GTT’s cutting-edge PFAS-free and water-free technologies provide sustainable alternatives to traditional textile treatments, eliminating harmful chemicals and drastically reducing water use. The Series C investment will enable GTT to expand its development capabilities, scale its technology, and meet the growing demand for sustainable solutions within the footwear, apparel, and military markets. The new funding will also drive continued RCD efforts to refine GTT’s product offerings and bolster the company’s global impact.

“We are delighted to partner with investors who share our commitment to environmental stewardship and innovation,” said Tom Lopez, CEO of Green Theme Technologies. “With this investment, we are well-positioned to accelerate our growth, advance our technologies, and drive meaningful change in the textile industry. Our solutions offer an effective way for manufacturers to produce high-performance products without sacrificing sustainability, and we are excited to expand this impact.”

Lead investor Pangaea Ventures specializes in hard tech investments with a focus on Planetary Health. With a track record of identifying and nurturing high-impact startups, Pangaea Ventures is committed to advancing innovation for a sustainable future. Established in 2000, Pangaea Ventures operates globally with offices in Phoenix, AZ, Vancouver, BC, and Tokyo, Japan. “Green Theme Technologies has developed a remarkable solution that meets an urgent need within the industry,” said Chris Erickson, General Partner at Pangaea Ventures. “As lead investors, we’re proud to support a company pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in sustainable manufacturing.”

Cottonwood Technology Funds, known for investing in high-potential companies focused on science and engineering innovation, expressed similar enthusiasm for GTT’s growth trajectory. “GTT’s EMPEL® technology aligns perfectly with our mission to invest in companies creating impactful solutions,” said Dave Blivin, Managing Partner at Cottonwood Technology Ventures. “Their approach to eliminating toxic PFAS from the textile production process is groundbreaking, and we are excited to support their expansion and success.” This funding round signals a strong endorsement of GTT’s technologies and its vision of a more sustainable future for the textile industry. The support from Pangaea Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Ventures, and other investors will enable GTT to meet the urgent needs of manufacturers and consumers for sustainability without sacrificing performance. Green Theme Technologies is committed to furthering its role as a global leader in sustainable innovation, with solutions that protect the planet and drive a more responsible future for textiles and beyond.

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India, known for producing the world’s most valuable fabrics along the Silk Road and for its renowned “rare Indian fabric,” sits at the heart of textile history. This ancient heritage is now revived with ELİAR’s advanced industrial textile solutions, combining the craftsmanship of the past with the innovations of the digital age. With 40 years of expertise in textile finishing, ELİAR blends its knowledge with this heritage, modernizing India’s traditional textile processes for the digital era through automation systems in dyeing and textile wet processing.

The story of ELİAR had been in India since 2004, and since then increasing the strength with various liquid & powder chemical and dyestuff dosing automation systems, as well as many of the dyeing machine controllers and supervisory software.

Even as traditional methods for fabric & yarn dyeing continues to have a strong influence, ELİAR has been a key player in introducing automation technologies to the Indian market, driving the modernization of these methods. Its dosing automation systems ensure precision at every step, from chemical dosing to the application of correct recipes. As a result, dyeing processes are optimized, costs are reduced, and quality is elevated to the highest level. India’s robust industrial textile infrastructure is further strengthened by ELİAR’s solutions.

Technology-Driven Transformation in the Textile Industry

Despite long decades of being active for controllers and dosing automation systems, ELİAR always looks forward to increasing the strength in the industry with the innovation perspective coming from its R&D culture and roots.

Hence, with the adaptation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to the industry, ELİAR is contributing to the transformation of textile factories in India by digitizing dyeing processes. Leveraging its R&D capabilities, ELİAR uses advanced technologies such as IoT and AI to enable data sharing between machines and the optimization of production processes.

India is not merely a secondary market for ELİAR; it is positioned as a main market for last decade. The company approaches customer relationships not only as a product vendor but as a solution partner, focusing on long-term collaborations. ELİAR takes the time to examine its customer’s production lines in detail, offering automation solutions that boost efficiency without the need to increase the number of machines. This distinctive approach sets ELİAR apart in a competitive market.

