Atomic-6 shot a 3mm particle into its Space Armor® tile to simulate untrackable debris. Traveling at Low Earth Orbit (LEO) speeds of 7.2 km/s, this test proved both protection and no harmful secondary debris was created (Photo: Atomic-6, Inc.) Marietta, Ga.-based Atomic-6 announced that Portal Space Systems has selected its Space Armor® tiles as the primary Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) protection system for an upcoming spacecraft launching on SpaceX’s Transporter 18 Rideshare mission in October 2026.
The mission marks the first operational orbital deployment of Space Armor®, validating its use in commercial and national security applications. “Portal is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in orbit, and they need protection that keeps up with their ambitions,” said Trevor Smith, CEO of Atomic-6.
“Our customers rely on Portal spacecraft to remain maneuverable over extended timelines,” added Jeff Thornburg, CEO of Portal Space Systems. “Incorporating Atomic-6’s Space Armor® tiles expands our ability to deliver sustained on-orbit performance.”
Lighter and thinner than traditional metallic shields, Space Armor® tiles offer fragmentation resistance, RF permeability and scalable debris protection for spacecraft systems.
18.9-acre site in Eastman Business Park for first Reju Regeneration Hub in the U.S.Reju, a textile-to-textile regeneration company, has selected an 18.9-acre site at Eastman Business Park in Rochester, New York, for its first U.S. industrial Regeneration Hub. The plant is designed to regenerate the equivalent of 300 million garments annually into rBHET, which will be repolymerized into Reju PET, supporting near-shoring and diversified manufacturing. The project remains subject to a final investment decision by the board of Technip Energies, Reju’s parent company.
“As our first Regeneration Hub in the United States, this site selection is a major leap forward in building a truly global circular system,” said Patrik Frisk, CEO of Reju.
“New York state is committed to creating good paying jobs, and supporting innovative projects and companies that are working to keep materials out of landfills and protecting our planet,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Through partnerships with global brands, mills, and waste aggregators, Reju ensures full textile-to-textile traceability, transforming garments destined for landfills or incineration into raw material for a new, circular economy.
Chinese textile machinery manufacturer Huixing Machine Co., Ltd. has acquired key assets of Albstadt, Germany-based Mayer & Cie., the German maker of circular knitting and braiding machines currently in insolvency proceedings. The deal includes Mayer & Cie.’s Albstadt property and subsidiaries in China and the Czech Republic.
Huixing, based in Shishi City, plans to resume circular knitting machine production in Albstadt following regulatory approvals expected within six to eight weeks.
“With the sale of Mayer & Cie.’s circular knitting division to Huixing, we have found a prospect for the planned resumption of business,” said restructuring lawyer Martin Mucha of Grub Brugger.
Trustee Ilkin Bananyarli of PLUTA Rechtsanwalts GmbH called the outcome “a very welcome result for this long-established company.”
Volker Wintergerst of Wintergerst Societät added that persuading Huixing to invest “is a great success for all of us.”
Nonwovenn manufactures bespoke technical fabrics for niche markets.Nonwovenn, a nonwoven fabric-technology company based in Bridgwater, England, has been acquired by Altrincham-based CorpAcq, backed by TDR Capital, marking the successful exit of growth investor BGF. Founded in 2003 by Chairman David Lamb, Nonwovenn manufactures bespoke technical fabrics for niche markets, with a focus on harm reduction, including materials for protective clothing and wound treatment.
“We’re proud to have delivered such consistent growth and strong profitability over two decades,” Lamb said. “We’re excited to build on these strong foundations in our next phase of growth as part of CorpAcq.”
“Nonwovenn has gone from strength to strength since our initial investment in 2016,” said Paul Oldham of BGF.
“Nonwovenn is an outstanding business with a leading market position and strong growth prospects,” added Stuart Kissen, head of acquisitions at CorpAcq. “We see significant opportunity in the fabric technology space.”
Winterthur, Switzerland-based Rieter has completed the acquisition of Barmag as of Feb. 2, 2026, a strategic move that makes Rieter the world’s leading system provider for natural and synthetic fibers. Barmag will be consolidated as of Feb. 2 and integrated into the Rieter Group as the new Man-Made Fiber Division.
