#Innovate 2021

2021-10-28

Innovate 2021 open for business

Innovate 2021 opened its virtual doors to over 18,000 registered visitors from over 150 countries yesterday.

Organised by World Textile Information Network (WTiN), the event is part of Textile Innovation Week, which is running from 25 to 29 October.

The event has around 60 exhibitors and over 100 live streams, 86% of which are exhibitor live streams. Exhibitors include Sun Chemical, DuPont, AFFOA, ITMA, Oerlikon, Velcro, Epson, Ricoh, Polygiene, Evonik, Kornit Digital and Roland DG.

A key feature of the event is the Innovate Hub, which features 50 of the latest innovations that can be rated from Interesting to Revolutionary. The innovations can help navigate visitors to key innovations in their sector of the industry.

During the virtual event, WTiN is hosting its first live Innovate Summit. Sponsored by Epson, the virtual Summit starts today (26 October) and is running until 28 October. It covers a host of key industry themes such as sustainability, transparency, digitalisation and future supply chains, to name a few.

The Summit includes 16 live presentations and panel discussions to deliver strategic insight into how the macro environment will influence industry transformation over the next five years and help all participants build a competitive, resilient, customer-driven and value-added future.

Speakers include Dirk Vantyghem, director general (EURATEX), Christian Schindler, director general, International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), Matthijs Crietee, secretary general, International Apparel Federation (IAF) and Joshua Hinkel, partner, Bain & Company.

Including the live presentations and discussions, delegates can get involved in live Q&As and dip in and out of sessions as they browse Innovate 2021.

On the opening of the event, Mark Jarvis, managing director at WTiN, says: “Innovate 2021 offers an exciting combination of content from industry leaders and innovators in machinery, technology and materials.”

He adds: “In particular, this year’s three-day summit of 16 sessions will cover important topics including government policy, skills, digitalisation, sustainability and supply chains.”

Innovate is where the world’s leading textile and apparel companies come to explore commercial opportunities, as well as meet new partners and the sharpest visionaries.

Make sure you make the most of this opportunity and visit as many booths as possible and connect with like-minded innovators.

Innovate 2021 is sponsored by Ricoh and the Innovate Summit is sponsored by Epson.

For more information visit: https://innovate.wtin.com/

For more on WTiN, visit the WTiN booth at Innovate 2021.

“Production is a product”

From technical textiles and AI-driven robotics to the limitations of textile circularity: Professor Dr Thomas Gries looks back on more than two decades of development at ITA Aachen. In the interview, he explains why production technology remains a decisive success factor, discusses international collaborations and innovation ecosystems, and shares his views on the transformation of production landscapes and the challenges facing an increasingly regulated industry.

“We need to move away from the price trap and return to a value-driven mindset.”

With its new Textile Innovation Center, KARL MAYER is sending a strong signal for innovation, collaboration, and the future of textile applications. In this interview, Karl Josef Mayer discusses new opportunities in warp knitting, the processing of staple fibres, recycling, the changing role of machinery manufacturers, and why the textile industry must once again focus more strongly on the value of textiles. by Oliver Schmidt

“Innovation, resilience and international experience remain the great strengths of the Swiss textile machinery industry”

Geopolitical uncertainty, growing competitive pressure from China, new free trade agreements and the shift towards a circular economy are currently reshaping the global textile industry. In this interview, Cornelia Buchwalder discusses the current mood within the Swiss textile machinery sector, the industry’s distinctive innovative strength, new market opportunities in India and Asia, and the technological trends that could shape the upcoming trade fair cycle leading up to ITMA 2027.

Ence and ShareTex begin initial testing of the ATENEA innovation project to promote textile recycling in Spain

Ence and ShareTex are making progress on the Atenea R&D project, which aims to develop a complete value chain for textile recycling in Spain. Specifically, the goal of the ATENEA project—which is funded by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI)—is to connect all the necessary stages for the recovery of textile waste, from collection and management, through recycling and transformation into new raw materials, to their incorporation into new textile products.

DePoly Inaugurates its Showcase Plant in Monthey Switzerland

What if used plastic bottles, PET packaging material and polyester textiles could become raw materials just as high performing as virgin resources? That is the ambition of DePoly, a circular materials company based in Sion, Switzerland which inaugurated its Showcase Plant in Monthey on July 6th & 7th. The first depolymerization facility of its kind and scale in Switzerland, this industrial Showcase Plant represents a major milestone in the company's growth and its journey toward commercialization.

Commission clarifies rules on plastic bottles recycling

The European Commission today adopted new rules on recycling of single-use plastic beverage bottles made primarily of polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles). These rules establish, for the first time, a methodology to calculate, verify and report chemically recycled content. This is part of the Commission’s December 2025 plastics package.