Switzerland

Blended textiles have long resisted viable recycling pathways, limiting circularity ambitions across the apparel sector. Toby Moss Chief Commercial Officer of Worn Again Technologies discusses how an operational accelerator plant marks a transition from controlled experimentation to industrial validation, while exposing the economic, material, and system-level challenges that must be resolved for textile-to-fibre recycling to scale.

Worn Again Technologies has unveiled a Textile to Fibre Accelerator plant in Winterthur, Switzerland, marking a major step toward commercialising its chemical recycling process for polycotton textiles. The facility demonstrates recovery of polyester and cellulose from end-of-life garments and enables industrial-scale testing as the company advances toward planned commercial textile recycling production.

The fashion industry’s demand for distressed denim often clashes with reliance on potassium permanganate, heavy bleaching, and water-intensive laundering. Pressure to modernise these approaches keeps growing. Providing momentum is Archroma, which developed the Denim Halo system to engineer predictable surface dyeing upstream, enabling strong contrasts with markedly reduced resource use and operational complexity.

Despite rising price competition and shifting global trade dynamics, Swiss textile machinery continues to command global respect for its precision and innovation. In this exclusive interview, Davide Maccabruni, the new President of the Swiss Textile Machinery Association, discusses how the sector is evolving through sustainability, digital integration, and region-specific strategies to maintain its global leadership.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a type of fabric, weaving in glass microfibres, that can work as smart sensors that react to touch, pressure and movement.

A new report from Public Eye lays the foundation for tackling the fashion industry's environmental and social challenges, as it calls for prioritising longevity, resource efficiency, and equity across the value chain, envisioning a fairer and more sustainable future.

Sanitized AG has stood for hygiene management, odour-control, and material protection since 1935. Stefan Mueller, Head, Business Unit Textile Additives, expounds on antimicrobial fabrics/textiles and discusses where the demand is coming from and what his company is doing to cater to this burgeoning market.

Researchers are developing a process with alternative substances that can be used to produce environmentally friendly water-repellent textile fibres.

Scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, better known by the shorter EMPA, have found that some of the supposed nanoplastics released during textile washing are not nanoplastics, but are actually clumps of water-insoluble oligomer molecules.

INDEX 23, the biggest trade event of the global nonwovens industry, came to a close on 21 April with a showcase of the latest breakthroughs and innovative developments across nonwovens’ applications.