From the Sector

With China easing its pandemic restrictions, foreign exhibitors and buyers can look forward to quarantine-free travel when participating at this year’s industry showcase in Shanghai. The technical textile and nonwovens fair is scheduled to take place from 19 – 21 September 2023 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, amid positive market forecasts for both sectors. The organisers are anticipating a strong showing and the conclusion of an inconsistent period for in-person textile business.

“The industry has demonstrated incredible patience and resilience over the course of the pandemic,” said Ms Wilmet Shea, General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd. “With both markets growing and China opening its borders, we are excited at the prospect of providing participants with an international, business-friendly platform and expect to welcome a healthy number of exhibitors later this year.”

The global technical textile and nonwovens markets are both set to perform strongly over the next few years. According to Grand View Research, the technical textile market is forecast to expand at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2022 to 2030^[1]. The nonwoven fabrics market is anticipated to display an even stronger CAGR of 5.6% during the same period^[2], with Asia-Pacific to maintain its position as the biggest regional market.

As one of Asia’s leading trade fairs for the abovementioned sectors, Cinte Techtextil China is the preferred platform for multiple industry players. Speaking at the previous edition in 2021, Mr Seven Shen, Sales Manager at Libero Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, China, said: “We have been exhibiting at this fair for years, and know we will meet our target customers at every edition. The buyers here are all highly specialised.”

During his interview at the same edition, Mr Eric Ni, Senior Manager, China Supply Chain Marketing for Cotton Council International, USA, commented: “We hope to use this platform to meet more companies and brands in the nonwovens industry who are interested in US cotton, and to meet up with old friends to discuss the current situation and industry trends. The fair’s buyers are quality, and we have found some new potential clients at this edition.”

Many buyers at the previous edition also gave positive appraisals. “As a professional trade fair for technical textile and nonwoven products, Cinte Techtextil China is not only a platform to gather qualified industry players, but also the best place to showcase new products and innovations,” said Mr Lin Bin, Technical Director at Zhejiang Xinna Medical Device Technology Co Ltd, China. “Specific and high quality products enhance sourcing efficiency for buyers, and exposure to new trends and market developments ensures my company visits here regularly.”

The fair’s product categories cover 12 application areas, which comprehensively span a full range of potential uses in modern technical textiles and nonwovens. These categories also cover the entire industry, from upstream technology and raw materials providers to finished fabrics, chemicals and other solutions. This scope of product groups and application areas ensures that the fair is an effective business platform for the entire industry.

^[1] “Technical Textile Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report 2022-2030”, 2022, Grand View Research, https://bit.ly/3IAxQIK, (Retrieved: January 2023)
^[2] “Nonwoven Fabrics Market Size”, 7 September 2022, GlobeNewswire, https://bit.ly/3CxPE3u, (Retrieved: January 2023)

For the third time, nova-Institute awards the “Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year” award in the frame of the “Cellulose Fibres Conference 2023” (8-9 March 2023). The conference advisory board nominated six remarkable products, including cellulose fibres from textile waste, banana production waste and bacterial pulp, a novel technology for producing lyocell yarns and a hygiene product. The innovations will be put to the vote of the conference audience on the first day of the event, with the awards ceremony taking place in the evening. The innovation award “Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year 2023” is sponsored by GIG Karasek (AT).

Here are the six nominees
Vybrana – The new generation banana fibre – GenCrest Bioproducts (India)
Vybrana is a Gencrest’s Sustainable Cellulosic Fibre upcycled from agrowaste. Raw fibres are extracted from the Banana Pseudo stem at the end of the plant lifecycle. The biomass waste is then treated by the Gencrest patented Fiberzyme technology. Here, cocktail enzyme formulations remove the high lignin content and other impurities and help fibre fibrillation. The company's proprietary cottonisation process provides fine, spinnable cellulose staple fibres suitable for blending with other staple fibres and can be spun on any conventional spinning systems giving yarns sustainable apparel. Vybrana is produced without the use of heavy chemicals and minimized water consumption and in a waste-free process where balance biomass is converted to bio stimulants Agrosatva and Bio Fertilizers & organic manure.

