Trevira: sustainable innovations

Trevira reveals numerous new, sustainable innovations

Trevira GmbH offer products for MANY technologies and applications in the area of technical and functional textiles. At Techtextil 2019, Trevira appeared with other exhibitors owned by parent company Indorama Ventures. Sustainability played a key part in Trevira’s display and across the entire Indorama joint fair booth, which revealed a number of new developments, many of them based on biopolymers, currently a huge topic for sustainable textiles.

One sustainable product to be viewed was a pillow by Portuguese customer Carlos Manuel Salgado Costa, Ltd. (Analar ® ). The filling for the pillow consists of 95% biopolymer PLA. PLA fibres from sustainable raw materials offer a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based fibres, and PLA is recyclable and 100% biodegradable with industrial composting. Because of its sustainability, this pillow has qualified for the Sinfineco brand, only awarded to sustainable Trevira products.

Aeropowder has launched a sustainable product, pluumo– a biodegradable, innovative packaging material that harnesses the power of feathers. Feathers have naturally insulating properties, and to find a fibre that would help realise their design idea, Aeropowder turned to Trevira GmbH. They developed special binding fibres – bicomponent fibres consisting of two different biopolymers. This collaboration has resulted in the creation of biodegradable insulating material.

Aeropowder: Insulating packaging material pluumo

Trevira GmbH/Chamatex: woven 100% PLA fabric

At Trevira they know that new combinations of primary materials, together with fibres that offer additional functionalities, will become more and more important, so. Trevira expanded its capacity to produce bicomponent

fibres at the Bobingen site. Trevira’s PLA fibres can also help meet the needs of the food industry. With their customers, they have already obtained ISEGA certification for selected products.

Trevira offers PLA staple fibres and PLA filament yarns. Some examples of products made from this sustainable material are knitted massage gloves by MDD di Maddaleno Massimiliano; an interior lining fabric that protects against the sun, by Vertisol; and a woven 100% PLA fabric by Chamatex.

Recycling plays also a key role in Trevira’s policies. They offer filament yarns on the basis of recycled PET bottles. For these filament yarns the GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certification has been requested. Filament yarns from recycled PET bottles are available at Trevira as raw white and spun-dyed flat and textured yarns in various colours and yarn counts.

Recycling is important for staple fibres too. Trevira is working with its sister company Schoeller GmbH & Co. KG to develop cable types from recycled materials that can be used in the automotive industry, and they expect to obtain GRS certification for these products in the near future. Flame retardant, recycled Trevira staple fibres are also currently at the development stage.

Another important element of its sustainability policy is the manufacture of staple fibres without using antimony. They began to produce their staple fibres from normal polyester on an antimony-free basis in January 2018, and antimony-free flame retardant staple fibres will be offered by Trevira as a standard starting the second half of 2019.Another innovation in the

area of filament yarns for flame retardant polyester home textiles can be seen in the use of Trevira CS fabrics for the outdoor sector. The hotel, restaurant and shipping sectors rely on fabrics that are equally suitable for outdoor and indoor use. Indoors, fabrics must comply with stringent fire safety legislations. Outdoors, they must meet safety requirements while also offering high fastness to light.

Trevira GmbH: Spun-dyed recycled yarns

Trevira GmbH/Vertisol: interior lining fabric that protects against the sun

Trevira GmbH/Schmitz Textiles GmbH: Flame-retardant fabric made of 100% recycled materials

Trevira GmbH: Trevira CS outdoor colour card

Generally, the outdoor trend shows no signs of slowing down. People want to be able to spend time outdoors, meaning that outdoor areas on the home and contract market need to be designed to the highest standards and using the very best materials. Trevira now offers a new range of 23 UVresistant, spun-dyed filament yarns. These are characterised by very high

fastness to light, which is retained in textiles made of these yarns. Besides colour radiance and fastness, spun-dyed yarns also have an additional advantage. They are more sustainable than yarn-dyed products, as they do not require an additional dyeing process. This saves energy and helps to protect the environment.

Trevira GmbH/MDD di Maddaleno Massimiliano: knitted massage gloves

Carlos Manuel Salgado Costa, Ltd/Trevira GmbH: PLA pillow

With its flagship brand Trevira CS and in collaboration with its sister company PHP Fibers GmbH, the company has also developed a new type of pillow. Its interior consists of a new PHP Fibers product, BreathAir – a material created to provide breathable upholstery and filling solutions. The BreathAir textile, based on a thermoplastic elastomer, is highly water repellent and unusually breathable. It also offers excellent stretch qualities and durability, and is lighter than polyurethane but with equal rigidity, so it is ideal for use in seat upholstery. These outstanding properties are due to a special 3D loop structure created from continuous filaments combined with the textile’s elastomer components. The pillow case has been made of a Trevira CS fabric by Fidivi Tessitura Vergnano S.p.A.

Trevira GmbH/PHP Fibers GmbH/Fidivi Tessitura Vergnano S.p.A.: Breathair pillow