IFJ goes behind the scenes as legacy brand Stein Fibers announces its corporate rebranding as Everra, sealing the company’s lasting commitment on “delivering sustainable solutions to an ever-evolving world.”
Industry demands for new and improved solutions to textile industry challenges are on the rise. With the focus squarely on sustainability and circularity, supply chain brands are stepping up to supply top-quality options to help their partners achieve high-impact results at an industrial scale.
With a legacy of 50 years of service to the textile industry, Stein Fibers is achieving remarkable results from its ever-growing portfolio in synthetic fibers, so much so that they have outgrown the word ‘fiber’ in its brand name. The company has grown through research and development of its core products and through acquisitions to grow its potential in new niches. In a bold move, the company executives launched a repositioning exercise and created a new brand name to take them into the future.
Stein Fibers just unveiled its rebranded name change to Everra, effective immediately. The company’s tagline shares its vision: “Forever committed to delivering sustainable solutions to an ever-evolving world.”
This new name represents a bold evolution for the company and reflects its ongoing commitment to sustainability, innovation, and leadership in the global PET market. Their company focus remains the same: a sustainability-focused, market-leading distribution partner in the PET industry, helping transform recycled plastic bottles into new products. Everra’s expanded focus includes adjacent PET markets like polymers and filament as the company continues to adapt and innovate in response to the growing demand for sustainable solutions.
Everra is cleverly derived from the words “Ever,” “Evolving,” and “Terra” – symbolizing enduring partnership, constant evolution, and a deep commitment to sustainability. The company’s logo reinforces these values, featuring a knot for union and collaboration, a link to fill supply chain gaps, and clasped hands to represent reliability and working together toward a sustainable future.
As Everra, the company remains steadfast in its core mission to help the world turn recycled plastic bottles into new products. This reinforces its position as a leader in sustainable solutions, and its staple products serve the entire fiber supply chain.
Jaren Edwards is co-CEO with Robert Taylor of the Charlotte, NC-based company. With nearly 30 years of experience in the PET industry, Edwards has a keen eye on the global marketplace and the demands placed on fiber producers. He did not enter the rebranding endeavor lightly, having spent most of his career with Stein Fibers after graduating from NC State University in 1996 with a degree in Textile Engineering. He moved through the ranks as a sales representative, gaining extensive experience across various markets, and then as Vice President of Sales, leading domestic and international teams and moving from traditional fiber approaches to sustainable business development.
Robert Taylor joined Stein Fibers in 2015 as the co-CEO and COO and has over 30 years of experience in the PET industry in commercial, operational, and management roles. During his tenure, he led Stein Fibers’ transition to a strategic data-driven organization and successfully completed five strategic acquisitions. Before his time at the newly branded Everra, he worked for a diverse set of PET industry players within public, private, and private equity-backed enterprises in sales, operations, manufacturing, and supply chain before moving into executive management positions in 2007.
International Fiber Journal is the first to speak with the two co-leaders about the bold move to Everra, a new name for a legacy company that is suited for the future.
IFJ: Explain how Stein Fibers originated and how the company’s vision and mission have evolved to bring you to this point.
Jaren Edwards: Stein Fibers was founded in 1976 and established itself as a leader in the polyester staple fiber industry. Sidney Stein, Jr. and Peter Spitalny founded the business, later joined by Sidney J. Stein, III (“Chip”). It grew rapidly in the 1980s and ‘90s as a global textile broker and importer. A pivotal 1999 acquisition of a domestic polyester staple facility marked our entry into U.S. manufacturing, strengthening our adaptability to global shifts.
As we grew through the 2000s, we cultivated the next generation of leadership. By 2017-2018, this leadership team engaged with our founders to explore the organization’s long-term vision, sparking a strategic shift toward acquisitions to accelerate growth.
In recent years, we have successfully integrated companies while sharpening our core strengths. Today, we are more focused than ever – not just on growth, but on growing with purpose. We are committed to delivering sustainable solutions and strengthening our position as a trusted partner in the evolving PET market.
IFJ: What is the value you bring to the marketplace?
Edwards: We recognize our deep expertise in PET – particularly recycled PET. For decades, the industries we serve have relied on these fibers, yet it’s easy to take their complexity for granted. Successfully utilizing recycled PET requires more than just sourcing materials – it demands an in-depth understanding of global producers, competitive advantages, and manufacturing best practices to ensure the highest-quality products for the best end-use applications. We believe that the industry acknowledges our commitment to the growth and application of our knowledge as they engage with us to solve their manufacturing and supply chain challenges.
To illustrate this commitment, our expertise doesn’t stop at fiber. We are expanding into the polymer and filament sectors, further strengthening our ability to drive innovation and sustainability across the PET industry for our industry partners.