Through its strategic partnership with local partner Batliboi, ELİAR provides quick and localized solutions to companies in the Indian market, ensuring both efficiency and quality are significantly improved. Indeed, increasing collaborations with leading textile companies in India reinforce ELİAR’s strategic position in the market.

Investing in the Future of Textiles and Talent Development

In addition to optimizing textile dyeing processes, ELİAR is committed to investing in local human resources in India. Through its ELİAR Academy programs, the company trains local experts and contributes significantly to the digital transformation of the Indian textile industry. In this way, ELİAR not only fosters the development of India’s industrial textile sector but also nurtures local talent, ensuring they become integral to the industry.

One of ELİAR’s most exciting innovations—smart sensors—will soon be introduced to the Indian market. These sensors, which measure the key parameters for dyeing like conductivity, color, and pH levels, will enhance the efficiency and intelligence of dyeing processes, further propelling the Indian industrial textile sector forward. This boost in efficiency will help India’s textile industry to reach new heights.

ELİAR’s journey in India is progressing patiently and meticulously, like the weaving of fabric stitch by stitch. This industrial textile journey, spanning from the Silk Road to the modern age, is being reshaped by ELİAR’s solutions. With 40 years of expertise, ELİAR is merging India’s unique textile heritage with the needs of the digital age, ensuring sustainable growth in both local and global markets.

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Figure: The GAIA Bag Plant-Powered Innovation £400

Launching on 3 October 2024, The GAIA Bag marks a significant milestone in material innovation and the culmination of a two-year collaboration between PANGAIA and NFW. MIRUM® is a high-performance material derived from natural inputs including clays and natural rubber sourced responsibly. This edition showcases the most traceable and low-carbon version of MIRUM® to date. NFW’s Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) identified the cotton fabric backer as the highest-impact ingredient, reinforcing the significance of PANGAIA’s role in a consortium offtake, supporting a field-level coalition dedicated to regenerative cotton farming practices. Results of these farming practices have demonstrated their benefit when in the spring of 2023 the central valley of California flooded, and the Climate Beneficial fields were used as sponges to absorb runoff from adjacent conventional fields. Greater hydrological function, biodiversity, and organic soil content were all reported to have improved. The result is The GAIA Bag, produced by Veshin Factory, featuring Climate Beneficial cotton sourced from the California Cotton & Climate Coalition (C4), a Fibershed project. This cotton is grown using regenerative methods that actively help rebalance the carbon cycle.

PANGAIA was founded as a platform for launching and scaling next-generation materials, with the mission of bringing problem-solving innovations to the world through premium lifestyle products and experiences. The selection of the groundbreaking 100% bio-based MIRUM® featuring a regenerative cotton backing offers a cruelty-free alternative to the traditional leather industry, which relies on animal hides, leading to the annual slaughter of over 1.4 billion cows, goats, and sheep. This practice is both cruel and often unregulated. Even more, MIRUM® is plastic-free which offers an alternative to fossil-fuel-derived materials that are ecosystem-destroying and harmful to wildlife. This innovation exemplifies PANGAIA’s mission to lead with purpose by providing high-performance alternatives to conventional materials.

The mono-material construction ensures durability and lightweight comfort while underscoring PANGAIA’s commitment to creating products that contribute positively to the planet. Its timeless, oversized silhouette features slim shoulder straps and an internal pocket for everyday essentials. The PANGAIA logo is laser-engraved using a subtractive process, eliminating the need for additional hardware.

Inside the bag, a printed text box highlights the material innovation, reading:
“This Tote Is Made From Mirum®, An Animal And Plastic-Free Alternative To Leather. This Edition Is Backed With Climate Beneficial Verified Cotton, Grown Using Regenerative Practices That Contribute To Rebalancing The Carbon Cycle.” The GAIA Bag is more than just a product; it’s a statement of regenerative innovation and a step towards an Earth Positive Future.

