From the Sector

As the 2024 edition of Techtextil, the leading international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens, gets underway in Frankfurt, Beaulieu Fibres International is introducing its Sustainable Fibres Program to help reshape fibres for sustainable solutions.

Through the initiative the company is looking to gain deeper insights into the challenges encountered by customers across the value chain to identify opportunities to leverage its expertise to deliver impactful products and services.

Beaulieu has identified several conversation triggers for Techtextil 2024, including recyclable, high performance, renewable, bio-circular, co-developed and made in Europe fibres, to find out what matters most to customers in terms of targets, green initiatives and sustainability expectations.
The Sustainable Fibres Program serves as a charter to help Beaulieu Fibres International accelerate its ‘fibres that build futures’ campaign, by educating on existing solutions, reshaping products and creating partnerships to facilitate market cooperation on shared challenges.

In addition to leading the market within the framework of the European Green Deal, and alignment with the objectives of the proposed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, Beaulieu Fibres International is committed to achieving its own sustainability targets outlined in its roadmap known as ROUTE 2030.

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, announced three recipients for the INDA Lifetime Service Award and Lifetime Technical Achievement Awards. David Powling, Paul Latten, and Arnold Wilkie are being recognized for their key contributions to the advancement of the nonwovens industry and INDA.

David Powling and Paul Latten will receive their awards at the World of Wipes® (WOW) International Conference, June 18th beginning at 4:30 pm
Arnold Wilkie will receive his award at the RISE® Conference, October 1st at 4:30 pm.

The Award recipients are:

David Powling
David Powling has worked for Kimberly-Clark Corporation for nearly 25 years and has been a contributor to the Wipes Task Force and Technical Committees at INDA and EDANA for over 15 years. Powling served as Chairman of the INDA Wipes Task Force from 2009-2013. His work on these committees include developing the first and second edition of the Flushability Guidance Document (GD) and he was later instrumental in the roll out of the third and fourth edition GDs. Throughout this time, Powling coordinated activities with Kimberly-Clark Corporation to provide critical supporting data, as these flushability test protocols were developed.

Powling has been actively involved in collection studies where he was key in framing the work packages of those studies, collating and analyzing the data, and drafting reports. These collection studies include: Moraga, CA (advisor); Maine – Part #1 and Part #2 (hands-on); Jacksonville (hands-on); and the Northern and Southern California studies in 2023, which combined, was the largest study to date. Powling led the charge in the California study and was personally involved in identifying 1,745 samples.

Powling has been a key technical contributor to the INDA Government Relation efforts that has resulted in labelling regulations in multiple U.S. states. He has also been an active participant in efforts to develop an ISO standard for flushable products.  In this effort, he was a test method sub-team leader during the preparation of the proposed ISO standard responsible for organizing appendices of existing flushability methodologies. Additionally, Powling has been awarded, or has pending, 25+ U.S. patents, including many covering the development of dispersible wet wipes.

Paul Latten
Paul Latten has been an active member of the nonwoven and fiber industries for over 35 years. Most recently he has led innovation at Southeast Nonwovens, commercializing more than 75 new nonwoven products per year. Prior to joining Southeast Nonwovens, Latten held senior leadership positions with Basofil, Consolidated Fibers, Invista, and KoSa (and Trevira and Hoechst Celanese precursors to KoSa.)

Latten has a successful career of reinvigorating company R&D efforts by instilling a focus on customer-centric innovation. He is an inventor of record for a number of patents and pending applications. Latten has given numerous presentations on innovative nonwoven materials, at events such as INDA’s World of Wipes® (WOW) International Conference, RISE® (Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics), the VISION International Conference, and the Converting and Bonding (CAB) Conference.

His recent innovations have been diverse in scope and include nonwovens for use in hydrogen fuel cells, moisture detection media, proprietary wipe designs, and natural fiber-based packaging. Aside from new fiber and nonwoven products, Latten has championed process innovation that has resulted in tangible output gains that broadened the market opportunity for his current and prior companies.