Barmag’s management will remain in place. Georg Stausberg will continue to lead the division, report to Rieter CEO Thomas Oetterli, and join the Group Executive Committee.
“Barmag’s know-how is a perfect fit for Rieter and will accelerate profitable growth as well as strengthen our market leadership in the important region of Asia,” Oetterli said. “The acquired filament know-how will help to expand our areas of expertise as a system provider and further advance automation and digitization solutions.”
The transaction is financed through a 2025 capital increase and long-term bank loans.
(left to right): Itema America CFO Stephanie Ort, Itema America Area Sales Manager Doug Merritt, Itema America President Scott Malcolm, Itema Group Chief Sales and Service Officer Matteo Mutti, Palmetto Loom Reed President and Owner Gladys Richardson, Palmetto Loom Reed Sales Manager Ron Lemonds, and Palmetto Loom Reed Business Development Phillip Gilliland cut the ribbon celebrating Itema America’s acquisition of Palmetto Loom Reed. Photo — Devin Steele, eTextileCommunications.com
Itema America, the U.S. subsidiary of Colzate (Bergamo), Italy-based Itema Group, has acquired Greenville, S.C.-based Palmetto Loom Reed, one of the nation’s last domestic reed manufacturers. The move expands Itema’s technical capabilities and underscores a long-term commitment to localized manufacturing support for North American textile producers.
Founded 113 years ago, Palmetto Loom Reed supplies custom weaving reeds and will continue operations with its 18-person team under President Gladys Richardson. “This is the best outcome I could imagine,” Richardson said. “Itema shares our customer-first values and respect for people.”
Itema America President Scott Malcolm called the acquisition “a strategic move toward becoming a full-service domestic partner for the weaving industry.”
Itema Group’s Matteo Mutti added, “Producing reeds on American soil eliminates tariffs and delays — delivering faster, more responsive service to our customers.”
“At a time when others are retrenching, this investment shows confidence in U.S. manufacturing,” Malcolm said. “Itema America is stronger because we’re doing this.”
Lenzing, Austria-based, The Lenzing Group is acquiring a controlling majority in Stockholm-based TreeToTextile AB, strengthening its leadership in sustainable, wood-based specialty fibers through a highly scalable, patent-protected cellulosic fiber technology platform. The transaction, executed through new share issuance, advances Lenzing’s premiumization strategy across textile and nonwoven markets.
TreeToTextile’s process offers improved sustainability, cost advantages and builds on innovations like viscose and Lenzing’s Lyocell technology.
“TreeToTextile is among the world’s most advanced next-generation fiber technologies,” said Georg Kasperkovitz, COO of Lenzing Group. “Since our initial investment in 2025, the collaboration has enabled significant technological progress. We are fully committed to joint scale-up and commercialization.”
“Innovation at industrial scale requires time, expertise, and strong partnerships,” said Dr. Roxana Barbieru, CEO of TreeToTextile. “Lenzing Group’s increased ownership is a clear endorsement of our technology.”
Lenzing plans increased output at TreeToTextile’s Nymölla, Sweden, demonstration plant and preparation of a first industrial-scale facility.
Stäubli, a global supplier of industrial and mechatronic solutions, will merge its Stäubli Electrical Connectors unit in Windsor, California, and Stäubli Corporation in Duncan, South Carolina, into one legal entity named Stäubli Corporation, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The consolidation streamlines processes across engineering, manufacturing, assembly, sales and service for Stäubli’s 350 North American employees.
The Windsor site will expand beyond Electrical Connectors to include Fluid Connectors, Robotics and Textile divisions, boosting West Coast service.
“Our goal is to accelerate growth and strengthen our business in North America, spanning all Stäubli divisions,” said Gerald Vogt, group CEO of Stäubli. “By bringing Electrical Connectors, Fluid Connectors, Robotics and Textile divisions together under one integrated organization, we can serve our customers more effectively and foster innovation.”
“Combining these operations under one legal entity allows us to leverage resources and expertise across divisions,” added François Masbou, managing director for North America.
