Archives: Press Releases

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Nov. 26, 2024) — POC, the Swedish brand known for pushing boundaries in sports safety and protection, this week releases a new signature edition with leading freeride skier and current Freeride World Tour champion Hedvig Wessel.

Designed exclusively with Wessel, the new collection stems from Wessel’s natural talents and inspiration drawn from skiing and climbing the beautiful and commanding mountains in her homeland of Norway. This third version of Wessel’s signature series continues to be influenced by her roots.

“Norway’s national mountain, Stetind, inspired my first signature edition with POC, which was followed by Storen,” Wessel said. “Both mountains have beauty and extreme difficulty, and I wanted to follow them with an equally inspiring peak from the Lyngen Alps — Piggtind. When I first saw the sunset and colours that enveloped the mountain I knew I wanted to ski and climb there. And I wanted the collection to speak in the tones I saw and absorbed there, and which would represent the power and beauty of sunsets.”

The new Hedvig Wessel edition includes the Calyx Carbon, Nexal, Nexal Mid and the Devour Glacial, and are inspired by the pink sunsets and beautiful tones of Piggtind.

The Calyx Carbon helmet, certified for mountaineering, skiing and cycling, Nexal goggles and the Devour glacial eyewear are highly suited and developed for technical terrain, especially ski touring where rope work and mountaineering skills are required. It’s an environment where Hedvig spends more time and these products were chosen to meet the demands imposed by skiing in these settings.

As the current Freeride World Tour champion, Wessel inspires many with her technical abilities and natural approach to skiing. But those who followed her journey to the 2024 Freeride World Tour title will know that it has not been straightforward. Wessel started at age 11 with mogul skiing, culminating in representing Norway at two Olympic Games. Having switched to big mountain skiing, today Hedvig is considered as one of the worlds leading freeskiers. It’s her dedication and focus that sets Wessel apart as a skier and artist.

Sofie Tenmark, Special Projects Manager at POC, said: “Being able to work with such a dedicated and talented skier is always a real pleasure. And when that skiing ability is equally matched with a naturally creative and curious mind, the results are just wonderful. The new design we have created together is special, and we are particularly proud to release this edition for all to enjoy.”

The new Calyx Carbon in the collection is limited to fifty pieces, all uniquely numbered and including a handwritten note by Wessel. It will also feature a soft neck warmer. The Devour Glacial will come with a lanyard, ensuring retention in challenging conditions.

Product Page links:

Calyx Carbon Hedvig Wessel Edition

Nexal Mid Hedvig Wessel Edition

Devour Glacial Hedvig Wessel Edition 

Link to assets:

Photos by POC and Sophie Odelberg

About POC

Born and based in Stockholm, Sweden, POC is a safety and performance  pioneer on a global mission: protect lives and reduce the consequences of  accidents for athletes and anyone inspired to be one. Creating all types of  protection for cycling and snow sports, POC uses research, scientific methods and rigorous testing in its pursuit of innovation. For more information, visit https://poc.com.

About Hedvig Wessel

Hedvig Wessel is Norwegian with a rich and varied background in skiing which originally started at age 11 with mogul skiing, and culminated in representing Norway at two Olympic Games. Having switched to big mountain skiing, today Wessel is considered as one of the world’s leading freeskiers. She has competed around the globe with the Freeride World Tour and is the current Freeride World Tour Champion.

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PARIS, FRANCE (November 25, 2024) — Reju™, the progressive textile-to-textile regeneration company, and Nouvelles Fibres Textiles (NFT), a French company specialising in the recovery of end-of-life textiles, today announced a collaboration on the sourcing and recycling of textile waste to support the building of a circular ecosystem in France. NFT will supply secondary raw materials derived from used or unused waste textiles to Reju for recycling and production of regenerated Reju Polyester™.

Reju and NFT will collaborate to expand the collection and processing infrastructure for apparel and textile wastes from post-consumer and post-industrial sources. The collaboration will also allow for an open supply chain and guarantee 100% traceability of recycled materials.

Reju is developing the infrastructure to take textile waste and regenerate it at scale, starting with polyester. The end product – Reju Polyester™ – is expected to have a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester and can be regenerated infinitely. Reju’s first demonstration plant – Regeneration Hub Zero – is now operational in Frankfurt, Germany, and will come on line to enable the production of Reju PET in 2025.

Materials supplied by NFT will be processed at Reju’s new Regeneration Hub Zero in Frankfurt, Germany and the future Reju Regeneration Hubs in Europe.

NFT and its partners opened a unique semi-industrial site and research center for textile recycling in November 2023. The pilot line is the first to combine Pellenc ST’s automated sorting technologies with Andritz’ tearing lines to process high volumes of post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste, eliminate hard points, and turn them into industrial grade fiber and raw material feedstock for new recycling technologies like Reju. NFT also provides secondary raw materials to various industries including non-wovens, insulation, composites, plastics, and other textiles.

Patrik Frisk, CEO of Reju: “Reju and Nouvelles Fibres Textiles are using innovation and collaboration to accelerate the transition to a circular textile ecosystem. This valuable partnership demonstrates our collective commitment to addressing the problem of textile waste and developing new ways to use the resources we have within local supply chains. With the collection of textile waste mandatory in the European Union starting in 2025*, it is imperative we have scalable systems and partnerships to process what is collected and keep it from landfills or incineration. Together, Reju and NFT are building the technology and infrastructure to regenerate and reuse materials across industries and change the way we use our resources.”

