[pageLogInLogOut]

#Textile chemistry

Covestro creates the foundation for sustainable growth with its new Group structure

Covestro has restructured its organization and thus achieved a milestone in implementing its new “Sustainable Future” strategy. © 2021 Covestro
Covestro has restructured its organization effective July 1, 2021, and successfully reorganized its previously three segments – Polyurethanes, Polycarbonates, and Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties – into seven new, tailored business entities. The company has thus achieved a first milestone in implementing its new “Sustainable Future” strategy, which the Group had presented in February 2021. The vision of Covestro to become fully circular is the guiding principle of this strategy.

• The guiding principle: to become fully circular

• Milestone in implementing the new strategy achieved

• Business reorganized into seven business entities

• Future reporting in two segments

• Focus on customer centricity and sustainability

“We’re very serious about sustainability and are systematically working toward a circular economy. That will enable us to position Covestro ideally for the future,” said CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann. “Our new structure now forms the foundation for further implementing our strategy and achieving sustainable growth. We’ll become an even better partner to our customers and thus increase our competitiveness further.”

Orientation toward customers’ needs and market requirements

In keeping with the first chapter of the strategy – “Become the best of who we are” – the Group has now focused its businesses even more closely on the requirements of individual markets and aligned them to a greater degree with its customers’ needs. In its new structure, Covestro has organized the seven business entities in a setup based precisely on their individual success factors and integrated all operational activities throughout the value chain that are critical to success into these new entities.

The Group now distinguishes the two segments “Solutions and Specialties” and “Performance Materials.”

• Solutions and Specialties: This segment comprises the six business entities Tailored Urethanes, Thermoplastic Polyurethanes, Coatings and Adhesives, Elastomers, Engineering Plastics, and Specialty Films. The focus here is on complex products with a high pace of innovation, which Covestro combines with application technology services.? 

• Performance Materials: This business entity forms a separate segment comprising the businesses with standard polycarbonates, standard urethane components and base chemicals. The focus here is on reliably delivering standard products at competitive market prices.

Covestro will report in the two new segments “Solutions and Specialties” and “Performance Materials” for the first time in the third quarter of 2021. The Quarterly Statement is scheduled to be published on November 8, 2021.



Focus on sustainable growth

In the second chapter of the strategy – “Drive sustainable growth” – Covestro combines the consistent alignment of products and processes with its customers’ needs with an even sharper focus on addressing sustainability in a profitable way.

“We want to generate sustainable growth. That means we’ll also consistently align our investments and acquisitions to the two aspects of profitability and sustainability,” said CFO Dr. Thomas Toepfer. “Due to the optimally allocated resources, our new structure now allows us even better to develop our portfolio in a targeted manner by investing in attractive and sustainable market segments. Our growth activities will be given an even sharper orientation.”

Covestro’s long-term vision is to be realized in the third strategic chapter: “Become fully circular.” As part of that, the Group intends to accelerate transformation to a climate-neutral and resource-conserving economy.



More News from Covestro AG

#Smart Textiles

Covestro, FILK Freiberg, and OUT e.V. develop flexible, conductive polymer smart textile system

As the smart textiles market continues to grow across healthcare, personal protection, sportswear, and automotive applications, developers are seeking new ways to integrate electronic functionality directly into textiles, without the rigidity and complexity of conventional wiring. To address this challenge, FILK Freiberg Institute, an independent research institution with expertise in polymer coatings for textile applications, collaborated with Optotransmitter-Umweltschutz-Technologie (OUT) e.V. The joint project, funded under the German Industrielle Gemeinschaftsforschung (IGF) program of the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWE), focused on developing flexible, conductive polymer surfaces for next-generation smart textiles.

#Techtextil 2026

Covestro to exhibit solutions for a more sustainable and productive textile industry at Techtextil 2026

Covestro will present a broad portfolio of material innovations for textile coatings, adhesive films and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) at Techtextil 2026 (Hall 11.0, Booth C79). The exhibits will demonstrate how advanced solutions can enhance durability, recyclability and manufacturing efficiency across applications such as automotive, infrastructure, protective apparel and sportswear. A particular focus will be on more sustainable coating technologies, including antimicrobial systems based on INSQIN® in combination with AGXX from Heraeus Precious Metals, as well as the integration of Pontacol® thermoplastic adhesive films into Covestro’s offering.

