From the Sector

There has been a sharp rise in demand for organic cotton products. Compared to conventionally grown cotton, the cultivation of organic cotton requires the renunciation of genetically modified seeds, chemical pesticides or fertilisers. Nevertheless, genetic modifications are repeatedly found in textiles that are falsely labelled with organic claims. Often, available certification systems are not backed up by lab testing. At best, they only take random seed samples. Textile testing specialist, Hohenstein, has developed an assessment method specifically for cotton. This new DNA analysis method makes it possible to ascertain the amount of genetically modified cotton contained in products. This is good news for textile industry stakeholders who will be on the safe side in terms of quality control and labelling of organic cotton products.

First step: qualitative screening and identification. Second step: quantification of genetically modified cotton.
For qualitative screening, Hohenstein experts had developed molecular biological detection systems to make clear yes/no statements about genetically modified cotton. Testing can be applied to all kinds of materials, from raw cotton to chemically untreated yarns and fabrics. In addition, Hohenstein is one of only a few laboratories in the world accredited to test for GMOs in accordance with the ISO/IWA 32:2019 protocol. Its method provides reliable evidence of the presence or exclusion of genetic modification in cotton textile precursors.

Once qualitative proof of genetic modification is obtained, Hohenstein experts begin quantifying the type and extent of the genetic modifications. To do this, they use DNA analysis to search for different cotton lines known to contain genetic alterations and quantify the proportion. Only by pinpointing individual genetic modifications and quantifying the extent of modification is it possible to provide precise information on whether there is an extremely small proportion of contamination, or whether larger proportions of GMOs have been mixed in. This offers clear benefits to manufacturers, brand owners and retailers when it comes to supply chain transparency and fraud prevention.

International technology Group ANDRITZ has received an order from Renaissance Textile to deliver a recycling line for their first recycling platform, located in Laval, France. Start-up of the recycling line from ANDRITZ Laroche is scheduled for the end of Q2 2022.

First of all, postconsumer waste fibers will be opened, then mixed with virgin fibers and spun once again in order to ultimately produce new textiles. The specific design of this line is the outcome of close collaboration between experts from ANDRITZ Laroche and the customer, with customized trials being conducted at the ANDRITZ technical center in Cours, France.

Renaissance Textile’s target is to become the first French recycling platform dedicated to end-of-life
textiles, and the company will soon open the new 12,000 sqm plant.

ISKO, a global, leading premium denim ingredient brand, announced its participation in The Jeans Redesign – a project, established by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative, to encourage and guide the denim industry to transform the way jeans are made and move towards a circular economy for fashion.

ISKO meets the requirements for participation set by The Jeans Redesign guidelines and has made a commitment that 85% of its entire fabric production will consist of recycled material content made from pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials. This production will be independently verified by Textile Exchange audit bodies.

This achievement is made possible using ISKO’s R-TWO™ technology which is created through a patented and exclusive yarn spinning technique that retains the unique properties and benefits found in ISKO’s statement fabrics. ISKO’s R-TWO™ is the embodiment of its Responsible Innovation™ mindset and aligns with the principles of a circular economy espoused by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – to ensure durability, material health, recyclability and traceability. R-TWO™ positions ISKO as a sustainability leader and enables it to exceed the project guidelines to create denim that is designed to be used more, made to be made again and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs.

Truetzschler Nonwovens will deliver equipment to enlarge an existing spunlacing line - put into operation in 2015 at the Turkish Eruslu Nonwovens Group - into a flexible, state-of-the-art production line for various light to heavy weight sustainable nonwovens.

Last year Eruslu decided to broaden its portfolio in the wipes segment by adding biodegradable products from renewable resources. The group took full advantage of the 2015 small capacity line and went for:

• a second NCR random and a NCA airlay card
• fiber preparation and card feeding equipment for the two new cards
• more hydraulic power to reliably and efficiently hydroentangle multi-layer webs
• an extension to the dryer for increased evaporation capacity

After starting up in the second half of 2022, Eruslu will be operating an ultra-modern, highly flexible NCR-NCA-NCR spunlace line, the first of its kind in Turkey. The line is tailor-made to process virgin cotton fibers, comber noils and short fibers at high speeds. End products are top-quality, lightweight natural wipes or heavy-weight, three-layer nonwovens for cosmetic pads.

Iluna Group comes back to Milano Unica with a great and important goal: to relaunch the qualities and dimensions of sustainability by going beyond the ingredient.