HeiQ AeoniQ™ – technology for more sustainability of textiles – HeiQ (Austria)
HeiQ AeoniQ™ is the disruptive technology and key initiative from HeiQ with the potential to change the sustainability of textiles. It is the first climate-positive continuous cellulose filament yarn, made in a proprietary manufacturing process and the first to reproduce the properties of polyester and nylon yarns in a cellulosic, biodegradable, and endlessly recyclable fibre.
HeiQ AeoniQ™ can be manufactured from different cellulosic raw materials such as pre- and post-consumer textile waste, biotech cellulose, and non-valorized agricultural waste, such as ground coffee waste or banana peels. It naturally degrades after only 12 weeks in the soil. Each ton of HeiQ AeoniQ™ saves 5 tons of CO2 emissions. The first garments made with this innovative cellulosic filament fiber were commercially launched in January 2023.

TENCEL™ LUXE – lyocell filament yarn – Lenzing (Austria)
TENCEL™ LUXE is LENZING’s new versatile lyocell yarn that offers an urgently needed sustainable filament solution for the textile and fashion industry. A possible botanical alternative for silk, long-staple cotton, and petrol-based synthetic filaments, is derived from wood grown in renewable, sustainably managed forests, and produced in an environmentally sound, closed-loop process that recycles water and reuses more than 99 % of organic solvent. Certified by The Vegan Society, it is suitable for a wide range of applications and fabric developments, from finer high fashion propositions to denim constructions, seamless and activewear innovations, and even agricultural and technical solutions.

Nullarbor™ – Nanollose & Birla Cellulose (Australia/India)
In 2020, Nanollose & Birla Cellulose started a journey to develop and commercialize tree-free lyocell from bacterial cellulose, called Nullarbor™. The name derives from the Latin “nulla arbor” which means “no trees”. Initial lab research at both ends led to a joint patent application with the patent “production of high-tenacity lyocell fibres made from bacterial cellulose”.
Nullarbor is significantly stronger than lyocell made from wood-based pulp; even adding small amounts of bacterial cellulose to wood pulp increases the fibre toughness. In 2022, the first pilot batch of 260kg was produced with 20 % bacterial pulp share. Several high-quality fabrics and garments were produced with this fibre. The collaboration between Nanollose & Birla Cellulose now focuses on increasing the production scale and amount of bacterial pulp in the fibre.

Circulose® – makes fashion circular – Renewcell (Sweden)
Circulose® made by Renewcell is a branded dissolving pulp made from 100 % textile waste, like worn-out clothes and production scraps. It provides a unique material for fashion that is 100 % recycled, recyclable, biodegradable, and of virgin-equivalent quality. It is used by fibre producers to make staple fibre or filaments like viscose, lyocell, modal, acetate or other types of man-made cellulosic fibres. In 2022, Renewcell, opened the world’s first textile-to-textile chemical recycling plant in Sundsvall, Sweden – Renewcell 1. The plant will eventually reach 120,000 tons of annual capacity.

Sparkle sustainable sanitary pads – Sparkle Innovations (United States)
Globally, around 300 billion period products are discarded every year, resulting in millions of tons of non-biodegradable waste. Since most conventional sanitary pads contain up to 90 % plastics, they do not biodegrade for around 600 years. Sparkle has designed sustainable, plastic-free, biodegradable and compostable Sparkle sanitary pads. From product to packaging, they are made up of around 90 % cellulose-based materials with top sheet, absorbent core, release paper, wrapping paper and packaging made of cellulose-based fibres. Whether Sparkle pads end up in a compost pit, are incinerated or end up in a landfill, they are a more sustainable alternative compared to conventional pads that contain large amounts of plastics, complex petro-chemical based ingredients and artificial fragrances. When tested according to ISO 14855-1 by a leading independent lab in Europe, Sparkle pads reached over 90 % absolute biodegradation within 90 days in commercial composting conditions.

