Material World: What Comes After the Material Breakthrough

Material World is a weekly roundup of innovations and ideas that are reshaping the materials sector. It covers the latest developments in how fashion is designed, engineered, and scaled—from emerging biomaterials and next-generation leathers to engineered fibers and sustainable alternatives.

CovationBio Starts Commercial Production of Biobased Spandex Feedstock

Covation Biomaterials has begun commercial production of biobased chemicals used in spandex, polyurethane and other performance materials, marking a scale-up milestone for its C4 platform.

The company said its new 50,000-metric-ton plant in Qidong, China, produced its first commercial batches of Xatryx bioTHF and bioPTMEG in August, roughly four months after reaching mechanical completion. Initial production includes PTMEG grades with molecular weights of 1,000, 1,800 and 2,000, all of which met the company’s targeted specifications.

PTMEG, or polytetramethylene ether glycol, is a key chemical intermediate used in spandex and other elastomeric materials. CovationBio’s version is derived from non-food biomass including agricultural byproducts such as corncobs and is designed as a drop-in replacement for conventional fossil-derived PTMEG, allowing downstream manufacturers to use it without major changes to existing production processes.

The company is now providing samples to downstream customers and collecting application feedback as it moves from plant commissioning into commercial qualification.

CovationBio is also beginning to demonstrate the material in finished products. It partnered with insole manufacturer INSITE on an athletic insole incorporating Xatryx bioPTMEG, which the companies plan to debut at the NW Materials Show in Portland, Ore.

CovationBio said its biobased material can reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared with fossil-derived PTMEG, although the company said those emissions and performance claims are currently based on internal testing.

Yangi Takes Dry-Formed Fiber Packaging to the U.S.

Swedish materials technology company Yangi is bringing its dry-forming platform to the U.S., pitching packaging manufacturers on a cellulose-based process that it says can sharply reduce the water, energy and production time required to replace rigid plastic packaging.

Unlike conventional molded-fiber production, which suspends cellulose fibers in water before forming and drying them, Yangi’s Cellera technology combines airlaid fiber formation with 3D thermoforming. The process eliminates the water-slurry stage and associated drying steps, allowing fibers to form directly into rigid packaging, including trays, bowls, plates and beverage lids.

Yangi claims the process uses 90 percent to 99 percent less process water than conventional wet molding and consumes 1.8 kilowatt-hours of energy per kilogram of material, compared with what it says is a typical 4 to 7 kWh per kilogram for wet molding. The latter comparison is based on a third-party-verified life-cycle assessment, according to the company.

Speed may be an equally important part of the proposition. Cellera can operate at cycle times of 4.3 seconds, Yangi said, compared with roughly 30 to 60 seconds for conventional wet molding, where drying can constrain throughput.

The technology has also crossed an important commercialization threshold. Yangi said a Cellera system has been commissioned at a European converter and is operating in a commercial manufacturing environment, following more than a decade of development. The company is now targeting U.S. converters as it expands internationally, supported in part by funding from the Swedish Energy Agency.

“Dry forming has moved from concept to industrial reality, and Yangi built it to get there,” founder Anna Altner said. “Cellera is commissioned and running today, not in a lab, but on a converter’s production floor.”

Yangi plans to introduce the platform to the U.S. market at Pack Expo International in Chicago in October. Its expansion comes as U.S. packaging producers contend with tariffs and anti-dumping duties on some imported molded-fiber products, potentially improving the economics of adding domestic fiber-packaging capacity.

Von Holzhausen Turns Liquidplant into Footwear Foam

Von Holzhausen is expanding its plant-based polymer platform into performance foam, targeting one of footwear’s more difficult petroleum-derived components to replace.

The Los Angeles materials company said its new foam uses Liquidplant, a polymer platform derived from plant-based feedstocks including sugars and seeds. The material is designed for footwear and other high-performance applications and will make its industry debut at the NW Materials Show in Portland, Ore., this month.