Stäubli Electrical Connectors originally joined the Stäubli group through the acquisition of Multi-Contact in 2002 and has since developed into a major pillar for the company. According to the company, this merger marks a strategic step in consolidating operations under one organization in the U.S, with its main location in Duncan, South Carolina, a factory and R&D center in Windsor, California, complemented by offices in Novi, Michigan and Querétaro, Mexico.
Martin Bide (Photo: AATCC)From textile education to textile educator, Dr. Martin Bide shares his thoughts on a career in textiles, the changing industry, and his enthusiasm for textile education as a lifelong pursuit.
By James M. Borneman, Editor In Chief
Dr. Martin Bide is a respected textile scientist whose career spans decades of teaching, research and leadership in fiber and dyeing technology. He has served on the faculty at the University of Rhode Island (URI) and at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMassD), where he has guided countless students and advanced the field of textile chemistry. Bide is the author of more than 100 papers, book chapters, and patents. His achievements have earned him the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists’ (AATCC) Olney Medal, one of the profession’s highest honors.
Today, Bide remains a leading voice in sustainable textile development and innovation across the global industry. He recently sat down with Textile World to discuss his career in textiles, the changing industry, and his enthusiasm for textile education as a lifelong pursuit.
Textile World: Dr. Bide, you’ve spent your career at the intersection of fiber science, dyeing and textile innovation, from the classroom to being internationally recognized for your research. Looking back, what first sparked your interest in textiles?
Bide: My 18-year-old self decided that “colour chemistry” sounded like a more interesting major than plain chemistry, without knowing it was really all about textiles and dyeing. I did this at Bradford University in the UK—they gave me a color vision test when I toured, and I thought that was smart.
And being a student was fun, so when the offer came to stay and do a PhD…. Sure!
TW: How did you transition from student to educator and researcher?
Bide: Spending a few years in UK dyestuff research, I was reading the JSDC (The Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists) and one Friday afternoon I saw a UMassD ad for a textile chemistry professor. I thought, “I’ll never get this, but what the heck” but I did — thanks to the Dean who looked at the search committee’s reject pile and overrode the reject reason “he’s in England” — and it was off to the USA in 1981.
TW: How did you relate to reentering the university environment, now as a professor?
Bide: The academic world is similar wherever you are, so the move was straightforward. Great students — and I am still in touch with several of them — UMassD was one of the traditional textile programs, derived from New Bedford and Fall River textile schools, supplying trained grads to industry. Our peers were NC State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Philadelphia Textile and Auburn. There was the full spectrum of textile courses: dyeing I and II, printing, finishing, man-made fibers, yarn I and II, weaving I and II, knitting, and so on. Those university curricula have mostly disappeared or morphed into “materials”, with the notable exception of NC State.
TW: What brought about this change in textile education programs?
Bide: The industry was shrinking, along with the number of students. For me, it meant moving to URI in 1991.
URI was a different flavor of textile program, derived from the old “clothing and textile” component of Home Economics that was present in all the original land grant state universities.
URI’s program had evolved into “Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design,” with large student numbers, and instead of colleagues who were teaching yarn, weave, knit, testing, statistics, I had a new set who were dealing with merchandising, textile history, fashion design, social and psychological aspects of fashion.
“I enjoyed my teaching career, especially trying to put myself in the shoes of a student so I could communicate complex ideas in a way that made sense to them,” said Bide, pictured here at the University of Rhode Island (URI). (Photo: University of Rhode Island, Beau Jones)TW: That is a different role entirely…
Bide: I was the lone scientist having to deal with all the technical aspects: so, I had to learn the weaving, spinning and so on. My main assignment was teaching a junior course that covered all that stuff, with a lab on fiber identification, and textile testing.
TW: How did you approach course materials?
Bide: Textbook? Tortora’s Understanding Textiles, later Collier and Tortora, and eventually Collier, Tortora and Bide — having made critical comments to prior editions, it was easier to have me inside “the tent”! I finally went on to the online text “Itextiles” that was more regularly updated, and again, I could put my 2 cents in, get inaccurate content straightened out without waiting for a new hard copy edition to come out.
TW: What interested you in remaining in an academic career?
