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Circular Systems has technology and processes that can turn food crop waste into sustainable and regenerative fashion. Agraloop is a regenerative system that uses plant-based chemistry and plant-based energy to upgrade the fibers while enriching local communities and creating a new economic system.
Raw materials for the Agraloop technology are low cost. They are derived from banana trunks, pineapple leaves, sugarcane bark, and the stems of oilseed hemp and flax plants. Circular Systems, based in the US, is a materials company. It sees an opportunity to convert 10 million tons of food waste into sustainable textiles and fashion.
Currently food crop waste is burnt or left to rot, releasing methane gas and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The Agraloop system helps to regenerate depleted soil and reduce air pollution, and the fibers it produces are safe and healthy to wear.
From a technological standpoint, the system is a closed-loop bio process that happens at the farm level using modular mini-mills. The mini-mills produce plant-based energy and chemistry from the same food waste. The fibers produced are fully recyclable, renewable and biodegradable.
Circular Systems is helping drive a paradigm shift back to natural fabrics. In 1960, 97 per cent of textile fibers came from plants and animals. Today, that has come down to 35 per cent, with natural fibers with petrochemicals leading the norm.
Bangladesh manufacturers Noman makes a specialised fabric called Coolmax. The fabric transports moisture away from the body to keep the wearer cool and dry on hot days, while the fiber structures provide insulation on colder days. The fabric, which is derived from petro-chemicals, is mainly used to manufacture active sportswear items for export markets.
Now Noman is investing in a plant to manufacture the Coolmax fabric. Noman has set a target of manufacturing 120 tons of yarn a day from the proposed plant and exporting 100 million dollars worth of products a year. Noman has 36 industrial units in operation now. Currently, the group employs 80,000 workers and the number will cross a lakh when the proposed plant goes into production.
As a part of expansion plans, the group will also produce cloths for women’s veils for the local markets and for the Middle East markets in the near future. Among specialised clothing items, the group exports mosquito nets to India and Nepal.
The group’s main export item is bedsheets and other home textile items like curtains, floor mats, napkins and quilt covers. Apart from western markets, the group also has a steady business in Asian markets like Japan and China.
Karl Mayer will take over from Master the continuous dyeing technology with indigo and other dyestuffs of warp chains for denim fabrics. This means patents, trademarks, projects and dyeing technology for the Indigo Flow, Indigo Rope, and Indigo Genius machines will also now go to Karl Mayer.
Master is a leader in continuous dyeing with indigo and other dyestuffs. The company will stop manufacturing these machines and focus its activity on developing and manufacturing new machines for packages and hank dyeing.
Karl Mayer is a market leader and a driving force in textile machinery building. It offers various machine models and appropriate solutions for warp knitting, technical textiles and warp preparation for weaving.
Master, based in Italy, is known for its popular warp rope dyeing system for denim fabric. It is considered to be the most classic processing method, representing the most widely used one in the world. It has been used for over a hundred years and has never been subject to substantial technical changes, either technical or architectural.
The IndigoGenius represents the most advanced machine in the world. The ingenious technology is purely based on ecological and economical parameters, and cuts by half the number of dyeing vats. Master can transfer on its IndigoRope and even on the already existing rope dyeing the new technology of indigo and sulphur dyestuff dyeing.
Start-up manufacturer Half Century Jeans has come up with jeans that last. This is its way of combating the fast fashion mentality that sees consumers following clothing trends that last only a season, buying new and trendy clothes before they’re needed, and forgetting to recycle them.
Half Century’s products are built from special hybrid of materials including Japanese selvedge denim and ultra durable spectra fibers, which are 15 times stronger than cable steel. Selvedge denim is made using traditional shuttle looms. Using selvedge denim is crucial to the design of Half Century Jeans because it is more durable, better value in terms of cost per wear, made ethically and looks smarter.
The jeans come with a 50-year guarantee. Should there be anything that needs repairing or replacing over the course of 50 years in any pair of jeans, the company will fix it immediately and free of charge. Any pair returned for replacement will be either repaired to sell second-hand or recycled to create something new using the materials.
Unlike mass produced jeans that come with faux fading or holes, the jeans are built to look better with every day of further use. Additionally, all cotton used in the production of Half Century Jeans is 100 per cent organic.
Kyrgyzstan’s textile and apparel sector is dotted with small sized units. What they mainly do is import apparel from China and re-export to neighboring Russia and Kazakhstan. A large part of the country’s domestic demand too is fulfilled by apparel imported from China.
