Material World is a weekly roundup of innovations and ideas that are reshaping the materials sector. It covers the latest developments in how fashion is designed, engineered, and scaled—from emerging biomaterials and next-generation leathers to engineered fibers and sustainable alternatives.
Ugg x Nuyarn
Ugg’s latest clog style is putting a new spin on wool. The Otzo clog, which debuted earlier this year, has a nubuck upper that is lined with wool jersey produced with Nuyarn’s technology.
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Per Nuyarn, conventional ring spinning ruins or reduces wool’s natural performance properties such as moisture absorption. The company’s twist-free spinning technology takes a different approach and “drafts” wool fibers around a filament. This manufacturing change is said to create wool that is up to 8.8 times more durable than ring-spun wool. The jersey material made with Nuyarn also dries up to five times faster and improves thermal retention by 35 percent over conventional yarns.
For the lining, Ugg is using fibers certified by the Responsible Wool Standard, which investigates animal welfare and land management practices. Further supporting sustainability, Nuyarn’s production process reduces raw material use by 30 percent and energy consumption by 73 percent.
“Pairing Nuyarn technology with iconic comfort is a perfect example of how our technology can elevate a lifestyle product into a high-performance essential,” said Andy Wynne, CEO of Nuyarn. “Our goal has always been to prove that natural fibers can outperform synthetics when engineered correctly.”
Carbios
Biotechnology company Carbios and partners PET chip manufacturer Wankai New Materials have postponed the commissioning of their PET biorecycling plant—said to be the first of its kind in China—until the first half of 2028. Initially, the plant was slated to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2027, with construction beginning in the first quarter of 2026.
Located in Haining within Zhejiang Province, the plant is designed to have the capacity to process 50,000 metric tons of PET waste annually. Carbios’ technology uses enzymes to depolymerize PET, essentially breaking them down into smaller building blocks—aka monomers—that can be built back up into virgin-quality inputs for textiles and packaging.
Wankai is providing the site for the plant, which has existing equipment and waste treatment. Explaining the delay on the Haining project, Carbios noted that its process “entails additional technical work to adapt to the specific characteristics of the site.”
Carbios said that the joint venture is moving ahead, with preparation underway for the plant construction and investigations into the waste streams that are available nearby to the facility.
Solena Materials
London-based biomaterials firm Solena Materials is teaming up with The Protein Express, a Netherlands-based firm that has developed a fungal-based fermentation process for protein manufacturing, to scale protein-based textile fibers to a commercial level. On Tuesday, the partners announced that their Exprest Project has received 1.4 million euros (around $1.6 million) in funding from the Eureka network’s Eurostars program, which supports research and development projects led by small to medium enterprises.
The 32-month project is tackling two issues that it has witnessed holding protein-based fibers back from wider commercialization: complicated and high-cost production. Solena uses artificial intelligence to create new protein sequences. Within this collaboration, a new “designer protein” will be produced using The Protein Express’ fermentation process, allowing for lower cost and more efficient production. At first, the fiber created will be targeted at use cases like performance and premium apparel.
“This collaboration brings together computational protein design and industrial-scale production to address one of the key barriers facing protein-based textiles: manufacturability at scale,” said Dr. James MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of Solena Materials. “Together, we are progressing a new class of fibers from development towards genuine commercial readiness.”
Thermoregulating Workwear
Research from the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) is showing how air flow can be built into garments to provide climate control capabilities in workwear, adding comfort and safety.
DITF partnered with Hero Textil AG on a concept, named StAirS, that generates compressed air naturally as the wearer moves, creating a system that does not rely on external air attachments. Shoes were designed with an insole that compresses as the user takes steps, and this air is then pumped from the footwear up through the system’s pants and into the vest-like upper garment via hoses. The pants and top can be disconnected via a belt to halt the air flow.
The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy’s Central Innovation Program for small to medium enterprises. The ministry is hosting an SME Innovation Day on June 11, where the StAirS system will be showcased as one of the projects.
Researchers Target Resilient Cotton
Clemson University and the University of Georgia are partnering to cultivate cotton varieties that require fewer inputs, including water, fertilizer, pesticides and dyes. Backed by an $11 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund, the initiative is aimed at making cotton more competitive, particularly with synthetics.
Clemson’s Chris Saski is leading research that is using artificial intelligence along with gene editing and breeding tools to uncover genetic traits that can help cotton fare better in tougher environments.
As part of this work, the Clemson team is developing cotton that has natural pigment. Some heirloom cotton varieties have slight red, green and brown hues to them. The project aims to amp up the vibrancy of these colors while expanding the shades available, reducing the need for post-harvest dyeing.
After Clemson’s researchers identify the traits that are most promising, a University of Georgia team led by Peng Chee will run them through prediction modeling to find the strongest parent contenders. This team will then see how they perform in the field.
The researchers from both schools noted that technology—including AI—is helping them iterate and test faster than before.
Sargassum Seaweed
Sargassum seaweed is a brown algae that serves a purpose in marine environments, including providing homes and food for water-dwelling species, but it’s a different story when it washes up on beaches in large quantities. As the plants decay on the sand, they leech hydrogen sulfide gas, which can cause respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological issues in humans. Recognizing the issue posed to health as well as tourism and economies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently increased the frequency of its reporting on its Sargassum Inundation Risk tool to provide daily updates to communities.
