From the Sector

SSM Schärer Schweiter Mettler AG, a subsidiary of the Rieter Group, has appointed Per Olofsson as Managing Director and member of the SSM Group’s management team effective April 1, 2021.

Mr. Olofsson is a Swedish citizen and holds a Master of Science Degree in Supply Chain and Operations Management from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, and an Executive MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Per Oloffson joined the Rieter Group in 2013 and is an experienced operations manager with a proven management track record at both local and global level.

At the 77th Annual General Meeting of Lenzing AG, which was once again held virtually on April 14, 2021 via livestream due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the members of the Managing Board and Supervisory Board were formally discharged from liability for the business year 2020. KPMG Austria GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungs- u. Steuerberatungsgesellschaft was appointed to serve as the auditor of the annual financial statements and consolidated annual financial statements for the business year 2021.

Furthermore, the Annual General Meeting adopted the resolution on the compensation to be paid to Supervisory Board members as well as the principles underlying the remuneration of the members of the Managing Board. In addition to financial performance criteria, the remuneration policy of Lenzing AG regulating the multi-year, performance-oriented remuneration paid to the Managing Board members will also be linked in the future to non-financial sustainability criteria (ESG) designed to further promote the sustainable business strategy of Lenzing AG.

Fully on track strategically
The Managing Board of Lenzing AG presented the business development of the year 2020, a strategic outlook and sustainability strategy including the relevant roadmap to achieve climate targets to the participating shareholders. In 2019, Lenzing made a strategic commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions per ton of product by 50 percent by the year 2030. The goal is to operate in a climate-neutral manner by 2050.

The substantial investments made in Thailand and Brazil not only support Lenzing in its transformation to a supplier of environmentally compatible specialty fibers but also comprise an important milestone on this journey which sustainably increases the company’s enterprise value.

The implementation of these two key projects is proceeding ahead as planned in spite of the direct impacts of the coronavirus crisis. The pulp plant in Brazil is scheduled to be put into operation in the first half of 2022 and will significantly increase Lenzing’s own in-house supply of dissolving pulp. Production in Thailand is expected to commence towards the end of 2021, further raising the share of eco-friendly specialty fibers in the Lenzing product portfolio.

New appointments to the Supervisory Board
Dr. Veit Sorger retired from the Supervisory Board of Lenzing AG on his request effective at the end of the Annual General Meeting. Veit Sorger had been a Member of the Supervisory Board since 2004 (also serving as Deputy Chairman since 2011) and served on various Supervisory Board committees.

The Annual General Meeting elected Dr. Markus Fürst, Managing Director of B&C Industrieholding GmbH, and Thomas Cord Prinzhorn, MBA, CEO of Prinzhorn Holding GmbH, to serve on the Supervisory Board until the end of the Annual General Meeting resolving upon the discharge of the Supervisory Board members for the business year 2024.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber through finished sewn products, held its officer elections for fiscal year 2021 today.

NCTO has re-elected David Roberts, CEO of Cap Yarns, as Chairman and David Poston, President of Palmetto Synthetics, as Vice Chairman.

In addition to the appointment of a new chairman and vice chairman, NCTO elected chairs for each of its four councils. NCTO is comprised of four councils to ensure a broad representation of the industry supply chain. Each council has an allotted number of members who are elected to the association’s Board of Directors, in addition to the Executive Committee.*

“This is a critical juncture for our industry, which answered the call of the nation to produce lifesaving personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic,” said NCTO President and CEO Kim. “We will continue to engage with all stakeholders to press for policies that support the industry overall, help onshore PPE production and create a permanent domestic supply chain.”

*See attached document for more information.

• Mostafiz Uddin, Managing Director of Denim Expert Limited and Founder of Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) has won Sustainable Fashion Champion at the Drapers Sustainable Fashion Awards 2021, which took place virtually on 10 March.

On receiving the award, Mostafiz said he wants to be a game-changer in the apparel industry, leading by example to inspire others to behave responsibly and ethically.

He also dedicated the award to H&M which, he explained, supported his business, Denim Expert, through the pandemic by continuing to place orders He said the loyal support of the Swedish fashion giant almost certainly helped save the livelihoods of 2000 workers at his factory and their 10000 family members. “That’s true sustainability leadership,” he said.

The Drapers Sustainable Fashion Awards recognise steps being made in reducing the fashion industry’s environmental impact and creating fairer working conditions across the supply chain.
Judged by an independent panel of sustainability and fashion retail experts, the awards shine a spotlight on best practice within the global fashion industry.

