FW
The Uttar Pradesh government plans to set up a raw materials hub for the apparel sector in Gautam Budh Nagar. The hub would be set up under the state’s One District One Product (ODOP) scheme. Aiming to promote traditional industries synonymous with various districts of the state, UP government recently launched the “One District One Product (ODOP)” in Lucknow.
The Gautam Budh Nagar district’s garment industry has an annual turnover of Rs 14,000 crore. The district contributes 60-70 per cent UP’s garment export. The ODOP scheme will give a new impetus to the industry. Bank loans worth over Rs 10 billion were distributed to 4,095 SME entrepreneurs to expand their units. Apart from that, the President unveiled the ODOP helpline and ODOP website. The attending craftsmen were also given toolkits.
Maredimoda and Performance Days have agreed to avoid overlapping dates since they have upcoming editions in November. MarediModa will take place in Cannes from November 6 to 8, 2018; Performance Days will take place in Germany, from November 28 and 29.
These are two of most dynamic and on go to textile shows in the European textile industry. The joint arrangement on dates will allow exhibitors and visitors to plan their presence and offerings both in Cannes and Germany.
Maredimoda, has been a leading trade show for textiles and accessories for beachwear and intimates since 2002. It has recently included athleisure in its exhibits. Maredimoda is a not-to-be missed date for every international brand interested in the collection preview of the best European companies, in meeting design studios and private label manufacturers as well.
Performance Days launched in 2008 is the first and only material sourcing trade fair created especially for technical fabrics and accessories as needed in sports, athleisure and work clothing. Designers, product as well as material managers, and decision-makers meet bi-annually in April/May and November in Germany and since July 2018 annually at Functional Fabric Fair powered by Performance Days in New York City.
The Central Silk Board (CSB) has developed new groups of silkworm seeds of mulberry and Vanya silk. These silkworm groups are expected to enhance the income of farmers with improved productivity and quality.
This silkworm range will aid tribal farmers belonging to various parts of the country such as Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as they can get 52 kilograms of cocoons per 100 disease free layings (dfls). Central Silk Board (CSB) is a statutory body of the Ministry of Textiles.
Additionally, Multivoltine x Bivoltine mulberry (PM x FC2), a hybrid group of silkworm, can make 60 kilograms per 100 dfls. This group of silkworms is said to be more productive than the earlier PM x CSR. The high-quality silk and significant egg recovery make this race more appropriate for farmers.
For the farmers in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, eri silkworm (C2) race has been termed more sufficient than the local breed. Silkworm breeds for a particular agro-climatic location are necessary for accelerating the productivity of cocoons.
Maroc will be held in Morocco, October 11 to 12. Suppliers, full-package and CMT manufacturers as well as innovative suppliers of yarns, fabrics, accessories, technologies and services from the Mediterranean will showcase at the fair. The focus of the fair is fashion, fast fashion and sustainable eco-systems. Around 175 exhibitors from the Mediterranean are expected. About 1,500 visitors from Africa, Europe and America are expected. The fair will also present a denim cluster.
Morocco ranks eighth among countries exporting clothing to Europe. It offers political and social stability, a favorable geostrategic position, modern infrastructure, free access to European markets and extremely favorable production conditions.
The textile and clothing industry is the largest employer in the country. Morocco has more than 1,600 manufacturers with a production capacity of more than a billion parts a year. More than 1,80,000 people work in this sector, with another 1,00,000 to be added by 2020.
A central role is played by the promotion of so-called eco-systems, clusters that promote modern production, design and compliance with international standards. With the help of particularly successful companies, the so-called locomotives, the entire clothing industry is efficiently structured and managed.
Proximity to Europe allows for fast delivery by land and the garment industry is working toward short delivery deadlines.
Fashion-industry leaders in Los Angeles far prefer to use Instagram as their social media of choice than any other digital outlet. Most are gravitating towards making social-media decisions in-house rather than using outside consultants.
Social media has emerged as the most enlightened concept for the future of the apparel industry followed by integrated systems between manufacturing and retailing. Eight per cent think 3-D fitting is important, followed by 3-D printing by four per cent of fashion-industry leaders.
Technology is transforming the fashion industry. Social media is shaping consumer tastes. LA industry executives are much more likely to believe that a multi-channel distribution strategy incorporating stores with online sales is their biggest opportunity.
New fashion brands prefer to sell online rather than selling to bricks-and-mortar stores at the start of business. Later, they branch out to pop-up stores or other retail outlets or are sold to private investors/private-equity companies.