For the SS24 Iluna focuses on the most precious lightness and intangibility with its Ultralight series of jacquardtronic laces reminiscent of the delicacy of Leavers.
This season, responsible developments did not stop at responsible ingredients and processes; in fact, the company focused on the circular economy! The stylistic research started from the company's historical archive, to give life to a collection that revisits the proposals in a "modern classic" key.
 
The company's design team recreated the iconic designs of the line, the heart of the Black Label proposal, ILUNA's signature line offering the finest laces. Focusing on upcycling, the team reworked archival stocks, creating new value through finishings, and reweaving from scratch only the missing widths in order to present a complete, coordinated underwear/nightwear range from allovers to galoons.

For the SS24 season the Iluna team continues its developments with GOTS-certified organic cotton in its galoons and allovers, to add a natural touch to its Green Label line.
Among the ingredients chosen by Iluna Group are: Renycle® and Q-NOVA®, both GRS-certified pre-consumer recycled polyamide yarns in addition to the recycled stretch ROICA™ EF by Asahi Kasei. Among the new technical developments on laces, Iluna then worked on variable elasticity modules, resulting in reinforced edges or zones of differentiated elasticity that can be variously positioned within the laces.
All this results in a comfortable, ultralight product that remains true to a high value of creativity and responsibility. The option is applicable to all the Iluna laces, with modular solutions at the customer's request on fashion items as well, where research continues on FSC-certified pre-dyed viscoses and unexpected metallic gleams with lurex.

Moreover, the continuous path through the new dimension of responsibility continues in several directions: experiments with 16 different natural dyestuffs; and continued investment in technologies that can ensure significant savings in water and energy consumption, including GREENDROP, the new GOTS-certified digital pigment printing system.
From athleisure to fashion, through lingerie to the world of high fashion, Iluna's lace continues to expand its applications, confirming its extreme versatility, remarkable performance and inimitable beauty.

Many people across the world are bedridden – be it due to illness, an accident or old age. Because those affected often cannot move or turn over by themselves, they often end up with very painful bedsores. In the future, it should be possible to avoid bedsores with the help of materials that can be programmed to entirely adapt their form and mechanical properties. For example, the body support of mattresses made from programmable materials can be adjusted in any given area at the push of a button. Furthermore, the support layer is formed in such a way that strong pressure on one point can be distributed across a wider area. Areas of the bed where pressure is placed are automatically made softer and more elastic. Caregivers can also adjust the ergonomic lying position to best fit their patient.

Materials and microstructuring
Materials for applications requiring specific changes to stiffness or shape are being developed by researchers from Fraunhofer CPM, which is formed of six core institutes with the aim of designing and producing programmable materials. So, how can we program materials? “Essentially, there are two key areas where adjustments can be made: the base material – thermoplastic polymers in the case of mattresses and metallic alloys for other applications, including shape memory alloys – and, more specifically, the microstructure,” explains Dr. Heiko Andrä, spokesperson on the topic at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, one of the Fraunhofer CPM core institutes. “The microstructure of these metamaterials is made up of unit cells that consist of structural elements such as small beams and thin shells.” While the size of each unit cell and its structural elements in conventional cellular materials, like foams, vary randomly, the cells in the programmable materials are also variable – but can be precisely defined, i.e., programmed. This programming can be made, for example, in such a way that pressure on a particular position will result in specific changes at other regions of the mattress, i.e., increase the size of the contact surface and provide optimal support to certain areas of the body.

Materials can also react to temperature or humidity
The change in shape that the material should exhibit and the stimuli to which it reacts - mechanical stress, heat, moisture or even an electric or magnetic field - can be determined by the choice of material and its microstructure.

