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A technology that is giving a new life to leather and EVA (Ethylene-vinyl acetate) residues is one of the first results presented by Texboost, the greatest textile innovation Portuguese consortium. This is one of the 17 technologies that the project has pledged to put forth, in an initiative that includes 28 companies and 15 Portuguese researching centers.
“We use scraps from the auto and shoe making industries, which would have no other use otherwise”, explains Helena Vilaça (in the photo, with one of the prototypes), representative of the project that is led by ERT and counts with the cooperation of CITEVE (Clothing and Textile Technology Centre), CeNTI (Nanotechnology Centre) and CTIC (Technological Centre of Leather Industries).
From the wastes of leather and EVA, this innovative process is also able to produce new fibres that can be used not only in the auto industry, but also in shoe making, accessories, home textiles and even furniture.
Already patent pending (last tests and certifications are underway), this is Texboost’s first output of the “greatest innovation project of the Portuguese textile industry”, in the words of José Morgado, CITEVE’s Head of the Department of Technology and Engineering, referring to the 9.2-million-euro initiative that includes 43 entities, from companies to research centres.