#Recycling / Circular Economy

2021-07-08

Recover™, Happy Punt and Hansae Form a strategic partnership to achieve circular fashion for all

Three leading companies in the textiles industry, Recover™, Happy Punt, and Hansae, have entered into a multi-year partnership agreement to provide end-to-end solutions for the design, development, and production of sustainably conscious apparel for the fashion industry. The partnership allows retailers and brands to seamlessly integrate sustainable Recover™ recycled cotton fiber into their products, thereby helping to solve one of the world’s biggest environmental issues.

Using innovative technology, the partnership provides a range of services, including 3D design, patterns, tech packs, samples, and production to support brands and retailers at every step in the supply chain. The partnership offers a unique speed to market solution for the production of fully sustainable apparel and leverages the group’s global reach, with offices in Seoul, Barcelona, and New York. In addition, close customer proximity provides in-market technical design services that develop, review and approve all specifications to ensure correct fit and brand enhancing products.The partnership also provides an end-to-end service that combines the advantages of production nearshore and offshore worldwide.

Dedicated leading edge design and development facilities can produce samples in house from concept to finished sample with a quick turnaround time. Notably, as part of a joint sustainability initiative, the partnership also encourages R&D designs to be replaced by 3D designs to reduce the environmental impact of the sampling process.

The three leading companies have a combined experience of over 130 years in each of their respective fields. Each firm’s commitment to bringing the best technology to the product and the market offers a disruptive approach to the traditional apparel design and production process. The partnership is proud to be actively working with leading global brands to deliver sustainable collections to the market by Spring 2022, and more collections are expected to follow.

Recover™ will increase its production to 200,000 metric tons of recycled cotton fiber per year by 2025 to support the current market demand. This recycled cotton volume will save nearly three trillion liters of water each year, equivalent to the drinking water consumed by 3 billion people on an annual basis and allow 500,000 acres of land to be directed away from cotton cultivation to other uses.

The Recover™, Happy Punt, and Hansae strategic partnership provides brands and retailers with an easy plug & play solution to achieve their sustainability initiatives and ensures a quality product for the consumer.

“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.

20 Start-Ups selected for CEMATEX Start-Up Grant at ITMA 2027

CEMATEX has selected 20 emerging start-ups from nine countries to receive the CEMATEX Start-Up Grant and showcase their innovations at Start-Up Valley during ITMA 2027 in Hanover. Their participation will be fully funded by CEMATEX, giving promising early-stage companies access to the world’s leading textile and garment technology platform.

Moving Advanced Recycling from Innovation to Implementation

The Advanced Recycling Conference 2026 explores technologies, markets, financing and scale-up of innovative recycling solutions for waste streams including mixed plastic waste, textiles and PVC. Europe’s chemical and materials sector faces growing pressure to close carbon loops, strengthen raw-material safety and resilience and meet increasingly ambitious EU recycling targets. Against this backdrop, the Advanced Recycling Conference (ARC) will bring together industry leaders, technology providers, researchers, innovators and policy-makers on 17–18 November 2026 in Cologne, Germany.

EFI and Agfa’s DPS Business to combine andform a global, full-service industrial inkjet company

Electronics for Imaging, Inc. (“EFI”), a leading industrial inkjet business and portfolio company of Siris, and Agfa-Gevaert (“Agfa”) today announced a definitive agreement to combine Agfa’s Digital Printing Solutions business (“Agfa DPS”) with EFI. An affiliate of Siris will hold a 60% interest and Agfa will hold a 40% interest in the jointly held company, which will bring together the operating capabilities of EFI and Agfa DPS under a governance structure whereby Siris and Agfa will act as equal partners.

KARL MAYER invites the Global Textile Industry to celebrate its 90th anniversary at its German Headquarters in 2027

KARL MAYER is turning its anniversary year 2027 into a milestone for the textile sector. To mark its 90th anniversary, the industry leader is inviting customers, partners, and experts from around the world to a unique event series in September aimed at pushing boundaries, unlocking new opportunities, and jointly setting the course for a new era in textiles – just as KARL MAYER has done throughout its history. The company’s headquarters in Obertshausen, near Frankfurt, is the place to be.

ITMF names three winners of the Sustainability & Innovation Award 2026

Three projects from the UK, Korea and China have been selected as winners of the ITMF Sustainability & Innovation Award 2026. The projects address textile-to-textile recycling, chemical recycling for automotive textiles and a regenerative approach combining silk production with ecological restoration.