Till some years ago, apparel sourced from China was of low quality and this spurred some Kyrgyz companies to better their products. However, since then China's textile and apparel qualities have improved significantly and Kyrgyzstan’s clothing industry is facing technological obsolescence, low labor productivity, and absence of manufacturing and quality standards. Besides China, Kyrgyzstan is pitted against bigger, formal players like Bangladesh, India, Turkey, who have a diverse range of qualities and products to offer.
Almost 60 per cent of Kyrgyz trade is in the informal sector, in the form of selling in bazaars and cross-border trade. The apparel sector has low skilled, low quality workforce. The lack of sophisticated long term contracts with large international clients adds to this problem. Kyrgyzstan's tax policies are not quite conducive to formalisation of trade. Tax systems incentivise small companies. However, once they attain a certain size, companies are burdened with taxes, audits, leading to pay-offs and bribes. The cost of formalisation is high. Kyrgyzstan does not have a well developed financial system. And so the industry does not have access to easy and low cost bank loans.
India has banned import of seal furs and skins. The decision is the result of years of campaigning by Indian animal rights groups. India joins 36 other nations in banning the commercial sale of products made from the fur or skins of seals. Thousands of seals are brutally shot or clubbed to death for their fur and skin each year.
Canada’s commercial seal hunt happens to be the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world. Slowly but surely, the tide is turning for animals who have long been victimized by the fur trade. In March, San Francisco became the largest city in the US to ban the sale of fur. The sale of fur has been banned in London while Norway has officially outlawed fur farming.
Going fur free has become a major move among brands and retailers seeking to advance their sustainability agendas. Brands like DKNY and Donna Karan have banned fur from their collections. They believe killing animals to make fashion doesn’t feel right.
While animal welfare continues to become increasingly relevant among major apparel players, and consumers continue to demand more ethical shopping options, more industry members are opting to omit angora, exotic skins and fur from their products.
Bangladesh is looking for a bigger share of the global garment accessories and packaging market. Bangladesh is already well established as a sourcing hub for apparel products. Now, the country is investing in producing higher quality garment accessories. Since there is more capacity than is currently needed, accessories are seen as a big export earner.
Demand for accessories is growing the world over. Global brands prefer eco-friendly and high quality value added products. These direct exports are expected to open up a new avenue for local manufacturers. Accessories contribute 15 to 18 per cent of a finished garment product. The value addition of garment accessories is over 30 per cent.
Usually, accessory products are exported with finished products and termed deemed exports. Now, they are being separately exported to several countries as direct exports. Bangladesh aims at producing higher quality garment accessories with an aim to increase exports and establish the sector as a direct export earner instead of just deemed.
India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Finland, Myanmar and other apparel manufacturing countries are all potential markets for Bangladesh. However, a lack of policy support including gas and electricity connections and tax burdens hinders the inflow of investments, with port congestion being another issue.
Archroma’s Earth Colors range of biosynthetic dyes for cotton and cellulose-based fabrics is made from waste left over by the agricultural and herbal industry after extraction, such as almond shells, saw palmetto, or rosemary leaves.
The latest technology used on the end-product hangtags enables transparency and traceability through the supply chain to consumers. Archroma is a global leader in color and specialty chemicals. With a heritage of more than 130 years, Archroma provides solutions that combine performance, safety and low impact on resources.
Color Atlas is a platform specially devised to address the needs of designers, brands, retailers, and manufacturers, enhancing creative possibilities for the industry as well as manageability and time to market through key complementary tools. These are the six-volume Color Atlas Library with 4,320 color swatches and cotton poplin samples, the Color Atlas Compact in two volumes for increased portability, and the Color Atlas Online allowing to capture an image using a smartphone and immediately identify the closest Color Atlas shade palette, with the possibility to purchase a color sample instantly.
Sanitized Odoractiv 10 performs an odor control function for functional polyester textiles. It’s wash-resistant and has a dual-action effect: on the one hand it prevents the bacteria from docking on the textile, and on the other, it adsorbs odors while the garment is being worn.
"The spring edition of CHIC, held from March 14 to 16, 2018 ended on an optimistic note with yet another increase in visitor figures. Held at the National Exhibition & Convention Center, Shanghai the fair hosted 1,210 exhibitors from 21 countries. Around 112,666 visitors of all business channels were registered at the fair, among them were leading department stores, shopping malls, multibrand stores, agents, distributors. Chen Dapeng, President, Chic & EVP, China National Garment Association observed, “Consumers in China develop rapidly, ‘consumer upgrade’ is the keyword, the Chinese market is consumer oriented, demand is an individual young style. The offer has to adapt to the needs of this target group, the industry has to become even more innovative and face the technological challenges.”
