#Yarn & Fiber

2022-07-28

Insempra announces strategic investment in Solena materials

Insempra, a biology-powered company enabling businesses to make superior products in partnership with nature, today announces a strategic investment in Solena Materials Ltd (‘Solena’), a synthetic biology company. Solena, a spin-out from Imperial College London, develops synthetic proteins for high-performance clothing fibers.

Strategic investment to support the foundation of Solena Materials, a spin-out from Imperial College London, accelerating the development of synthetic fibers for high-performance, intrinsically sustainable clothing

The investment will allow Insempra, formerly Origin.Bio, to accelerate its strategy of harnessing new technologies to advance biological production processes, creating naturally superior products to drive the regenerative revolution. Solena will be a major part of Insempra’s platform to deliver high-performance, intrinsically sustainable ingredients for a broad array of industries.

Solena is using computational design to develop new classes of synthetic proteins to produce high-performance clothing fibers, which can absorb large amounts of kinetic energy. Insempra will accelerate the development and production of these synthetic proteins on an industrial scale, offering better, biobased solutions to the petrochemically sourced, non-biodegradable materials or fibers extracted from nature or animals, such as silk, currently used in the textile and clothing industries. This technology also reduces other environmental impacts such as the rise of microplastics in water bodies coming from washing petrochemically-sourced textiles.

Jens Klein, founder and CEO of Insempra and CEO of Solena Materials, commented: “We are hugely excited by this investment in Solena, which will help to accelerate our market-first approach to develop superior, intrinsically sustainable ingredients. We look forward to fast-tracking Solena’s development and production of their unique synthetic proteins to develop customized, high-performance fibers for a variety of applications.”

Dr James MacDonald, inventor, co-founder and CTO of Solena Materials, added: “The team and I are very excited to make this technology a huge success.”

Professor Paul Freemont of Imperial College London, added: “This investment from Insempra recognizes the potential of our technology to revolutionize high-performance fabrics, and their supply chains. Together, we can harness our synthetic biology capabilities to develop, produce and manufacture a new class of superior, more sustainable fiber technology.”

Insempra, a co-founder of Solena, will be the sole contributing shareholder in Solena, which is based at Imperial College’s Translation & Innovation Hub (I-HUB) in White City, London. Solena’s Board will be comprised of Dr James MacDonald of Solena, Professor Paul Freemont and Professor Milo Shaffer of Imperial College London, and Jens Klein and Andreas Heyl of Insempra.

“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.

DYNEEMA® and NP Aerospace advance personal protection for military servicewomen

Dyneema®, owned by Avient Corporation, an innovator of materials solutions, is supplying its high-performance unidirectional (UD) materials to world-leading armor manufacturer NP Aerospace, enabling the production of armor systems designed specifically to fit the female body. With 2,000 new armor systems, including 4,000 plates, made in the United Kingdom (UK) and delivered in June 2026, this collaboration addresses a long-standing lack of high-quality personal protection specially built for female defense and security personnel.

Grasim Industries announces fresh investment of ₹3094 Crore to expand Lyocell capacity

Grasim Industries Limited, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group and a global leader in cellulosic fibres, today announced an investment of ₹3,094 crore, for Phase II Lyocell capacity of 110K TPA at Harihar, Karnataka. This expansion will consist of 2 lines of 55K TPA (150 Tons per day) each. The first line is expected to be commissioned by 2028, and the second line is expected to be commissioned by 2030.

Next week’s focus: Intertextile Shenzhen & Yarn Expo Shenzhen fuse textile tradition with sustainable, digital trends

Fashion will not be left behind in one of the world’s undisputed tech and manufacturing capitals. Which is why next week, at Intertextile Shenzhen Apparel Fabrics and Yarn Expo Shenzhen 2026, the organisers have made special efforts to integrate textile topics such as materials innovation, holistic sustainability, digitalisation and AI. Yet, from 9 – 11 June at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, the platform also includes timeless tradition and heritage-inspired evolution in equal measure. Across both shows, over 600 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions are set to showcase everything from Peruvian alpaca wool fabrics to tea-derived fibres, while their fringe programmes will explore diverse solutions along the entire value chain.

KARL MAYER presents a textile TEXTRONIC® innovation at ITM 2026

With highly efficient machines and continuous textile innovations, KARL MAYER underscores its role as a reliable partner for discerning top-tier customers. Just in time for ITM 2026 in Istanbul, the industry leader is introducing a true innovation: an eyelash lace with its characteristic fringed look – combined with a previously unattainable 4-way stretch. While the established fabric could until now only be produced as rigid version or with one-dimensional stretch, the new elasticity in both dimensions expands the possibilities for cross-band panel fabrics.

Textile Exchange publishes comprehensive polyester LCA study

Textile Exchange has released a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study on polyester, providing detailed data on the environmental impacts of both virgin and recycled polyester production. The study aims to strengthen understanding across the fashion, textile and apparel industries and support more informed decision-making regarding polyester sourcing and production.