Textiles (142)
Cotton is a wonderfully versatile, all-natural fabric and is present in everything from bath towels and bed sheets to underwear, T-shirts, and socks. But cotton production is a mess. Fairtrade International argues that there’s such thing as better cotton, and shoppers should know the difference.
Fairtrade aims at reducing the social and environmental costs of cotton production. At a social level, genetic modification of cotton seeds has wreaked havoc in traditionally agrarian communities. In India, the second biggest cotton producer in the world after China, there has been a surge in farmer suicides. These tragic deaths are linked to genetically modified cotton and the ugly cycle of dependence on special seeds and chemicals. It’s estimated that, every 30 minutes, one farmer in India commits suicide, deep in debt and unable to provide for his family.
Environmentally, cotton growing is a disaster. Cotton accounts for 24 per cent of global sales of agricultural insecticides and uses a huge amount of water – approximately 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce one kilogram of cotton. Cotton production is linked to the destruction of the Aral Sea, the Indus River in Pakistan, the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, and the Rio Grande in the US and Mexico.
Turkish textile company Birlesik Tekstil to start factory in Serbia
Written by FWTurkish textile company Birlesik Tekstil is planning to open a factory in Belgrade, Serbia by the end of this year. This was announced by Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali. The proposed factory will come up in the city’s Lazarevac municipality. Birlesik Tekstil has acquired a factory of insolvent local textile company Beko and is looking to appoint 600 employees by the end of 2017 and another 600 at a later stage to do business.
Serbia imports $180 million worth of textile from Turkey annually which is the reason why Serbia should attract Turkish investors here says Ljajic. Serbia plans to promote a model that involves the reconstruction of old and abandoned halls where interested investors could install machinery and immediately start production. The country’s exports to Turkey rose by 10.8 per cent to 30 billion dinars in 2016, while imports from Turkey increased 18.1 per cent to 74.3 billion dinars, according to data from Serbia’s statistical office.
Total yarn production in India is likely to remain flat in 2016-17. This is on account of an estimated 2.1 per cent fall in cotton yarn output. However, synthetic yarn output is expected to grow by 3.4 per cent due to a healthy demand for the yarn in the domestic market as well as overseas markets.
In 2016-17, high cotton prices drove yarn manufacturers towards synthetic fibers which were priced lower. Demand for cotton yarn from China, the largest buyer of Indian cotton yarn, declined. Demonetisation also affected yarn output during the year. Total yarn production is likely to increase in 2017-18. During the year, total yarn output is likely to grow 3.8 per cent. Production of cotton yarn is expected to rise by 4.8 per cent. Synthetic yarn output is likely to grow by 2.3 per cent during the year.
In 2017-18, demand for yarn in the domestic market is expected to be healthy. This is likely to be backed by an increase in yarn purchases by manufacturers of apparels, home textiles and fabrics. Factors such as urbanization, rise in per capita income, favorable demographics and a shift in preference for branded products will boost the demand for these products in the domestic market.
The US is the largest exporter of cotton, accounting for 29 per cent of global exports. Exports for 2016-17 is forecasted to increase 53 per cent year-on-year. This is mainly driven by higher demand from Taiwan and China.
As a result, the US share of global cotton exports is set to reach 39 per cent, the highest level seen in six years. Prices shot up in July after Chinese cotton stocks were forecast to fall by 1.9 million tons y-o-y to touch 11.3 million tons in 2016-17, raising concerns over low supply. These speculations caused panic buying in the market, which saw prices rise. In fact, Chinese cotton stocks have been revised down further, currently forecast at 10.7 million tons, down 15 per cent y-o-y.
For the upcoming 2017-18 season US cotton planted area is expected to rise by over 20 per cent y-o-y. As long as the weather remains favorable, production would be expected to rise. This is the second consecutive year that global ending stocks have fallen. Ending stocks are forecast down six per cent y-o-y for the current 2016-17 season and down 19 per cent since the 2014-15 season. This is mainly driven by reduced ending stocks in China, as well as global consumption outweighing production.
