The winners of the 2024 Start-up Award have been announced by the Zurich-based International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF).

They are Re&Up Recycling Technologies of the Netherlands, USA based Sci-Lume Labs, China’s Sycoretec CAS and Syre of Sweden.

The winning start-ups will be presented with their awards at the upcoming 2024 ITMF and International Apparel Federation (IAF) Conference which takes place from 8-10 September 9-10 2024 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Re&Up has this year secured a €70 million loan from Proparco, a finance institution partly owned by the French Development Agency which promotes sustainable investment.

The funding will support the construction of a new textile-to-textile recycling facility in Gaziantep, Turkey, based on advanced mechanical and thermomechanical technologies and building on the textile heritage of Turkey’s Sanko and its more than 330 patents related to fibre processing.

Sci-Lume Labs, based at the Francis Tuttle Technology Centre in Oklahoma, is a new start-up company dedicated to developing a new synthetic fibre called Bylon.

The patent-pending bio-based and biodegradable apparel yarn will serve as a replacement for conventional nylon in order to make clothes made of synthetic fibres more environmentally friendly.

Sci-Lume has teamed up with the UK’s Fibre Extrusion Technology Limited (FET) to accelerate devlopment, based on the company’s ability to support the melt spinning of a diverse range of polymers as a contract research service.

Sycoretec CAS, based in Beijing, is integrating high-performance macromolecules into fabrics through advanced microencapsulation techniques. The macromolecules are sensitively calibrated to react to temperature changes, proactively working to mitigate temperature differences and achieve a heightened state of thermal equilibrium in apparel.

Syre, a new company initiated by Vargas and H&M Group which launched in March this year, has secured a $100 million Series A funding package.

Supported by a ground-breaking off-take supply agreement with H&M, Syre plans to establish multiple plants producing circular polyester across the globe via chemical recycling, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 85% compared to the production of oil-based virgin polyester.

www.itmf.org