The journey to application
A single piece of material can take the place of entire systems of sensors, regulators and actuators. The goal of Fraunhofer CPM is to reduce the complexity of systems by integrating their functionalities into the material and reducing material diversity. We always have industrial products in mind when developing the programmable materials. As such, we take mass production processes and material fatigue into account, among other things,” says Franziska Wenz, deputy spokesperson on the topic at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, another core institute of Fraunhofer CPM. The initial pilot projects with industry partners are also already underway. The research team expects that initially, programmable materials will act as replacements for components in existing systems or be used in special applications such as medical mattresses, comfortable chairs, variable damping shoe soles and protective clothing. “Gradually, the proportion of programmable materials used will increase,” says Andrä. Ultimately, they can be used everywhere – from medicine and sporting goods to soft robotics and even space research.

• Scientific researchers from 10 countries, including North America, UK, Japan and Germany
• Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse Foundation, as Keynote Speaker
• Speakers from strategic partnerships: L’Oréal, Salomon, and McKinsey

Carbios hosted the first PET Biorecycling Summit from 7 to 8 December 2022 in Paris. The event attracted over 100 international participants from the scientific, academic, and industrial worlds to exchange on the advances in the field of biological recycling, and how to bring these innovations for a circular economy to market.

The two-day conference gathered scientists from various academic institutions to share their latest research on PET enzymatic depolymerization.  Bertrand Piccard, Initiator and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation^[1], joined as the Keynote Speaker for the last session focused on PET circularity, and praised Carbios’ contribution to reducing plastic pollution. The Summit concluded with a visit of Carbios’ demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand. The demonstration plant was inaugurated in September 2021 and brings Carbios’ technology one step closer to industrialization. Following the demonstration plant’s success, Carbios is on track to build and operate the world’s first industrial-scale enzymatic PET recycling plant (with a processing capacity of 50.000 tons of PET waste per year) in France (Longlaville) by 2025^[2], and to start licensing its technology throughout the world.

^[1] To address sustainability challenges while enabling economic growth, Bertrand Piccard and the Solar Impulse Foundation have identified 1000+ clean and profitable solutions. More details available on the official website.

^[2] Cf. Press release dated 23 February 2022.

A new cold chamber at its headquarters in Winterthur, Switzerland, enables Autoneum to optimize existing technologies as well as simulation and engineering services in vehicle thermal management and to adapt them to the changing thermal requirements of electric vehicles

The absence of heat from the internal combustion engine in electric vehicles as well as the impact of ambient temperature on the performance and lifetime of lithium-ion batteries are changing the requirements for vehicle thermal management. In addition, the energy from the battery is used not only to power the e-motor but also to thermally manage the battery itself and to warm and cool the car cabin by means of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. To increase the thermal comfort of the occupants and at the same time ensure optimum battery performance, save energy and thus increase the car’s range, manufacturers are placing increasing emphasis on efficient overall thermal management of the vehicle.

The chamber enables to test both occupants’ subjective perception of thermal comfort and the performance of components and entire vehicles under controlled temperature conditions of up to minus 20 degrees Celsius. It is thus a valuable addition to the existing testing and bench-marking facilities at the Company’s global research and development centers. The tests conducted in the chamber show how existing insulating components such as under battery shields, carpets and interior trim need to be optimized to further enhance the thermal management of the vehicle battery and cabin. The tests also provide valuable insights regarding the development and optimization of heated surfaces such as floor mats and door trim panels to improve thermal performance and driver comfort of electric vehicles.

• Award for near-net-shape 3D meshes for use in fibre-reinforced plastics

As part of the JEC FORUM DACH 2022, the AVK Innovation Awards were presented in Augsburg on November 29th. The innovation price in the category "Research/Science" (first place) was awarded to the team of scientists Dipl.-Ing. Dominik Nuss, Dr.-Ing. Cornelia Sennewald and Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Chokri Cherif.

