#Yarn & Fiber

2025-02-13

INVISTA opens $13M technology hub in Houston

As part of its ongoing commitment to innovation and creating increased value for customers, INVISTA today celebrated the grand opening of the Texas Technology Center (TTC), a $13M technology hub and research and development center in the Houston metro area.

At the inauguration ceremony of the Texas Technology Hub, the red ribbon was cut with large scissors by CEO Brook Vickery © 2025 INVISTA

Texas Technology Center to support Nylon and Propylene businesses

The nearly 40,000-square-foot facility located in Katy, Texas, which INVISTA first announced in August of last year, will have more than 50 members of R&D, Engineering and Advanced Process Control teams supporting INVISTA’s global technology needs in the chemical intermediates and polymer product lines for both the Nylon and Propylene businesses, as well as data scientists and members of INVISTA’s EHS, transformation and project teams. The hub will house outstanding analytical and experimental capabilities that will rapidly advance INVISTA’s programs through the development cycle.

“The Texas Technology Center now provides a hub for innovative projects and partnerships that will help keep us on the cutting edge of our industry,” said Jerry Grunewald, vice president of research and development for INVISTA. “At INVISTA, we’re committed to harnessing the power of innovation to meet the needs of our customers, and this R&D center in the growing Houston metro area is going to be a large part of how we do that in the future.”

Several leaders from INVISTA joined the ceremonies, including INVISTA’s President and CEO, Brook Vickery, who said, “Touring the world-class R&D facilities at the Texas Technology Center today was impressive. The capability we now have under one roof in Texas will accelerate the teams’ contributions to advancing our businesses. I just visited our Asia Innovation Center in Shanghai earlier this year, and the world-class facilities we now have on both sides of the globe have me even more excited about the discoveries and developments our teams are making that will respond to our customers’ needs and drive innovation in our industry.”

The opening of the Texas Technology Center will support INVISTA’s utilization of highly advanced core technologies and the development of new and innovative products to meet unmet market needs.

Better, faster, bio-based: Functional new Plastic alternatives

How can new bio-based and biohybrid materials with improved features be developed faster? Six Fraunhofer institutes are jointly exploring this question in the SUBI²MA flagship project, using an innovative bio-based polyamide developed by Fraunhofer researchers as a model. Its specific properties make it a promising alternative to fossil-based plastics.

Freudenberg accelerates local production for apparel market by expanding its site in India

Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel (Freudenberg Apparel) celebrates the grand opening of a major expansion at its manufacturing facility in Chennai, India, on October 14, adding 20,000 square feet of production space and introducing new production lines tailored to the Indian apparel market. This strategic investment is aimed at significantly reducing lead times and enhancing the availability of high-quality, locally produced interlinings for the fast-evolving apparel sector in India and South Asia.

Eastman Naia™ launches Sustainability Progress Report and 2025-2030 Sustainability Goals at Textile Exchange Conference, reaffirming commitment to circular innovation

At the Textile Exchange Conference 2025, Eastman Naia™ released its 2025 Sustainability Progress Report and announced its 2025–2030 Sustainability Goals, presenting a record of genuine progress and outlining a renewed roadmap for the years ahead. This announcement demonstrates Naia™’s long-standing commitment to driving an industry-wide shift toward sustainability through scalable, commercially viable material solutions.

Reifenhäuser wins German Design Award for new user interface

At K 2025 in Düsseldorf, the Reifenhäuser Group unveiled its new company-wide machine user interface, which offers a uniform design language for blown film, flat film, and nonwoven lines – and stands out for its particularly simple operation. The overall concept impressed not only customers, but also the jury of the German Design Awards, who honored the system with the prestigious design prize during the trade fair.