Eric Boël and Etienne Wiroth, Co-directors of Nouvelles Fibres Textiles: “After 6 years of research and collaborative work, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is now ready to collaborate with professionals who need to recycle their textiles. We have an innovative turnkey solution that transforms heterogeneous end-of-life textile streams into high-quality homogeneous raw materials while ensuring their traceability. Our partnership with Reju paves the way for the permindustry: a circular, more local, less carbon-intensive, and more collaborative industry—essentially, an industry that does good!”

*Read more about the European Union’s Waste Framework Directive (WFD) here.

About Reju

Reju is a materials regeneration company focused on creating innovative solutions for recycling polyester textiles and PET waste. Owned by Technip Energies and utilizing technology originating with IBM research, Reju aims to establish a global textile recycling circular ecosystem to address PET plastic found in textiles. Learn more at

https://www.reju.com/.

About NFT

Tissages de Charlieu Groupe and Synergies TLC have partnered to create Nouvelles Fibres Textiles: the first industrial infrastructure deploying ANDRITZ’s automated sorting and textile recycling solutions, incorporating sorting technologies from Pellenc ST. It is capable of automatically sorting clothing by composition and color and can also remove hard points and pre-fray garments. At the end of the line, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles produces a secondary raw material designed for industries that use textile fiber (e.g., shredding/spinning, non-wovens, composite materials, etc.). Together with our partners,

ANDRITZ and Pellenc ST, and all our clients, we conduct real-world productions and applied industrial research to address the challenges of valorization and supply chain sustainability. Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is already laying the foundations for a second material preparation plant scheduled for 2026, which will have an annual capacity of 20 to 30 thousand tons of post-consumer textiles and will create around thirty direct jobs.

The creation of Nouvelles Fibres Textiles represents a major advance in reducing the carbon footprint of the textile sector. Automated sorting was the last missing piece of a French circular economy loop, paving the way for a complete ecosystem that brings together brands, social and solidarity economy actors, collectors-sorters, and industrial players from various sectors, all united to serve consumers seeking more traceability and meaning in their donations and purchases.

For further information, contact:

Reju tali.serantes@reju.com
chris@cgprpublicrelations.com

 

Nouvelles Fibres Textiles (NFT)

contact@nouvellesfibrestextiles.com

AMHERST, Mass. (November 25,  2024) – OrthoLite®, the global leader of branded, high-performance,  comfort footwear solutions, has expanded its OrthoLite India (OIN) facility in Ambur, Tamil Nadu India, and opened a new sales office in Chennai, all thanks to recent growth under new leadership.

The new building expands the footprint of OIN by three times and enables increased capacity to two million pairs of insoles per month. It also bolsters OrthoLite’s leatherwork capabilities; OIN is now fully equipped to make  leather footbeds. The new facility makes OrthoLite India the largest insole manufacturer in South Asia.

OrthoLite India opened its doors in June 2021 and is one of six of OrthoLite’s vertically integrated, global facilities. Through increased investments to the region as well as key new hires in supply chain management and operations, OIN is poised to expand local capacities to meet the needs of OrthoLite’s growing number of brand partners in the region.

In June 2023, OrthoLite announced Vikash Bajargyan as the new General Manager of OrthoLite India. In his position, Bajargyan has been managing overall operations at OIN, which has included leading manufacturing and business development, as well as establishing and managing relationships with brands and  Tier 1 factory partners. His leadership has been instrumental in this expansion.

“Vikash has been a strong leader in helping us grow our business quickly to meet our growing demand in this important region,” said Glenn Barrett, founder and CEO of OrthoLite. “India is a thriving market both for our domestic consumer and export business. OrthoLite’s expanded facility will also serve  as an important hub for leather insole craftsmanship and other forthcoming innovations within our company.”

Under Bajargyan’s leadership, OrthoLite India is growing its team. Sweta Kannan has been tapped as OIN’s Operations Manager. With a BA and MBA in Business Administration, Kannan most recently spent the past 10 years as General Manager and running operations for a textile factory in Ambur. She also has significant experience in running lean line manufacturing.

Earlier this year, OIN welcomed Sureshbabu Seenivasagam and Anbu Sundaram who possess over 25 years of experience in merchandising and global supply chain and warehousing logistics in footwear.

OrthoLite India is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that catalyzes local-for-local production and service. Sixty-one of OrthoLite’s 550+ global brand partners produce in India, and the region represents part of OrthoLite’s global production strategy to align its factories and provide efficient and exemplary service directly to local partners and T1s.

Like all of OrthoLite’s vertically-integrated, global manufacturing facilities, OrthoLite India brings consistency and capacity and delivers on the company-wide values of quality, sustainability, and continuous improvement.

For additional information on OrthoLite, please visit ortholite.com.

About OrthoLite®
OrthoLite is the world’s leading supplier of open-cell foam technology, and the innovator and creator of Cirql™, the sustainable materials solutions provider that provides footwear brands and their factory partners with lower impact, circular options in materials. OrthoLite is found in more than 550 footwear brands across all categories of footwear and is the first name in comfort and performance foams. OrthoLite has a stalwart ommitment to an ongoing journey toward producing excellence with less-impactful manufacturing practices. The company also has a long-standing history of meaningful partnerships and sponsorships that demonstrate a dedicated commitment to supporting its customers, consumers, brand partners and the footwear industry. OrthoLite is the Official Insole sponsor of the New York Yankees, supporter of The Conservation Alliance, The European Outdoor Conservation Association, Textile Exchange, and is a founding supporter of the Two Ten Foundation. Stay up to date with company news by visiting OrthoLite.com and following OrthoLite on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. To learn more about the benefits of OrthoLite, visit www.ortholite.com.

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