Robert Taylor: In the last decade, supply chain logistics has become exponentially more complex. Global disruptions, once a five-year trend, now occur multiple times a year, making agility and expertise more critical than ever.
Since 2017, events such as China’s ‘Green Fence’ restrictions on recovered materials, extreme weather, the global pandemic, tariffs, and shifting trade policies have all compounded these challenges. Companies that thrive today are those with deep supply chain knowledge, a global network of partners, and the ability to move materials efficiently despite these obstacles.
For manufacturers in North America, we believe that their focus should be on producing high-quality products and expanding sales channels, not on navigating the complexities of fragmented global supply chains. That’s where we thrive and excel. We bridge the gap between global suppliers in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Korea, offering seamless, cost-effective logistics across the fiber and polymer markets.
Instead of managing twelve different supply chains for twelve different products, U.S. customers can rely on Everra’s expertise in distribution models and supply chain integration. We bring partners together, creating synergistic value and ensuring that businesses can focus on what they do best – while we handle the rest.
IFJ: How has acquisitions positioned your company for future growth?
Edwards: Quite simply, Everra’s most significant acquisitions have strengthened our legacy polyester staple fiber business and expanded our market reach. We were strategic in our efforts and found brands with depth to grow Everra’s potential.
In 2021, we acquired Consolidated Fibers, a 60-year leader in synthetic fiber solutions for the nonwovens industry. Shortly after, we brought Fibertex into our portfolio – a 30-year industry leader specializing in nonwovens and fiberfill fiber products. These two acquisitions provided significant synergies, broadening our product offerings and reinforcing our position in the fiber industry.
Most recently, we acquired Banyan Plastics, a leading distributor of recycled materials. This strategic move accelerated our growth in the polymer sector, enhancing our ability to serve the world’s most strategic PET manufacturers while reinforcing our commitment to sustainability.
You could say this latest acquisition set the stage for our recent brand exploration, which ultimately led us to Everra.
IFJ: Let’s discuss the rebranding effort. Are you repositioning or extending your brand for the future growth you plan?
Edwards: Our rebrand is a natural extension of the work we do every day. The primary goal? Clarity. As we expanded significantly into the polymer sector, the word “Fiber” in our company name no longer fully represented our business. We saw firsthand how it led to confusion through misguided inquiries, signaling the need for a change.
Partnering with a marketing firm, we embraced an open-minded approach throughout the discovery process. Ultimately, we recognized that our name should not only reflect who we are today but also position us for the future. Everra embodies our evolution – staying true to our legacy while embracing the opportunities ahead.
IFJ: You mention partnerships as an Everra core business value. One recent and significant relationship for your company is FiberPartner™. How are you working together?
Edwards: We look for strong partnerships that are built on shared core values and a commitment to excellence. With Europe often serving as a sustainability forecast for North America, our collaboration with FiberPartner™ was a natural fit.
Based in Denmark, FiberPartner has a long history in the global textile marketplace and faces similar supply chain challenges when entering Western markets. As they expand their polyester portfolio – including biodegradable and bio-based materials – they look to Everra to help navigate these obstacles, particularly in the U.S. market.
Together, we are bridging supply chain gaps and driving sustainable solutions forward.
Taylor: We are also helping in Europe with packaging applications. Our partnerships are a two-way street. We will continue to try to leverage expertise to benefit both of us.
Edwards: We are sharing a booth at INDA’s IDEA® Show in Miami Beach, FL [April 29-May 1]. We are there independently, but we have the same booth number and the booth design illustrates this collaboration theme well.
IFJ: In today’s vast marketplace, what would you say is Everra’s dominant sector?
Taylor: This is a great question, because we want everyone to know that our mission for the company hasn’t changed – we rebranded to best convey our future-forward mindset. Everra continues to operate across the entire fiber marketplace, with primary end markets in furniture, bedding, automotive, and nonwovens. Additionally, we remain deeply involved in spinning and disposable nonwovens, supplying major brands and their downstream partners.
Beyond fibers, we play a key role in the packaging industry, supporting beverage and food packaging – like sheet and film manufacturers – through our expertise in PET, polyethylene, and polypropylene, with a strong focus on recycled materials.
Our global reach extends beyond North America, helping bridge Asian and international customers to the U.S. marketplace. Whether in nonwovens, fiberfill for bedding and furniture, spunlace, spinning, or packaging, the common denominator is the polyester molecule – and our ability to connect supply with demand.
We are a strong partner in that the diversity of our market segments provides Everra with leverage and stability. When disruptions impact one industry, our broad portfolio allows us to adapt and remain flexible, ensuring continuity and growth for all of our partners.
Edwards: The team at Everra has set an ambitious yet attainable growth goal for 2030, driven by a strong organic growth strategy and accelerated by strategic acquisitions.
