ITA - Institut für Textiltechnik der RWTH Aachen University

About Us

The Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University – a university-based research and teaching institution – is the core of the ITA Group International Centre for Sustainable Textiles. The ITA is part of RWTH’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and is responsible for the textile-related curriculum of the ‘Plastics and Textile Technology’ study program in various Bachelor's and Master's degrees in mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen. The ITA Group is an international research and training service provider for fibre-based high-performance materials, textile semi-finished products and their manufacturing processes with about 400 employees. A key future topic is the holistic biotransformation of textile technology to ensure the use of biological principles for circular value-creation processes.

Our Subproject

Within RETRAKT, the ITA is developing a “compliance management concept” for implementing the textile circular economy into business practice. Specifically, we systemise textile-specific expertise on new waste recycling and textile laws relevant to the circular economy and prepare it in a user-oriented manner. Together with FOM and industry partners, we design a model for “compliance engineering” and test it in practice to integrate the compliance management concept into individual business processes. As part of RETRAKT, the intention is to develop this knowledge as an example for other industries undergoing transformation toward the circular economy. In doing so, ITA will expand its specialization in engineering research to include further disciplines.

Our Motivation

“We support the vision of the EU Green Deal to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent. An important aspect of this is conserving resources and preventing the continuously growing mountains of waste – particularly from textiles and clothing.

To achieve this, the European economy must transform and design its future production methods resource-efficient, sustainable, and circular.

Together with textile and apparel companies and their partners along the international value chain, we develop and test practice-oriented innovative solutions, so that the entire industry can adopt them in the future.”