From the Sector

• Polynova to gain market share for the GRAFE Group in the Swiss region from November The GRAFE Group, Blankenhain, has found a new sales representative for Switzerland in Polynova Group AG, Risch-Rotkreuz (Switzerland).

The partnership will be officially launched at Fakuma 2021. "Our new Swiss agency specialises in the distribution and production of high-quality technical plastic granulates and has been active on the market for more than 20 years. The company has a large customer base and the necessary technical expertise to advance our goals in this important market. This includes raising our profile, educating people about our product range and ultimately gaining market share," says Stefanie Theuerkauf, Sales Manager for the D-A-CH region. Polynova employs five sales staff and three in logistics, all of whom have a technical background. The company's own warehouse in Rothenburg also ensures the availability of the plastics.

"GRAFE fits perfectly into our product portfolio," says Thomas Weigl, co-owner and responsible for business development at the Swiss distribution company, whose employees recently underwent intensive training in Blankenhain. "Our customers come from the sports goods, housing technology, automotive supplier and medical technology sectors - there are many synergies with GRAFE." Weigl himself has extensive experience in the masterbatch sector and has worked for two companies in the industry - Sukano and Americhem - as managing director. "Swiss companies want Swiss contact persons. We speak the languages German, Italian and French, are on site in the shortest possible time, offer direct contact and understand the needs of the customers and the requirements of the market," he explains. "Polynova is thus faster, closer and more direct." "The Swiss market is large and important for us," reports Theuerkauf and Weigl explains the background: "There are over 300 plastics processors, many are family-run and very technically oriented. The origins of the companies are often in the watch industry and in the production of the smallest precision parts such as gear wheels. In addition, coffee machine manufacturers, medical technology providers and automotive suppliers are important market players. A large number of well-known OEMs are located here."

Even though there are already masterbatch manufacturers in the Alpine country, says the sales expert, no one has the know-how to adjust compounds and masterbatches as perfectly and precisely as the company from Thuringia. In addition to a complete range of colours on practically all plastic substrates, flame retardants, UV additives, thermal stabilisers or lubricants are further examples of the extensive product portfolio. GRAFE is one of the specialists in the modification of thermoplastics and is an innovation driver in the production of colour masterbatches. "The technical possibilities in terms of a state-of-the-art technical centre and production machinery, as well as one of the largest research and development departments in the industry, are also not to be found elsewhere on the Swiss market. Our task now is to bring these to the attention of domestic customers," says Thomas Weigl, co-owner of Polynova AG together with founder Renato R. Huebscher.

• Next-Gen Technologies for Nonwovens/Engineered Materials
• Canopy Respirator from Canopy Wins Innovation Award

145 professionals in product development, material science, and new technologies convened for the 11th conference edition of RISE®—Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics, held virtually, Sept. 28-30. The event was co-organized by INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, The Nonwovens Institute, and North Carolina State University.

The program focused on Nonwoven Material Science Developments, Sustainability, Increasing Circularity, Promising Innovations, Process Innovations, Material Innovations, Government/NGO Challenges to Single-Use Plastics, Machine-Assisted-Learning Development of Biopolymers, and Market Intelligence and Economic Insights.

Participants praised the high-quality program content, in-depth round table discussions, networking and Q&A’s where participants ask expert speakers questions pertaining to their focused presentations.

Highlights among the 26 presentations included

• Sustainable Solutions for our Plastic Planet Predicament, by Marc A. Hillmyer, Ph.D., McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair, University of Minnesota;
• Closed-Loop Recycling Pilot of Single-Use Face Masks by Peter Dziezok, Ph.D., Director of Open Innovation, Proctor & Gamble;
• Innovating a Sustainable Future for Nonwovens: A European Perspective, by Matt Tipper, Ph.D., CEO, Nonwovens Innovation & Research Institute (NIRI);
• Phantom Platform: The Polyolefin-cellulose Coformed Substrates Technology, by Fabio Zampollo, CEO and Founder of Teknoweb Materials; 
• Guiding Environmentally Sustainable Innovations – From Reactive to Proactive Life Cycle Management, by Valentina Prado, Ph.D., Senior Sustainability Analyst, EarthShift Global LLC;  
• High-Loft, Ultra-Soft Hygiene Solutions, Paul E. Rollin, Ph.D., Senior Principal Scientist – Global Hygiene, Propylene-Vistamaxx-Adhesion (PVA) Global Technology, ExxonMobil Chemical Company;
• Canadian Plastic Policy Update, by Karyn M. Schmidt, Senior Director, Regulatory & Technical Affairs, American Chemistry Council (ACC).