Bide: I enjoyed my teaching career, especially trying to put myself in the shoes of a student so I could communicate complex ideas in a way that made sense to them. So, while I may know a lot about dyeing isotherms, the derivation of the CMC Color difference equation, the difference between worsted and woolen yarn production and so on, I had to distill that into its essentials and keep it simple enough for a student focused on Fashion Merchandising and Design to benefit.
My mantra was to suggest that if they were stuck on a long flight to China with a dyer, yarn spinner, color scientist, etc., then they should be able to have a sensible conversation.
TW: You recently published “Color: From Concept to Consumer — How Hard Can it Be to Dye the Right Color?” — how did you approach the project?
Bide: The genesis of “Color: From Concept to Consumer” was that distillation of the essentials of color, textiles, dyes and dyeing, put in the context of a supply chain that must define a color, oversee its communication to a dyer, and accept or reject it. All within the pressures of time and commercial viability. And what was suitable for the students of Fashion Merchandising and Design at URI also seemed appropriate for AATCC’s “concept to consumer” interest group.
I’m not getting any royalties — this was a labor of love!
TW: What drove you to put it down on paper?
Bide: Being regularly involved with AATCC and seeing very similar questions and issues coming up at meetings. That, coupled with not being able to find a book that covered all the topics in (hopefully) an easily digestible format that I could use in my courses.
Dr. Martin Bide’s achievements earned him the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists’ (AATCC) Olney Medal, one of the profession’s highest honors. (Photo: AATCC)TW: The other half of being a professor means doing research, and you got the Olney medal for your work. How did you approach that research?
Bide: Encouragement from my boss, Ron Perry at UMassD. I learned the fact that academics share much with the “oldest profession” and will not turn down funding if an opportunity shows up — Wool scouring? Soil release on navy uniforms?…
Other inspirations from ex-students with questions: “Can you do thin layer chromatography on vat dyes?; Why is alginate better than synthetic thickeners for printing?; We have a new analytical method, will it work on dyes?”.
TW: So, applied research played an important role?
Bide: A major part of my research career — and the main reason for the AATCC Olney medal — came from the husband of a former student of mine.
In 1990, he was working on artificial artery research at a Boston Hospital. He’d ask his textile chemist wife questions about the polyester the arteries are made of, and eventually she told him to talk to me. They now run BioSurfaces in Massachusetts with a manufacturing facility and 15 employees (biosurfaces.us/).
Bumping into the attitude of non-textile people who think, “How hard can textiles/dyeing be, anyway?” led to several opportunities to be the textile voice — someone who knows the complexities — in multidisciplinary efforts. Arriving at URI, joining the chemical engineers doing pollution prevention in local textile mills. That began a long engagement in pollution prevention, later called “sustainability,” that accelerated as my more formal research projects wound down with the approach of retirement, which included a TEDx talk (uri.edu/tedx/ talks/swimming-in-a-sea-of-polyester/).
TW: Looking back at that decision by “your 18-year-old self” to pursue textiles, what are your thoughts?
Bide: The great thing about textiles, that made my career so much more interesting — and for me, relevant — is that it is essentially practical.
We all wear clothes! It’s impossible to live/work in textiles in an academic silo. So, textile teaching and research exists side by side with what is happening in the real world, and that is where the AATCC comes in.
Life-long learning and relevance comes from conferences, technical meetings, etc. where academics and industry get together.
Learning from the formal presentations and casual conversations, and building networks — so you know who to ask later. Those activities continued my learning long past any formal education and has been essential to my teaching and research. We had enough local industry in Rhode Island that I could take students on field trips, essentially to show that I wasn’t making it up when I taught stuff! I could figure out the weaving and spinning when I went to URI. And so, on
TW: Your advice on how to enrich a textile career?
Bide: What would I say to others? Join! Go to meetings! Ask questions! Get to know people!
And I have no clue how any of this works in the age of social media!
Editor’s Note: Dr. Martin Bide’s recent publication, “Color: From Concept to Consumer — How Hard Can it Be to Dye The Right Color?” is available now at aatcc.org/colorbook25/
Karla Magruder (Photo: The Cotton Board)Accelerating Circularity has its origins with Karla Magruder’s personal journey in an industry embracing change, where sustainability and circularity converge, and where waste and negative environmental impacts are not options.