Iluna’s new path, which was born in a moment when the market seems to speak about “fragility”, begins with the investment in the renewal of machines, which allow it to fly ever higher in terms of high-tech developments, quality, definition, effects of yarns and patterns. The journey into the new dimension of responsible quality continues with ad hoc developments in the field of GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified recycled yarns, aimed at unprecedented effects both in look, in performance and in the hands of fabrics. Including cord yarn, shiny threads and an expansion of the range of GRS yarns, previously available only opaque. The cord yarn is a precious yarn with a ROICA™ EF premium stretch yarn core, GRS certified and developed with 50% of pre-consumer waste materials content - double, covered with an equally recycled shiny thread; the bright and translucent is instead to add brilliant effects so far not possible with a GRS yarn.

The printing processes are also born from this constant search for innovation towards new materials and new techniques, becoming more and more sustainable: Global Recycle Standard (GRS)-certified sublimation printing and register printing carrying Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certification. This one overlap exactly on the design and color the details, reaching where the dye cannot reach.

Diversification has become essential in today’s competitive market and the fragility of the moments experienced in 2020 was the stimulus to return to being here again, to return to action. Flexibility is the watchword today, along with research. And Iluna has managed to go further: starting from the ingredients at the base of the materials, last year launched a collection with natural dyes made with GOTS certified plant-based dyes, up to proposing magnificent prints with extraordinary effects for this edition of the Milanese fair.

The three dimensions of sustainability, design and innovation are thus finally linked thanks to valuable partnerships with expert and excellent reference companies that have allowed these new developments and these unique results thanks to advanced technologies designed specifically for Iluna, which is today the only company to offer ingredients, natural colors and prints, all three strictly certified.

Leading Japanese computerized knitting solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD., is participating in the “MIT Media Lab Summer Camp in Japan” hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab of Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

SHIMA SEIKI has been part of the MIT Media Lab as a Consortium Lab Member since 2018, collaborating on research for exploring next-generation technologies that open up new opportunities for the garment sector. The MIT Media Lab is now holding a series of online seminar sessions for middle/junior high school and high school students in Japan and around the world in order to share activities and experiences that address social issues through cross-sector and crossindustry collaboration.

SHIMA SEIKI is holding its own session as part of this series, titled “ZERo-WASTE FASHIon—Protecting the Planet from Fashion Loss.” The session highlights current issues faced by the fashion industry including environmental problems that have recently become the focus of attention, and aims to explain in simple terms, various sustainable solutions made possible by combining seam-free complete garment knitting technology with virtual sampling performed on design systems.

SCOTT Racing Team confirms for the year 2021 its historical partners for the uniform: Rosti, Sitip and ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei, thanks to which it was possible to create the first sustainable biking uniform.
A partnership born in 2019 and celebrated at Ispo 2020, which has brought together leading companies for responsible innovation: Rosti for the style and manufacturing, Sitip for technical fabrics made from GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified recycled yarns including ROICA™ EF, the certified recycled stretch premium ingredient produced by Asahi Kasei.

• Fraunhofer, SABIC, and Procter & Gamble join forces
• The Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE and its Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT have developed an advanced recycling process for used plastics.
• The pilot project with SABIC and Procter & Gamble serves to demonstrate the feasibility of closed-loop recycling for single-use facemasks.

Due to COVID-19, use of billions of disposable facemasks is raising environmental concerns especially when they are thoughtlessly discarded in public spaces, including - parks, open-air venues and beaches. Apart from the challenge of dealing with such huge volumes of essential personal healthcare items in a sustainable way, simply throwing the used masks away for disposal on landfill sites or in incineration plants represents a loss of valuable feedstock for new material.

“Recognizing the challenge, we set out to explore how used facemasks could potentially be returned into the value chain of new facemask production”, says Dr. Peter Dziezok, Director R&D Open Innovation at P&G. “But creating a true circular solution from both a sustainable and an economically feasible perspective takes partners. Therefore, we teamed up with Fraunhofer CCPE and Fraunhofer UMSICHT’s expert scientists and SABIC’s Technology & Innovation specialists to investigate potential solutions.”

As part of the pilot, P&G collected used facemasks worn by employees or given to visitors at its manufacturing and research sites in Germany. Although those masks are always disposed of responsibly, there was no ideal route in place to recycle them efficiently. To help demonstrate a potential step change in this scenario, special collection bins were set up, and the collected used masks were sent to Fraunhofer for further processing in a dedicated research pyrolysis plant.