Today, 65% of our business consists of recycled materials, reinforcing our commitment to sustainability. In the coming years, we expect this number to grow to 80% of our portfolio, further solidifying our role as a leader in sustainable solutions. By staying focused on innovation and responsible growth, Everra is shaping a more sustainable future for the industry.
Sustainability and circularity continue to be at the forefront of trends, and our goal is to be an industry leader in this effort, as well as a quality provider of solutions for others focused on environmentally-friendly options.
In our rebranding effort, we incorporated the work “terra” that signifies earth, land, solid ground and sustainability.
IFJ: What is hindering the adoption of more sustainable options, especially in the nonwoven sector?
Edwards: I believe that success starts with understanding the obstacles – whether processing or end-use applications. Too often, companies prioritize cost before fully understanding what’s required. There are also many ways to achieve sustainability goals, from choice of raw materials, manufacturing for durability, to end-of-life variables.
One of Everra’s greatest competitive advantages is the expertise gained from operating our own recycled PET facility. This firsthand knowledge allows us to assess the raw material stream before manufacturing even begins, ensuring we select the right materials and processes to achieve the desired fiber characteristics.
We take a different approach – solving the problem first to then drive both performance and value. By identifying challenges upfront, we believe forward-thinking companies can eliminate inefficiencies and produce the highest-quality products.
Taylor: Also, the Everra team is one of our core assets to help customers solve these kinds of problems in a complex marketplace. Our sales and technical teams are composed primarily of professionals with textile backgrounds or textile engineering expertise. This deep industry knowledge allows us to do more than just supply materials – we help solve supply chain challenges and provide technical support to ensure our customers have the best product solutions available.
With our team’s hands-on expertise, we bridge the gap between innovation and application, ensuring that every solution we offer is practical, efficient, and tailored to our partners’ needs.
IFJ: What is the appeal of polyester? Why is it misunderstood?
Taylor: Polyester is a unique molecule with endless recycling potential. From a technical standpoint, it can be recycled over and over again, making it one of the most sustainable plastics available. Unfortunately, the general public does not trust recycling systems in place, and mishandle plastic waste. Despite its bad publicity due to litter and low bottle recycling rates, polyester remains the most recyclable plastic in the world.
Through mechanical recycling, polyester can be transformed into new products with minimal impact on performance. While some physical characteristics – such as color – may shift after multiple recycling cycles, polyester can continue to be reused indefinitely if properly returned to the recycling stream. This gives it a clear advantage over alternatives like polycarbonate, polyethylene, and polypropylene.
Emerging chemical recycling technologies offer additional promise, particularly for contaminated material streams. These advancements could allow for more efficient separation of synthetic and natural fibers, such as cotton-polyester blends, further enhancing polyester’s role in sustainable material solutions.
Edwards: In sustainability and recycling, the conversation isn’t just about the cost of recycled polyester – it’s about how it compares to other materials. Companies must consider the trade-offs: polyester fiber vs. viscose rayon, nonwoven vs. polyurethane foam, or the price difference between recycled and virgin polyester. These factors shape short-term decisions, but long-term momentum is being driven by a more fundamental shift – consumers simply do not want to see waste in landfills when viable recycling solutions exist.
Major global brands are already leading the way with 100% recycled products, and as adoption rates grow, more will follow. Recent developments in packaging have also shown how quickly market perspectives can shift – plastic, once vilified, is now gaining favor over aluminum in certain applications. These unpredictable shifts reinforce the need for adaptability and transparency in sustainability efforts.
At Everra, we provide confidence and security to our customers in the sustainability space. Through third-party documentation, full traceability, and an on-the-ground presence in Asia, we offer unmatched transparency and accountability. When working with large brands and programs, the ability to ensure supply chain integrity – backed by in-person engagement and verification – is a powerful advantage.
IFJ: Circling back to your rebrand launch, what excites you most about the effort and how will you educate customers on the change?
Edwards: As we unveil our new brand Everra, we will prominently display “formerly Stein Fibers” alongside it for a significant period. Our goal is to provide clarity and ensure that our long-standing partners and customers are not confused during this transition.
We want to create excitement in our adjacent growth markets while generating buzz around our new identity. With this major rebranding effort underway, we’re particularly enthusiastic about 2026, when we will celebrate our 50th anniversary. This milestone will reinforce that, while our name may be new, we have a rich legacy built over decades.
Throughout this project, we’ve engaged in deep introspection, and now we’re ready to focus our energy on enhancing customer responsiveness. We look forward to building on our foundation and strengthening our commitment to our clients as Everra moves into its next chapter.
Taylor: This rebrand is an incredible opportunity to reinvigorate our existing customer base by showcasing our 50-year commitment to excellence. It also allows us to highlight the expanded product offerings that better align with our evolving services.
By reinforcing our legacy while embracing innovation, we ensure that our current and future business partners have the solutions they need to grow and succeed in a rapidly changing market.
