The basic objective of the project is to develop new high end textile products, based for 100% on natural fibres and bio-based or biopolymers. The development of such products perfectly fits with the European objectives to fulfil the Kyoto protocol and to reduce the emission of “Green House Gases” by 2020 with at least 20 %, thanks to the reduced use of non renewable materials resources based on fossil fuels.

The project also corresponds to “The Strategic Research Agenda” outlined by “The European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing”. The session meetings of the Thematic Expert Group (TEG 1): “New speciality fibres & fibre composites for innovative textile products” gave birth to the project idea and initiated the preliminary set-up of the consortium.

Biorenewable polymers are in full development and are at the moment mainly used for low end products for instance packaging material and disposables.

“The requested characteristics and “life-time” in these applications are very low.”. Fast biodegradation under industrial composting conditions is requested after use. An important up-grade of these polymers can be given if they are applied in end products that have a longer lifetime and in which the intrinsic technological properties of the polymers are expressed and valorised. Agrotextiles are one of the potentially interesting endapplications in which the technological advantages of the biorenewable polymer systems can come to expression, creating at the same time an exemplary case for future developments in other areas.