Covid-19 has presented unforeseen challenges for fashion retailers and brands, but it has also given us all an opportunity to build back better. Forward-thinking fashion businesses know change is not optional, and are embracing their responsibilities and ability to make a difference.

Mostafiz Uddin has been recognised as the Sustainable Fashion Champion 2021 for setting examples in promoting sustainability during the Covid-19 pandemic which broke out worldwide in March last year.
Jill Geoghegan, Acting Editor of Drapers, said: “Despite the challenges thrown up by the Coronavirus pandemic, fashion brands and retailers increasingly recognise that sustainability is a business imperative.”  
“Many businesses continued to invest in cleaning up their supply chains and introducing new models of working, despite the unprecedented trading conditions.

“The Drapers Sustainable Fashion Awards highlight and celebrate these advancements, paving the way for a more responsible future for the industry.” Managing Director of Denim Expert Limited Mostafiz Uddin said: “In the pandemic, my factory Denim Expert Limited kept true to its commitment towards sustainability, despite an extremely difficult trading landscape.

“During the pandemic, I was vocal about the issue of buyer-supplier relationships and, in speaking out, I wanted to champion the cause of suppliers all over the world. Too often suppliers in garment supply chains do not have a voice because they fear that by speaking out, they will be treated unfavourably by brands.

“This was, of course, a risk on my own part but I like to think I stood up for what I think is right and ultimately, I believe progressive brands understood I was coming from a good place. Like them, all I want to see is a fair, ethical and sustainable industry where brands and retailers work in an environment of collaboration, not conflict.”

Mostafiz also had some special praise for H&M. He said: “It would have not been possible for me to support my workers during the pandemic, had my factory not received help from H&M during the unprecedented time. While Denim Expert suffered from huge orders cancellation and orders hold, H&M supported us by placing orders in the pandemic that saved thousands of lives and livelihoods. Therefore, I would like to dedicate this Award to H&M and its CEO Helena Helmersson.”

The judges of Drapers Sustainable Fashion Champion Award 2021 have been Kerry Bannigan, Founder, Conscious Fashion Campaign; Sarah Ditty, Global Policy Director, Fashion Revolution; Miriam Lahage, Founder, Aequip; Samata Pattinson, CEO, Red Carpet Green Dress; Caroline Rush, Chief Executive Officer, British Fashion Council; Lucy Shea, Group CEO, Futerra; Jane Shepherdson, Chairman, My Wardrobe HQ; and Dilys Williams, Director, Centre for Sustainable Fashion.

• DushaGreya is a well-known brand from talented Moscow-based designer, Natalia Dushagreya, who puts her all into her unique creations.

Combining her outstanding creativity with cutting-edge digital printing technology, Natalia has been delighting women with eye-catching, comfortable clothes, which boast unparalleled individuality and vivacity for several years. “The quality of digital prints surpasses that of traditional fabrics, both in the variety of colour compositions and in the contrast and clarity when printing small details or complex geometric elements. Digital technology makes it possible to achieve exceptionally smooth colour transitions, which is almost unattainable when using analogue printing methods. As a designer, I make sure to fully leverage the advantages of digital printing when designing and producing my collection”, says Natalia.

By the time the DushaGreya brand begun, Natalia and her like-minded associate and father, Alexander Kordovatov, already had experience in the field of sublimation printing and knew that printing on fabric for subsequent tailoring would be carried out using this technology. However, no third-party performers could be found that would meet the quality and deadline requirements of the brand, so they decided to purchase new equipment and start printing at their own site. 

Alexander says. “We also found out that Smart-T (Mimaki's distributor in Russia), the supplier of this equipment in Moscow, is highly rated by the industry community and customers due to its professional expertise, first-line service support, and highly qualified engineers.” At the end of 2019, Smart-T installed the highly anticipated Mimaki Tx300P-1800 direct textile printer at the DushaGreya facility. Today it prints fabrics for dresses, skirts, T-shirts, fleeces, jumpers, hoodies, trench coats, and other midwear.

"Mimaki Tx300P-1800 is the only printer in the Mimaki line that allows us to print on natural fabrics without pre-processing,” Alexander comments. “This gives us the ability to produce short, original print runs at no extra cost, which is vital in achieving our goals. The TP400 pigment inks used in this printer have an expanded colour gamut, so the prints are always bright and saturated.”

