#Spinning

2025-04-16

Rieter celebrates 230 years of innovation and technology leadership

Rieter has stood for pioneering innovation in textile technology for 230 years. Founded in 1795, the company has grown from a trading company to a global technology leader. With a clear focus on automation, digitization and sustainability, Rieter is shaping the future of yarn production and continues to set standards in the industry.

Rieter, the world leader in developing and manufacturing systems for yarn production with staple fibers, is celebrating its 230th anniversary this year – a history characterized by change, innovation and growth.

The Rieter success story began on April 15, 1795, when Johann Jacob Rieter founded the company J.J. Rieter & Cie. in Winterthur, Switzerland. Rieter started as a trading company for exotic spices and cotton, and on April 23, 1795, the first cotton bale had already arrived at the Waaghaus trading house on Marktgasse in Winterthur.

Initially involved in spinning mills and textile manufacturing, Rieter continued to develop over the 19th century and shifted its focus to building industrial machinery. Acquiring the buildings of the former Töss Abbey in Winterthur in 1833 was an important step. In addition to spinning mill machines, the company’s product line also included machines for winding, knitting, and weaving.

In 1891, Rieter converted into a stock company, which was a significant milestone in the company’s history. In the decades that followed, Rieter set new technological standards again and again. For example, the company was the first machine factory in Switzerland with electronic data processing and Rieter set up a modern laboratory for testing materials. It was joined by prototype workshops, a textile laboratory, and a test spinning mill to support further innovation.

Despite economic challenges, Rieter has always used times of crisis as an opportunity to increase its efficiency and hone its strategic focus. Along with its subsidiaries Accotex, Bräcker, Graf, Novibra, Suessen, SSM, and Temco, today Rieter is distinctive and well-known in the market. The company is a leader in spinning mill technology and contributes to sustainability in the textile value chain with state-of-the-art machines, systems, and components.

Rieter’s success is based not only on technological excellence, but above all on the people who drive the company forward. The approximately 4 800 employees worldwide are the company’s greatest asset. With their expertise, innovative spirit, and passion, they set new standards every day and play an active role in shaping Rieter’s future.

From Rieter’s perspective, the future of spinning mills is automated, digital, and intelligent. Research and development activities are being intensified – in both the areas of autonomous transport systems and collaborative robotics, as well as for ESSENTIAL, Rieter’s digital spinning mill platform. The goal is to fully automate the value creation process of spinning mills by 2027. This will enable spinning mills to reduce their yarn manufacturing costs and maximize their returns. Customers can then concentrate fully on their yarn business and rely on Rieter’s technology and know-how for their operations.

With 230 years of experience, strong innovative power, sustainable solutions and a global sales and service organization, Rieter is perfectly positioned as the market leader and looks to the future with confidence.

Rieter advances strategic repositioning amid market volatility

Rieter successfully completed the acquisition of Barmag on February 2, 2026, and reached an important milestone in the company’s repositioning. Barmag will be integrated into the Rieter Group as the “Man-Made Fiber” Division. With this strategically transformative acquisition, Rieter is expanding its core business beyond the short-staple fiber business in a targeted way. This positions Rieter as the global market leader along the entire value chain for natural and man-made fibers. In addition, as a complete systems supplier, Rieter is further strengthening its technological leadership in the areas of automation and digitization.

Rieter responds to higher raw material prices

Global political and economic developments have been leading to rising raw material and energy costs for some time. The textile machinery industry is also affected by this trend. Rieter machines and components consist to a large extent of steel, copper, aluminum and electronics. These materials in particular have seen higher demand and higher prices in recent months.

Rieter adjusts group structure in preparation for Barmag integration

The planned acquisition of the “Barmag” Division of OC Oerlikon will create the leading system provider worldwide for natural and man-made fibers. Rieter is confident it will receive all regulatory approvals to complete the acquisition in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Rieter Group is therefore adjusting its Group structure as of January 1, 2026, to take this acquisition into account and to be able to provide an even more agile response to market challenges.

Temco launches a new DTY all-in-one solution

Temco introduces the DTY All-in-One Solution – a fully harmonized set of components engineered to give customers a highly stable, low maintenance and reproducible process environment. The solution reduces interruptions, extends component lifetimes and supports consistent yarn quality across all machine positions. All-in-One Solution – a fully harmonized set of components engineered to provide maintenance and reproducible process environment.

DIENES at Techtextil 2026: Flexible pilot lines for bio-based fiber development

The growing relevance of bio-based materials in technical textiles is accompanied by increasing demands for reproducibility, high-quality data, and scalable process routes. Especially when working with cellulose and its derivatives, chitosan, lignin-based approaches, or bio-based PAN as a carbon-fiber precursor, R&D teams face variable feedstock quality, tighter process windows, and the need for reliable comparability across trials. This calls for flexible, data-driven experimental setups that can be reconfigured efficiently when recipes, solvents, and raw-material batches change.

RETECH showcases high-precision godets for high-performance fiber processing at Techtextil 2026

RETECH designs and manufactures godets and draw frames for heated, ambient and cooled processes, enabling precise heat treatment and consistently high yarn quality for a wide range of polymers and applications, with process temperatures of up to 400 °C for high-performance fibers. The company’s key competence lies in exact and stable temperature and speed control, individually adapted to the specific material and process requirements.

New study shows low environmental impact by Cotton made in Africa Organic Cotton from Tanzania

Today, the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) is announcing the results of a comprehensive life-cycle analysis (LCA) for cotton produced in Tanzania under the Cotton made in Africa Organic (CmiA Organic) standard. The study emphasises the small ecological footprint of CmiA Organic verified cotton. This can largely be traced back to the absence of synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilisers, and artificial irrigation. Consequently, CmiA Organic cotton can help the textile industry meet regulatory requirements as well as science-based targets. The results also show that the consequences of climate change threaten the livelihoods of these cotton farmers, even though the type of agriculture they practise barely contributes to climate change.

PERFORMANCE DAYS proves its relevance as the industry’s key meeting point

Held on March 18–19, 2026, PERFORMANCE DAYS once again confirmed its position as a leading international platform for functional textiles. A total of 3.366 trade visitors and around 560 exhibitors gathered in Munich, with the event already kicking off successfully on DAY 0, which received highly positive feedback for its interactive format. Despite challenging conditions caused by the public transport strike in Munich, the event saw strong attendance and a consistently high level of activity across both exhibition days.