Other highlights included the announcement of Canopy Respirator as the winner of this year’s RISE® Innovation Award winner. The annual award recognizes innovation in areas within and on the periphery of the nonwovens industry which use advanced science and engineering principles to develop unique or intricate solutions to problems and advance the usage of nonwovens.

RISE® Innovation Award Winner
The RISE® Innovation Award was presented to Canopy for their Canopy Respirator. The productis an innovative respirator that is fully mechanical, non-electrostatic, with a filter designed for superior breathability while offering the wearer facial transparency. The breakthrough respirator features 5.5mm water column resistance at 85 liters (3 cubic feet) per minute, 2-way filtration, and a pleated filter that contains over 500 square centimeters of surface area. The patented Canopy respirator resists fluids, and eliminates fogging of eyeglasses.

The rescheduled Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles, now taking place from 9 – 11 October, will once again provide the industry with insight into the future through its fringe programme’s four categories: Design Inspiration, Business O2O, Textiles & Technologies and Industry Empowerment. And with the Online Business Matching sourcing platform returning this edition, buyers worldwide can still participate in the fair.

Each of the fringe programme’s four categories – Design Inspiration, Business O2O (online to offline), Textiles & Technologies and Industry Empowerment – features a mix of conferences, seminars and presentations that reflect the future of the home textile industry. Highlights of each category are included below, while further details can be found on the fair’s website: https://intertextile-shanghai-hometextiles-autumn.hk.messefrankfurt.com/shanghai/en/programme-events.html.

Since 2019, Messe Frankfurt has been working with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and United Nations Office for Partnerships as part of the Texpertise Network and supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The goals will be presented gradually at global textile events in order to highlight the most pressing challenges facing the textile and fashion industry worldwide.

Industry Empowerment: antimicrobial technologies and licensing in the home textile sector

Growing awareness of health and hygiene has increased the demand for antimicrobial and other functional textiles. Seminars hosted by the Chinese Industry Association for Antimicrobial Materials & Products will further discuss the increasing prominence of these textiles, as well as how the adoption of new antimicrobial textile technologies is expected to evolve in the future. In addition, experts will share the new trends of licensing and IP with case studies for the furniture companies and fabric brands.

2022 China Home Textile Trends

The China Home Textiles Trend Area will feature the research of the China Home Textile Association, The Department of Home Textile Trend Research and Promotion and Concept & Style Fashion Project Group Italy who shared their knowledge, inspirations and exchanged their visions of trend evolutions considering consumer demand, retail expertise, the contract market and new technologies.

Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition 2021 will be held concurrently with Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition, Yarn Expo Autumn, PH Value and CHIC at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Home Textile Association (CHTA).

Textechno reports launch of a new standard for the drapability and deformability of fabrics and non-wovens: ISO 21765

World market leader for precision testing equipment Textechno and their partner SAERTEX, global market leader in non-crimp fabrics (NCF) are proud to announce that the newly developed international standard ISO 21765:2020 to quantify material behaviour in terms of drapability and deformability was recently published by ISO.

The new standard ISO 21765 allows the world-wide comparable measurement of all relevant parameters regarding the deformability and drapability of all kinds of fabrics, including woven fabrics and NCFs as well as knitted fabrics and non-wovens on Textechno´s precision testing equipment DRAPETEST. This can be very useful in the carbon fibre recycling since one of the most efficient applications of recycled carbon fibres will be in non-wovens.

This is the first testing instrument world-wide to quantify not only the force which is required for deforming a fabric, but also the various defects such as gaps, undulation, or wrinkles which can arise due to the deformation.

In the frame of a publicly funded project which started in 2011, Textechno developed the award-winning automatic drapability tester DRAPETEST along with other partners, amongst them SAERTEX.  