Black in Marine Science (BIMS) and the Black Fiber & Textile Network (BFTN) are collaborating to explore the use of this seaweed in textile products. The Belize-based BIMS initiative Bloom to Business is teaming with locals to collect and process the algae while it’s still in the water. BFTN is then investigating how it can be used in fibers and textiles. In a blog post, BFTN wrote, “By exploring alternative materials derived from natural and abundant resources, we have an opportunity to rethink how textiles are made while strengthening relationships between land-based and marine ecosystems.”
Unlocking Enzymes’ Oxidation Potential
Industrial oxidation is widely used in the production of chemicals including dyes, and often this has meant the use of toxic agents paired with high heat and pressure. As scientists looked for a solution, they pinpointed cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s for short) enzymes as a possible substitution that would enable these processes to take place at room temperature with no need for increased pressure. However, there was one issue: These enzymes rely on electrons supplied by redox partner proteins. And it’s not always clear which protein will be the right partner, such as CYP107J1, one of the P450 enzymes present in Bacillus subtilis strain 168. Because the genes for CYP107J1 and its partner protein are not next to each other in the genome, the pairing has remained elusive, leading to “borrowed” proteins that come from different organisms. Without the correct combination, the effects were dulled.
Researchers at Tokyo University of Science published a study in Microbial Technology that details their work to modify CYP107J1 so that no redox partner is needed. The team, led by Professor Toshiki Furuya, successfully tested whether the enzyme and redox partners from Escherichia coli were able to oxidize 4-alkylbenzoic acids, which consist of a benzene ring connected to a carbon chain. After finding that this worked—albeit with low catalytic activity—the researchers then made two amino acid changes to the enzyme, creating mutations that turned it into a peroxygenase driven by hydrogen peroxide. When tested, the modified enzyme generated a catalytic activity that was 28 times higher.
As part of the testing, the team discovered the enzyme can turn the organic compound indole to indigo. Researchers also found that together, the enzyme, substrate and hydrogen peroxide created indigo at a faster rate than previously studied P450 peroxygenases.
“The method used in this study simplified the driving mechanism of the P450 reaction itself, making it effective not only for analyzing enzymes with unknown functions but also for applying them as catalysts for synthesizing useful compounds,” said Furuya.
Trosort
Textile sorting technology Trosort has been named the global winner of eBay’s 2026 Circular Fashion Fund, opening the door for the startup to receive a $300,000 investment from eBay Ventures.
Launched in 2022, the fund focuses on supporting young businesses in scaling their circular solutions across areas like resale, repair, recycling, authentication and sourcing. Trosort was selected as the winner from a field of eight finalists—including Circular Sourcing, Ragpiq, Silhouet, Refabric, Truss, eComID and It Goes Forward—all of whom received a grant and mentoring as well as access to experts and investors.
Trosort’s Sort Mate solution operates automatically, performing a 360-degree scan that determines aspects such as material composition, brand and defects. Based on the results, including a price set by the system, users can set rules to sort textiles for reuse or recycling.
“Textile sorting remains one of the fashion industry’s biggest infrastructure challenges, and we believe smarter, AI-powered systems can help unlock greater efficiency, transparency and garment recirculation at scale,” said Achille Mathot, co-founder and CEO of Trosort.
Soleic
At the International Green Product Awards in Berlin, plant-based polyurethane material Soleic took home the award in the New Materials category.
Developed by Algenesis Labs, Soleic was created to combat the issue of microplastics while still delivering the same performance as fossil fuel-based polyurethanes for products like footwear. Made from plant oil, the PU is biodegradable in soil, compost and marine environments.
Explaining why Soleic was one of the 12 category winners in a field of 1,200 submissions, the jury statement reads, “The abrasion of shoe soles, like of car tires, is a source of microplastics. Biodegradable Soleic materials can be a sensible alternative, offering comparable durability and performance.”
Organic Cotton Summit
This week, organic cotton was front and center at the Organic Cotton Summit, which gathered around 270 stakeholders across the supply chain from 24 countries, including farmers, suppliers, brands and the public sector.
Held from June 2-4 in Istanbul, the event co-produced by the Organic Cotton Accelerator and Textile Exchange was focused on facilitating connections and collaboration to scale the raw material. During sessions, speakers addressed some of the challenges that the industry is currently facing, including the impacts of climate change and protecting biodiversity. Everything goes back to the farm, and speakers stressed the importance of not only finding funding but also ensuring that investments reach growers. Other topics included expanding traceability, data’s role in sustainable progress and the evolving regulatory environment.
As part of the experience, attendees could take part in an offsite tour of an organic cotton farm and a cotton gin in Aydın, Turkey hosted by Akasya.
“When trust, knowledge, demand and long-term commitment reinforce one another, the whole system becomes stronger,” said Bart Vollaard, executive director of Organic Cotton Accelerator. “But no ecosystem can thrive if too much risk sits with one group. If farmers carry a disproportionate share of the risk, the foundation becomes unstable. Our collective challenge is to build a system where responsibility, value and risk are shared more fairly. Because organic cotton will only reach its potential if we strengthen the entire ecosystem, together.”