By James M. Borneman, Editor In Chief
Karla Magruder is the founder of Accelerating Circularity, a nonprofit working to make textile-to-textile recycling a practical reality for the industry. With more than 30 years in textiles, she has held roles across the supply chain, including key positions with Burlington Performance Fabrics and Ingeo. Along the way, she built a reputation for connecting the dots between fiber makers, mills and brands to scale lower-impact materials and recycled polyester. That real-world textile experience inspired her to start Accelerating Circularity, bringing together a coalition of well-known companies and brands to turn used textiles into valuable new feedstocks. Recently, the organization published “Rags to Revenue: Unlocking post-consumer textile recycling in the US,” delving deeper into the business case and challenges to commercialization. Today, Magruder draws on her deep industry relationships and technical know-how to help partners move from talk to action, piloting systems and solutions that show how circularity can work in day-to-day business.
And most importantly, Magruder is, in her words, focused on “making the transition to new business models that are totally different than today’s.
Models where waste and negative environmental impacts are not options and there’s safety and equity in the employment sector.”
And — she’s an optimist.
Textile World: When did you become interested in textiles and what was your early career like?
Karla Magruder: I have always been interested in textiles. I started sewing young and went to The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York because of my love of textiles. My career was always working with textiles, from men’s silk tie fabrics in one of my first jobs to traveling around the world researching fabrics in my 20s. My career has been spent developing and marketing new materials, focusing on more sustainable options.
TW: One of your early roles in the industry in the 1990s was with Burlington Performance Fabrics. How did that experience impact your understanding of supply chains, technical aspects of textiles and textile trends?
Magruder: Burlington was great for building an understanding of how textile manufacturing works as well as learning about the needs of brands. How they ordered fabrics, timing, quality…. etc.
Importantly, the need for flexibility and staying up to date on market needs was key. At the time, Burlington was based 100% in the USA, we shipped a lot of material overseas where the manufacturing was done. It became obvious that we had to make changes to adjust to the market if we wanted to continue to do business.
Driving Toward Sustainability
TW: Later you became involved with the bio-based fiber Ingeo?
Magruder: I had been working in Italy and saw that they were much further ahead in sustainability. When I came back to the USA, I intentionally wanted to work on textiles that had a positive environmental impact versus business as usual. Burlington was compliant and very careful about their impacts, but I wanted to do more.
TW: What was it like embracing sustainability, renewable resources, and scaling an innovation into a sustainable commercial fiber product?
Magruder: There were a lot of things to learn and to teach. At the time, we spent a lot of time explaining to people the meaning of sustainability. Definitions still are very important.
On the flip side, getting the industry to transition to a new fiber was a huge undertaking: from feedstock to chip, dyeability, spinning, knitting, and weaving, all were opportunities to try to fit something new into existing systems. These challenges are true today for new fibers.
According to Magruder, circularity isn’t something that can be done in pieces. Everything has to function at the same time. You can’t commercialize one step and have the system work.TW: How did this effect your understanding of renewable/sustainable textiles and did it bring you to circularity?
Magruder: It allowed me to understand how to develop the path to get sustainable materials into the market.
The path to circularity was not exactly straight forward. It was a matter of things coming together for me.
Circularity as a concept wasn’t in use while I worked for Ingeo. After, when people were using the word, it seemed to me that most people didn’t understand what it really meant.
So, back to the need for agreed upon definitions. I really felt that people needed to understand what circularity was … it is not recycled. Many people were equating the two, which was not true.
You may have a recycled product but that doesn’t make it circular. If that were the case, we would have more circular fabrics in the market today.
TW: With your involvement in Textile Exchange (TE), what brought about the Recycled Polyester (rPET) Working Group?
Magruder: I started the Recycled Poly working group at TE. At the time they had an organic cotton working group. I felt that the industry needed to understand and develop recycled polyester.
At the time, recycled polyester was new, there were quality issues and capabilities issues. For instance, color consistency was an issue.
Many of those issues have been solved.
Establishing Accelerating Circularity
TW: Was there a formative moment that brought you to establishing Accelerating Circularity?
