Textiles innovation leader HeiQ has announced the appointment of Julien Born as Chief Executive Officer of HeiQ AeoniQ Holding, where he will champion the growth of HeiQ AeoniQ, a game-changing cellulosic filament fibre.

HeiQ AeoniQ Holding, a subsidiary of HeiQ Group, will leverage Born’s extensive executive leadership and profound textile industry expertise cultivated in prestigious organisations such as DuPont, Koch Industries, and The Lycra Company, where he served as CEO since 2021.

HeiQ AeoniQ is HeiQ’s key initiative to disrupt the textile industry. As the global leader in textile innovations, HeiQ aims to create the world’s first climate-positive continuous cellulosic filament yarn through a proprietary manufacturing process, reproducing the properties of polyester and nylon yarns for the first time in a cellulosic, durable, biodegradable, and endlessly recyclable fibre.

HeiQ has established HeiQ AeoniQ Holding as a stand-alone company, allowing its business partners to participate from the development stage and be part of the team pioneering this initiative to reverse the carbon footprint in the textile industry. To make HeiQ AeoniQ possible, HeiQ entered a first-mover strategic partnership with Hugo Boss, and together they turned HeiQ AeoniQ into a piece of garment. The Lycra Company, a global leader in textiles, is engaged in this initiative as the exclusive global distributor for the apparel industry. MAS Holdings became the newest member of the project in 2023.

The award winning HeiQ AeoniQ technology is poised for commercial production at an inaugural manufacturing facility in Portugal by the close of 2025. The recently concluded €5 million acquisition of land and buildings, within a 2-year project total investment of €80 million, marks a pivotal milestone for the 15,000 square metres facility in Maia, Porto.

Situated strategically in Portugal's thriving textile hub and a mere 20 minutes from a major commercial port, this facility is poised to catalyse the scale-up phase of the business, going from pilot manufacture to mass production when it will be able to compete at full-scale on cost and performance with fossil fuel-based fibres.

HeiQ intends to consolidate the Group’s current and future activities in Portugal at the newly acquired site. This includes Shared Service Center functions as well as the Innovation Hub for the HeiQ Textile & Flooring business unit.

HeiQ AeoniQ Holding, established as an independent subsidiary to attract new investors, value-chain partners, and brands, embarks on an ambitious multi-year scale-up strategy. The strategy involves integrating diverse sources of bio-derived feedstock and hyper-scaling cellulosic filament fibre production capacity over the next decade, targeting industries such as apparel, footwear, automotive, home textiles, and aeronautics.

The recent addition of Julien Born to lead the charge follows the nomination of Robert van de Kerkhof to the HeiQ Board, a seasoned executive with extensive textile experience holding positions as CCO, CSO, Board member of Lenzing Plc, and Chairman of CIRFS, the European Man-Made Fibres Association. Robert will also serve as the Chairman of the HeiQ AeoniQ Holding Board.

Expressing his enthusiasm, Julien Born commented: "I am excited to join HeiQ, a company with a meaningful purpose, a passion for innovation, and tremendous growth potential. Together with a talented team working with a great entrepreneurial spirit, we have an opportunity to build with our partners a unique ecosystem around the HeiQ AeoniQ technology that can truly change the game on sustainability in several industries."

Carlo Centonze, CEO of HeiQ Group, commented on the appointment, saying: "We eagerly welcome Julien to steer HeiQ AeoniQ Holding. His wealth of experience in high-tech fibres and demonstrated leadership will be pivotal to hyper-scaling HeiQ AeoniQ and achieving our transformative vision for the textile industry."

www.heiq-aeoniq.com