#Recycling / Circular Economy

2021-05-12

OSOMTEX® awarded honorable mention in Best World Changing Idea category of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards

The winners of Fast Company’s 2021 World-Changing Ideas Awards were announced today, honoring the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality.

From a cleaner freight train to an automated beehive, a way to recycle fabric, and other bold, new technologies, the annual awards honor the products, concepts, companies, policies, and designs that are pursuing innovation for the good of society and the planet.

Osomtex® is a woman-led, material tech company offering the industry closed-loop solutions to textile waste. The first company to introduce a 100% upcycled high-performance yarn made from post-consumer clothing blend on a large scale. Osomtex® has been selected as an Honorable Mention on 2021 Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2021.

Now in its fifth year, the World-Changing Ideas Awards showcase 33 winners, more than 400 finalists, and more than 800 honorable mentions—with Health and Wellness, AI & Data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more. Plus, several new categories were added, including Pandemic Response, Urban Design, and Architecture. The 2021 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Brazil to Denmark to Vietnam.

Showcasing some of the world’s most inventive entrepreneurs and companies tackling exigent global challenges, Fast Company’s Summer 2021 issue (on newsstands May 10) highlights, among others, a lifesaving bassinet; the world’s largest carbon sink, thanks to carbon-eating concrete; 3D-printed schools; an at-home COVID-19 testing kit; a mobile voting app; and the world’s cleanest milk.

“Osomtex® has pioneered a big change on the way things are being done in the garment world. Disrupting the fashion industry, rethinking the supply chain, and creating high-quality upcycled materials has been nothing but easy. But we will continue to do so, innovating and improving for a circular economy and a healthier planet”, says Patricia Ermecheo Founder and CEO of Osomtex®.

“There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems,” says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020.”

“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.

Reju expands textile-to-textile recycling network with six international fabric manufacturers

Reju, a textile-to-textile regeneration company, is expanding its industrial network through collaborations with six fabric manufacturers in Europe and the Americas. The initiative aims to accelerate the integration of regenerated polyester into textile manufacturing and support the development of finished fabrics for commercial applications.

Trützschler expands technical service capabilities for spinning mills in Pakistan

Faster support, shorter downtime and advanced repair capabilities: customers across Pakistan can now benefit from the Trützschler Service Station at its new location in Lahore. By combining Trützschler service expertise with state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, the new facility helps spinning mills resolve technical issues more quickly and maintain reliable production.

Stäubli to introduce new S3292 dobby for high-speed weaving at ITME India 2026

Stäubli will introduce its new S3292 dobby at ITME India 2026, taking place from December 4 to 9 at the India Expo Centre & Mart in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Designed for high-speed air-jet weaving, the new machine will be among the highlights of the company's presentation, which also includes warp preparation systems, cam motions, Jacquard technologies and digital services.

DITF develops bio-based binding fibers for wood-fiber insulation materials

As part of the CelluWoodFlex project, the German Institutes of Textile- and Fiber-Research in Denkendorf (DITF) are developing bio-based cellulose ester fibers as alternative binding fibers for flexible wood fiber insulation materials. In addition to the spinning process and the production of suitable staple fibers, the institute is also investigating how wood and cellulose fibers can be separated and recycled at the end of their useful life.

Magnera highlights HighPleat™ filtration media technology at FiltXPO 2026

At FiltXPO 2026, held on October 28–29 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Magnera highlighted advances in air filtration media architecture, with a particular focus on its HighPleat™ platform for MERV 8–10 applications. The technology combines a lofted fiber structure with optimized pore architecture to address the challenge of balancing filtration efficiency, airflow resistance and contaminant-holding capacity.

Ahlstrom expands depth filtration media production capacity at US facility

Ahlstrom has completed a major investment in its Kingston manufacturing facility in New York, USA, expanding production capacity for high-performance depth filtration media. The modernization of Line 3 is designed to improve manufacturing efficiency, enhance quality control and increase flexibility in producing different product widths.