Specialty Fabrics Review December 2022 - 16

[ BRIEFS ]
industry news
EU Commission moves to ban products
made with forced labor
T
he EU Commission has proposed to prohibit products made with
forced labor on the EU market. An estimated 27.6 million people are
in forced labor, in many industries and on every continent. The
majority of forced labor takes place in the private economy, while some is
imposed by governments.
Executive vice president and commissioner for trade, Valdis Dombrovskis,
says: " Our aim is to eliminate all products made with forced labor from the
EU market, irrespective of where they have been made. Our ban will apply
to domestic products, exports and imports alike. "
National authorities in the Member States will assess forced labor risks based
on many different sources of information that may include submissions from
civil society, a database of forced labor risks focusing on specific products and
geographic areas, and the due diligence that companies carry out.
The authorities will start investigations on products for which there are
well-founded suspicions that they have been made with forced labor. They can
request information from companies and carry out checks and inspections,
including in countries outside the EU. If the national authorities cannot gather
all the evidence they require, for instance due to the lack of cooperation by a
company or a non-EU state authority, they can make the decision on the basis
of the available facts. If national authorities find forced labor, they will order
the withdrawal of any products already on the market and prohibit future
placement and export.
Saint-Gobain Films & Fabrics is
rebranding as Saint-Gobain Composite
Solutions to better position the business
for changes in the marketplace and to
more closely align with its core values.
Saint-Gobain Composite Solutions
will encompass the company's brands
SHEERGARD®
and VERSIV™.
, SHEERFILL®
, ONESUIT®
Borealis appointed Jonatas Melo as vice
president performance materials. In
this position he will be responsible for
driving the Infrastructure and Consumer
Products businesses globally in line with
the company's circular ambitions.
Gaston College, one of North Carolina's
largest community colleges, announced
Jasmine Cox has accepted the role
as executive director of the Textile
Technology and Fiber Innovation Centers.
Cox most recently served as the college's
director of Textile Technology Programs
and Business Innovation.
Biotechnology company MycoWorks
announced its newest investor GM
Ventures, the investment arm of
General Motors Co., and their longterm
agreement to co-develop Fine
Mycelium™ materials for potential use in
a range of applications within automotive
design. MycoWorks' Fine Mycelium
technology engineers mycelium, the
infinitely renewable root structure of
mushrooms, to craft a range of natural,
customizable leather alternatives that
match the performance of the highest
quality animal leather with lower
environmental impact.
Beverly Knits Inc. has purchased the
assets of Gentry Mills. The new business,
Creative Dyeing & Finishing LLC will
continue to provide dyeing and finishing
services to the textile industry and
complement the Beverly Knits group of
companies-Creative Fabrics, Creative
Ticking, Altus Finishing and Hemingway
Sewing Solutions.
Sustainable Chemistry for the
Textile Industry (SCTI) has appointed
Dr. Isabella Tonaco as executive
director. She will lead SCTI to drive
transformational change globally in
the textile and leather industries.
BIOPHIL Natural Fibers, a manufacturer
of organic raw materials, will create
41 new jobs in Robeson County, N.C.,
governor Roy Cooper announced. The
company will invest more than $10.9
million to locate a new processing
operation in Lumberton, N.C.
Piedmont Plastics®
, a wholesale
distributor of plastic sheet, rod, tube
and film, announced the relocation of
its newest branch location in Edmonton,
Alta., Canada. Piedmont Plastics
completed the acquisition of Edmontonbased
Plastics Plus Ltd. in June 2022.
16 SPECIALTY FABRICS REVIEW / December 2022
Specialty Fabrics Review December 2022

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