Indorama buys leading European tire cord maker, Glanzstoff Group
Written by FWThai chemicals producer Indorama Ventures (IVL) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Glanzstoff Group, a major European manufacturer of tyre cord fabrics and single-end-cords (SEC) for high performance tyre applications.
Glanzstoff offers a broad range of solutions in tire cord fabrics and single-end-cords in high-performance rayon, aramid, nylon 6.6 and polyester in addition to hybrid filament yarns for the high-growth and high-performance automotive applications. Glanzstoff is Europe’s largest converter for tire cord fabrics and a global leader in SEC and is vertically integrated into high tenacity Rayon technology. It has manufacturing sites in Luxembourg, Italy and the Czech Republic.
Aloke Lohia, Group CEO of Indorama Ventures says the acquisition provides a unique opportunity for Indorama Ventures to consolidate its leadership position in the tire cord business and strengthens our high value-added (HVA) portfolio.
IVL entered the high-growth tire cord business following the acquisition of PHP fibers in 2014. Thereafter, it acquired Performance Fibers in 2015 and created a global scale as a result of these acquisitions. The company continues to invest and announced sizeable expansion of its tire-cord manufacturing line at Performance Fibers in Kaiping, China in January. On a pro forma basis, the combined revenue of PHP Fibers, Performance Fibers and Glanzstoff in 2016 was $602 million. On an all-inclusive basis, the HVA segment of IVL achieved sales revenue of over $2 billion in 2016.
Lohia says the company continues to pursue a transformational journey to consolidate our leadership position and pursue profitable growth opportunities in the high value-added segment. The Glanzstoff platform will expand the footprint beyond polyester and nylon 6.6 by entering into rayon technology. It focus remains on delivering best-in-class propositions, while driving our global innovation agenda to strengthen the company’s capabilities in the value chain in which we are present.
India may be the world’s number one home textile supplier in the coming years. Right now China is the world’s largest home textile producer. India’s home textile industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of eight per cent to reach $5.29 billion by the end of 2018. Curtains and upholstery, rugs and carpets will be some of the top growing home textile categories in the coming year, posting a CAGR of eight per cent and 9.4 per cent.
India is responsible for almost 21 per cent of towels in the global market and has a 19 per cent share in the global bed linen market. India is also one of the top suppliers for the world’s biggest home textile consuming market, the US. Increasing efforts in quality improvement, innovations through R&D and value-added features have helped India’s home textile products become more popular in the global market.
The home textile sector in India is the second largest employer in the country’s textile industry after the apparel sector. The made-up sector includes products like towels, bed sheets, blankets, curtains, crochet laces, pillow covers, embroidery articles and other home textile products. This sector gets production incentives and subsidies similar to what the garment sector gets.
German technology to be showcased at US and Mexican VDMA meets
Written by FWThe VDMA Textile Machinery Association will host B2B forums and technology conferences on November 6, 2017 in Charlotte (NC), USA, and on November 8-9, 2017 in Mexico City. Experts from well-known VDMA member companies will be present practice-oriented technology topics to decision-makers from the local textile industry.
Germany holds the top position in Europe and world-wide with €13 billion in annual sales in technical textiles. The this event is aimed at technical management, production managers, quality and maintenance managers as well as mill owners, among other decision-makers. The event will also focus on sustainability and recyclability.
This year's partner countries are Austria and Switzerland; and the host city for this important European textile conference is Dresden, which is Germany's center for lightweight engineering and one of the leading German locations for new materials. The event will have presentations along the entire textile chain will show how to increase competitiveness by innovative technology, higher productivity, resource efficiency, higher value-added textiles and industrial internet. The networking will be supported by B2B, interactive discussions with the professional audience and by a conference dinner in a comfortable atmosphere.
Rising orders make infuse optimism among Indian spinners
Written by FWAfter a disappointing end to 2016 and a sluggish beginning to 2017, spinners in India are finally beginning to regain some optimism. They have been getting a steady stream of orders for the past five or six weeks and enquiries are on the rise.
Ring-spun and air-jet yarns are getting a lot of attention. Positions are beginning to get a little tight again. Orders for open end yarns, in general, are still a bit light, but are improving. Interest is particularly high in specific categories like organic products, fire retardant yarns and products used for filtering. As the oil industry continues to recover, these categories may continue to grow.