Dietmar Möcke, CTO at SAERTEX says: „With ISO 21765, we finally have a standardized testing method with world-wide validity. It allows us to provide our customers with comparable and reproducible measurement values regarding the draping characteristics of our products.”

Ulrich Mörschel, Managing Director of Textechno adds: “We are grateful for the support from all around the world allowing us to establish the new ISO standard. The standard finally fills a gap in the testing methods for fabrics both in the fields of textiles and composites.”

Dr. Michael Effing, Managing Director of AMAC GmbH and Senior Advisor to Textechno: “A lot of research is dedicated to new production technologies of composites, non-crimp fabrics and classical fabrics for thermosets have with 33 % a significant market share in the production of all composite materials. The application of the new standard for non-wovens from recycled carbon fibres comes perfectly on time for this market sector which will gain more and more importance within the next years.

Outdoor Research, die in Seattle ansässige Firma für Funktionskleidung und Outdoor-Ausrüstung, bringt in diesem Herbst mit seinen RadiantX-Handschuhen und -Fäustlingen eine neue Linie auf den Markt und ist damit die erste Marke, die auf die HeiQ XReflex Radiant-Barrier-Technologie für Handschuhe setzt.

Bei HeiQ Reflex, das von HeiQs Joint-Venture-Partner Xefco entwickelt wurde, handelt es sich um eine patentierte Wärmebarriere-Technologie, mit der Produkte dünner, leichter und wärmer werden. HeiQ XReflex nutzt eine hauchdünne reflektierende Oberflächenbeschichtung, die energetische Infrarot-Körperwärmewellen auf den Körper zurückstrahlt. Diese sogenannte Radiant-Barrier-Beschichtung wird auf einer Seite des Gewebes mittels eines Hightech-Aufdampfverfahrens aufgebracht, das keinen negativen Einfluss auf die Luftdurchlässigkeit, die Geräuschentwicklung, die haptischen Eigenschaften, die dauerhaft wasserabweisende Wirkung (durable water repellence, DWR) oder die daunendichten Eigenschaften des Gewebes hat. Die Radiant-Barrier-Textilien werden mit optimierten Isolationsmaterialien kombiniert, sodass isolierende Kleidungsstücke mit bis zu 50 % weniger Volumen und Gewicht bei gleichbleibender Wärmeleistung (gemessen in CLO) entstehen. HeiQ XReflex ist erhältlich auf Geweben und Vliesstoffen und hat eine Haltbarkeit von über 20 Waschvorgängen.

The Discover Natural Fibres Initiative (DNFI) will announce the winner of the Innovation in Natural Fibre Research Award soon. The aim of the award is to raise awareness of the achievements of the natural fibers sector by recognizing innovative and progressive work by people and institutions at the level of production and use of natural fibers. The closing date for applications was September 10.

Interest in the award was high again in 2021, indicating that research in fields involving natural fibres is robust. The applications that were received reveal a fascinating array of projects, new topics, and both private and public sector funding for natural fibre research.

There are seven finalists, and final judging is underway. The winner of the 2021 Award will be announced in early October.

The seven finalists for the 2021 Award fall into several broad categories, including traceability and the measurement of environmental impacts of natural fibres, the use of natural fibres in manufacturing biodegradable composites, and new or expanded uses for natural fibre materials. Researchers and institutions located in Australia, India, Republic of Korea, and Switzerland are among the finalists for the 2021 award.

The REACH4texiles project just kicked off. Funded by the European Commission, it aims at exploring solutions for fair and effective market surveillance on textile products.

Every year, about 28 billion of garments circulate across Europe, 80% of which are imported from outside the EU and its jurisdiction.
 
Inevitably, such huge volumes pose enormous challenges for market surveillance authorities which are called to ensure that uncompliant dangerous products are kept away from the EU citizens.

The European Union has the world most comprehensive chemical legislation which is set to protect consumers, the environment and, theoretically, even the competitiveness  of the business.

Such EU chemical legislation evolves constantly, increasing scope and ambition. New restrictions impact authorities and sectors like the European textile value chain and generate new costs for all actors.

