W
ith the US textile industry in crisis, public attention naturally turns to those
organizations that make headlines day in and day out. Several of the industry’s flagship trade
groups, such as the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI), often are in the news,
attempting to sway both public and legislative perception in an ongoing battle to alter US trade
policy
(See ”
Focus:
ATMI,” this issue).

But there are other organizations that are active advocates for their members, while, for
the most part, maintaining steadfastly apolitical agendas.

Technical Textiles: Diverse Interests

Some of these textile trade groups date back nearly a century or more. One of the older and
more prominent associations is the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), Roseville,
Minn.

Since its founding in 1912 as the National Tent & Awning Manufacturers Association, the
organization has grown to represent more than 2,100 manufacturers, converters and suppliers from
around the world. More than 80 percent of the association’s membership is United States-based, but
there is substantial representation from other countries. Canada accounts for about 10 percent of
membership, with the majority of the remainder in Japan and Europe.

Unlike many other associations, whose memberships comprise manufacturers from a single
industry segment or market, IFAI’s roster runs across traditional lines of demarcation.

“Approximately two-thirds of our members are fabricators,” said Stephen M. Warner, IFAI
president. “You will find among us weavers, distributors, coaters, knitters, fiber manufacturers,
chemical companies, textile machinery manufacturers, converters and more. But you will also find
architects and civil engineers. Member companies range in size from one-person shops to
multinational corporations; members’ products span the entire spectrum of the specialty fabrics
industry, from fiber and fabric suppliers to manufacturers of end products, equipment and
hardware,” he said.

Part of the reason for the diversity of membership is the type of market an IFAI member
traditionally serves. Generally, these manufacturers and suppliers have identified specific niche
markets that require a high degree of specialization and customization. Typical applications for
products include, among others, geosynthetics, coated inflatable products, tents, parachute
fabrics, medical products, filtration materials, awnings and automotive materials.

In addition, unlike many other textile associations, you won’t find IFAI representatives
running up the steps of the Capitol attempting to peddle influence among the nation’s lawmakers.

“We are not a lobbying organization,” Warner said. “But we act as advocates for our members
and often work on such issues as trade legislation with the US Industrial Fabrics Institute. And we
are not a protectionist organization.”

The primary benefit members get from IFAI affiliation is networking. “We like to see
ourselves as the gatekeeper of information,” Warner said. “We provide services and information
through a multi-layered and close relationship with members, customers and suppliers up and down
the supply chain.

“We have diverse services because we serve a broad market. Many of our members are in small
niche markets that would not be able to support a trade association for their specific area of
specialization,” Warner said.

IFAI has 15 product-oriented divisions ranging from casual furniture fabrics, geosynthetics,
narrow fabrics and inflatable recreational products; to lightweight structural products; to tents,
awnings, truck covers and tarps.

Unlike many other associations, IFAI receives only 13 percent of its revenue from dues. The
remainder comes from the specific services, conferences and publications the organization produces.

The Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA), Cary, N.C., sees itself as the
leading information resource and action vehicle for nonwovens. The organization has established a
reputation for monitoring government programs and policies relative to the nonwovens industry. INDA
is the sponsor of the IDEA International Engineered Fabrics Conference & Expo, which serves the
nonwovens industry worldwide. IDEA is held every three years in the United States.

Machinery Focus

On the machinery side, the American Textile Machinery Association (ATMA), Falls Church, Va.,
seeks to advance US-based manufacturers of textile machinery. The 110-plus-member organization is
perhaps best known for its cosponsorship of the American Textile Machinery Exhibition-International
(ATME-I). Funding for the organization comes from ATME-I revenue and member dues.

The purpose of ATMA, according to the organization, is to “improve business conditions
within the textile machinery industry of the United States within a global context; to encourage
the use of the products of the industry; and to protect, promote, foster and advance the common
interests of the members as manufacturers and distributors of textile machinery and parts and
machinery accessory to textile machinery on a worldwide basis.”

Dyes And Chemicals

The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), Research Triangle Park,
N.C., bills itself as the “world’s largest technical and scientific society devoted to the
advancement of textile chemistry.” AATCC has more than 5,000 individual members and 270 corporate
members in the United States and 65 countries around the world.

