#Raw Materials

2021-10-07

Visit COTTON USA at Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles and Yarn Expo

At this year’s Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics and Yarn Expo shows held from Oct. 9-11, Cotton Council International (CCI) will introduce the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol® and COTTON USA SOLUTIONS™ at its booths located at Hall 1.1, E50 and Hall 8.2, D55.

The Trust Protocol brings quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production and drives continuous improvement in key sustainability metrics. COTTON USA SOLUTIONS is a new cotton consultancy providing unmatched expertise informed by work with over 1,500 mills in 50 countries.

“To meet the ever-increasing demands for textile brands to demonstrate their credentials, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol sets a new standard for more sustainably grown cotton,” said Bruce Atherley, Executive Director at CCI. “Choosing U.S. cotton will give brands and retailers the critical assurances they need that the cotton fiber element of their supply chain is more sustainably grown with lower environmental and social risk. Meanwhile, COTTON USA SOLUTIONS is designed so that mills and manufacturers can optimize the use of U.S. cotton with cutting-edge offerings to transform their businesses – profitably.”

The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol is a new system for responsibly grown cotton providing annual data for six areas of sustainability in line with the U.N. Sustainability Goals. This year-over-year data, available for the first time, will allow brands and retailers to better measure progress towards meeting their corporate sustainability commitments. The Trust Protocol is recognized by Textile Exchange and Forum for the Future, and part of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cotton 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge, Cotton 2040 and Cotton Up initiatives.

More than 450 brands, retailers, mills and manufacturers have become Trust Protocol members since its launch in 2020. This includes PVH Corp., one of the largest global apparel companies, Levi Strauss & Co. and its legacy brands, Gap Inc. and its collection of purpose-led lifestyle brands, and global apparel manufacturer Gildan. The Trust Protocol has also welcomed UK retailers Tesco, Byford and Next Plc.

At this year’s show, CCI is also showcasing the COTTON USA SOLUTIONS program. Over the past two years, CCI has built a cotton mill consulting team composed of spinning experts from around the world with the objective of helping mill partners get the best technical and financial value from what independent studies have consistently confirmed is the world’s best performing cotton.

The COTTON USA SOLUTIONS Program has five main elements:

1. Mills Studies, which include access to independent research covering all aspects of spinning U.S. cotton.

2. COTTON USA Technical Seminars with speakers from CCI and outside experts from across the supply chain.

3. Mill Exchange Programs, where executives get to tour COTTON USA licensee world-class mills and exchange ideas, build relationships and share best practices.

4. Mill Mastery Training Courses, covering best practices to take the spinning skills of your staff to the next level.

5. 1:1 (One on One) Mill Consults, where our team of spinning specialists will visit your mill, either virtually using Microsoft HoloLens technology or in-person on-site, to provide customized solutions to help you improve your productivity and lower costs.

Consulting activities of the COTTON USA SOLUTIONS program have successfully been introduced into China last year, and the CCI team is eager to work with other partner mills in China. COTTON USA SOLUTIONS programs are complimentary for licensees with a U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol membership.

At the COTTON USA booth, visitors can also browse high-quality products made of American Pima cotton under the Supima brand and textile products from COTTON USA licensees and Trust Protocol members, including: Fujian Jinda Textile; Huafang Co., Ltd.; H.W. Textiles; Jiangsu Expert Denim; Jiangyin Knit Denim; New Jersey; Qingdao Jerid; Schiesser; and Zhangjiagang Talent Textile. The COTTON USA booth also features an array of information highlighting COTTON USA’s licensing program, market and consumer studies, and its ongoing sourcing programs that match U.S. cotton buyers and suppliers throughout the supply chain.

“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.

AMSilk and Ajinomoto Foods Europe expand partnership to enable industrial-scale production of silk proteins

AMSilk GmbH (“AMSilk”), a global leader leader in biotech produced silk materials, today announced a significant expansion of its partnership with Ajinomoto Foods Europe (AFE), marking a key step in scaling the industrial production of its silk proteins. Building on the collaboration first established in 2023, the two companies have now entered into a long-term manufacturing and supply agreement, enabling the transition from industrial validation to dedicated, large-scale production.

Cotton made in Africa partners receive top marks in independent verifications

Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) and CmiA Organic are two internationally recognised standards that aim to promote sustainable development in the African cotton sector south of the Sahara. To ensure the standards’ credibility among brands, retailers, and consumers, independent verifiers evaluate compliance on the ground. The verification results for 2025, now published in the Aggregated Verification & Implementation Report, were very strong: The verifiers awarded consistently very good remarks regarding management, people, prosperity, and the environment.

Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brings supply chain leaders together around cotton innovation

Cotton Incorporated’s Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brought together more than 300 industry leaders from 140 companies across 10 countries, including more than 45 top global brands and sourcing organizations, underscoring strong global interest in cotton-rich product development, sourcing and supply chain collaboration.

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.