The global textile industry is entering a period of exponential growth and profound technological transformation, according to key figures speaking at the Dornbirn Global Fibre Congress (GFC) in Mumbai. While demand for fiber is set to soar, the industry's fossil-fuel foundation is shifting, placing pressure on machinery manufacturers and innovators to rapidly pivot toward circular and bio-based systems.
Insights from Georg Stausberg, CEO of Oerlikon Polymer Processing Solutions, and Professor Thomas Gries, Director of the Institute of Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University, painted a picture of opportunity, provided the necessary technological investments are made now, particularly in India.
The Growth Mandate: 168 mn tons of demand
Despite economic volatility and geopolitical pressures, the long-term outlook for fiber demand remains overwhelmingly positive.
Stausberg highlighted that population growth and increasing global wealth are driving continuous expansion. "We expect that in 50 years from now, there will be 1 billion more people on our planet," Stausberg noted. This demographic surge is projected to push the total demand for fiber—man-made and natural—from the current level of approximately 118 million tonnes to a massive 168 million tonnes in the coming decades.
To meet this scale, the manufacturing base is consolidating in Asia, with India poised to capitalize significantly on the growth, particularly in specialized areas.
The Technical Textile boom in India
The demand surge is not just for apparel; it is heavily focused on specialized, high-performance fibers—known as technical textiles. These products are critical for modernizing infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, areas where India is experiencing rapid growth.
Speakers forecast the technical textiles segment in India to nearly triple by 2040. The key growth sectors include:
● Geotextiles: Used for road and railway construction.
● Building & Construction: Demand for concrete reinforcement and insulation materials.
● Automotive: High-performance yarns for seatbelts, airbags, and tyre cord, essential for the growing domestic and export car industry.
The polyester paradox and the shift to bio-economy
The dominant fiber, polyester, currently accounts for 85% of global man-made fiber production. However, this dominance presents the core challenge for sustainability efforts.
Professor Thomas Gries emphasized that the current reliance on petrochemicals is unsustainable, necessitating a shift into a "non-fossil base" future, or the Bi-economy Transition. He outlined three critical strategies for this pivot:
- Bio-based materials: Utilizing biomass, natural fibers, and bio-based building blocks.
- CO2-to-Polymer: Developing technology that captures carbon dioxide and makes polymers directly out of it.
- Recycling: Aggressively scaling up systems for textile waste.
Professor Gries reminded the delegates that sustainability must encompass more than just a carbon footprint—it requires coping with society, education, and well-being—a holistic approach to transition the entire ecosystem.
Chemical recycling: The missing link
While mechanical recycling is the current industry standard, it is limited in its ability to process complex materials like blended, colored, and contaminated fibers, which constitute the majority of post-consumer textile waste.
Stausberg underscored the urgency for a breakthrough in chemical recycling. Oerlikon, a world leader in equipment manufacturing, is actively working with partners on intensive research to bridge this gap. "Recycling at the moment, state-of-the-art is mechanical recycling, where we already have solutions available," Stausberg explained. "Chemical recycling is also very important... and hopefully we can offer solutions here in the next 2–3 years, also for textile-to-textile recycling."
The machinery suppliers, represented by Oerlikon Barmag, recognize their critical role in the circular economy by providing end-to-end solutions, often referred to as "from melt to yarn." These solutions are necessary to process feedstocks ranging from traditional fossil-based polymers to new bio-based materials and the monomers recovered from chemically recycled textiles.
The consensus from the conference floor was clear: the technology exists to handle future demand, but achieving true, industrial-scale circularity—the kind that can transform textile waste back into high-quality fiber—requires massive, coordinated investment in chemical processing technology to move past the limitations of mechanical sorting and shredding.