Since its inception in 1921, AATCC has dedicated itself to promoting knowledge of dye and
chemical applications in the textile industry, encouraging research on chemical processes and
materials relevant to the industry, and establishing communications channels facilitating the
interchange of professional knowledge and ideas. The organization uses a variety of tools to
accomplish these objectives, including publications, workshops, symposia and the annual AATCC
International Conference & Exhibition (IC&E).

Apparel And Sewn Products

The American Apparel Producers’ Network (AAPNetwork), Atlanta, is a global, non-profit
organization of more than 200 producers of apparel and their 50,000 workers. AAPNetwork promotes
the US apparel industry and helps fulfill worldwide demand for American apparel. The organization
matches sourcing managers, producers and suppliers of apparel and helps locate designers, producers
and support services. The group is funded by annual dues of $1,450 per member. There is a set-up
charge for first-time members.

The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA),  Arlington, Va., promotes its
members’ interests by seeking minimized regulatory, legal, commercial, political and trade
restraints. According to AAFA, the organization represents “the points of view and [pursues] the
concerns of AAFA members before the public and all branches of government to advance the
association’s legislative, international trade and regulatory objectives.” As well, AAFA seeks to
ensure employees in the sewn products industry are treated with fairness, and seeks to create
favorable conditions for the development and exchange of best practices and innovation.

Sewn Products Equipment & Suppliers of the Americas (SPESA), Raleigh, N.C., was
organized in 1990 and represents more than 100 companies that supply the sewn products industry.

Yarn-Centered Advocacy

The American Yarn Spinners Association (AYSA), Gastonia, N.C., has more than 100 members
representing more than 300 spinning, texturing, mercerizing and dyeing plants in the United States.
The association maintains that its mission differs somewhat from broad-based textile associations
because the marketing system for sales yarn is unique. Yarns are more custom-manufactured than many
other textile products, according to the association; therefore, AYSA limits its role to
opportunities and challenges specific to the yarn spinner. The organization does not become
involved in broader textile issues except when it can “effectively complement or supplement” the
efforts of other organizations.

The Textured Yarn Association of America (TYAA), Gastonia, N.C., has a mission of greater
technological communication within the textured yarns industry. By updating test methods, TYAA
encourages the development of active research and development programs within the industry. TYAA
sponsors a number of technical projects managed by small committees and has semiannual meetings of
its membership. In these meetings, the committees report to the membership at large.

The Broader Spectrum

In 2002, the Knitted Textile Association merged with the Northern Textile Association to
form The National Textile Association (NTA), Boston. NTA represents more than 200 textile
manufacturers and industry suppliers with operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The
basic mission of the organization is to provide effective representation to government for
fabric-forming companies and to promote the use of American fabrics for apparel, home furnishings,
industrial and other markets.

The Association of Georgia’s Textile, Carpet and Consumer Products Manufacturers (GTMA),
Atlanta, is a statewide trade association that “represents Georgia’s textile, carpet and consumer
products manufacturers in legislative, regulatory and public relations matters.” GTMA was founded
in 1900 and provides resources to its members in the areas of human resources, fiber procurement,
research, energy, health and safety, environmental issues and more. Affiliated with GTMA is The
Textile Education Foundation Inc., which provides funding for scholarships, faculty support,
research, recruitment, capital improvements, and machinery and equipment for the textile, carpet
and consumer products programs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and Southern
Polytechnic State University, Marietta, Ga.

GTMA membership is open to businesses in Georgia engaged in spinning, weaving, dyeing,
bleaching, finishing, knitting, braiding, creeling, sewing or other manufacturing operations of
textiles, carpet and related consumer products.

The Southern Textile Association Inc. (STA), Gastonia, S.C., provides its more than 600
members with the opportunity to network with peers to create opportunities and solve common
challenges. Members are from virtually every sector of the textile industry, from yarn spinning to
fabric finishing, including suppliers of fiber, machinery, replacement parts, dyes, chemicals and
services. To localize activities and achieve its goals as much as possible, STA consists of three
geographic divisions: South Carolina Division; Piedmont Division; and North Carolina/Virginia
Division. Meetings are held each spring and fall, and also include an annual full-day winter
seminar that focuses on providing members with timely information related to technology trends and
manfacturing management. The assocation also holds a three-day annual meeting in June.

