The turning point in textile sourcing

On April 27th – 28th 2022 the textile industry is coming together at Performance Days Munich. The trade fair will introduce the latest trends and innovations in the world of textiles, yarns, finishes, and accessories for functional sportswear, workwear, sports fashion and athleisure at the area „Messe München“. In Hall C1, Booth C20, Sympatex is representing its latest products that already correspond to the future binding, sustainable textile strategy of the European Commission.

Performance Days 2022 will be particularly interesting. It is the first fair dedicated to textile sourcing that takes place after the European Comission has published its “Circular Economy Action Plan” in March 2022. More than ever, designers and material manager will be on the lookout for sustainable innovations that comply with the future binding regulations, concerning any requirements of a circular economy.

General manager and jury member Marco Weichert: “An astonishing number of sustainable fabrics impressed again for the summer 2024 season. The branch is not only on track in terms of sustainability, but also the recycling capabilities and the many great variants surprised the jury. More and more manufacturers are focusing on recycling industrial waste, such as car tires, as well as post-consumer waste, such as the recycling of fabric leftovers. The variety of sustainable dyeing solutions are also impressive, along with the will to minimize the CO2 footprint in an according manner.”

„Sustainability is no longer an option – it has become the start point for consumers: they expect all brands to adhere to better practice as they live out the values they are keen to talk about. Focus on the positive: Mono-material garments, Carbon-zero DWRs, textiles from ReGenerative Agriculture, Carbon-sequestering yarns. As the waterproof breathable jacket is the iconic garment of the industry – people are asking how many of this list can be incorporated.“ said Charles Ross, Performance Sportswear Design specialist, Royal College of Art. „The Outdoor Industry should be proud of how many of them have been pushing for product which has a better environmental impact.“, he added.

For Sympatex, circularity is a non-negotiable principle for all their entrepreneurial activities. Since 2016, the brand‘s promise has been circularity by 2030. Sympatex produces functional textiles from recycled and recyclable monomaterials. The brand will no longer use new materials from the oil industry in the future. Instead, used textiles are transformed into new, high-quality functional textiles. Awarded with the „100% Jury Like“ at Performance Forum, Sympatex offers new polyester-based functional textiles consisting of 100 percent recycled textiles. The monomaterial, GRS-certified articles can be fed into the textile cycle at the end of the product life cycle. Thus, the product already corresponds to the future binding, sustainable textile strategy of the European Commission.

„The textile industry can look forward to an update in design innovation. Until now we created products pretty much by ignoring the impact of upstream and downstream and we understood creativity as being the most crazy combination of whatever. What comes now is actually the eco-design process. The creation process of the product will already need to consider certain constraints which come out of that responsiblity. But the beauty is, that constraints will not limit innovation but it will accelerate innovation. The moment you realize that only certain materials are recycable, people can focus on developing new solutions with those materials. What is fundamental, we need to start now at the design process and educate ourselves in our organisation that creativity actually accelerates when we have clear borderlines of our activites“, says Dr. Rüdiger Fox, CEO Sympatex.

Performance Days is the place for designers, product, purchasing and material manager interested in the latest trends and innovations in the textile industry. Performance days always coincides with the April / May and October/ November seasonal sourcing schedules offering sustainable fabrics for sportswear, workwear, sportive fashsion and athleisure collections. Free entry for trade fair visitors.

About Sympatex

Re>Closing the loop. Together. By incorporating a climate-neutral and recyclable Sympatex membrane.

100 billion garments and 23 billion pairs of shoes produced p.a. represent Sympatex‘s future source of new raw material, once they‘ve reached their end of life. The intelligent Sympatex membrane has been used in clothing, shoes, accessories and technical applications since 1986 and guarantees being 100% waterproof, windproof and breathable – in accordance with the performance standard. Intelligent? The membrane develops proportionally increasing breathability at higher activity. New and far above standard is that Sympatex produces functional textiles from recycled and recyclable monomaterials. Sympatex will no longer use new materials from the oil industry in the future. Instead, used textiles are transformed into new, high-quality membranes, laminates and functional textiles. Sympatex is working with selected brand partners worldwide to close the textile cycle together.

Learn more about how the ingredient brand Sympatex uses its own collaborative attitude and brand power to turn new ideas into reality:
www.sympatex.com