Evidence suggests that such advanced regulatory framework is not completed with an equally advanced or effective EU-wide control system capable of ensuring compliance, especially in the case of imported products.

The REACH4texiles project aims at exploring solutions for fair and effective market surveillance on textile products; it pools together the key actors to address three objectives:

• Keep non-compliant products away from the single market.
• Increase skills and knowledge.
• Support a Network addressing chemicals in textiles and applying the EU regulation 2019/1020

The 2 years project will share best practices, identify efficient approaches against non-compliant products, offer training and support for a more effective surveillance and for level playing field.

The project welcomes collaboration with concerned authorities across the EU Member States.

Details:

A well-functioning EU market surveillance system is an essential prerequisite to protect citizen, the environment and competitiveness of responsible business. When it comes to textiles, the broad range of products, the large set of REACH subjected chemicals used in textiles as well as industrial strategies like fast fashion make this a challenging task.

Challenges may include lack of resources, difficulties in identifying higher risk products, cost and management of chemical tests, lack of test methods and knowledge of best practices. These challenges are yet likely to increase with the upcoming REACH restrictions and the growth of e-commerce.

Because of this, products that do not comply with REACH regulations encounter today little or no barriers to enter the market. This creates not only a health risk for Europeans but also undermines the competitivity of responsible businesses that take all necessary measures to comply with these regulations.

Addressing the challenges requires more knowledge at market surveillance and stronger collaboration between these authorities, the textile and clothing industry and testing laboratories. More knowledge about the identification of risk baring textile products and REACH chemicals likely to be used in these products, suitable test methods and strategies such as fast screening on REACH chemicals, trustworthiness of labels, etc can increase the effectiveness of market surveillance considerably.

The REACH4Textiles first objective (keep non-compliant products away from the EU Market) will be pursued by increasing knowledge on market surveillance functioning by and working on a risk-based approach to identify products at higher risk.

The second objective supports a network to address the specificities of chemicals in textiles with market surveillance authorities and involving other relevant stakeholders. The third objective focuses on sharing knowledge with market surveillance actors on textile products and suitable test methodologies.

Supported by the European Commission DG Growth, the project team is coordinated by the Belgian test and research center Centexbel and include the European Textiles and Apparel industry confederation, EURATEX, the German national textile and fashion association Textile und Mode, t+m, the Italian association Tessile e Salute. Several other European industry associations and national authorities are welcomed to become involved through the project activities.   

• Innovations in Protection, Efficiency and Engineered Fabrics

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, announced the three finalists for the prestigious RISE® Innovation Award during the 11th edition of the Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics Conference, (RISE®) to be held virtually September 28-30, 2021.  The award recognizes novel innovations in the nonwovens industry that creatively use next-level science and engineering principles to solve material challenges and expand the usage of nonwovens and engineered fabrics. These three finalists will present their innovative material science solutions as they compete for the RISE® Innovation Award.

Canopy Respirator
Canopy is an innovative respirator that is fully mechanical, non-electrostatic, with a filter designed for superior breathability while offering the wearer facial transparency. The breakthrough respirator features 5.5mm water column resistance at 85 liters (3 cubic feet) per minute, 2-way filtration, and a pleated filter that contains over 500 square centimeters of surface area. The patented Canopy respirator resists fluids, and eliminates fogging of eyeglasses.  

Evalith® 1000 Series
Johns Manville’s innovative Alpha Binder is a formaldehyde-free, high bio-carbon content, toxic-free binder formulation ideal for carpet mat applications. Alpha Binder eliminates monomer and polymer synthesis, uses a bio-degradable catalyst, and requires 70% less water in manufacturing. The resulting glass mats made of Alpha Binder are named “Evalith 1000” and reduces energy consumption during manufacturing by over 70% compared to alternative petroleum-based binders. Evalith 1000 was commercialized in North America in 2020.

