Editorial: 2022 Techtextil Innovation Award winners reflect growing pressure to achieve circularity

Editorial: 2022 Techtextil Innovation Award winners reflect growing pressure to achieve circularity

There was a heavy emphasis on sustainability at the 2022 edition of Techtextil, held in Frankfurt, Germany, during June 2022—and this was reflected in the innovations presented by the nine winners of the 2022 Techtextil Innovation Awards. At the same time, the winners proposed new uses to which technical textiles can be put in order to solve a variety of societal challenges. Researchers at the Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material (ITM) at Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden—Technical University of Dresden) presented the world’s first seamless woven heart valve, and RBX Créations presented a new fibre based on a novel process for extracting cellulose from oilseed hemp waste. FibreCoat presented a new aluminium coated basalt fibre, and Kelheim Fibres and Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut (STFI—Saxon Textile Research Institute) presented a reusable cloth diaper made entirely of sustainable materials. CITEVE (Centro Tecnológico das Indústrias Têxtil e do Vestuário—Technological centre for the textile and clothing industry), in collaboration with three Portuguese partners, presented a process for turning natural leather waste and by-products from the tanning industry into new textile coatings, and Centexbel presented bio-based and compostable dispersions for textile coatings and printing inks. Vérabuccia presented a material for fashion accessories which was made by transforming fruit waste using a special process, and OrganoClick presented a range of 100% bio-based binders for nonwovens. Meanwhile, Deutsche Institute für Textil- und Faserforschung Denkendorf (DITF Denkendorf—German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf) presented a formaldehyde-free coating system based on non-toxic hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) derived from biomass waste.