March 2003

”

T
oday’s industrial infrastructure is designed to chase economic growth. It does so at the
expense of other vital concerns, particularly human and ecological health, cultural and natural
richness, and even enjoyment and delight…. The waste, pollution, crude products, and other
negative effects [of most industrial methods and materials] are the consequence of outdated and
unintelligent design.”

So state architect and designer William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, Ph.D., in
their book “Cradle to Cradle,” in which they champion the importance of design in developing
environmentally intelligent, sustainable products and business strategies, looking to the natural
world to find practical approaches to reaching that goal.

Their strategies offer hope to companies that struggle to comply with government
regulations, helping them realize the economic growth they seek, in addition to providing product
differentiation. Manufacturers are surviving in today’s challenging and fiercely competitive global
business environment because they have reduced costs related to energy, waste disposal and
regulatory compliance. And their products are competing in the marketplace quality-for-quality on
price, performance and aesthetic appeal as well.

Cradle To Cradle

“Sustainability is a destination, which is called cradle to cradle,” McDonough told

Textile World
in a recent interview. Through Charlottesville, Va.-based McDonough Braungart Design
Chemistry (MBDC), McDonough and Braungart have consulted with corporations worldwide, including
such textile manufacturers and suppliers as Cargill Dow LLC, BASF Corp., Shaw Industries Inc.,
Rohner Textil AG and others – helping them chart a new course by reevaluating their operations and
setting goals to implement eco-effective, and even restorative, practices. These companies are
turning “strategies of tragedy” into “strategies of change,” redesigning products to use more
eco-friendly chemicals and processes, eliminate much of their pollution and waste, and also provide
food for future manufacturing appetites and for the earth.

McDonough and Braungart contrast the cradle-to-cradle, regenerative life cycle of
sustainable products with the cradle-to-grave concept of products whose components cannot be
separated and perpetually recycled into virgin-quality materials and ultimately end up as waste.
But even the idea of waste must be reevaluated in this context. In a cradle-to-cradle cycle, “waste
equals food,” McDonough and Braungart assert. It provides nutrition in a biological, compostable
cycle or in a closed-loop, technical, manufacturing cycle.

Biological Or Technical Nutrition

“On the biological nutrient side, we have propitious, biological, organic products, and that
means we have to go right back to their origin and their processing,” McDonough said. “We also have
biodegradable materials made from petroleum products. What’s exciting will be biological nutrient
fibers made from secondary agricultural products – PLA [polylactide], for example, made from straws
and stalks, not from kernels. Otherwise, we’re making our fabrics out of food.

“As for petrochemical-based materials, we see them going either into biologically based
products that break down into carbohydrate or into technical services products, like polyesters and
nylons,” he said. “The biggest message to the ecologically concerned markets is how critical it is
that we have man-made products in cradle-to-cradle life cycles.”

Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill Dow’s NatureWorks™ PLA biodegradable polymer resin is
derived from fermented corn sugars. It also will be chemically recyclable into new virgin-quality
resin once the infrastructure is in place to process it, according to Michael O’Brien, Cargill
Dow’s communications leader.

In its production, PLA reduces the use of fossil resources by up to 50 percent over
petrochemical-based polymer production. Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 15 to 60 percent.
Cargill Dow projects these reductions eventually could reach 80 to 100 percent.

The company is using grants from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to fund further research
and development. One grant is being used to help develop technology to derive PLA from non-food
parts of the corn plant. Another is helping Cargill Dow explore changing its energy feedstock.
“This opens the door to allow us to make our own energy from renewable sources,” O’Brien said.

Nylon 6: Closing The Loop

One example of technical nutrition is closed-loop nylon 6 recycling. For McDonough, its
eco-effective,  cradle-to-cradle – as opposed to merely eco-efficient – nature means its
consumption can be celebrated rather than decried as being wasteful. “Here is a material that is
durable, color-retentive, stain-resistant, lasts as long as you’d ever want it to – and, in fact,
lasts as short as you want it to,” he said. “The fact that you can turn it back into itself means
guilt disappears, and if you want to change your carpet from blue to pink after three years, we
don’t care because all you do is create jobs.”