Magruder: I was at the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow, in the midst of a lot of industry people. I was talking about the need for the industry to get together and define circularity …. that was basically the start.
TW: What was the initial Mission of Accelerating Circularity?
Magruder: Our mission hasn’t changed; over time we have clarified a word or two but not the foundation, which is to build circular systems to turn used textiles into new raw materials.
TW: How were the early days of Accelerating Circularity?
Magruder: Busy, we had to set both expectations and goals for the work with a wide variety of stakeholders.
TW: Who were the first to support the mission?
Magruder: We gathered major brands, like Target, Nike, VF Corp in the U.S.; and Inditex, Zalando and Amazon in the EU. And large fiber producers working on recycled fibers joined us including Unifi, Milliken and Lenzing.
TW: What was the momentum path — key date, events, milestones?
Magruder: Our 501(c)3 status was granted in December 2019.
While that was a major milestone, there were earlier meetings where we gained alignment with our founding members to move forward in our mission and incorporate.
After that, it was a matter of bringing on additional participants for trials in both the U.S. and EU.
We had the opportunity to share our message at industry events including GreenBiz, Textile Exchange, Dornbirn, Sourcing Journal and many others.
Having completed trials in the U.S. and EU, showing that textile-to-textile products from post-consumer materials was possible at commercial scale, was a highlight. Seeing products at retail at Target and Walmart through Wrangler was a big deal.
According to Accelerating Circularity, the three key barriers to scaling textile-to-textile recycling in the U.S. are: Usable recycling feedstock is lost in every step of the value chain; Post-consumer textile-to-textile processes are expensive and largely unprofitable; and Demand for recycled fibers is low.TW: It appears from the outside that you’ve built a coalition, what is your approach to establishing partnerships?
Magruder: It’s all about systems. Without the entire system, circularity is not going to work. Over time, as we’ve learned all the actors necessary to build the system, we’ve asked them to join the work.
Our work is about building connections and taking action to make the circular transition possible.
TW: How do you balance the variety of partners needs and goals?
Magruder: When you put the entire system together, and the actors in a room, they learn from one another, and understand each other’s needs. The conversation turns to what will work versus what one specific node needs. It starts to function as a system.
TW: Most recently, Accelerating Circularity published “Toward Circular Systems for Trims and Ignored Materials (CSTIM)” — how would you describe CSTIM?
Magruder: All the work that Accelerating Circularity does is in service to developing a functioning system. “Rags to Revenue” and “Toward Circular Systems for Trim and Ignored Materials” were developed to identify roadblocks and gaps in circular systems.
By understanding these gaps, they can be addressed by putting systems in place to address them.
TW: Why is CSTIM important and where does it take the process of Accelerating Circularity?
Magruder: CSTIM is a working group — a cross-sector working group — addressing the complex role trims play in sorting, deconstruction, and preprocessing, while shaping circular infrastructure and product design guidance for the industry.
I call trims the “bad boys” of circularity. They cause a lot of the problems.
According to Accelerating Circularity, the three key barriers to scaling textile-to-textile recycling in the U.S. are: Usable recycling feedstock is lost in every step of the value chain; Post-consumer textile-to-textile processes are expensive and largely unprofitable; and Demand for recycled fibers is low.
A New Model
TW: What are the challenges of broad adoption — hurdles to cross in the future?
Magruder: Thinking and working in systems. Doing everything all at once.
Circularity isn’t something that can be done in pieces. Everything has to function at the same time. You can’t commercialize one step and have the system work.
Each node in the circular system must function for it to work and scale.
TW: As Founder of Accelerating Circularity, when will you know the group’s goals have taken root and what is a sign that the mission is accomplished?
Magruder: Our vision is a world in which textiles are no longer wasted. The ultimate sign would be to see functioning systems for all materials at what we now think of as their end of life.
TW: What question hasn’t been asked? Please ask and answer.
Magruder: The most important and hardest question to answer is, “How do we make a transition to a textile industry that accounts for environmental and social impacts while creating financially robust businesses?”
The answer lies in our ability to make a transition to new business models that are totally different than today’s.
Business models where waste and negative environmental impacts are not options and there’s safety and equity in the employment sector.
