#Textiles & Apparel / Garment

2023-09-07

Covestro Huafeng and Cyclone collaborate on more sustainable sports kit

Team Sonnenwagen, a student team from RWTH Aachen and FH Aachen, Germany, is committed to more sustainable mobility using renewable energy. With a self-constructed solar racing car, they once again plan to take part in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in October 2023 in Australia. The team also attaches great importance to a more sustainable sports kit. Huafeng, a leader in textile technology, supports this request by providing more sustainably made athletic shoes and shorts for team outfits.

For this purpose, Huafeng used a partly bio-based polyurethane (PU) dispersion from Covestro, the main sponsor of Team Sonnenwagen.

• Huafeng developed more sustainable HAPTIC® textile coating solution based on Covestro’s partly bio-based Impranil® CQ DLS/1 PU dispersion

• New textile coating solution was used to produce official shorts and shoes of Team Sonnenwagen solar car project

• HAPTIC® Art ink solution enables more design versatility and durability alongside significant reductions in environmental impact

• Apparel and footwear fabrics are made by Huafeng based on Cyclone recycled PET yarns, delivering even lower production-related emissions

The new official team equipment provided by Huafeng features shorts and sports shoes with designs using Huafeng’s newly launched HAPTIC® textile coating system, which contains partly bio-based INSQIN® PU dispersions from Covestro. In addition, fabrics for the garments and shoes are made by Huafeng based on Cyclone recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) yarns derived from post-consumer plastic bottles. The shoe upper material is made of 100 percent Cyclone rPET, while the shorts consist of 86 percent Cyclone rPET and 14 percent Spandex for ensuring a comfortable fit.

Lina Schwering, Team Manager of Team Sonnenwagen Aachen: "Our new official equipment looks fantastic – and we’re particularly excited about its sustainability benefits! Combined with its excellent performance, it fits well with our vision for a more sustainable mobility future. We’re grateful for the continued support of Cyclone, Huafeng with its HAPTIC® products, and Covestro as we pursue this vision."

The next generation of textile coating

Developed by Huafeng using Covestro’s partly bio-based PU Impranil® CQ DLS/1, the HAPTIC® Art textile coating system used for the shoes enables especially outstanding aesthetics, improved mechanical performance, and reduced production-related emissions. Thanks to its high solids content and thixotropic properties, the system allows manufacturers to achieve a high coating thickness, making it well-suited for creating coatings with detailed images and sophisticated 3D effects on apparel and footwear.

Images and textures applied using the HAPTIC® Art ink system have undergone a series of tests for properties such as flexibility, adhesion, and resistance to hydrolysis, washing, and abrasion. The excellent results demonstrate that the Art ink is particularly suitable for coating on high-performance sports footwear. In recognition of its excellent mechanical properties, Huafeng’s ink coating system recently received the ISPO Best Product Award.

Dr. Thomas Schmidt, Director of Innovation & Creation at Huafeng: "HAPTIC® Art ink represents an important expansion of our aesthetic coating capabilities, offering exceptional design versatility along with substantial environmental benefits. For example, the new Team Sonnenwagen shoes deliver savings of 260 g CO2e per pair compared to conventionally manufactured sports shoes*. We look forward to developing even more sustainable solutions that help drive the future of textile coating."

Toward a more sustainable sportswear industry

With strong environmental credentials, this new coating system can also help meet the growing demand for more sustainable sportswear. Traditionally, sports apparel and footwear have relied heavily on virgin fossil-based PET materials and PU coatings to achieve the required performance, appearance, and durability. However, by combining Huafeng’s textile coating expertise with Covestro’s partly bio-based INSQIN® PU technology, Team Sonnenwagen´s new equipment proves that a more sustainable approach is possible.

Dr. Torsten Pohl, Head of Global Textile Coatings at Covestro: "This new textile coating system represents a major step forward in terms of both performance and aesthetics. Covestro’s partly bio-based Impranil® CQ PU dispersion plays a major role in the shoe’s strong environmental credentials, contributing around 80 g to the overall CO2e savings*. This technology will enable garment and footwear manufacturers to create products that not only look incredible but also deliver a reduced environmental impact."

*According to internal calculations

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.

Covestro celebrates decade of innovation and sustainable growth

Covestro celebrates its 10-year anniversary today. Since its carve-out from Bayer in 2015, the company has developed into a global leader in high-performance polymer materials and a pioneer in circular economy solutions. With a strong focus on innovation and sustainability, Covestro’s materials are now embedded in countless applications worldwide – from mobility and construction to electronics, healthcare, and consumer goods.

Suiting up Team Sonnenwagen with more sustainable sportswear created through a three-way partnership

Team Sonnenwagen Aachen, a solar racing collective from RWTH Aachen and FH Aachen, Germany, is on a mission to advance sustainable mobility solutions and become world champions. This August, the student team will participate in the 2025 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, a biannual 3,000-kilometer race across the Australian outback. During the five-day event, 50 student teams from around the world will compete with solar vehicles that they must design, assemble, and drive themselves.

Freudenberg accelerates local production for apparel market by expanding its site in India

Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel (Freudenberg Apparel) celebrates the grand opening of a major expansion at its manufacturing facility in Chennai, India, on October 14, adding 20,000 square feet of production space and introducing new production lines tailored to the Indian apparel market. This strategic investment is aimed at significantly reducing lead times and enhancing the availability of high-quality, locally produced interlinings for the fast-evolving apparel sector in India and South Asia.

KARL MAYER develops seersucker WARP KNITS with even more character and style

Seersucker fabrics are icons of the clothing industry and assure their manufacturers' success. Just in time for ITMA ASIA + CITME 2025, the textile product developers at KARL MAYER have succeeded in creating brand new variants of this material. These fancy newcomers feature unique bubble effects and, with their new dimensionality, inject extra dynamism into the textile surface – and into the market.

Rieter reports stable order backlog and strategic progress – outlook for 2025 adjusted

In its Investor Update 2025, Rieter announced an order intake of CHF 203.9 million in the third quarter and CHF 559.3 million after nine months, reflecting a continued cautious investment climate in the textile machinery sector. Sales totaled CHF 121.5 million in the third quarter and CHF 457.7 million for the first nine months of the year, while the order backlog stood at around CHF 590 million as of September 30, 2025.