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Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, today honed its vision of the future of the apparel and textile industry with the announcement of “PLANET CONSCIOUS+”, a roadmap designed to support brands and mills to chart their sustainability journey.

“Over the past decade, Archroma has been on a mission to lead the textile industry towards a more sustainable future. But the world’s challenges are escalating – from climate change to economic and geopolitical instability. We believe that the time is right for us to realign our vision to guide the next phase of our development. ‘PLANET CONSCIOUS+’ encapsulates both our responsibility and our potential as a company that touches and colors people’s lives every day, all around the world,” Mark Garrett, Group CEO, Archroma, said.

“With the industry’s most extensive product portfolio and a comprehensive global footprint, Archroma has the resources and drive to go beyond the status quo and advance what’s possible for apparel and textile brands on multiple fronts at the same time,” Paul Cowell, Vice President of Innovation, Marketing, Brand Engagement and Sustainability for Archroma Textile Effects, explained. “The introduction of ‘PLANET CONSCIOUS+’ deepens our commitment to innovation and partnership and sharpens our focus on consumers and the environment to bring about meaningful change with pace and at scale.”

“PLANET CONSCIOUS+” has six dimensions, the first four of which have been rolled out over the past few months:

• SUPER SYSTEMS+: Powerful end-to-end systems that combine processing solutions and intelligent effects, SUPER SYSTEMS+ deliver measurable environmental impact, more durable colors and effects, and cleaner chemistry as compared to the current market offering. This allows brands and mills to select the impact they want to achieve in line with their sustainability goals.
• SAFE EDGE+: Groundbreaking initiative represents a major commitment to providing a roadmap for compliance and cleaner chemistries for use in the textile industry by combining The Safe Edge platform with Foundation+. Foundation+, Archroma’s beyond-compliance portfolio, is a curated selection of Archroma products that utilize innovative technologies to either design out hazardous or regulated substances or reduce them by more than 95% compared to the current industry standard limits.
• ONE WAY+: Combining Archroma’s One Way Impact Calculator, a world-first online tool for sustainable value chain mapping, with its expert-led Sustainability Improvement Program (SIP), ONE WAY+ helps mills and brands overcome their specific challenges with products and tools that offers the highest operational excellence and productivity, achieves savings of resources such as water, energy, and creates differentiation with value-added end-products.
• COLOR MANAGEMENT+: An advanced color design and development solution, COLOR MANAGEMENT+ helps mills and brands work together for improved sustainability. It incorporates the industry’s largest off-the-shelf color atlas selection alongside color standards created with Archroma’s SUPER SYSTEMS+ for reduced environmental impact and consistent and accurate color reproduction. The remaining two pillars of “PLANET CONSCIOUS+” are being introduced today to underscore that innovation and transparency are the cornerstones of the Archroma way of working.
• INNOVATION+: Archroma brings together science, our technological expertise and in-depth market, customer, and regulatory knowledge to create groundbreaking solutions that have a positive environmental impact. To accelerate the shift to a circular economy and help manufacturers use resources more efficiently, Archroma’s research and development teams across Americas, Asia and Europe focus on innovating for cleaner chemistry and durable effects.
• COMMUNICATION+: By providing authentic, fact-based information to all stakeholders, Archroma helps improve transparency across the value chain. This enables mills and brands to communicate their sustainability goals and achievements with confidence and navigate issues like regulatory complexity and consumer skepticism.

“To truly make a difference in our fast-paced world, innovation must be accompanied by accountability and trust. We work with brands and manufacturers to develop and produce end-products that are safer than available market alternatives and made in a more sustainable and efficient way—and we give them the tools to measure their environmental impact and talk about their contribution with evidence-backed data,” Mr. Cowell said.

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Trützschler Spinning: A Revolution in Carding Technology

One of the main highlights for Trützschler at this year’s ITMA Asia will be the unveiling of its newest carding technology, specially designed for the Chinese market. Although specific details are being kept under wraps until the event, the company promises visitors an exclusive opportunity to witness this transformative technology in action. This advancement is expected to set new standards for efficiency and performance in the carding process.

