As the tyre industry confronts electrification, sustainability mandates and shifting supply chains, Milliken Textiles is focusing on specialised textile reinforcements rather than volume tyre cord. The strategy reflects a deliberate choice to concentrate on high-value niches where engineering expertise, rather than scale, defines competitiveness. Products such as Beadwrap and Millicap highlight how materials hidden inside tyres can influence safety, rolling resistance and rubber consumption.

The global tyre industry is approaching a structural turning point, driven by electrification, sustainability targets and changes in manufacturing footprints. For Milliken, this transition is creating opportunities for specialised textile reinforcements that improve tyre performance while reducing material usage.

Speaking about the company’s strategy, Lieven Keymeulen, Marketing Director at Milliken Textiles, explained that the US-based materials science company has deliberately avoided competing in the high-volume tyre cord market dominated by large suppliers.

“We are more of a speciality textile reinforcement supplier,” Keymeulen said. “We are not looking at mainstream tyre cord applications. We are focused on specialised solutions.”

Instead of commodity tyre cord production, the company positions itself as a development partner to tyre manufacturers seeking customised solutions for specific applications.

“As a textile company, we are active in many different markets, so we can take knowledge from other applications and bring that into tyres,” Keymeulen explained. “That allows us to develop products that are much more specific than standard tyre cord.”

Over time, the company has also developed strong application knowledge, investing significant effort in understanding how its materials behave inside tyres. This helps refine its textile solutions further.

OCTAGONAL STEELCORD SOLUTIONS

One example of this approach is Beadwrap, a reinforcement designed as a safety component within tyres. It is particularly relevant for larger tyres, where it helps maintain structural integrity, and for passenger car radial tyres with orthogonal design solutions, where it secures the structure and stabilises the tyre. Another established offering is Millicap, which supports tyre performance improvements linked to sustainability. With the rise of electric vehicles, rolling resistance has become a critical parameter because it directly affects battery range. Tyres that reduce rolling resistance can also reduce rubber consumption, resulting in cost savings and lower carbon emissions.

Although around 90 percent of the tyre market consists of mass-market tyres, the company has deliberately chosen not to focus on that segment.

“The mass market is highly crowded, with many companies offering similar products and limited opportunities for differentiation,” Keymeulen said. “Our strategy is to remain innovation- and technology-driven, concentrating on specialised applications where we can offer unique, customised solutions.”

HIDDEN VALUE IN NICHE COMPONENTS

The tyre industry is vast, meaning even niche components can generate significant volumes. Products like Beadwrap may represent only a small portion of a tyre, but when each tyre uses several centimetres of material across millions of tyres, volumes quickly become substantial.

Although such components remain hidden inside the tyre, the company’s primary focus is not end consumers but tyre manufacturers and their engineering teams.

“A key part of our role is educating engineers within tyre companies about the capabilities of textile reinforcements and how they can improve tyre performance,” Keymeulen explained. “Manufacturers typically approach us with specific technical challenges, and we work together on customised solutions.”

Global supply-chain diversification and geopolitical concerns are also influencing partnerships, as tyre makers increasingly prefer suppliers with a balanced global presence. With operations in United States, Europe and India, Milliken offers a more resilient supply base.

“Collaboration often begins in the early stages of tyre development, focusing first on understanding the application and the problem,” he noted. “Over time, this builds strong trust with tyre manufacturers.”

The company also collaborates with machine suppliers, enabling it to present tyre makers with semi-finished integrated solutions that combine materials with compatible processing equipment. This ensures alignment between materials, machinery and manufacturing processes.

FOCUS ON INDIA AND EMERGING REGIONS

India is a key market for the company, partly because many Indian tyre manufacturers operate relatively modern equipment, making them competitive and more open to adopting new technologies.

While the company cannot be equally active in every region, such as the Chinese domestic market, it maintains strong engagement with Indian manufacturers as well as Japanese and Korean tyre brands.

“Innovation does not always start with large tyre manufacturers,” Keymeulen said. “Tier-II companies can often be more agile and willing to test new ideas more quickly.”

Regionally, Europe is gradually regaining momentum, Korean tyre manufacturers remain highly innovative, and Southeast Asia continues to drive industry growth.

