#Recycling / Circular Economy

2024-04-04

NILIT goes circular with SENSIL® Flow

NILIT, the global market leader, and a producer of high quality Nylon 6.6 for apparel and owner of the SENSIL® brand, introduces SENSIL® Flow, a new approach to Nylon 6.6 circularity that enables yarn, fabric, and, ultimately, apparel recycling to eliminate waste and further reduce apparel’s environmental impact. SENSIL® Flow is more than just a sustainable performance product. It is an innovative approach that engages the entire supply chain to truly attain circularity through product design and partnership.

NILITs new SENSIL Flow approach engages the entire textile supply chain to reduce waste throughout, increase the use of recycled content, and ultimately enable apparel recycling with long-lasting garments thoughtfully designed using new mono-component premium SENSIL Flow Nylon 6.6. (Graphic: Business Wire)

“Our mission to create a more sustainable textile industry requires a shift in mindset throughout the value chain,” says Ilan Melamed, NILIT General Manager. “SENSIL® Flow represents an out-of-the-box approach that directly enables yarn and fabric recycling and lays the groundwork for apparel recycling and is part of a broader circularity mission for NILIT. Such a significant industry transformation can only be attained through deep partnerships that create innovative products and processes, visionary designs, and a collaborative reconfiguration of the value chain itself.”

“According to industry experts, more than 90 million tons of apparel end up in landfills each year,” says Michelle Lea, NILIT’s Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer. “Only about a fifth of discarded clothing is reused or recycled. The SENSIL® Flow approach eliminates waste throughout the production chain and enables brands to design apparel that lasts longer and, at the end of an extensive life, can be more easily recycled.”

Today, apparel recycling is constrained by the complexity of sorting and separating materials before they can be recycled back to their original components, Garments made with blended fibers and fabrics are especially difficult to recycle.

The SENSIL® Flow approach addresses these obstacles on multiple fronts. First, SENSIL® Flow is a yarn that delivers a mono-component fabric with comfort stretch that can be considered as an alternative to elastane in certain end uses. Engineered to provide inherent elasticity and recovery properties, SENSIL® Flow creates comfortable, stretchable performance fabrics for the casual and lifestyle segments. These beautiful fabrics have excellent color absorption and exquisite 3D effects while at the same time making post-consumer recycling possible. Pure premium Nylon 6.6 yarns, fabrics, and garments are easily recycled using a process that requires no additional chemicals and generates minimal CO2 emissions.

Additionally, NILIT partners with recycling experts to facilitate the efficient recovery and recycling of fabric waste and post-consumer fabrics and clothing that would otherwise end up in a landfill or incinerator. These partners are expected to create high quality recycled Nylon chips that can be reintroduced into NILIT’s Nylon fiber spinning process, resulting in high quality outputs, as well as other engineering plastics. Certificates will validate circularity and provide transparency and accountability for partners committed to building a circular textile economy.

Celebrating 50 years of excellence, NILIT offers a comprehensive collection of premium Nylons designed to empower the apparel industry’s shift to a more sustainable position. NILIT launched industry-first SENSIL® ByNature made using bio-gas from reclaimed landfill waste. SENSIL® BioCare is enhanced with a special technology proven to help lessen the persistence of textile waste in sea water and in landfills. SENSIL® EcoCare, crafted with recycled Nylon, improves circularity and LCA. SENSIL® WaterCare with embedded color saves up to 100% of the water used in the traditional wet dyeing process. Plus, the complete SENSIL® portfolio of products is manufactured according to NILIT’s Total Product Sustainability criteria. These responsible yarns give designers the beautiful, environmentally considerate performance fabrics they need to create apparel collections that respond to consumer demands.

NILIT announces strategic expansions, including a joint venture with Shenma in China

NILIT, the global leader in high-performance Nylon 6.6 fibers for the apparel industry and leader in sustainability, that owns the broadest line of sustainable Nylon 6.6 products, is announcing a new joint venture with Shenma Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shenma), a subsidiary of China Pingmei Shenma Group, a global leader in the industrial Nylon 6.6 market and a leading supplier to the automotive industry around the world.

Industrial scale meets verified governance: RE&UP is now B Corp™ certified

RE&UP, the circular-tech transforming global textile waste into high-volume Next-Gen materials, has officially become a Certified B Corporation™. The milestone establishes the industrial recycler among a select group of manufacturing infrastructure providers verified as meeting B Lab Standards for social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

Recover™ and Ünteks Group partner to scale recycled cotton in knitwear

Recover(TM), a global producer of low‐impact, high‐quality recycled cotton fiber, announces a new partnership with Ünteks Group, a vertically integrated textile manufacturer based in Turkey. The collaboration focuses on the development of circular knit fabrics and garments, combining Recover’s recycled cotton fiber with Ünteks Group’s integrated capabilities across knitting, dyeing, printing, and garment production.

ALADIN paves the way for circular and demand-driven textile production in Europe

Textile production can be organized sustainably by utilizing short supply chains and preventing overproduction. This can already be achieved today by intelligently connecting and efficiently utilizing existing infrastructure. At the same time, production becomes circular when innovative technologies and materials are used that enable high-quality recycling. The ALADIN research project, launched in May 2026 and co-funded with five million euros under the EU Horizon Europe program, is creating the conditions for this.

Ence and ShareTex begin initial testing of the ATENEA innovation project to promote textile recycling in Spain

Ence and ShareTex are making progress on the Atenea R&D project, which aims to develop a complete value chain for textile recycling in Spain. Specifically, the goal of the ATENEA project—which is funded by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI)—is to connect all the necessary stages for the recovery of textile waste, from collection and management, through recycling and transformation into new raw materials, to their incorporation into new textile products.

Rieter sees Barmag integration on track as orders and sales rise

The first half of 2026 was shaped by the successful completion of the largest acquisition in Rieter’s history. The Man-Made Fiber Division enables entry into the growth segment of man-made fibers and sustainably strengthens Rieter’s market position in the Asia region. The expanded Group is now the world’s leading system supplier for the processing of natural and man-made fibers. In the first half of the year, initial cost savings in material costs and operating expenses have already been realized. The targeted synergies are expected to amount to at least CHF 20 million by the end of the 2028 financial year. Due to the completion of the acquisition on February 2, 2026, the first half of the year for the Man-Made Fiber Division only amounts to five months.