Von Holzhausen said Liquidplant begins as a polymer pellet that can be processed using established foam-manufacturing methods. The company has tested the material through several processes, including supercritical foaming, and said it can achieve the low densities, cushioning, resilience and energy return required for footwear applications.

The development expands Liquidplant beyond solid resin applications into foam, where manufacturers have traditionally relied on materials including EVA, TPU and PEBA. Von Holzhausen said the polymer is designed to integrate into existing manufacturing processes rather than require dedicated production infrastructure.

“Performance has always been the barrier to replacing petroleum-based materials,” CEO Vicki von Holzhausen said. “With Liquidplant, we’re proving that plant-based solutions can deliver the performance, comfort and durability required by today’s most demanding applications.”

The company describes the foam as 100 percent plant-based, although it did not provide quantitative performance data, third-party test results or comparative specifications for the new material in its announcement.

Circ Adds Staple Fiber Route for Recycled Polyester

Circ is adding another downstream route for its textile-to-textile recycled polyester, this time targeting staple fiber.

The Virginia-based recycler has signed a long-term offtake agreement with Chinese specialty polyester producer BHF, which will use Circ PET chips to manufacture recycled-content staple fiber at commercial scale. The companies will also work to qualify and validate Circ Polyester across staple fiber applications.

The agreement follows Circ’s partnership with Shenghong Chemical Fiber New Material, announced last week, under which Shenghong will purchase Circ PET chips to produce recycled-content polyester filament yarn. Together, the deals give Circ manufacturing pathways into both staple and filament formats as it works to commercialize polyester recovered from blended textile waste.

Circ is developing its first industrial-scale recycling facility in Saint-Avold, France, which is expected to process 70,000 metric tons of polycotton waste annually once operational in 2028. The 450-million-euro ($522 million) project is designed to separate blended textiles into recycled polyester and cellulosic pulp that can return to textile production.

The BHF announcement does not disclose purchase volumes, pricing or the duration of the agreement beyond describing it as long-term. Circ has increasingly used downstream manufacturing partnerships to establish routes to market for its recovered polyester ahead of Saint-Avold’s planned startup.

DSC Packages Foam and Textiles Into Configurable Material Platform

Foam specialist DSC has launched Morph, a configurable materials platform that combines its open- and closed-cell foams with textiles, films and other functional surface layers for footwear and performance applications.

The system allows brands to select from more than 100 fabric and color options while customizing foam density, thickness and perforation, creating molded components, sheet materials or integrated footwear constructions around specific performance and design requirements.

At the core of Moprh are DSC’s Dreamcell open-cell and Durapontex closed-cell foam technologies, which can be combined with various surface and base materials to deliver functions such as cushioning, breathability, durability and impact protection.

The platform reflects a broader shift toward material systems that bundle multiple functions into a single engineered construction, although DSC did not disclose comparative performance, cost or development-time data for Morph in its announcement.

Karl Mayer Targets Wind-Energy Textiles with New Composite Machine

Karl Mayer is expanding its technical-textiles machinery portfolio with a new composite system designed for manufacturers producing reinforcement fabrics for the wind-energy sector.

The German textile-machinery company plans to debut the machine during ITMA Asia 2026 as part of a broader slate of new warp-knitting, warp-preparation and technical-textile equipment.

According to Karl Mayer, the new system is designed to produce the range of non-crimp fabrics used in composite reinforcement applications from a single machine platform. Non-crimp fabrics are commonly used to reinforce composite structures that require high strength and controlled fiber orientation, including wind-turbine components.

Karl Mayer said the platform is intended to improve productivity, simplify operation and give textile manufacturers greater flexibility in supplying reinforcement materials for wind-energy applications, although the company did not disclose production speeds, energy use, material savings or other comparative performance data in its announcement.

The machine will be shown alongside several other equipment premieres at Karl Mayer China’s product show in Changzhou during ITMA Asia.