Rhodia wins ECO 2016 Award for sustainable innovations in the textile area

Showing that it continues to join innovation and sustainability in its actions, Rhodia, a company in the Solvay group and a member of Texbrasil – the Brazilian Textile and Fashion Industry Internationalization Program, developed by Abit in partnership with Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency) – was once again given the ECO Award in 2016, a traditional corporate sustainability trophy given in Brazil by the AMCHAM (American Chamber of Commerce). The company, which won the award in 2014 with Amni® Soul Eco, the world’s first biodegradable polyamide textile yarn, this time won for its range of dope dyed polyamide textile yarns sold under the Amni® Colors and Amni® Sustainable White brands.

Using Brazilian technology that has been patented internationally, the dope dyed polyamide textile yarns are products that have been developed from the start to allow for gains in sustainability during production processes, in addition to preserving all of the characteristics of Rhodia’s Amni® polyamide, such as comfort, a soft touch, breathability, fast drying and easy care. One of the members of this family of products is Amni® Sustainable White, a yarn with a white content that is unprecedented on the market. Its use allows for significant reductions in water and power consumption, lower water and effluent treatment costs and for fewer chemical inputs to be used in treating fabrics.

At the same time, because it is a dope dyed yarn, the customer has fewer stages in the production process. According to studies done by Rhodia, replacing other products with Amni® Sustainable White could result in an average annual savings of 19 million liters of water by the Brazilian industrial textile chain. The Amni® Colors family also joins mixed and black yarns developed with a special tonality that eliminates the dyeing process at weaving mills and circular knit fabric manufacturers, preventing the risk of stains and of loss in color intensity.

When celebrating the achievement, Renato Boaventura, CEO of the Global Fiber Business Unit for the Solvay Group, said that the award-winning innovations reinforce a commitment to the development of the textile industry and reaffirm the company’s values of sustainability for the planet and for future generations. At the same time, he adds, they help customers and the textile market in general to meet the needs and wishes of end consumers. “Production of apparel items developed using these yarns proves that it is possible to join fashion, innovation and sustainability,” he says.

According to Boaventura, there are around two dozen projects, in different phases of implementation, in the research and development pipeline for new applications for Rhodia polyamide textile yarns. “We are always working on new ideas to add products to our portfolio and help to grow the textile industry,” he says.

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