Issue: November 2014

The Lenzing Group’s new factory in Lenzing, Austria, boasts the world’s largest production facility for lyocell fibers. Now fully operational, it is the first factory in the industry to feature a single production line with an annual nominal capacity of 67,000 tons. As a result of purcha…

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing new methods for handling large quantities of textile waste material. The European Union Directive set in 1999 contains quantitative restrictions regarding biodegradable waste deposited at landfill sites, and the practice of taking textile waste …

A new report by Textiles Intelligence details the rise in the use of bioresins and biofibers in China’s nonwovens industry in the coming years. Published in the latest issue of Technical Textile Markets, the report credits a commitment to greater sustainability in manufacturing and biodegradab…

Imagine aircraft and cars with “nervous systems” that alert to touch and damage. Or, a smart skin made of insulating fiber composites on vehicles, buildings and other structures that can perform functions like electricity generation and storage, or diversion of lightning strikes. This br…

A consortium including TenCate and Norma was granted 1.5 million euros from the Province of Overijssel in the Netherlands for smart production in the Factory of the Future. The funding will be used to make the production of advanced TenCate materials, such as protective fabrics, even more efficient,…

It may sound like an old-fashioned idea, but in today’s workplace apprenticeships are a thoroughly modern option. Registered Apprenticeship is a national system of industry-driven, on-the-job training delivered through partnerships with individual companies. This “earn-and-learn” t…

The Gores Group, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based investment firm, has sold Scovill Fasteners of Clarkesville, Ga., to Morito, the world’s second-largest supplier of metal clothing fasteners, based in Osaka, Japan. Morito is also a global supplier of components for automobiles, cameras and other ni…

DIOLEN SAFE FR yarns, the flame-retardant yarns manufactured by FR Safety Yarns GmbH & Co. of Kunertstraße, Germany, are now available for applications from fine furniture fabrics in contract and residential to knitted structures and seating solutions for home and commercial use. They are …