Reflecting the pandemic-related drop in worldwide vehicle production, Autoneum’s revenue in local currencies fell by –18.7% in 2020, although the second half of the year saw a significant market recovery. Group revenue in Swiss francs fell by –24.2% year-on-year to CHF 1 740.6 million. For the full year 2020, the EBIT margin will be around 1.5% and the free cash flow slightly over CHF 100 million.
At the Annual General Meeting on March 25, 2021, the Board of Directors will propose Liane Hirner and Oliver Streuli for election to the Board of Directors of Autoneum Holding. Peter Spuhler will not stand for re-election.

At 74.5 million, the number of light vehicles produced globally in 2020 was down –16.2% compared to the previous year, where around 89 million vehicles were manufactured. Autoneum’s revenue in local currencies decreased by –18.7% in 2020, pretty much in line with the negative market dynamics. The somewhat stronger decline of revenue compared to the market results from a lower share of Asia in Autoneum's total revenue. Impacted by the appreciation of the Swiss franc against the most important currencies for Autoneum, the consolidated revenue dropped in 2020 by –24.2% to CHF 1 740.6 million. The heterogeneous development of the first and second half of the year was characteristic for the pandemic-driven automotive year 2020. Worldwide lockdowns and production stoppages at vehicle manufacturers led to a market slump in the first six months and a corresponding loss in revenue for Autoneum. Thanks to the subsequent market recovery and catch-up effects in the second half of the year, revenue improved considerably compared to the first half of the year.

Revenue development in Asia and SAMEA region significantly better than market
While revenues in local currencies of the highest-volume Business Groups Europe and North America decreased by –25.6% and –19.3% respectively, reflecting the regional, pandemic-driven market development (Europe: –22.9%; North America: –20.1%), Business Group Asia almost held its prior-year level with an organic decline of only –2.1% in 2020 thanks to the strong upturn in automobile production in China in the second half of the year and despite the fact that the number of vehicles produced in Asia fell by –11.4%.*

Personnel changes to the Board of Directors
At the Annual General Meeting on March 25, 2021, the Board of Directors of Autoneum Holding will propose Liane Hirner and Oliver Streuli for election as new members of the Board of Directors.
Liane Hirner has been CFO and member of the Management Board of Vienna Insurance Group, based in Vienna, Austria, since 2018.*

Oliver Streuli, a Swiss national, has been CEO of PCS Holding, based in Frauenfeld (Canton Thurgau), Switzerland, since 2019.*

Peter Spuhler has been a member of the Board of Directors of Autoneum since 2011 and will not stand for re-election at the Annual General Meeting on March 25, 2021.*

*See attached document for further informationen

• In course of the succession planning, Christian Straubhaar will take on the position as Senior Vice President Sales at Rieter Machines & Systems in Winterthur on January 1, 2021.
• Straubhaar will succeed Reto Thom who will retire.

Christian Straubhaar holds an Engineering Master’s Degree in Industrial Management from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and is a sales executive with 20 years of extensive experience in the textile industry. Recently, Straubhaar was responsible as Group Sales & Marketing Director at Itema for the world-wide sales of machines and spare parts. Prior, he held various positions in Operations and as Business Unit Head in Itema and other global textile companies.

His professional career shows a solid track record in identifying new market potentials and growing the business for the company. Straubhaar has a longstanding experience in selling to both large and small customers and developing key accounts within our industry.

Reto Thom has very successfully lead the Sales department at Rieter Machines & Systems for many years and made an enormous contribution to the success of the company.

• Looking to the future – Frankfurt Fashion Week is positioning itself with a consistently sustainable agenda and propelling the transformation of a modern, resource-efficient fashion industry.

The Conscious Fashion Campaign (CFC), working in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP), will be the presenting partner and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a prerequisite for all exhibitors by 2023. And the Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit by CFC is set to become the leading international conference for sustainability in the fashion world. The future of fashion has begun – and its key players will be coming together in Frankfurt am Main from 5-9 July 2021.
 
Frankfurt am Main, 2 December 2020. Joining forces to improve the fashion industry: Frankfurt Fashion Week is positioning itself as the host of the future of fashion and actively driving forward the transformation towards a future-oriented, more sustainable fashion and textile industry. All decision-makers looking to instigate this change will be coming together in Frankfurt am Main from 5-9 July 2021. The initiators of Frankfurt Fashion Week – Messe Frankfurt and the Premium Group – have achieved a real coup: Conscious Fashion Campaign, working in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships, will be the presenting partner. Messe Frankfurt will build on its collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships and establish Frankfurt Fashion week as the platform on which to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and help guide the fashion industry into the 'Decade of Action'.
 