“A single-use medical product such as a face mask has high hygiene requirements, both in terms of disposal and production. Mechanical recycling, would have not done the job”, explains Dr. Alexander Hofmann, Head of Department Recycling Management at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. “In our solution, therefore, the masks were first automatically shredded and then thermochemically converted to pyrolysis oil. Pyrolysis breaks the plastic down into molecular fragments under pressure and heat, which will also destroy any residual pollutants or pathogens, such as the Coronavirus. In this way it is possible to produce feedstock for new plastics in virgin quality that can also meet the requirements for medical products”, adds Hofmann, who is also Head of Research Department “Advanced Recycling” at Fraunhofer CCPE.

The pyrolysis oil was then sent to SABIC to be used as feedstock for the production of new PP resin. The resins were produced using the widely recognized principle of mass balance to combine the alternative feedstock with fossil-based feedstock in the production process. Mass balance is considered a crucial bridge between today’s large scale linear economy and the more sustainable circular economy of the future, which today is operated on a smaller scale but is expected to grow quickly.

“The high-quality circular PP polymer obtained in this pilot clearly demonstrates that closed-loop recycling is achievable through active collaboration of players from across the value chain”, emphasizes Mark Vester, Global Circular Economy Leader at SABIC. “The circular material is part of our TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio, aimed at preventing valuable used plastic from becoming waste and at mitigating the depletion of fossil resources.”

Finally, to close the loop, the PP polymer was supplied to P&G, where it was processed into non-woven fibers material. “This pilot project has helped us to assess if the close loop approach could work for hygienic and medical grade plastics”, says Hansjörg Reick, P&G Senior Director Open Innovation. “Of course, further work is needed but the results so far have been very encouraging.”

The entire closed loop pilot project from facemask collection to production was developed and implemented within seven months. The transferability of advanced recycling to other feedstocks and chemical products is being further researched at Fraunhofer CCPE.

• Guidelines of the EU Commission to implement the Single-Use Plastics Directive have been published
• Uniform labelling obligation for wipes and feminine hygiene products containing plastics as of July 03, 2021
• Lenzing’s wood-based, biodegradable VEOCEL™ branded fibers as a sustainable alternative to plastic

The Lenzing Group welcomes the issuance of the guidelines for the implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (EU) 2019/904, which took effect on June 05, 2019¹. In these guidelines, the EU Commission specifies which products fall within the scope of the directive, thus providing clarity in the joint fight of the EU member states against environmental pollution from plastic waste. Lenzing’s wood-based, biodegradable cellulosic fibers such as those of the VEOCEL™ brand comprise a sustainable and innovative solution to this man-made problem.

Uniform labelling rules for some single-use plastic products
The Commission implementing regulation (EU) 2020/2151 applying to the Single-Use Plastics Directive stipulate uniform labelling requirements for some of the single-use plastic products on the packaging or the product itself starting on July 03, 2021. They encompass feminine hygiene products and wet wipes for personal and household care containing plastic.

Consumers want sustainable hygiene products
Even before the implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive, Lenzing already gives consumers clear guidance in their purchasing decisions. Products bearing the VEOCEL™ brand logo on their packaging are produced in line with stringent certification criteria. As a consequence, consumers can be assured that the products contain biodegradable, cellulosic materials.

A Marketagent survey carried out in German-speaking Europe in October 2019² concluded that nine out of ten consumers would immediately change their purchasing behavior for wipes if they found out that their current product contains plastic. This would seem to imply that new market dynamics will emerge once the labelling rules for single-use plastic products takes effect. According to a Smithers Report³, about 500,000 tons of petroleum-based fibers are used each year for the production of wipes.

¹ Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment
² Representative Marketagent Online survey, n = 1,005 (14 - 69 years old, from Austria and Germany). https://itsinourhands.com/
³ Smithers Report “The Future of Global Nonwoven Wipes to 2023”, published in 2018, page 23, reference year 2018

We aRe Spin Dye (WRSD) AB (publ) (“WRSD”) enters into a collaboration agreement with the international premium brand, Hugo Boss.

Hugo Boss has a clear agenda for how they will gradually become even more sustainable. One of the company's intermediate goals is to have reduced total water consumption by 40% by 2025 - where WRSD is expected to be involved and contribute with competence and technology. The long term goal for Hugo Boss is to be completely climate neutral by 2050.

In November, Hugo Boss Ag entered the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World for the fourth year in a row. Hugo Boss is thus one of the four companies in the textile, clothing and luxury segment that have qualified for the index this year. Hugo Boss is also listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) Europe for the first time. In the assessment carried out by S&P Global, HUGO BOSS improved significantly compared with the previous year and received, among other things, the assessment “best in class” in several categories.