TechTextil & Texprocess reveal innovation award winners
The Frankfurt based double-header show, with Techtextil showcasing technical textiles and Texprocess apparel-making solutions, has revealed the most innovative products that will be on show next week (April 21 to 24). The innovation awards cover ten different categories, with 17 companies recognised for their contribution to better and more efficient ways of making textiles and apparel.
A few examples of new developments for apparel applications:
Swiss spinner Bäumlin & Ernst picks up a New Concept award for its patented EC0Tex process that makes yarns water repellent and quick drying using a plasma process developed with partner Swiss textile innovation lab Empa.
French start-up H&B Materials has been awarded a New Chemicals & Dyes prize for a PFAS-free water-repellent textile finish that is made from fatty acids derived from agricultural waste. In addition, it has developed a patented grafting process that anchors water-repellent groups of plant-based fatty acids directly to cellulose fibres at the molecular level using ‘mild’ chemistry – which makes the water-repellent function last as long as the fibre.
Portuguese textile research institute CITEVE picks up a prize in the same category for the development of textile printing pastes made from food industry waste (see our feature here). The lab has developed a process that turns food-industry by-products into colour pigments through a fine mechanical grinding process (micronisation) making them compatible with conventional rotary screen printing.
Dutch research and development company Senbis Polymer Innovations is being recognised in the New Material category for Mariva, a performance biopolyester that combines biodegradability with performance properties similar to those of polyester and polyamide. It is said to be a drop-in replacement on polyester polymerisation and melt spinning lines. Senbis has just founded a new company, Mariva Materials, and secured investors to develop the first commercial applications in sportswear, functional apparel, footwear, technical textiles and nonwovens.
The jury awarded two companies a New Recycled Materials & Recycling Technologies prize. Australia-based Samsara Eco is recognised for its enzyme-based recycling solution for polyamide and polyester. German start-up re.solution is commended for developing a separation process that replaces acid, which produces great amounts of salt sludge, with an electrochemical solution in the hydrolysis polymer separation process.
A Texprocess innovation award has been attributed to German company Robotextile for a solution that enables robots to separate stacked layers of textiles using air. Amann’s new cellulosic sewing yarn made from AeoniQ picks up an eco-award for its contribution to monomaterial design.
The awards ceremony will be held on April 21st at Techtextil and Texprocess, Messe Frankfurt.
Photo shows an example of CITEVE’s dyes made from food industry by-products, first presented at Première Vision Paris in February 2026.