Fiber Coated, Heat Sealable, Breathable, Hybrid Membrane, Fabric Protection
TiGUARD protective fabric is a construction of monolithic or hybrid imperious/moisture eliminating membranes with a surface covered with micro-fiber. This nonwoven product is a multi-layer all polyester fabric specifically for chemical and microbial protective fabrics, products, and garments. It is constructed of compatible heat seal-able materials which lend themselves to high-speed heat seal-able production and ultimately automated manufacture of garments without sewing. It is a combination of a densely flocked polyester fiber surface on polyester membrane supported by polyester scrim.
Virtual RISE™ conference attendees include technology scouts and product developers in the nonwoven/engineered fabrics industry seeking new developments to advance their businesses. These attendees will electronically vote for the recipient of the 2021 RISE® Innovation Award, on Wed. Sept. 29th. The winner will be announced Thurs., Sept. 30th.

The conference program will cover timely and relevant industry topics including: Material Science Developments for Sustainable Nonwovens; Increasing Circularity in Nonwovens; Market Intelligence & Economic Insights; Promising Innovations in Nonwovens; Process Innovations in Nonwovens; Material Innovations in Nonwovens;  the full program can be viewed on the link: https://www.riseconf.net/conference.php

A sector alliance that was formed to tackle issues relating to microplastics has completed the next phase of its project to develop a harmonised industry standard for the supply chain. The Cross Industry Agreement (CIA) has revealed the results of a fibre fragmentation trial that has been carried out in advance of establishing a CEN Standard (from the European Committee for Standardization). Once confirmed, the standard will also become an ISO standard under the Vienna Agreement, providing apparel manufacturers and policy makers with a vital tool as part of wider work to reduce microfibre shedding into the environment.

In 2018, five industry organisations agreed to join forces to proactively tackle the issue of microplastics, and signed the Cross Industry Agreement. The initial signatories were European industry associations that represent the European and global value chains of garments and their associated maintenance – the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (A.I.S.E.), European Man-Made Fibres Association (CIRFS), European Outdoor Group (EOG), EURATEX the European apparel and textile industry confederation, and the Federation of the European Sporting goods Industry (FESI). Together, the five organisations understood that the very first step to enable global action around the topic, was to agree a harmonised test method which would allow the collection and comparison of globally generated data, to aid the identification of solutions.

The microfibre shedding test method was developed thanks to the joint efforts and cooperation of experts from 28 European, American and Asian organisations; the result was handed over to CEN in 2020. Since then, representatives from the CIA have been working with CEN to fine tune details in order to meet the requirements for a CEN Standard. To verify the reproducibility of the method, the partners have carried out a round robin trial (RRT) to determine if the method could be replicated in different laboratories and produce similar results. 10 organisations participated in the RRT, which was co-ordinated by the CIA, sending fabric samples to all of the laboratories involved and then collecting and analysing the data.

The results from the RRT show statistically significant consistency, both within and between participating laboratories, which demonstrates that the method is both repeatable in the same setting and reproducible in other laboratories.

The CIA has submitted the results of the RRT to CEN, with the intention that the CEN Standard is confirmed in the near future. Once that has happened, it will be promoted throughout the apparel industry and will become a key tool for researchers, businesses and governments as they accelerate efforts to reduce microfibre shedding associated with garment production.

Fibre Extrusion Technology Ltd of Leeds, UK has installed a new meltspinning system to upgrade research facilities at NIRI, the Nonwovens Innovation & Research Institute Ltd UK, a global leader in nonwoven engineering and product development.

Established in 1998, FET is a leading supplier of laboratory and pilot meltspinning systems with installations in over 35 countries and has now successfully processed almost 30 different polymer types in multifilament, monofilament and nonwoven formats.
 
The installation comprises a FET-102 Series Laboratory Meltblown Spinning System and FET-103 Monofilament Meltspinning System. This advanced equipment enhances NIRI’s extensive pilot facilities and state-of-the-art analytical laboratory for fast tracking innovation. In particular, the FET meltblown system will be utilised for R&D, pilot projects, sampling and prototyping, proof of concept testing and for designing cost-effective, sustainable and innovative products.

NIRI supports global manufacturing companies to identify new opportunities for meltblown nonwovens, develop their next generation of products and accelerate their commercialisation activities. NIRI’s new upgraded laboratory and pilot system from FET can process a wide range of polymer types, including chemically recycled polymers, bio-polymers and many difficult-to-process materials.