Last week, FOMENTEX, Foundation of ATEVAL, organised an activity within the framework of the project EXTRATEX: European TEXtile-TRAnsport-Sustainability paradigm for industrial clusters’ EXcellence in cross-sector innovation.
Companies from Italy, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, as well as partners of the project (NTT, SPK, CLUTEX and FOMENTEX as organiser and host), took part in the event.

The eight participants, together with FOMENTEX, visited the textile technology institute (AITEX), the university (EPSA) and textile companies from the Valencian Region (FERREYARNS, RECOVER, CAMPOS MONTAVERNER, MLS 1992, PIELSA and PERTEX).

On the first day, the participants visited the research and innovation centre for the textile industry: AITEX in Alcoi. The participants learned about the projects that AITEX is working on and its capabilities in textile recycling, both mechanical and chemical, followed by a visit to the pilot plant facilities.

In the afternoon, they visited the Alcoi Campus, one of the three external campuses of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), located in Alcoi. First, the participants discussed with the professionals of the UPV research group “Grupo de Gestión Integral de la Industria Textil” (GIITEX): the projects they are working on to modernise the textile sector, the types of products and processes developed, visiting their laboratories. Then, they visited the Technological Institute of Materials (ITM) of the UPV and its laboratories, where they explained the projects related to recycling.

On the 2nd day, we travelled to Banyeres de Mariola to visit the companies FERREYARNS and RECOVER. After a presentation of both companies by their manager, we saw the recycling facilities of RECOVER to obtain fibres from pre-consumer and post-consumer cotton-polyester with low impact, avoiding the cotton dyeing process followed by spinning techniques from recycled fibres (FERREYARNS).

After lunch, the participants visited the company Campos Montaverner (Ontinyent), specialists in elastic fabrics for mattresses, presenting their company and facilities.

The day concluded with a visit to MLS 1992, known for its technical sportswear (LURBEL) and health-related textiles (MUVU). After a presentation of the company by its manager, we were able to visit the facilities, which have numerous circular knitting machines to develop the different socks and garments.

On the 3rd day, we went to Agullent to visit PIELSA and PERTEX during the morning. After the presentation of the companies and participants, we visited the Jacquard looms plant, where they develop fabrics for upholstery and fashion. After a brief exposition, we visited the production process that produces raschel and Jacquard blankets and their non-woven line. The tour ended with visiting the dry-finishing facilities and the fabric and yarn dyeing plant.

In the afternoon, b2b meetings were held at the FOMENTEX headquarters in Ontinyent between the visiting and local companies, concluding the activities.

The participants benefited from this experience by learning about recycling processes and innovative local companies and participating in networking sessions to promote connections and collaborations between companies from the different regions and sectors of EXTRATEX.
They also benefited from travel grants in the framework of the ClusterXchange programme, a pilot funding scheme of the European Union to support mobility in Europe of cluster members.