SUSTAINABILITY AND MATERIAL EFFICIENCY

Looking ahead, tyre companies have ambitious sustainability goals, with many targeting tyres made entirely from renewable or sustainable resources by around 2050. A major contribution to this transition will come from recycled yarns, particularly recycled nylon, which remains one of the best-performing reinforcement materials but is difficult to recycle at scale.

While tyres cannot be produced without rubber, textile solutions can help reduce rubber usage.

One important contribution comes from specialised tackified textile reinforcements, produced using a proprietary dipping process that makes the material naturally adhesive. This eliminates the need for calendaring the textile with an additional rubber layer and enables direct placement within the tyre structure.

“This approach is particularly valuable in space-constrained areas such as the bead,” Keymeulen explained. “By eliminating extra rubber layers, we can reduce thickness and rubber consumption.”

Similar benefits apply to Millicap. According to customer data, rubber savings can reach around around 200 grammes for smaller 15-inches tyres to 500 grammes and more for large size tyres, leading to lower tyre weight and reduced carbon emissions.

Millicap is currently produced mainly using nylon, with a polyester version also available. Over time, the expected transition is towards recycled polyester.

ADAPTING TO INDUSTRY SHIFTS

The industry has faced several structural challenges following the Covid-19 pandemic, while the global tyre manufacturing footprint continues to shift geographically. New capacity is increasingly located in India and Southeast Asia, while European production is moving towards Eastern Europe and parts of Africa.

To remain close to customers, Milliken is reconsidering the traditional model of a few large factories.

“We are exploring smaller, strategically distributed operations,” Keymeulen said. “The idea is to create regional hubs that can source yarns and raw materials locally.”

Currently, the company operates major tyre-related production plants in United States and Europe, along with a processing facility in Bengaluru, India. The Bengaluru plant focuses on slitting and converting master rolls into customised formats closer to customers, with plans to expand its capabilities over time.

NEW AVENUES FOR GROWTH

In terms of tyre segments, the truck and bus radial market remains the largest for the company, while solutions also enable entry into passenger car tyres.

Another growing focus area is bicycle tyres, driven by rising demand for off-road and electric bicycles, which require higher strength and cut resistance.

“In tyre construction, steel cord has historically been dominant,” Keymeulen explained. “Textile reinforcements offer far greater flexibility for innovation. That opens up many more possibilities for optimising performance.”

The company is also exploring new variations of Millicap, including hybrid material concepts and alternative structures aimed at further improving tyre efficiency.

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Birla Carbon has confirmed a price increase of up to 15 percent for its Speciality Materials products across Asia, scheduled to take effect on 1 October 2026. The company pointed to significant and sustained rises in feedstock costs, driven partly by ongoing geopolitical instability and disruptions in global feedstock markets, as the reason behind the adjustment.

Although Birla Carbon pursued operational efficiencies, supply chain optimisation and disciplined cost management to soften the impact, the scale and persistence of the cost escalation left a price adjustment unavoidable. The company's sales teams will engage customers directly to explain the details and help them navigate the transition.

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ACE Laboratories, an independent ISO/IEC 17025-accredited polymer testing laboratory, has partnered with Abdallah Consulting, LLC, a prominent tyre pyrolysis advisory firm, to introduce VericarbSM. This independent certification programme verifies that materials marketed as recovered carbon black (rCB) meet established criteria for rCB.

Recovered carbon black, derived from end-of-life tyres via pyrolysis, serves as a sustainable substitute for virgin carbon black in rubber and polymer applications. However, the emerging market has lacked the standardisation and independent verification that established supply chains provide. VericarbSM addresses this gap through independent material characterisation and rubber performance data, offering stakeholders a consistent basis for evaluating rCB products.

For producers, certification accelerates market entry and improves buyer approval rates. Consumers gain more capable suppliers and reduced evaluation time, while investors benefit from clearer volume sizing and fewer costly test failures. The programme is jointly administered by both organisations.

Erick Sharp, CEO, ACE Laboratories, said, “The rCB market has enormous potential, but growth has been held back by uncertainty about material quality and consistency. VericarbSM gives producers a way to prove their product and gives buyers the independent data they need to say yes.”