One area that has not revived much, however, is home furnishings. But even here spinners expect business to pick up substantially in the near future. Despite renewed optimism among spinners, there are still a few concerns. Pricing and margins top the list. They feel selling all the yarn they can make is of no use, if profits are low. Margins continue to be a lot thinner than they would like. Spinners are doing everything they can to keep prices as low as possible but in a lot of cases, they have to rely on value-added advantages to create differentiation — quality, delivery and service.
Textile industry adopting various technologies to reduces water footprint
Written by FWNew manufacturing yarn processes and finishes are pushing towards a more sustainable delivery with a reduction of water. The textile industry uses billions of liters of water throughout all processing from dyeing to specialty chemical finishes that are applied to textiles in water baths to scouring, bleaching and softening. Through the Detox campaign Greenpeace has highlighted the damage of water pollution and use from the textile chain has had on the environment.
Greenpeace is campaigning to stop industry poisoning our water with hazardous, persistent and hormone-disrupting chemicals and the textile industry is embracing change in eco-friendly chemical use as well as water conservation. The importance of sustainability was featured at ISPO Texttrends in February and is now become a custom than a passing fad as the textile industry looks to new processes in reducing water and energy.
Textile manufacturer Schoeller and auxiliaries and dyes specialists at Textilcolor have developed Ecodye, a new auxiliary concept used, in particular, in polyester dyeing processes. The technology accelerates the dyeing process and contributes to cutting costs, while at the same time helping to preserve the environment with a low level of demand on resources. Ecodye also improves the dyeing levelness in polyester textiles. Spots and dye agglomeration are almost completely avoided, and the precipitation on the goods that arises as a result of polyester oligomers are no longer evident. On the other hand Ecodye provides good shade stability and avoids reproduction problems from batch to batch, reducing the rate of double staining and increasing the capacity utilization and productivity of the dyeing mill on a long-term basis.
SpinDye, which is a new company exhibits at ISPO this year, the company offers a different approach in the production of synthetics, in particular nylon and polyester. Final laundering of fabrics is becoming a process of the past. An innovative collaboration held at the recent Kingpins Show in Amsterdam for denim highlighted the company’s technology in this area, in creating finishes that have now water or chemicals involved. The Laser Blaze machine creates graphics on surfaces using light, whilst NoStone is a system that create stonewash effects with the use of pumice stones through ozone finishing.
Brugnoli presents new fabric line, names it ‘B.Recycled’
Written by FWItalian company specialising in high-end fabrics Brugnoli, has launched a new high-quality, zero-kilometer fabric line based on recycled yarn called B.Recycled. In order to guarantee fabrics with exceptional quality and undisputed performance, Brugnoli has a partnership with the Italian company Fulgar.
This zero-kilometer product line means the supply chain is monitored and certified throughout. The creation of B.Recycled by Brugnoli starts with a raw material recycling process carried out entirely at Fulgar laboratories and mills. Work then continues at the Brugnoli plant, where all the fabrics are created, produced and dyed in the same location.
In 2015 Brugnoli broke new ground with the launch of its Br4 technology for the creation of bio-based fabrics. The eco-sustainable production process enables the creation of extremely high-quality fabrics made using Evo by Fulgar, a bio-based yarn obtained from castor bean. Evo by Fulgar is an eco-friendly yarn that aims to provide total comfort and technical performance combined with light weight, stretch, breathability and fast drying, plus naturally thermo regulating and bacterio static properties.
More...
Italdenim keeps its date with Kingpins Amsterdam with Pure Denim
Written by FWItalian premium denim manufacturer Italdenim participated in the latest edition of Kingpins Amsterdam through a new company founded in December 2016, Pure Denim. And Gigi Caccia, Co-owner of Italdenim and Pure Denim along with Ilaria explains they strongly believe in the importance of sustainable denim production. He further explains in the last few years the company had to fight against aggressive low-price competitors and indebtedness caused by strong investment in adequate machinery following new sustainable productive standards.
