Textiles news The latest from the industry

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New developments in the Textiles industry

trevira invests in new textile equipment

Trevira GmbH’s owner Indorama Ventures has approved various large projects at its Guben site. The approved investments will be in the form of equipment that will affect all processes (polycondensation, spinning and textile processing) at the Guben site where Trevira GmbH produces filament specialties for the textile industry. A total investment of around €7.5 million is planned. These investments will generate additional quantitative growth and optimise processes and procedures at Trevira GmbH’s site in Guben where flat and texturised filament yarns are produced for automotive interiors, technical textiles, apparel, and home textiles.

CEO Klaus Holz: “These investments are an extremely important signal. They are a reiteration of the long-term commitment of our parent company IVL to Trevira GmbH.” The head of the Filament BU, Edo Lieven added: “We are very excited about the investments in the new equipment. The Guben site and the Filament BU will be strengthened by these projects.” Visit: www.trevira.de

Elastic fibre set to revolutionise smart clothes

EPFL scientists have found a fast and simple way to make super-elastic, multi-material, highperformance fibres. Its fibres have already been used as sensors on robotic fingers and in clothing. This breakthrough method opens the door to new kinds of smart textiles and medical implants.

It’s a whole new way of thinking about sensors. The tiny fibres developed at EPFL are made of elastomer and can incorporate materials like electrodes and nanocomposite polymers. The fibres can detect even the slightest pressure and strain and can withstand deformation of close to 500% before recovering their initial shape. All that makes them perfect for applications in smart clothing and prostheses, and for creating artificial nerves for robots.

The fibers were developed at EPFL’s Laboratory of Photonic Materials and Fiber Devices (FIMAP), headed by Fabien Sorin at the School of Engineering. The scientists came up with a fast and easy method for embedding different kinds of microstructures in super-elastic fibres. For instance, by adding electrodes at strategic locations, they turned the fibres into ultra-sensitive sensors. What’s more, their method can be used to produce hundreds of meters of fibre in a short amount of time. Visit: www.actu.epfl.ch

NIRI invests in nonwoven technology

The Nonwovens Innovation & Research Institute (NIRI) has invested significantly in a range of new equipment, made possible by a move from the University of Leeds campus to a new facility, and giving NIRI even greater scope to help companies develop better-performing products and processes.

The Institute’s investment reflects the expansion of nonwoven technologies across multiple sectors, and responds to ever-increasing demands for product development and enhancement, cost reduction and quality improvement, identification and evaluation of new markets, and the reduction of environmental impact. The investment in new facilities includes a range of equipment, all of which is helping NIRI’s clients through the increased ability to manufacture and test new products.

Dr Matthew Tipper, Business Director at NIRI, comments on the investment, “With over 10 years’ track record in successful R&D, helping clients develop and improve products and processes across numerous sectors, this further investment in testing and production equipment enhances our extensive facilities, building on our research excellence and further helping realise the business imperatives of our industry collaborators and commercial clients.” Visit: www.nonwovens-innovation.com

Lenzing’s VEOCEL furthers sustainability in nonwovens

The lenzing Group has introduced VeoCel™, a new nonwoven speciality brand. Positioned as a premium brand of nonwoven fibres for daily care rituals, Veocel provides the nonwoven industry with fibres that are certified clean and safe, biodegradable, from botanic origin and produced in an environmentally responsible production process. offerings under the Veocel brand cover a broad range of applications for everyday use, from baby care, beauty and body care to intimate care and surface cleaning. Such applications are categorised under branded offers Veocel Beauty, Veocel Body, Veocel Intimate and Veocel Surface.

The introduction of Veocel is a key milestone of lenzing’s new brand strategy to transform from a B2B fibre producer to a business-tobusiness-to-consumer (B2B2C) brand. Coupled with ongoing co-branding, joint marketing and brand education initiatives, Veocel will enable lenzing to shift its focus beyond fibre types to product application. Visit: www.lenzing.com

INDUSTRYNEWS

orgaNoteX wins scandinavian outdoor awards sustainability prize

OrganoClick’s new biodegradable and fluorocarbon-free textile impregnation for consumers, the ORGANOTEX® Textile waterproofing, has awarded first prize in the Sustainability category at the Scandinavian Outdoor Awards.

A total of 20 products from Scandinavian outdoor brands were nominated for the competition. Two winners were selected within the main categories ‘Overall’ and ‘Sustainability’ and recognitions were also given to products within five sub-categories.

According to the jury: “Water repellence plays an important role for outdoor garments. OrganoTex Textile Waterproofing is an eco-friendly, PFOC-free and fully biodegradable way of keeping your clothing highly water repellent.”

“Our launch of ORGANOTEX® Textile waterproofing for consumers has been very successful, with the Swedish Naturkompaniet as our first reseller,” says Mårten Hellberg, CEO of OrganoClick. Visit: www.organoclick.com

H&M group enters virtual reality

INcollaboration with Google, H&M group has developed a pioneering voice app for H&M Home. Additionally, the H&M group brand Monki has partnered up with HoloMe to explore a unique creation of high definition human holograms in Augmented Reality, which are currently being introduced.

H&M group, in partnership with Google Assistant, is developing H&M Home Stylist, a voice application that will provide personal styling suggestions, mood boards and inspiration for every room in the home. Monki and HoloMe have partnered up for an avant-garde test of high-definition human holograms in Augmented Reality, accessible through a smartphone or tablet. Images of nine selected Monki outfits are enhanced with effects in 3D, allowing the viewer to monitor the garments in great details and experience the holograms as being present in the room. Visit: www.hm.com

Metsä Group to build demo plant for textile fibres

Metsä Group has established a new innovation company, Metsä Spring Ltd. The company will, together with partner organisations, invest in new endeavours with the target to identify and develop new business opportunities in sustainable forest-based bioeconomy and circular economy. Its first project will be a greenfield demo plant with a capacity of about 500 tonnes of staple fibre per year.

The current methods of producing textile fibres typically come with a large environmental footprint and the textile market is thus seeking new, more sustainable alternatives. The environmentally-friendly production method developed by Metsä Group is based on direct dissolution using novel compounds for the pulp dissolution stage. In contrast to the methods used commercially today, Metsä Group’s method relies on wet paper-grade pulp as the raw material.

“It is important to develop new bioproducts that expand the current product portfolio of the forest industry. Textile fibre is a very promising product and a natural first project for Metsä Spring. The company wants to be an active and respected player in developing new business concepts for various stages of the forest-based value chains,” says CEO Niklas von Weymarn. Visit: www.metsagroup.com

KappAhl joins the Sustainable Apparel Coalition

KappAhl has become the next company to join the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) in order to help accelerate sustainable development in working methods and solutions within the fashion industry.

“We are committed to continuing to play an active role in driving the system changes that need to be made in our industry. With the SAC, we can harmonise our approaches to sustainability with other players in the industry, enabling us to pull together and make a greater difference,” says KappAhl’s Ceo, Danny Feltmann.

KappAhl is now in the process of developing its working methods using the SAC’s Higg Index suite of tools. The objective is to set clear standards for the entire industry to measure and assess the sustainability performance of suppliers and products.

“A harmonised approach within the industry will have a positive impact on our entire value chain and bring greater transparency to the industry. This is the route to achieving a sustainable fashion industry,” says Fredrika Klarén, head of Sustainability at KappAhl. Visit: www.kappahl.com