Los Angeles is the number one center in the United States for manufacturing clothing, with 30,600 employed in the sector. Fashion companies prefer to put their roots in Southern California because of the talent and ease of logistics and access to fashion designers and local suppliers.
Greenpeace says several major clothing brands have made undeniable progress in use of chemicals. The evolution is driven by a growing demand from customers for more natural products. Brands are more willing to communicate.
In 2011, the environmental NGO launched a challenge for clothing brands to denounce the use of toxic chemicals by the textile industry and encourage it to adopt practices that are more respectful of consumers and the environment. The lack of knowledge of their service providers on their subcontracting chains, often based in Asia, was particularly targeted.
Since 2011, the NGO’s detox campaign has been calling on major brands to phase out 11 chemical classes of concern by 2020. It says without eliminating the use and release of harmful chemicals from production chains the circular dream could well become a toxic recirculation nightmare.
Up to 20 per cent of water pollution is attributable to various tissue treatments. The textile industry uses 43 million tons of chemicals each year. Nonylphenol ethoxylates for fixing colors or phthalates for plastic elements are often found in the production lines of clothes.
The objective of Greenpeace, now, is to obtain zero rejection by 2020. Discussions about irritating or corrosive substances have also been launched by the European Chemicals Agency.
The Functional Lab will be a key feature of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, September 27 to 29. This will provide an interactive experience for buyers seeking the latest functional fabrics.
Highlights include Klinger’s Pure Cool technology, which works by embedding recycled jade into fabrics, resulting in a cooling effect that lowers body temperature. It also controls odor and protects against UV.
Carvico’s new Vita Power range is a sustainable techno-fabric made from Econyl regenerated nylon that offers a muscular compression function. This improves athletes’ recovery of energy by decreasing the production of lactic acid – and, like Klinger’s Pure Cool, also offers UV protection. Plus it is resistant to sun cream, oil and chlorine.
Another exhibitor at the Functional Lab, Xlance, will bring durable, easy-care fabrics that are chemical, oil and cream resistant, establishing the trend for smart products that perform and last well. A growing middle class demographic and access to fitness resources and facilities, not only in China but around the world, has opened up a huge market for fabrics that perform.
These exciting innovations, applicable to a variety of industries including sportswear, swimwear and underwear, are a key example as to why the Functional Lab continues to attract buyers.
The 11th Colombo International Yarn & Fabric Show 2018 (CIFS 2018) - is scheduled to be held from September 27-29, at Sri Lanka Exhibition & Convention Centre (SLECC) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The expo, being organised by CEMS-Global USA, will focus on the Sri Lankan Textile & Apparel Industry.
Two other related exhibitions: 2nd Sri Lanka Textile Garment Technology & Machinery Int’l Expo 2018, and 3rd Sri Lanka International Air Freight, Shipping & Logistics Expo 2018 will be held concurrently. The 11th CIFS 2018 expo is being strategically timed with Sri Lanka setting up new apparel factories and expanding the capacities of the present ones to match the fast-growing exports. Exhibitors at the event will present their latest innovations in fabrics, accessories, industrial use and other various applications. The exhibition is expected to draw huge visitors from the expanding apparel and textile arena of Sri Lanka.
"One of most striking examples is the development and widespread commercial usage of Unifi Inc.’s Repreve polyester fiber made from recycled post-consumer plastic water bottles. Two years ago, Unifi opened a bottle processing facility in Reidsville, N.C., to convert plastic bottles into polyester fiber and yarn, a year later it expanded its Repreve Recycling Center in Yadkinville, N.C. That gave the company an annual capacity to produce up to 60 million pounds of Repreve and other premier value-added products."
Introduction of new environment-friendly materials ranging from recycled polyester, upcycled and regenerated fabrics, recycled cotton and cellulosic fibers have fastracked developments in fiber and fabrics. Some new innovations in fabrics that have taken the textile world by storm are:
From plastic to polyester
One of most striking examples is the development and widespread commercial usage of Unifi Inc.’s Repreve polyester fiber made from recycled post-consumer plastic water bottles. Two years ago, Unifi opened a bottle processing facility in Reidsville, N.C., to convert plastic bottles into polyester fiber and yarn, a year later it expanded its Repreve Recycling Center in Yadkinville, N.C. That gave the company an annual capacity to produce up to 60 million pounds of Repreve and other premier value-added products.