Dave Abdallah, Founder, Abdallah Consulting, said, “One key reason for the delayed growth of recovered carbon black is lack of product performance information in the customer’s language. ASTM standards are critical; in fact, most testing done in the process follows ASTM methods. But customers relate to a product better when its performance is shown in applications relevant to them. VericarbSM solves the language issue by showing verified rCB in terms of rubber performance while simultaneously adding credibility via third-party analysis and reporting.”

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Zeon Corporation established Zeon Chemicals Kurashiki Co., Ltd. on 23 July 2026 to take over the acrylic rubber operations of fellow group firm Tohpe Corporation. The new entity, headquartered in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, is wholly owned by Zeon with paid-in capital of JPY 10 million and is led by representative Koji Minami.

On 21 August, Tohpe and the new subsidiary signed an absorption-type company split agreement, prompting Zeon to begin the procedures required under the Companies Act. Operations at the new company, focused on manufacturing and selling acrylic rubber and related activities, are scheduled to commence on 30 October 2026.

Acrylic rubber, known for its heat resistance, is used in automotive components including oil seals and hoses. The Zeon Group already maintains four production sites across Japan, United States and Thailand, forming a global supply network for the material.

The restructuring follows Zeon’s 11 May 2026 announcement that it would transfer Tohpe shares to NATOCO Co., Ltd. of Miyoshi City, Aichi Prefecture, as part of Tohpe’s paints business divestiture. Tohpe’s acrylic rubber operations, which complement Zeon’s Elastomers Business, will now be positioned as a key specialty rubber manufacturing site, with closer operational coordination intended to strengthen Group competitiveness and corporate value.

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The company is betting that a polymer manufactured from end-of-life truck tyres can disrupt the market for petroleum-based styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), a widely used road-binding additive whose pricing and availability are tied to global oil markets. After completing a live road trial with Road Science and Auckland Transport in New Zealand, the company is preparing to use the results as a springboard for expansion into Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa, positioning the recycled material as a lower-cost, lower-carbon alternative to virgin polymers.

New Zealand-based Revyre Global Limited is positioning a polymer manufactured from end-of-life truck tyres as a lower-cost alternative to petroleum-based styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) after completing a live road trial with Road Science and Auckland Transport in New Zealand.

The company has spent several years developing the product as a direct replacement for SBS. Unlike conventional tyre-derived asphalt, which relies on crumb rubber, the company’s Chief Executive Officer Shaun Zukor told Tyre Trends that its proprietary thermomechanical process produces a remanufactured polymer with blending characteristics similar to SBS, allowing it to be used in existing asphalt infrastructure.

“Our primary objective was to develop a drop-in replacement for SBS, which is a petroleum-derived synthetic polymer,” Zukor said. “SBS is expensive, made from virgin materials and is widely used to improve road durability, fatigue resistance and overall pavement performance.”

The company began engaging Road Science, a division of Downer, and Auckland Transport after completing laboratory validation with engineering consultancy WSP in New Zealand.

Before approaching customers, it invested around 18 months in laboratory testing to validate the material’s performance.

Following successful laboratory trials, Road Science carried out its own evaluations before, together with Auckland Transport, deciding to trial the material on Blockhouse Bay Road, one of Auckland’s busiest roads.

The project then underwent another lengthy approval process involving Auckland Council and scientific advisers.

“It took another year to a year and a half to obtain all the necessary approvals from the council and its scientific advisors,” Zukor said. “They wanted to verify that all the claims in our technical literature were accurate.”

Construction of the trial road took place over three days in March and the company expects to receive the first performance data around September. Those results are expected to support commercialisation in overseas markets.

“Our business is focused only on New Zealand at the moment because we’re using it as a proof of concept,” Zukor said. “Once those results are available, we’ll publish them. That will place us in a much stronger position to take the product into Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The company estimates that entering Australia would take another 12 to 18 months after trial results are available and a planned New Zealand manufacturing facility becomes operational.

Although the current road project used only a small quantity of material because it is a demonstration, Zukor said the commercial opportunity could expand significantly.

“We used a relatively small amount of material for this particular project, but if the opportunity grows as expected, supplying the Auckland Transport network alone could eventually consume between 40–50 percent of our production capacity,” he noted.

MATERIAL ECONOMICS

The company currently manufactures the material primarily from truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres and earthmover tyres because of the higher natural rubber content.