BASF, Mount Olive, N.J., established its Ontario-based 6ix Again® recycling program in 1994
to depolymerize used nylon 6 carpet fiber into caprolactam and water. The caprolactam is then
repolymerized into virgin-quality nylon 6 polymer. BASF recycles carpet containing its own BASF
Nylon 6ix® products, including SAVANT™ advanced engineered fiber containing 50-percent recycled
content, Ultramid®, Zeftron® and solution-dyed Zeftron 2000; and any other nylon 6 carpet, as well
as upholstery fabrics made from solution-dyed Zeftron 200 nylon. It also accepts and processes
nylon 6,6 and backing systems. Tim Blount, BASF’s carpet products marketing manager, reports the
program has diverted millions of pounds of nylon from landfills.

“In today’s sustainability-conscious commercial marketplace, there is increased interest and
demand for fully renewable high-performance products,” Blount said. “Our carpet mill customers, as
well as the architect and design and specifying communities, are showing a high level of interest
in the environmental attributes of the products we manufacture, as well as in ensuring a proper
infrastructure for managing carpets once they have reached the end of their useful lives.”

Carpet Face And Backing: Separate Pathways

Dalton, Ga.-based Shaw Industries Inc. offers carpets using BASF’s SAVANT fiber and, through
its Shaw Commercial Division, produces its own EcoSolution Q™ nylon 6 fiber for other carpet
products. Steven L. Bradfield, vice president, environmental development, said most of its nylon 6
products, which comprise well over half of its total commercial carpet production, contain a
minimum of 25-percent recycled content. Its annual consumption of recycled nylon 6 totals more than
20 million pounds. In addition, Shaw’s total manufacturing operations recycle 75 percent of its
production waste.

Bradfield said carpet must be seen in terms of both its face and its backing. “If you look
at carpet as just a single entity that you’re going to melt down and turn into something, then that
something is not going to be the same carpet it was before. If you take the idea that it’s a face
and a backing, there are carpets at Shaw that we can actually separate and return to their original
pathways,” he said.

Bradfield pointed to Shaw’s EcoWorx™ polyolefin thermoplastic carpet backing as an example.
“[It] flows directly onto the back of the carpet cloth. It’s a non-PVC [polyvinyl chloride]
backing, and it’s our largest-volume tile or six-foot backing – over 50 percent of our volume in
these product types,” he said. “EcoWorx meets or exceeds PVC testing and performance in every
category. We developed EcoWorx for greater backing choice, for reducing material environmental
impacts, for its lower long-term cost, and for its compatibility with nylon 6 breakdown.”Shaw is
ramping up capacity for EcoWorx production to provide all of its backing for carpet tile and
six-foot modular carpet, and plans eventually to provide it for its high-performance broadloom
carpet as well. The company also is evaluating its manufacturing processes, energy flux and raw
materials to further develop its cradle-to-cradle strategy.

Fabrics “Safe Enough To Eat”

Businesses can incur significant expense in order to comply with environmental and safety
regulations. McDonough holds up Switzerland-based Rohner Textil as an example for US textile
companies facing the need to cut costs in this country or go offshore.

MBDC worked with Rohner and New York City-based DesignTex, a division of Steelcase, to
develop a biodegradable upholstery fabric that would be “safe enough to eat.” At the time, Rohner,
which had been complying with all the Swiss environmental regulations, found its fabric trimmings
had been declared hazardous waste that could no longer be disposed of locally, and so had to be
shipped to Spain.

The new fabric, Climatex® Lifecycle™, combines organically grown ramie with wool, and is
dyed and finished using 16 nontoxic dyes and 22 auxiliaries and processing chemicals from
Switzerland-based Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc. Effluent tested since production began is cleaner
than the water coming into the plant, and the fabric trimmings can be processed into felt for
upholstery interliners or gardening mulch. As McDonough and Braungart tell the story, “Not only did
our new design process bypass the traditional responses to environmental problems (reduce, reuse,
recycle), it also eliminated the need for regulation, something that any businessperson will
appreciate as extremely valuable.”

“Rohner was able to cut its costs by 20 percent because it got rid of regulation and was
able to remove all sorts of restrictions on the way its people could function,” McDonough said. “It
could get rid of protective equipment; it doesn’t have a percentage of its building allocated to
hazardous materials storage; and it doesn’t have any cost of hazardous waste being shipped to
Spain.” The mill’s products also have been very successful in the marketplace.