Last year, Unifi recycled over 10 billion plastic bottles and it now targets 20 billion recycled bottles by 2020, and
30 billion by 2022. The company has recycled 10 billion plastic bottles into fiber for new clothing, shoes, home goods and other consumer products. This fiber is used by many of the world’s leading brands including New Era, Levi’s, Target and Ford.
In January 2018, Unifi introduced its Champions of Sustainability Award, which is given to 25 brand and retail partners that used 10 million or more bottles, and 15 textile partners use 50 million or more bottles, through the use of Repreve fiber.
Insulation from fibres
Polartec recently introduced the upgraded Polartec Power Fill insulation made from 100 per cent post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials. It is a warm, lightweight package insulation that is hydrophobic, fast-drying and highly compressible. It’s made of proprietary hollow fibers bonded together through a process that reduces environmental impact, while simultaneously providing superior insulating properties, durability and hand. When the insulation was introduced a year ago, it featured 80 per cent recycled content. Polartec has now upcycled more than 1 billion post-consumer plastic bottles into hundreds of fabric styles and category-creating platforms.
Commercial fibres from recycled materials
Tricia Carey, Director of Global Business Development at Lenzing says, Tencel with Refibra technology has been adopted by six brands: Country Road, Patagonia, Our of the Woods, Reformation, Marco Polo and Mara Hoffman, and four more brands are expected to adopt the fiber, which substitutes traditional Tencel in the fabric construction. Refibra is made using the closed-loop Tencel lyocell production process and is the only commercially available fiber made from recycled cotton and wood pulp.
Lenzing has also expanded the production of its Ecovero brand of viscose fibers to its Lenzing Nanjing Fibers facility in Nanjing, China. Ecovero, a fiber derived from sustainable wood pulp from certified and controlled sources, has been produced in Lenzing’s Austrian facility since it was launched this past Fall, and since then demand has been strong, which prompted plans to increase production capabilities to accommodate it.
At the same time, Lenzing will expand its capacities of Tencel Luxe filament yarn that was first launched in the market last year. The company will invest up to $35 million in a pilot line at the Lenzing site in Austria.
Making repurposed fabrics
Increasing the exposure of sustainable fabrics is the mission of C.L.A.S.S., which recently launched e-commerce on its revamped website, classecohub.org to make the recycled, upcycled and repurposed fabrics from its consortium of mills available to small designers and students to purchase, with 50-meter maximums.
Among C.L.A.S.S.’s firms whose uptake of materials have been expanded include Ecotec by Marchi & Fildi’s collection made from already dyed, pre-consumer cotton clippings that come in 70 colors, and Cupro fiber from Bemberg by Asahi Kasei made from the transformation of cotton linter bio-utility waste converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process. There’s also Re.VerSo, derived from wool and cashmere pre-consumer clippings supplied by a collaboration of five premium textile Italian producers, and Roica by Asahi Kasei, a sustainable elastane fiber that uses 50 percent pre-consumer materials.
Ricardo Silva, Head of Operations at Tintex Textiles, which uses sustainable materials including Tencel, organic cotton and BCI Cotton, and recycled materials in its Naturally Advanced fabric collection, said, “being part of C.L.A.S.S. since 2016 has helped us reach new customers.”
Belgium, Germany, Taiwan and the Czech Republic will put up pavilions at Cinte Techtextil, China from September 4 to 6.
Exhibitors in the Taiwan Pavilion will showcase a variety of innovations. Web-Pro will offer protective cover-all materials that resist pathogens and micro-organisms and multi-layered PE films for hygiene products, while Kae Hwa Industrial will introduce their developments in materials that protect against viruses. Four Elements Energy Biotechnology will showcase their multi-functional Masterbatch product, a unique FDA-qualified, anti-mildew and transparent plastic additive that repels bacteria.
Exhibitors in the German Pavilion will showcase their expertise in efficiency in textile production. Baumüller Nürnberg’s modular concepts and intelligent automations allow flexible reactions to changeable market requirements. Edelmann Technology brings new high speed winder systems for increased production rates and new concepts for reducing contamination in products. ISRA Surface Vision will present 100 per cent inline optical surface inspection methods for quality control and process optimisations.
The Belgium Pavilion will include textile recycling company Belrey Fibres, engineered fabrics by Pennel & Flipo for marine and rescue industries, as well as leading coating specialists Vetex who will feature a variety of functional tapes. The Czech Republic Pavilion on the other hand will showcase exhibitors who will provide solutions for technical yarn, fabric processing and nonwoven fabrics.