While the SBS substitute represents the company’s immediate focus, it has divided its broader product portfolio into three categories. Revpol A, manufactured mainly from passenger and light truck tyres is intended for lower-performance rubber products such as rubber tiles, shoe soles and conveyor belts.

Revpol B targets asphalt applications and new tyre manufacturing, while Revpol C, produced largely from earthmover tyres, is designed for higher-performance applications.

The company is not currently manufacturing at its own facility but plans a new production unit in New Zealand. Until that facility is operational, product for trials is being supplied by its Canadian partner.

The technology relies primarily on a thermomechanical recycling process rather than chemical recycling. Whole tyres are broken down with steel separated from the rubber before the rubber is processed to a 30-mesh particle size and passed through Revyre’s proprietary thermomechanical process.

Zukor said only a very small amount of non-toxic, FDA-approved chemicals are used and that the process is driven primarily by operating parameters rather than chemical reactions.

He added that one of the key advantages of the technology is that it can be incorporated into existing SBS blending infrastructure with minimal changes as most development work focused on determining the optimum blending ratio rather than overcoming technical limitations.

“The primary technical challenges relate to the blending ratio,” he said, adding, “The higher the percentage of Revpol you add, the higher the temperatures and shear forces required in the bitumen blending terminals.”

Although the company has successfully blended as much as 20 percent Revpol into bitumen during development, Zukor said performance gains diminish beyond a certain point.

It has identified an optimum blend of between 5 percent and 10 percent depending on the application, ranging from conventional roads to heavy-duty pavements and airport runways.

“Any facility that currently blends SBS using its existing infrastructure can also blend our product using that same infrastructure,” he said.

CATALYST FOR SAVINGS

Zukor believes the material can reduce both costs and environmental impacts while improving pavement performance.

“We want to create a product that is environmentally sustainable, has an abundant raw material supply and is 20–40 percent cheaper than virgin materials while also having a significantly lower carbon footprint,” he stated.

Laboratory testing has produced encouraging results. According to Zukor, New Zealand’s wheel-tracking standard requires materials to withstand 800,000 load cycles, while Revyre’s product continued to perform until testing was halted at two million cycles.

“Our product achieved nearly two to three times the required wheel-tracking performance compared with standard bitumen,” he noted.

He also added that the objective is to produce road surfaces that are less expensive, more durable and environmentally sustainable while simultaneously addressing the challenge of managing end-of-life tyres.

“We believe this product ticks all of those boxes and have obtained a patent for it,” he said.

MANUFACTURING SCALABILITY

Although the company is currently relying on manufacturing capacity in Canada, Zukor said its modular production model could support significant expansion once commercial demand develops.

“We can currently produce up to 10,000 tonnes of this product, but because our production facilities are modular, capacity can easily be scaled anywhere from 1,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes, depending on market demand and the requirements of a particular region,” said Zukor.

Once the planned New Zealand facility becomes operational, Zukor expects its tyre feedstock to be supplied through Tirewise, the country’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for end-of-life tyres.

Under the programme, every imported tyre attracts a levy that funds incentives for registered collectors, processors and end users to move tyres through the approved recycling chain. Zukor said Revyre intends to register again as a processor after commissioning its new plant.

GOING PAST HURDLES

Zukor acknowledged that customer adoption remains the biggest hurdle. Road contractors also need to validate new formulations through laboratory testing before incorporating them into their pavement designs. Hence, Revyre is focusing on multinational contractors already operating in New Zealand to accelerate adoption, believing successful validation locally could support deployment elsewhere within those organisations.

He also believes global dependence on petroleum-derived SBS strengthens the case for tyre-derived alternatives.

“If you look at SBS, it’s already a product that’s in very high demand globally. Because it’s petroleum-based, its availability and pricing are heavily influenced by global macro-economic and geopolitical events,” Zukor said.

He said the company’s commercial proposition rests on three principles viz-a-viz consistent quality, supply and pricing.

According to Zukor, replacing virgin SBS with tyre-derived polymers could help localise supply chains, reduce exposure to petroleum price volatility and improve environmental outcomes while lowering costs for road owners.

Beyond New Zealand, Revyre is also evaluating opportunities in North America through its Canadian partner and is exploring future markets for tyre-derived materials.

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