Trützschler Spinning will also introduce the third generation of its Integrated Draw Frame (IDF 3), which continues to push the boundaries of fiber processing. Additionally, the world’s first 12-head comber, the TCO 21XL, will be on display. These innovations focus on increasing production speed while reducing energy consumption, leveraging the latest in digitalization and intelligent automation. Trützschler’s technologies are designed to help customers maximize profitability by delivering higher-quality sliver at unprecedented speeds.

Sustainability at the Core: Trützschler Nonwovens

Trützschler’s Nonwovens division will emphasize sustainability, presenting eco-friendly solutions for producing wipe materials. One key focus will be on developing products made from renewable resources like bamboo pulp. Trials conducted using a combination of bamboo pulp and viscose/lyocell fibers have yielded results that rival traditional Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp in terms of mechanical, haptic, and visual properties.

Bamboo, which can be harvested within just three years, presents a much more sustainable alternative to softwood trees, which take decades to grow. The Nonwovens team will also present technologies for Wet-Laid/Spunlace (WLS) and Carded/Pulp (CP) processes. These methods have proven successful in creating biodegradable, cost-efficient nonwovens suitable for flushable wipes and single-use wet wipes, further underlining Trützschler’s commitment to sustainability.

Trützschler Card Clothing: Pioneering New Standards in Service and Performance

Trützschler Card Clothing (TCC) will round out the company’s presentation with a broad range of high-performance service offerings. TCC will demonstrate how its expertise in clothings, wires, and maintenance services can enhance machinery performance to unprecedented levels. By integrating specialized knowledge with top-quality materials, TCC aims to help customers achieve optimal machine efficiency and durability.

A Future-Focused Exhibition

ITMA Asia 2024 will offer visitors the chance to explore the next generation of textile machinery, with Trützschler at the forefront of innovation. Whether through breakthroughs in spinning efficiency, sustainable nonwovens production, or enhanced machinery performance, Trützschler continues to push the industry forward. Be sure to visit Booth C11 in Hall 7 from October 14 to 18 to discover these exciting advancements.

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VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland announces a new initiative to address the challenges of energy and resource consumption in the forestry and textile industry. The goal of the Energy First initiative is to act as a starting point for an entirely new technology, which creates the conditions for the manufacture of low-carbon, energy-efficient, and recyclable fiber-based products.

With the continued growth of, for example, global e-commerce, the demand for various fibre-based packaging solutions is projected to grow 5–10% annually, according to data from Statista Market Insights and eMarketer. As such, there is a need to develop scalable, high-quality packaging that is easy to recycle while simultaneously significantly reducing carbon footprint. Within non-wovens, used in napkins and wipes for example, VTT expects a strong shift from traditional products that contain plastic to cellulose-based products. With a budget of around 20 million euros over the next four years, the initiative consists of several projects and will establish a new innovative open-access pilot line in Jyväskylä, Finland. The collaborative research aims at developing and testing commercially viable, sustainable alternatives for cardboard packaging, hygiene products, and non-woven fabrics.

“This new initiative is a pivotal step towards more sustainable and competitive fiber-based products, and has the potential for great impact, thanks to more than 50 industrial partners. We are excited about the prospect of 1:1 commercial projects with companies, driving innovation in energy-efficient paper board production. VTT’s purpose is to bring together people, business, science and technology, paving the way to a sustainable future. The Energy First theme aims to do just that,” says Atte Virtanen, Vice President, Biomaterial Processing and Products at VTT.

The forest industry faces new challenges, including the rising cost of energy and fiberwood scarcity. The Energy First theme seeks to overcome these hindrances to sustainable products by developing a manufacturing process with minimal water and energy usage. Preliminary estimates by VTT’s scientists suggest that the new manufacturing process will provide a potential reduction of up to 90% in water consumption and a significant decrease in carbon emissions. Overall, the goal is to reduce energy consumption by up to 50%.