The spring edition of CHIC, held from March 14 to 16, 2018 ended on an optimistic note with yet another increase in visitor figures. Held at the National Exhibition & Convention Center, Shanghai the fair hosted 1,210 exhibitors from 21 countries. Around 112,666 visitors of all business channels were registered at the fair, among them were leading department stores, shopping malls, multibrand stores, agents, distributors. Chen Dapeng, President, Chic & EVP, China National Garment Association observed, “Consumers in China develop rapidly, ‘consumer upgrade’ is the keyword, the Chinese market is consumer oriented, demand is an individual young style. The offer has to adapt to the needs of this target group, the industry has to become even more innovative and face the technological challenges.”
Chic Shanghai indicates to the Chinese market current trends, which is mirrored by fresh young design and a full visual concepts developed in cooperation with WGSN. It addresses the young trendsetting consumers, China’s driving force for strong growth in retail sales, which increased by 10.2 per cent in 2017 to about $5.7 trillion According to BCG study, this target group accounts for 65 per cent of consumption increase in China with a predicted growth of 11 per cent per year until 2021. The total domestic consumption contributed nearly 60 per cent to the economic expansion of the country last year.
Thorough networking
Exhibitors at the designer area Impulses, a core segment at Chic occupying the entire North Hall included the likes of Hua Mu Shen, Shan Zi, Mood for Mode. They were satisfied with besides numerous concrete cooperation agreements, high value orders were also placed. International exhibitors in the Fashion Journey area were from Brazil, Denmark, Germany, France, China, Hong Kong, India, Italy etc. Numerous promising cooperation took place that need intensive follow-up after the fair. Moreover, many companies even received orders at the fair. The Polish Investment and Trade Agency participated for the first time in Chic with its national export programme ‘go-to-brand’.
Heritage the International Fur Federation (IFF) presented for the first time with international producers such as auction houses NAFA and SAGA. Turkey was again represented under IDMIB /ITKIB by 10 companies. For national participants, grouped in pavilions of respective Chinese provinces, Chic is an essential business platform, they regularly meet buyers and this time too they registered a good number of orders.
Exhibitors’ views
Jean Pierre Parmentier, Marketing Sales, Delphine Charlotte Parmentier, France, stated, “It was our first time in the French pavilion and Chic in general. The fair was good for us. We got good visitors and made important contacts. The fair was well-organised so that we had no problems, everything was very easy for us. We were looking for buyers and distributors for this big market and made a lot of contacts and signed some orders.” In similar vein, Maxime Zheng, Chief Representative in China, Maison Lener, France said, “Our company is a family business that is now lead by the 3rd generation. We have participated in Chic for 5-6 years. Orders are usually placed in Paris or our Beijing showroom that opened last year. But this time at Chic, we received high number of orders. We met new customers and our new collection was well received.”
Service platform Chic
Expanded visitor management, online and offline, was a central aspect of the fair. Online via WeChat and official CHIC APP more than 200,000 visitor request for specific product groups were made, exhibitors uploaded more than 700,000 pieces of product information. Active exchange was initiated by the Buyers’ Talk on the second day of the fair, dealing with the development of buying systems of department stores and shopping malls, trend information was given at Chic Buyer’s Theme Salon on Day 2.
The VIP Buyers’ Meeting brought international brands and interested agents and distributors together – a service that the organiser will expand in future. “For us CHIC is an important platform for trend information and to find European brands we can introduce to the Chinese market,” says Wen Liu, CEO, Jesery from Wuhan, representative of Canadian designer brand JAC.
The next edition of CHIC will be held from September 27 to29, 2018 at the National Exhibition & Convention Center, Shanghai.
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its annual Prospective Plantings Report, issued on March 29, estimated the planted area for all US cotton in 2018 is at 13.5 million acres, a 7 per cent increase over 2017.
Upland cotton area is estimated at 13.2 million acres, up 7 per cent from last year. American Pima/ELS cotton area is estimated to grow by 4 per cent to 262,000 acres. Acreage increases are projected in 15 of the 17 cotton producing states in the U.S. Only Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia showed slight decreases. The largest state acreage estimates came from Texas (7.3 million acres) and Georgia (1.45 million acres). American Pima area is estimated at 262,000 acres, up 4 per cent from 2017.