“Frankfurt will play host to the whole world. We are seeing a very positive response indeed,” confirmed Peter Feldmann, Senior Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main, at today’s digital press conference, before going on to say: “The fact that the initiators are able to rethink the concept of a Fashion Week in such a way is extremely impressive and proves that the fashion industry is correctly interpreting the signs of the present and future. The time has come for value creation and values to be reconciled. Consistent alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals is an important step in this direction.”
 
“Frankfurt Fashion Week aims to play a crucial role in finding solutions for macrosocial challenges and supporting the goals of international politics such as the European Green Deal. The fashion and textile industries are also expected to be climate-neutral by 2050. If we want to achieve this, we all need to pull together. Frankfurt Fashion Week is inviting all initiators and supporters of sustainable concepts and congresses or shows dedicated to sustainability to meet in Frankfurt, partake in discussions and make tangible decisions for the greater good. We will connect the most relevant players and pave the way for a future-proof fashion and textile industry,” says Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt.
 
“Given its global reach, the fashion industry is uniquely positioned to collaborate and engage on the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular on climate action and responsible production and consumption,” said Annemarie Hou, Acting Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships. “Frankfurt Fashion Week and the Summit will serve as an important platform for education and engagement of the fashion and textile industry in the Decade of Action,” emphasised Ms Hou.
 
The aim of Frankfurt Fashion Week is for all exhibitors, participants and partners to align with the Sustainable Development Goals by 2023. The SDGs will also be incorporated into all formats of Frankfurt Fashion Week. This will help to make the UN’s sustainability goals visible and tangible for the Fashion Week audience, therefore bringing its claim, goals and specific proposals for implementation to an international opinion-forming fashion and lifestyle community. During a one-day Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit presented by Conscious Fashion Campaign, topics like gender equality, clean water, climate protection, social justice and their significance for a forward-looking fashion industry will be examined in greater depth. Another point on the sustainability agenda: Frankfurt Fashion Week is launching a Sustainability Award for outstanding, innovative, sustainable design, alongside other categories with a global appeal for the fashion and textile industry.
 
"We are committed to setting the wheels of transformation in motion. Not only does the overall mindset have to fundamentally change; the entire industry also needs to have the courage to be transparent and honest. It’s important to see values and value creation as opportunities rather than contentious. We are doing what we do best: connecting the relevant players at all levels. With its ecosystem, Frankfurt Fashion Week will become the enabler. We are creating a platform that will orchestrate industry-wide change. With this as our inspiration, we are also developing our tradeshow formats from a ‘marketplace of products’ to a ‘marketplace of purpose and ideas’,” explains Anita Tillmann, Managing Partner of the Premium Group.
 
A new start in Frankfurt: In summer 2021 the entire fashion industry will be coming to the metropolis on the Main river to inform themselves, be inspired, discuss, negotiate and celebrate. “There’s a huge need to finally meet in person again, to exchange ideas and be inspired. At the same time, digital tools and formats have become an integral part of the fashion industry,” says Markus Frank, Head of the City of Frankfurt’s Department of Economic Affairs and therefore also responsible for its creative industry. “To implement such a future-oriented, all-encompassing overall concept, Frankfurt’s business and creative scenes offer an almost unique concentration of different expertise with its internationally networked agencies, universities and museums. The city’s multifaceted, high-end club, bar and restaurant scene, diverse hotel industry and internationally renowned retail landscape will become the stage for this. This network will be a key factor in the successful implementation of Frankfurt Fashion Week and the way in which it will expand into the public space as a cultural and social happening.”
 
A number of major publishing houses are also showing their commitment to the new Fashion Week in Frankfurt with conferences, events and awards: Textilwirtschaft, the leading professional fashion journal by the Deutscher Fachverlag publishing house, is moving its traditional meeting of the industry’s top decision-makers – the TW Forum, the presentation of the renowned Forum Award, as well as its subsequent conference – from Heidelberg to Frankfurt’s Palmengarten botanical gardens, and will therefore be kicking off Frankfurt Fashion Week on Sunday evening and Monday morning. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung will be hosting its traditional fashion party for the first time in Frankfurt and publishing a special edition of its FAZ Magazin on Frankfurt Fashion Week. And the ZEIT publishing group is holding its ‘UNLOCK Style by ZEITmagazin’ conference, which was established in 2014, and the ZEITmagazin Fashion Week party in Frankfurt for the first time and will dedicate the whole new issue of ZEITmagazin Frankfurt to Frankfurt Fashion Week. Condé Nast will also be involved in next summer’s Frankfurt Fashion Week with an exclusive event by GQ. And the Burda publishing house will also be represented with various event formats from its lifestyle and fashion brands.There will also be talks with SHINE  Conventions, the organiser of GLOW, about what a mutual collaboration could look like.
 
