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AMSilk forms strategic partnership with Gruschwitz

01 May '17
3 min read

AMSilk, the world's first industrial supplier of synthetic silk biopolymers, has entered into a new strategic partnership with the leading yarn producer Gruschwitz Textilwerke to innovate in the field of high-performance yarns and develop products based on biosteel fibre. The partnership strengthens the companies' already existing three-year cooperation.
 
The aim of the strategic partnership between the two is to further innovative yarn products based on biosteel fibre, with a special focus on products for premium markets. In addition to collaborating on the yarn structure itself, the two companies will cooperate more closely in the area of fibre finishing. For example, biosteel yarns may be refined by coatings and PFC-free finishings as well as optimised for the specific field of application.
 
"As a well established and interactive team, AMSilk and Gruschwitz will develop future-oriented products for the textile, automotive and aviation industries. All our products are developed in accordance with our mission of 'bridging opposites' - of combining high-performance with environmental integrity. The new Adidas running shoe made from Biosteel fibre is an example of this, as it combines breakthrough high-performance with 100 per cent biodegradability," said Severin Bertsch, head of Fibre Business, AMSilk. 
 
"We are very pleased to bring our longstanding cooperation with Gruschwitz to the next level by entering into a strategic partnership. From the very beginning we have been impressed by the Gruschwitz's competence, reliability, creativity and motivation and are excited to work more closely on exciting new innovations," said AMSilk CEO Jens Klein.
 
"For Gruschwitz, the cooperation with AMSilk is an excellent addition to our activities in the high-tech area. AMSilk is a young, dynamic company with a great product. For us it was challenging and at the same time fascinating to develop the necessary manufacturing process for the biosteel yarns and to be able to accompany AMSilk's market entry," said Ditmar Schultschik, CEO of Gruschwitz Textilwerke. 
 
After years of research and development and more than 200,000 engineering hours, AMSilk in 2013 became the first company worldwide to successfully produce synthetic silk fibres using a patented and reproducible biotechnological process. This breakthrough yielded biosteel fabric, the first high-performance bionic fibre with true environmental integrity. Compared to traditional fibres, biosteel fibre offers superior performance properties. It is extremely tough, lightweight with weight reductions of 30 per cent compared to common fibres, anti-allergenic, highly breathable and moisture wicking. Biosteel material is already being used across the apparel industries.
 
AMSilk first began working with Gruschwitz Textilwerke in 2014 in order to continue developing and commercialising biosteel fibres. Gruschwitz's proven expertise in the field of synthetic high-performance yarns made it an ideal partner. Among Gruschwitz's notable recent innovations are a special coating technology used for extremely resilient offshore ropes made of DSM Dyneema and very sophisticated yarns for Johnson & Johnson, a global player in medical textiles.
 
In 2015, the joint research and development activities of AMSilk and Gruschwitz yielded a technological innovation. Instead of relying on specialised knitting machines to process biosteel fibre, the companies were able to process the silk biopolymers on conventional knitting machines. The result was the first textile fabric made of biotechnologically produced synthetic silk fibres - a revolution in the textile industry. This technology proved the basis for AMSilk's partnership with Adidas, first announced in November 2016, for the production of high-performance sports shoes made of biosteel fibre. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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