E3-SAVE can thus dramatically shorten the polyester dyeing process and save water, energy and cost.

“Our innovations aim to help mills improve their productivity and competitiveness while also contributing to the textile industry’s shift to more sustainable practices and a reduced environmental footprint,” said Kerim Oner, Global Marketing Manager, Huntsman Textile Effects. “With ERIOPON® E3-SAVE, we have harnessed the unparalleled technical expertise and application know-how of our research and field teams to develop a product that is proven to reduce costs for mills and that meets current and anticipated industry sustainability standards.”

Dae Young Textile Vietnam Co., Ltd, a forerunner in sustainable textile production in Asia, was an early adopter of the ERIOPON® technology. Results from bulk production show that ERIOPON® E3-SAVE has reduced process time by over 20 percent and water consumption by over 50 percent, delivering annual cost savings of up to 30 percent.

“ERIOPON® E3-SAVE delivers a combination of best-in-class performance and value. It allows us to have the shortest possible processing cycle, which is key for us to deal with increasing industry pressure for faster turnarounds,” Jeong Won Oh, General Manager, Dae Young Textile Vietnam, said. “Alongside dramatic time savings, we are also saving water, energy and ultimately cost. Huntsman’s best-in-class products and high level of technical support help keep businesses like us productive.”

This unique polymer technology of ERIOPON® E3-SAVE promotes controlled exhaustion to ensure right-first-time level dyeing. It extracts oil and oil-based impurities from the fiber during processing and displays a high affinity to disperse dyes, enabling the rapid removal of unfixed surface dyes from the fiber during reduction clearing. The technology also enhances reproducibility and improves wet- and rub-fastness.

ERIOPON® E3-SAVE saves time, water, energy and cost in polyester dyeing by combining pre-scouring, dyeing and reduction clearing in a single bath. An advanced multi-action dyeing auxiliary in the dyEvolutionTM range, it delivers environmental and economic sustainability.

Belgian textile innovator Devan Chemicals was lauded by Frost & Sullivan for its antimicrobial technology with proven quaternized silane chemistry, known under its trade name as BI-OME®.

RONSE, BELGIUM – The non-leaching attributes of the technology coupled with its ability to reduce microbial mutation make it a potential candidate for textiles where durability and safe human contact are highly valued.

Based on its recent analysis of the European antimicrobial technology for the textile market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes the Belgium-headquartered Devan Chemicals NV (Devan) with the 2020 European Technology Innovation Leadership Award. Devan’s highly relevant antimicrobial technology addresses issues concerning the contamination of PPE and textiles, including the spread of drug-resistant bacteria, viral transmissions, and hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). Its quat-silane technology, due to its non-migrating behaviour, physically punctures the microorganism cell to destroy it without interfering with cell DNA. Notably, it eliminates the adverse effects of leaching antimicrobials while providing high efficiency in the range of 99.9 percent to 99.99 percent, even after multiple washes.

"By providing non-migrating antimicrobial technology for the textile industry, Devan plugs the safety and performance gaps inherent in current inorganic and organic antimicrobial agents. Its antimicrobial technology, unlike silver- or triclosan-based technology, comprises non-migrating monomers and prepolymers such as organo-functional silane," said Monami Dey, Industry Manager, Frost & Sullivan. "The organo-silane polymers are covalently bonded and polymerized to the textile surface as a coating via padding, exhaust, and spraying techniques. The coating forms a non-leaching reactive surface and destroys the microbes on contact, without releasing harmful components into the environment."

Devan CEO Sven Ghyselinck is very happy with the award: “The best practice award is a nice recognition of the hard work we did in the last 6 months to evaluate the performance against viral activity. It’s great to see our efforts didn’t go unnoticed.”

Earlier this month Devan published new test results confirming the high performance virus-reducing capabilities of its BI-OME fabric coating technology on both unwashed and intensely washed fabrics. The Belgian company has worked closely with a series of international third party laboratories to test different fabric substrates against a wide range of enveloped viruses. Before washing, samples treated with Devan BI-OME score very good to excellent (99% and higher according to ISO 18184) results on virus reduction. Different substrates, like polyester, cotton and polycottons, were exposed to enveloped viruses like SARS-COV-2 (known to cause COVID-19), Feline Corona, Vaccinia (the EU standard for enveloped viruses) and Porcine Respiratory viruses. After 30minutes, BI-OME already reduced 99.96% of the activity of SARS-COV-2.

After washing, a decrease in virus reduction performance of coating technologies is normal and expected. However, BI-OME is confirmed to deliver only a minimal reduction, retaining up to 98.5% virus reduction even when the fabric is washed 25 times.

"Devan is working towards sustainability and green chemistry. For instance, its technology does not contain any harmful solvents such as formaldehyde or polychlorinated phenols and fulfills the regulatory obligations of the EU BPR," noted Dey. "Its commitment to promoting sustainability in textile finishes with a strong focus on GMO-free, kosher, as well as halal certifications, and recyclability has given the company an edge in launching new products at an accelerated pace to match customers’ most pressing concerns and demands."

One of those innovations is BI-OME NTL (natural), a natural, bio-based antimicrobial solution that guarantees an optimal freshness and hygiene for textiles. The active ingredient is the well-known Linseed oil, obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant. The active ingredients in BI-OME NTL are GMO free, Halal, Kosher and recyclable.