Frankfurt Fashion Week is also delighted to have the Fashion Council Germany (FCG) on board.  The FCG is theinstitution when it comes to German fashion design. It promotes designers, is committed to gaining more political relevance and strengthens the international visibility and awareness of German fashion. At Frankfurt Fashion Week, the FCG will contribute selected formats, such as its already established Fireside Chat, and a future-oriented accelerator format to support German designers.
 
“What really impresses me about Fashion Week is the whole networking aspect: the creative industries will meet the financial world and sustainability is the common denominator. The Green Finance Cluster is another project that we could link with Frankfurt Fashion Week in the future. This will provide new inspiration in the fashion industry, which will certainly extend way beyond its own horizon of Frankfurt and Hesse. After a very difficult year for the trade fair industry, the concept is an encouraging breath of fresh air,” sums up Tarek Al-Wazir, Hesse’s Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development and Deputy Minister-President of the state of Hessen.

The collaboration between Tonello and denim designer Piero Turk gave birth to a sustainable denim collection, result of a combination of the latest responsible technologies, and created with the most eco-friendly fabrics selected by The Kingpins Show.

“When it comes to working on new developments, we always start from new ideas and the constant research that starts from a concept that becomes reality, by increasingly raising the bar of sustainability,” said Alice Tonello, R&D and Marketing Director of Tonello.

18 exclusive and contemporary denim pieces, result of the premium experience of Piero Turk, and Tonello with its new brand-new finishing process: The Laundry (R )Evolution.

This is a radically new conception thought to simplify and optimize the entire garment finishing process.

It involves only 2 technologies in the entire finishing cycle, reducing waste and optimizing resources: LaserBlaze, and The All-in-One-System. Finally we use Metro, our software that processes real data, in real time to check all laundry consumption, optimizing processing times and improving performance.

The All-in-One System performs all washing operations by integrating 4 sustainable technologies into a single machine: ECOfree 2, which uses ozone in both the water and air; NoStone® for authentic and pumice-free stone-wash effects; UP, for washing processes with at least 50% less water; Core, a nebulizing system improving performance and reducing water consumption.

As a result of The Laundry (R )Evolution, Tonello developed two innovative and patent-pending processes: OBleach and Wake.

OBleach is the new Tonello process, which, by using only ozone, “returns to the future” with an authentic, sustainable and cool Bleach. Without chemicals.
This is possible thanks to a combination of the technologies part of our All-In-One System.
In short, the real Bleach without Bleach has finally arrived. And this in the year of the total ban of permanganate too.

Wake is the first totally natural dyeing system that uses only plants and biodegradable vegetable waste like flowers, berries and roots, without harmful chemicals additives.

The capsule collection will be displayed at KINGPINS24 on October 27th during the seminar held by Alice Tonello and Piero Turk.

• A new partnership is born in the name of responsible innovation, relationships and a new twist in the fashion system

C.L.A.S.S., the international hub for responsible innovation founded by Giusy Bettoni, and SFASHION NET, the portal dedicated to micro critical fashion companies created by Guya Manzoni and Marina Savarese, join forces to give active support to micro enterprises and bring a wave of fresh air in the fashion system.

When you speak the same language and are moved by the same values, it is easy to meet on a common path. You can decide to walk alone, or to continue together in the same direction. This is what has happened since the meeting of C.L.A.S.S. and SFASHION NET, two realities, the first consolidated over time and the second recently born, which speak of responsible innovation, beauty, design, tradition, ethics and smart communication.

And who have decided to combine skills and ideas in the name of a revolutionary vision of fashion.

Micro companies and independent designers, the daily bread of SFASHION NET, will become the final addressees of a series of specialized services and courses developed by C.L.A.S.S. and will benefit from special conditions for finding materials in small quantities available on the Smart Source and ad hoc consultancy. All this to support the growth of these brands that have always moved on the wave of sustainability and ethical production, but often encountering many problems.

Online activities will alternate with offline meetings, because relationship is what makes the difference, even in the world of fashion.

“The spirit and values of the new generation of designers are what makes us optimistic about tomorrow’s fashion system. For this reason, together with SFASHION NET “every year” we will choose 1 or 2 creatives that are more in line with our common values and we will promote them at 360°, on all our channels and with a targeted communication activity starting from the collections that will be presented in February”.