International Fiber Journal

The updated National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1850 standard reinforces a simple point: Firefighter gear must be properly cared for to stay ready for the next call. The 2026 edition of NFPA 1850 brings several important updates to how organizations maintain their personal protective equipment (PPE). Some of these changes refine long-standing practices while others provide new details to manage.

For the nonwovens sector, navigating the legislative landscape has increasingly felt like tracking a moving target. From fragmented state level packaging rules to shifting environmental mandates, manufacturers and raw material suppliers are facing a highly complex regulatory ecosystem. These shifting policies carry significant implications for product design, material selection and cross-border trade.

For the nonwovens sector, navigating the legislative landscape has increasingly felt like tracking a moving target. From fragmented state level packaging rules to shifting environmental mandates, manufacturers and raw material …

The wastefulness of the $1.8 trillion global apparel industry has by now been widely documented. An estimated 150 billion garments are produced each year, yet a significant proportion are never sold or are discarded after only a few wears.

In the dynamic and global textile fiber industry with its various manufacturing processes and end-uses, news and information is breaking on a daily basis. International Fiber Journal is tracking stories relevant to our industry from manmade to natural to bio-based fibers, innovations in nonwoven, woven, braided and technical textiles, technologies for additives, bonding, coatings and polymers, and applications from apparel to hygiene to transportation, and more.

The global fiber and materials landscape is undergoing a structural shift. As sustainability pressures intensify, brands across fashion, hygiene, packaging and technical textiles are accelerating their transition away from resource-intensive cotton, chemically processed cellulosics and petrochemical synthetics. Biobased materials — particularly those derived from agricultural waste — have moved from niche experimentation to strategic necessity.

SAHM Winding Solutions and Vandewiele Automation present integrated automation solution for winding processes For the first time at the Techtextil trade fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in April 2026, SAHM Winding Solutions and Vandewiele Automation showcased their combined automation expertise for industrial winding processes. Under the motto “Combining Automation.

Founded in 2019, not long after industrial hemp farming became legal in the United States, Dallas-based Panda Biotech LLC is dedicated to advancing hemp fiber materials for a variety of end-uses. The company’s 500,000-square-foot Panda Hemp Gin in Wichita Falls, Texas, processes 22,000 pounds of American-grown hemp straw feedstock per hour. Using proprietary decortication technology, Panda produces textile-grade and nonwoven-grade fiber, hurd, micronized hemp and a blend of short fibers and hurd.

Sustainable fibers and yarns are among the fastest-growing segments in technical textiles. Producers worldwide are increasingly turning to natural and biobased solutions, driven by their performance, carbon dioxide savings, biodegradability, recyclability and independence from fossil resources.

A new partnership between Panda Biotech and Culturewell connects American-grown hemp with degumming, spinning and yarn production in India. Founded in 2019, not long after industrial hemp farming became legal …