Following the successful commissioning of two new Monforts Montex wide-width stenter lines and additional environmental management equipment at its plant in Germany, GtA – Society for Textile Equipment GmbH – is aiming to be the first textile finishing company to become entirely CO2-neutral in the manufacture of all of its products by 2025.

GtA is a partner company to Germany’s large-format digital printing fabric leader, Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH, which has has this year been able to considerably expand its portfolio due to the new Monforts lines.

Headquartered in Gross-Zimmern, close to Frankfurt, Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH and its partners in Germany have an annual production of 37 million square metres of warp knits for a range of end-use applications, including garments, automotive interiors and technical textiles, but increasingly with a concentration on digital printing substrates.

Fault-free textiles

A new standard in pure white, 100% clean and fault-free textile substrates has been demanded by this market in recent years due to the rapid growth in digitally-printed banners and billboards – often referred to as ‘soft signage’.

The substrates of choice for digital printing are 100% polyester warp knits which are resilient and allow excellent take-up of inks, and vibrant colours and clear and precise images to be achieved with digital printing techniques. The knitted construction also has the advantage of elasticity, which is a plus in terms of flexibility for installers.

Critically, the warp knitted fabrics have extremely smooth surfaces which is becoming increasingly important due to the general move away from PVC coatings which were the standard in the past.

It was to finish these fabrics for Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH as well as providing such services for many other customers, that the GtA plant in Neresheim, Baden-Württemberg, was established in 2015.

The purpose-built plant on a greenfield site was initially equipped with a fully-automated, 72 metre long Monforts installation comprising a washing machine integrated with a 3.6 metre wide, seven-chamber Montex stenter. The line quickly went from single to double shift production and then to 24/7 operation  to meet demand.

Expanded widths

Building on the success of this installation, GtA has now installed two more Montex stenter lines – both in expanded working widths of 5.6 metres and purpose-built at Montex GmbH in Austria.

A six-chamber Montex unit is combined with a washing machine to guarantee the purity of the substrates, while a five-chamber line is integrated with a wide-width coating machine. This new coating capability at GtA has led to a number of new additions to the Georg and Otto Friedrich DecoTex range for digital printing, including wide width fabrics with flame retardant, antimicrobial and non-slip finishes.

The new Montex stenter lines benefit from all of the latest innovations from Monforts, including the Smart Sensor system for the optimised maintenance planning of key mechanical wear components on the stenters. A comprehensive overview of the condition of all parts at any time is now available for operators within the highly intuitive Qualitex visualization software.

With Qualitex, all article-specific settings can be stored and the formulations for thousands of treatment processes called up again at any time. Individual operators can also personalise their dashboards with the most important machine functions and process parameters.

Environmental commitment

GtA is run by a seasoned team of textile professionals led by Managing Director Andreas Niess.

“We have received excellent service from Monforts from the outset and we were happy to place the order for these two new lines as part of our ongoing cooperation,” he says. “With all of the latest Monforts advances in technology we are fully in control of all production and quality parameters with these lines, as part of our significant commitment to innovative environmental technology.”

The GtA plant, which operates in near-cleanroom conditions, has also been equipped with proprietary technology to fully exploit the Monforts air-to-air heat recovery systems that are now standard with Montex stenters.

“Around 30 per cent of our investment volume at the site goes to energy-saving measures and we are sure that this commitment is worthwhile,” Mr Niess says. “As an example, our integrated heat recovery system fully exploits the waste heat from the process exhaust air and the burner exhaust gases of the Monforts stenters, allowing us to achieve an exhaust air temperature of  between 30 to 34°C, compared to what would conventionally be between 140 to 160°C. Another focus has been on exhaust air purification technology and here too, the latest technology has been installed with integrated heat recovery elements.”

This, he adds, saves 52% of the energy that would normally be used – equating to 5,800,000 KwH per year. The necessary audits for energy-efficient companies are also carried out annually.

In addition, GtA has purpose-designed the automatic chemical mixing and dosing systems that feed the padders for the key treatments that are carried out on the fabrics through the stenters.

The company is going further, however, in its pursuit of clean production and raw materials.

"We want to be an asset and not a burden on our immediate environment and therefore do not use any additives containing solvents," Mr Niess says. “We were the first to use fully halogen-free flame retardant chemistry, and we use bio-based, finely ground alumina products for the washing process instead of surfactants. PES polyester yarns made from recycled material are also increasingly used and the latest additions to our raw materials portfolio, the RC-Ocean products, are made from recycled sea plastic.

“We are now planning a combined heat and power plant for the production of electrical energy and heat and we will also build a photovoltaic system that converts solar radiation into electrical energy. GtA wants to be the first textile finishing company to be CO2-neutral in the manufacture of all of its products by 2025. The complete heat supply and heating for the 13,000 square metre production hall, as well as the office building and the hot water supply for the domestic water, is already energy-neutral. We are convinced that this commitment will pay off in the long term and our positive business development proves that sustainability and business profitability are perfectly compatible.”

In addition to the products for Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH, GtA  offers its manufacturing capacities for other customers as a contract service.

All products are manufactured in accordance with Öko-Tex Standard 100, product class 1 and the company is also involved in the research and development of new sustainable manufacturing processes, in cooperation with many regional universities and funding project partners.