The Caccia brothers want to rescue Italdenim, the company that continues producing denim for their group. Their aim is to once again touch their yearly target of making 8 million meter denim. Caccia further adds the company believes in the importance of sustainable production. During Kingpins, they showcased a completely new denim collection produced as per new smart and environmentally-friendly techniques.
Among the new environmentally-friendly products offered by the new company, was ‘Smart Denim’, a light gray denim that employs an innovative dyeing technique that uses only recycled graphite combined with Kitosan yarn, a bio-based finishing substance derived from crustaceous skin, that requires nor water nor chemicals when finishing denim.
The graphite-based dyeing technique was developed by WRAD a company co-founded by Matteo Ward, visionary entrepreneur sensitive to sustainable issues and involved in recycling graphite remains from industrial use in partnership with Perpetua, a pencil brand that is 100 per cent made with recycled graphite.
Gigi Caccia further said they believe recycling graphite for dyeing denim, like every new eco-friendly denim technology is the beginning of a new revolution in this market one can compare it to the birth of electric car in the car industry.
The 10th International Pakistan Textile Machinery and Garment Technology (IGATEX) 2017 exhibition opened its doors at the Karachi Expo Centre today. Exhibitors and organisers are optimistic about achieving their targets as more than 550 international and local manufacturers of textile machinery and technology from 35 countries are showcasing their latest products at the four-day exhibition.
There are 73 companies from Italy, 70 from Germany, 50 from China, 25 from Turkey and 80 from the host country Pakistan displaying their latest products. The highlight of this exhibition is some 20 companies from India are also participating through their representatives.
Pakistan is in a dire need of modern technology which is lacking in the frontline business. The country is lacking in modern technology which is causing an imbalance in garment industry, the recent example is Bangladesh although a cotton deficit country did trade worth $35billion in the last year.
The maiden IGATEX in 2002, had around 200 companies despite the threat of terror attacks and lack of law and order at that time and the number has increased to 550 in 2017.
Pakistan’s textile industry wants Chinese investment. The hope is to enter into successful joint ventures to benefit from each others’ entrepreneurial potential. The two countries are planning to enter into joint ventures for 1,00,000 spindles, 500 airjet looms and fabric dyeing and printing plants in Pakistan.
Chinese companies are looking mainly at the cement, steel, energy and textile sectors, the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. Chinese firms are eager to expand abroad at a time when growth has slowed at home. Pakistan has offered a package to the exporting industry with an added attraction of 12 to 15 per cent for producing and manufacturing in Pakistan.
To ease the cost of doing business, the country has announced an export-led growth package encompassing provision of drawback of local taxes and levies at four per cent on yarn and greig fabric, five per cent on processed fabric, six per cent on textile made ups, seven per cent on textile garments against realisation of exports.
The foreign investment policy offers zero per cent duty on imports of capital goods, zero per cent corporate income tax rate, 10 years’ corporate income tax holiday, 50 acres minimum land required for special economic zones and permission of 100 per cent private ownership.
Mimaki will participate at Texprocess and Techtextil, Germany, May 9 to 12, 2017. The manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutting systems will showcase its TS300P-1800 with sublimation inks and the Tx300P-1800 printer with pigment inks during the large-format inkjet printing step of the micro-factory, involving sublimation printing on polyester and pigment printing on cotton and mixed fibers.
Both have been developed for the textile print industry. The TS300P-1800 wide format, high-speed dye sublimation textile printer delivers cost-effective printing while maintaining high quality and productivity and is designed to print onto the thinnest of transfer paper. The Tx300P-1800 direct textile inkjet printer delivers high-quality printing on a wide range of textiles and is ideally suited for applications such as fashion, furnishing, soft signage and exhibitions.
Texprocess serves the international garment-manufacturing and textile processing industry while Techtextil brings together technical textiles and nonwovens showing the full range of potential uses of textile technologies. The events will allow Mimaki to demonstrate its textile inkjet print technologies and educate a wide audience. There will be a roundtable discussion on high speed dye sublimation printing which will explain the difference between sublimation transfer and direct dye sublimation printing, and how each technology can be beneficial for home textiles and interior design.