#Technical Textiles

Covestro showcases monomaterial concept in autonomous SUE People Mover

UE | STUDIOS has unveiled the fully autonomous electric minibus “Self-driving Urban E-Shuttle” (SUE), placing strong emphasis on sustainable material design. Developed within a project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) and the European Union, the vehicle will begin public road testing this year. At the core of the concept is the consistent use of recyclable monomaterials to improve circularity at end of life.

#Textile chemistry

Covestro and Heraeus Precious Metals collaborate to enable safer, more sustainable antimicrobial textile coatings

Laboratory tests reveal that AGXX antimicrobial surface technology from Heraeus Precious Metals is fully compatible with Impranil® PU dispersions which are part of the waterborne INSQIN® textile coating technology from Covestro, paving the way for more sustainable antimicrobial textile coatings. This discovery comes at a key moment for the textile coatings industry. As the sharing economy continues to grow, more people are coming into regular contact with high-use surfaces, creating ideal conditions for bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms to thrive.

More News on Textile chemistry

#Textile chemistry

Archroma and Lameirinho partner in pioneering deployment of InOneGO single-step dyeing

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals, and Lameirinho, a leading home textiles manufacturer based in Portugal, are collaborating to bring InOneGO by Archroma, a new single-step dyeing process, into commercial production. Lameirinho’s first InOneGo bedlinens collection is now available worldwide.

#Textile chemistry

Archroma wins ICIS Innovation Award for sulfur dye breakthrough

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals, has won a coveted 2026 ICIS Innovation Award for Best Product Innovation from a Large Company for FiberColors®. These high-performance sulfur dyes are synthesized from pre-consumer wool waste, reducing industry reliance on petroleum-based inputs while contributing to the circular economy by upcycling unwanted wool that farmers would otherwise pay to dispose of.

#Textile chemistry

ZymoChem secures $4 million in renewed federal funding to advance U.S. biomanufacturing of critical materials and their supply chains

ZymoChem, the specialty chemicals company dedicated to bringing decarbonization, sustainability, and supply chain resiliency to the chemical industry through innovative biological manufacturing, today announced the resumption and expansion of its federal research portfolio. The company has been notified that previously paused work under a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program is officially back on, to be joined by continuing collaborations with three of the nation's premier national laboratories.

#Textile chemistry

bluesign updates chemical reference lists with stronger PFAS restrictions

bluesign has published the 2026 editions of its three core chemical reference lists, introducing updated substance limits and testing requirements in line with the latest scientific findings and regulatory developments.

Latest News

#Industry 4.0 / Digitalization

Coats Digital launches AI-powered GSD RealMotion for motion analysis

Coats Digital has launched GSD RealMotion, an AI-powered solution designed to provide apparel manufacturers with greater visibility into factory-floor operations. By analysing shop-floor video and applying Coats Digital’s GSD methodology, the solution turns video recordings into structured, motion-by-motion method studies.

#Knitting & Hosiery

KARL MAYER launches extra-wide HKS 3-M EL for increased productivity

KARL MAYER has launched a new extra-wide version of its HKS 3-M EL tricot machine, designed to increase productivity particularly in the manufacture of textiles for sports, activewear and athleisure applications.

#Research & Development

Reducing development times for technical textiles by accelerated thermo-oxidative aging in a high-pressure autoclave

Synthetic polymers used in technical textiles can be effectively protected against degradation caused by heat, oxygen, and water through the use of stabilizer systems. This enables service lives of several decades, extending to more than 50 years. As the use of durable technical textiles continues to grow, so does the demand for reliable methods to predict their service life within economically feasible testing periods. For the first time the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) developed methods for robust service life prediction for textiles in an IGF research project.

#Research & Development

ITA has developed a washable digital smart jacket with real-time feedback and an AI-powered app for rehabilitation

As part of the PhysioTaix research project, the Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University is developing a digital smart jacket with integrated sensors. The jacket is washable and reusable; it tracks movements during rehabilitation exercises in real time and transmits the data to an app.

TOP