TEXTILES.ORG
The 14th annual Techtextil Innovation Awards were presented at the opening ceremony of Techtextil. An international jury chose eight products in four categories in this year’s competition.
Winners in the New Application category included:
- Centexbel: The intelligent knee brace from Centexbel, a nonprofit organization, supports patients during rehabilitation after knee operations. A textile sensor identifies the angle of the knee in real-time and informs the patient. It also offers personalized exercises via an app.
- Peterseim Strickwaren: SEAL is a basalt knitted fabric that protects maritime systems, such as buoys, from environmental influences and reportedly cuts maintenance costs by up to 40 percent.
Winners in the New Technology category:
- Fraas Solutions in Textile: SITnet is a load-securing net distinguished by joining points for the belts, which are warp-knitted instead of sewn. The net is flat, even and is reported to be capable of bearing higher loads than conventional products.
- Vetex NV: OC2PUS technology permits a polyurethane coating to be applied to flexible substrates to functionalize textiles without the use of solvents, such as the controversial dimethyl formamide (DMF). To this end, specially developed polyurethane resins, which harden chemically during the coating process, are used.
Winners in the New Product category:
- Texlock: The company’s textile-based bicycle lock is light, flexible and does not scratch the bicycle’s paintwork, thanks to the lock’s soft surface.
- Penn Textile Solutions: Ombra-DLS is a shading net for use in facade construction and window installation. By expanding the net to a greater or lesser extent, the light admitted to a room or building can be modified according to requirements, regardless of how much light energy is available at the time.
Winners in the New Material category:
- Institute of Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibres (ITCF) Denkendorf: PURCELL is a sustainable composite made of pure cellulose, which is used not only as a high-strength reinforcement fiber, but also as a matrix component.
- Durafiber Technologies: The company’s alkaline-resistant polyester HT yarn is reported to retain its original technical properties almost unchanged, even after being in contact with alkaline products at high temperatures for several days.