Products manufactured with the new process are designed to be compatible with existing recycling methods. Furthermore, fiber-based packaging is produced in a way that makes it a sustainable alternative to reusable packaging. The planned EU packaging and packaging directive requires that both the raw material and the manufacturing process are sustainable, and recyclable bio-based packaging solutions will have to undergo a sustainability assessment.

In addition to reducing water and energy consumption, the project seeks to redefine the forest industry’s environmental impact and enhance the competitiveness of fiber-based products. For example, by making the products lighter, more products could be produced for consumer use from the same amount of wood, which improves resource efficiency.

“The Energy First Consortium project has several captivating work packages that align closely with Valmet’s current research and development objectives. Energy efficiency, investing in novel 3D fiber-based structures, and the strength of fiber products are closely aligned with Valmet’s current research and development objectives. The program’s global collaboration network ensures that any intriguing project findings can be swiftly implemented in practice,” says Sampo Immonen, R&D Director, Valmet.

“We feel that the Energy First project is one of the first steps in unlocking the full potential of airlaid technology in sustainable single-use and durable product categories. Anpap has set the benchmark for the airlaid industry for the past 40 years, and we have a strong commitment to keep developing the technology to enable the transition to next-generation sustainable products. Compared to wetlaid, airlaid web forming is flexible and consumes dramatically less natural resources, such as water, which reduces the environmental impact of manufacturing while satisfying the needs of consumers,” says Tuukka Vihtakari, CTO, Anpap.S The initiative is funded by EU, ERDF, VTT and the collaborating companies. The consortium is also actively engaging in EU projects, such as EU SteamDry, with a total budget of 9.84 million euros over 3.5 years. VTT will actively continue developing new projects as a part of the initiative including bilateral cooperation with industrial partners.

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Pina fiber is a natural fiber which comes from pineapple plant leaves. Pina is a bast fiber extracted from the leaves of the pineapple plant. The fibers are fine, soft and lightweight however are often blended with silk or polyester to make textile material. Leaves are waste material in pineapple production that can be turned into fiber.

History : Pina fiber, highly regarded in the Philippines In the 1700s, pina fabric was worn mainly by less privileged people.  it became a symbol of status among the elite by the 1800s. During the 19th century, the Spanish exported pina fiber as a luxury textile.

Why should we use pina fiber in textile industry?

1. Pina fiber is biodegradable, waste-reducing, and will allow pineapple farmers in the Bangladesh to earn extra income on their crops.
2. The pina fiber is softer, and has a high luster, and is usually white or ivory in color.
3. Pina fiber is a natural fiber. The Red Spanish variety in particular is grown for its high-quality fibers. In Bangladesh, pina fiber can be used in creating traditional textiles such as pina fabric,wedding dress
4. The end fabric is lightweight, easy to care for and has an elegant appearance similar to linen.
5. Since pina fabric is hand loomed by only a few weavers, it is very precious and expensive. It will help in economy.

Process of making pina fabric:

The stem is first crushed and then the fibers are extracted. The extracted fibers are then cleaned and spun into yarn in the factory . Finally the yarn is then used to make the pineapple fabric.

Advantages :

1. Pina fiber blends well with other fibers such as cotton, abaca, and silk.
2. It has a premium feel to it and an even better texture than silk.
3. This is bio-degradable and eco-friendly fiber.
4. It  is easy to wash and care for as it does not require dry cleaning, further minimizing its environmental impact.
5.  Production cost is low.

Disadvantages

1.  Poor fire resistance capacity
2. Lower durability
3.  Variable quality, influenced by weather
4. Restricted maximum processing temperature

End uses :

1. The course pina fibers called bastos are mostly used in making ropes, strings, mats and twines.
2. Home Textiles: Table cloths/linens, mats, rugs, curtains, upholstery, etc.
3. Apparel: The pineapple fabric is also regarded as a luxury textile material and used by the designers to make women’s dresses, men’s shirts and fashion accessories.
4. Pinatex: It is an alternative to conventional leather that is made from cellulose fibers.
5. Pina fiber is often blended with cotton, abaca, and silk to make amazing light and breezy fabrics.

Source-

1. The textile journals
2. Yarnsandfibers.com

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