With the development of the pull-off-free Jacquard weaving technology including the technological know-how in the field of highly complex 2D and 3D fabric geometries, which has been established at the ITM of the TU Dresden for many years, Dominik Nuss has succeeded in including different yarn lengths locally into the fabric structure solely through targeted variation of the fabric weave. There-fore, it is now possible to produce completely new types of fabrics without additional draping, especially spherically curved fabrics, but also large-format spiral or even curved fabrics. The fact that the required near-net-shape geometry of the component to be reinforced can be reproduced with significantly reduced preforming steps is to be emphasized.

Continuous simulation aided engineering from CAD design to integrally woven 2D and 3D preforms by means of highly complex weave development for spatial constructions is a unique at the ITM, which was indispensable for the development of these promising woven high-tech structures. This technology is completely new and has never been carried out in this way before. The fabric structures are characterised by a high innovation level due to their geometric diversity and purposes. It can be used in numerous applications and further more contributes to the development of completely new fields of application. The technology can be implemented on all Jacquard weaving machines with only an additional device and the preform geometry is only determined by the control of the Jacquard machine. The preform geometry can be used in the full working width of the weaving machine.

Professor Chokri Cherif, Institute Director of the ITM, and his team are very pleased about these continuous research success in the constantly growing research field of 3D weaving technology, which are achieved at the ITM in close cooperation with industry and users. "This award is a special honour for our institute and confirms that the many years of our excellent research in the field of near-net-shape 3D weaving for the fibre-reinforced plastics sector plays a significant role and that we are making a significant contribution to the sustainable and resource-efficient production of lightweight structures with our development".

AVK, the Federation of Reinforced Plastics, has once again awarded its Innovation Awards to a range of companies, institutes and their partners in 2022. Three innovative composites from each of the three categories Products & Applications, Processes & Methods and Research & Science were honoured during the JEC Forum for Germany, Austria and Switzerland in Augsburg at an award ceremony on 29 November 2022. A professional jury, composed of engineers, scientists and trade journalists, presented the awards for 2022 in three categories.

List of award winners in the three categories:
Products & Applications category
First place: LAMILUX Composites GmbH, Rehau, Germany: Lamilux Sunsation® – the new standard under the sun
Second place: Carbo-Link AG, Fehraltorf, Switzerland: CL RESTRAP – Reinforcement of concrete girders using flexible, prestressed CRP tapes
Third place: Borgers SE & Co. KGaA, Bocholt, Germany: blue label by Borgers ®

Innovative Processes & Methods category
First place: BaltiCo GmbH, Hohen Luckow, Germany: Rod laying technology as an additive manufacturing process
Second place: Schmidt & Heinzmann GmbH & Co. KG, Bruchsal, Germany: Pole Position, a positioning system for polarisation imaging
Third place: NETZSCH Process Intelligence GmbH, Selb, Germany: SensXPERT, process optimisation driven by material data to increase the efficiency of thermosets and fibre composites

Research & Science category
First place: Institute for Textile Machinery and High Performance Textiles at the Technical University of Dresden: Spherically curved fibre-reinforced plastic composite components made from near-net-shape fabrics
Second place: Leibniz-Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH, Kaiserslautern, Germany: HyKoPerm – a measurement system for an industry-specific characterisation of textile impregnation behaviour
Third place: Technical University of Munich, Chair of Carbon Composites: Manufacturing processes for a tension-strut-supported pressure vessel that can be adapted to suit a given space

The 11^th India ITME will take place from December 8.– 13., 2022, in Noida, India. Over 1,800 exhibitors and more than 150,000 trade visitors from the textile and apparel industry from all over the world are expected. Groz-Beckert will be presenting innovations from its various product areas..

India ITME takes place every four years and is the ideal technology platform for forward-looking innovations in the textile world. At the 11th edition of India ITME, exhibitors will be presenting their highlights from research and development across 15 halls.

The Knitting Product Division will be presenting several new products at India ITME: Among them the SAN™ SF staple fiber needle and the SNK SF staple fiber sinker, which are specially designed for use on large circular knitting machines. The division will also be exhibiting the SAN™ TT for application-related use in the field of technical textiles for flat knitting machines, as well as a needle which enables the advance into new dimensions of gauge in the flat knitting sector.