“What was the other way to save costs for a company like Rohner?” McDonough asked. “Go
offshore. And then, what happens to all those people with all that expertise in Switzerland? This
is a critical agenda for the US textile industry. It can move into an unregulated event and compete
with other places that are unregulated, but instead of being unregulated because nobody’s paying
attention, it’s unregulated because it’s not hurting anybody. It’s a great way to differentiate
quality.”

Rohner licenses its Climatex technology to other textile makers, including Victor Innovatex,
Canada, which supplies DesignTex with Climatex LifeguardFR™, a fire-retardant (FR) fabric using
wool and Austria-based Lenzing AG’s Redesigned LenzingFR™ cellulosic fiber treated with
Switzerland-based Clariant’s nontoxic FR finish. Climatex fabrics also are available from Carnegie,
Rockville Centre, N.Y.

Interface: An Epiphany

Ray C. Anderson, chairman of Atlanta-based Interface Inc., relates his company’s journey
toward sustainability in his book, “Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The
Interface Model.” From its beginnings in 1973, Interface had sought simply to comply with
environmental regulations, but in 1994, Anderson read “The Ecology of Commerce” by Paul Hawken and
experienced an epiphany. In that book, Hawken calls on business and industry to take the lead in
reversing the environmental damage that has been wrought on Earth.

Anderson challenged Interface to play a premier role in the sustainability movement,
ultimately “putting back more than we ourselves take and doing good to Earth, not just no harm – by
helping or influencing others to reach toward sustainability.” Since 1996, Interface has reduced
its environmental footprint by one-third and cut operational waste by as much as half in some
facilities, saving $209 million; reduced harmful emissions and increased its energy efficiency,
reducing nonrenewable process energy by 18 percent; and reduced water consumption per unit of
modular carpet production by 68 percent.

Eight Interface facilities generate renewable energy on-site or purchase green power. In
2001, green energy sources – including solar, wind, landfill gas, biomass and hydroelectric –
provided 8.5 percent of the company’s power needs worldwide. Two facilities in the United Kingdom
purchase all of their electricity from green sources. By mid-2003, the company’s plant in Canada
expects to be totally powered by wind.

The company also has committed to using closed-loop, recycled raw materials and to reducing
the amount of petroleum-derived raw materials, as sustainable technologies fall into place. Use of
non-petrochemical-based materials in Interface products has increased by 24 percent since 1994.
Interface Fabrics Group plans to introduce new PLA fabrics in its Terratex line by the end of this
year, according to Wendy Porter, director of environmental management.

Product designer David Oakey said one-third of Interface product now contains recycled
content. Oakey designs products to reduce waste, sometimes creating random designs, such as those
found in Interface’s Entropy™ line of carpet tiles, in order to reduce leftover materials.

Anderson is firm in his belief that industry must find ways to become sustainable. “If we
don’t figure out how to do it, the industrial system will collapse,” he warns. He believes
Interface’s green initiatives are helping it survive in the current economic climate, stating,
“Sustainability has transformed Interface into a company that is doing well by doing good.”

Products Of Service

One solution to reducing landfill waste involves selling the service of a product – in
effect leasing the product to the customer and retaining ownership of its components, while
servicing and upgrading it as often as desired within a defined period of use. In describing a
product of service, McDonough encourages a rethinking about the nature of a product. “The concept
has to be transparent to customers in terms of their options. Even though they buy the product,
it’s effectively like a lease because the company wants it back as technical nutrition,” he
explained. The product must be designed to be cradle to cradle, and the manufacturer’s relationship
with the customer is optimized and maintained because the product is returned for reprocessing, he
said.

Reaching The Destination

MBDC’s Design Protocol for creating cradle-to-cradle products recognizes levels of
environmental intelligence ranging from simply being free of a known toxic substance to being fully
eco-effective – “pure innovation,” McDonough said, citing as examples “a new kind of floor covering
or a whole new way of making carpet that is designed to be cradle to cradle from scratch – or a new
textile made from agricultural secondaries grown organically without petrochemical fertilizers and
using wind power for processing.”

But, he added, “The perfect product is going to be a pioneer in its own territory. The
perfect carpet – designed with all new materials that are totally without all the residuals of all
the wrong components – would never be given points in the marketplace or by green industry
standards, because it didn’t exist when the industry did a consensus process.

“We’re looking for the highest performance around sustainable criteria,” he continued, “not
the lowest common denominator that can be used as a threshold for entry into the club of hope.
We’re looking for champions and fierceness.”

March 2003