Materials

US-based deeptech innovator Tandem Repeat, a climate-positive smart textiles company, has developed Procell, a revolutionary patented fermentation microbial process that transforms proteins into valuable products, including fibres and nonwovens which are a less toxic alternative to plastics. Leading inventor and Penn State Huck Endowed Chair of Biomaterials Professor Melik Demirel simplifies the tech and his plans for the future.

As global fibre production clocks a rise for the third consecutive year, by 6.89% over last year, the textile industry’s commitments to its climate goals could falter big time, the latest annual edition of the Materials Market Report from Textile Exchange has revealed.

The fourth edition of the industry report on NextGen materials by Material Innovation Initiative finds that close to $500 million was invested in the sector in the past year.

The textiles-fashion industry is living in a bubble where nature does not exist and all that babble about sustainability is just that. That's the impression one gets after reading between the lines of the annual Materials Benchmark of nonprofit Textile Exchange. Like always, there’s been a lot of progress, but a lot also remains to be done.

Without a rapid transition to “preferred” fibres and raw materials, including significantly reducing reliance on virgin fossil-based synthetics, the textile-fashion industry is unlikely to meet the 45% GHG emissions reduction target for raw material production by 2030, warns the just out 'Materials Market Report' by nonprofit Textile Exchange.

The Preferred Fiber and Materials Matrix (PFMM), designed to assess the performance of standard systems within a material category, has been made publicly available for the first time.

With less than 1% of the global fibre market from pre- and post-consumer recycled textiles in 2021, the untethered production will ensure that the industry does not stay within the 1.5° pathway, the Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report warns.