Groz-Beckert will also be demonstrating its competence as a system supplier in the field of warp knitting at the India ITME. The warp knitting machine needles and system parts from Groz-Beckert are precisely matched to one another and achieve a uniform and flawless warp knitting process.

With the WarpMasterPlus and the KnotMaster, the Weaving product division presents the latest generation of drawing-in and knotting machines from Groz-Beckert. They are particularly distinguished by their ease of operation and flexibility.

The product area Felting (Nonwovens) presents its product and service highlights for the nonwovens industry. These include the HyTec P jet strip for spunlace customers as well as the GEBECON felting needle, the dur needle, EcoStar felting needle and the Groz-Beckert customer product. The HyTec P-nozzle strip is characterized by improved handling and higher hardness. The patented GEBECON felting needle offers an improved surface finish and optimized breakage bending properties.

The Carding product area will present its further developments for the spinning industry. These include the new stationary flat series, the TV56 revolving top and the cylinder wire set with special tooth geometry. The new stationary flat series is characterized by an innovative tooth geometry and a new type of tooth distribution. The new TV56  revolving top with its new setting pattern and 560 points per square inch is particularly easy to clean. The improved cylinder wire convinces with its special and patented tooth shape, which has a positive effect on the maintenance effort. This makes it particularly suitable for quality-oriented cotton spinning mills producing high-quality yarns. Visitors can also look forward to the new InLine card clothing series for the nonwovens sector.

In the Sewing exhibition area, the focus is on technical textiles – in particular the manufacture of car seats. The answer to the high demands of sewing car seats is the special application needle SAN® 5.2 from Groz-Beckert. The special geometry gives it sufficient stability. The double groove at the point improves thread guidance and leads to a uniform seam pattern, especially in multidirectional sewing processes. The scarf chamfer on both sides of the needle prevent skipped stitches and optimize loop formation. The wear protection is increased by the titanium nitride coating GEBEDUR. In addition, the quality management INH will be exhibited and the functions and contents of the customer portal will be presented.

First insights, first new materials and trend highlights: On 29 and 30 November 2022, the European premium fabric sector will meet for an important exchange with international producers at VIEW in Munich to find out about the first colour and material trends for spring/summer 2024 at the earliest possible time. A selected range of around 300 pre-collections will be on show at the MVG Museum. This means that VIEW will once again be strong and business-relevant this season.

The past VIEW Premium Selection in June 2022 was a great success. Completely booked out and more international than ever, the Preview Textile Show of Munich Fabric Start Exhibitions GmbH was an important contact point for the buying and design teams of companies such as Akris, Baldessarini, Bogner, Calvin Klein, Cinque, Comma, Drykorn, Escada, Hugo Boss, Lala Berlin, Lagerfeld, Laurél, MAC, Marc Cain, Marc O'Polo, Riani, Schumacher or Strellson. The trend towards an increasingly international range continues in November. Numerous buyers, designers and product managers from European ready-to-wear manufacturers are expected in Munich the week after next, looking for new material innovations and trends at VIEW and the parallel ISPO.

International exhibitor portfolio with many new names
Material influences from Europe to Asia bring a highly exciting mix for the trend research of the new collections. Exhibitors from Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain and Turkey are among the participants.

The newcomers and returnees include, in addition to others:
AGNSTR / ALA CAMPOLMI / BAIRD MC NUTT / BELL & THUNDER / CB STILE / COLORA / EKOTEN / FABRIC LAB / GUARISCO / JECA LIMITED / KING BUTTON / LANIFICIO CAVERNI / LIMONATA EAST / M.T.T. MANIFATTURA / MANTERO / MILIOR / MTP PIEROZZI / PADROCASAS / PIZVAL / RIBBONTEX / SITIP / TEKSTINA SINCE 1828 / TEXMODA / VIVOLO und WAY.