Latten’s portfolio of innovations has spanned across the nonwoven markets, often involving wetlaid and drylaid nonwovens. These include materials for moisture detection, synthetic papers, fuel cell cathodes, protective covers for treats, melamine nonwovens for surface treatment, and the development of binder fibers. His work also touched upon disposable hygiene applications entailing dry-laid web containing hollow synthetic fibers to improve absorbent core fluid uptake.

Latten has been a board member of INDA for multiple terms and served as Chairman in 2008-2010. Additionally, he has contributed to many INDA conference planning committees, helping drive the success of these events.

Arnold Wilkie
Arnold Wilkie has a distinguished career in advancing yarn, fiber, and nonwoven technologies since 1970. Since 1988, he has been President and Owner of Hills, Inc. where he has sustained their innovative culture. Wilkie has over 40 patents and applications covering yarns, bicomponent fibers, ultra-fine fibers, nanofibers, dissolvable filaments, meltblown nonwovens, and polymer processing innovations. He established Hills as a leading innovator in bicomponent fiber nonwovens and in the equipment to produce these materials. During Wilkie’s time leading Hills, their pilot capabilities have become well-known and highly regarded for enabling material innovations.

Many of his patents pertain to the development of equipment solutions that enable the production of complex bi- and multi-component fiber structures. These solutions include the method of forming a continuous filament spun-laid web, the method and apparatus for producing polymer fibers and fabrics including multiple polymer components, the method and apparatus for controlling airflow in a fiber extrusion system, and controlling the dissolution of dissolvable polymer components in plural component fibers.

Arnold Wilkie, President, Hills, Inc., earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and an MBA from the University of West Florida. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Florida, and has been engaged in the synthetic fibers industry since 1970. The first 17 years were with the Monsanto Company, where he held positions in Fiber Process Engineering, Fiber Product R&D, and Product Management. Since 1988, he has been a majority Owner and President of Hills, Inc., a 52-year-old company located in West Melbourne, Florida, specializing in the development, manufacture, and supply of advanced custom fiber extrusion equipment. Wilkie has been involved with and supported The Nonwovens Institute, since its founding in 1991 as the Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center (NCRC), with Hills joining as a Member in 2001

Cavitec, part of Santex Rimar Group, presents the redesigned Caviscreen at Techtextil Frankfurt. Caviscreen features latest technology for breathable laminates.

Caviscreen was developed as a hotmelt coating and laminating unit for breathable sportswear, rainwear and protective clothing – with and without applying a membrane. The redesigned machine shows a brand-new method to supply adhesive more evenly and precisely. Using PUR adhesive (polyurethane reactive adhesive) goes with additional benefits like strong bonding capabilities and versatility.

Caviscreen’s hotmelt screen printing is a special system for high-end application garments. With this Caviscreen system, a PUR adhesive is transferred onto the substrate through a rotary screen, similar to the well-established textile printing method. The adhesives are fed from the drum melter through a heated hose to the traversing adhesive distribution system inside the rotary screen, just behind the doctor blade.

The adhesive is pressed by the doctor blade through the screen holes and transferred to the substrate. Different dot pattern (mesh or irregularly) and different screen thicknesses allow different coating weight and adhesive coverages.

The traversing adhesive dispenser is used to distribute the adhesive automatically over the set working width that – an additional technical benefit – can be set without any mechanical changes.

Cavitec’s screen coating system achieves high bonding strength while using less adhesive than other coating processes, because of applying the coating on the surface of the substrate and like this, the adhesive has less tendency to penetrate the substrate.

Bonding strength, softness of the fabric and the breathability are defined by the coating weight and the coverage. The rotary screen allows users to regulate and adapt the coverage respectively the coating weight. Cavitec offers a large selection of screens that are essential to fulfil the fabric requirements. A further advantage is the ease and efficiency of switching from one screen to another by simply unlocking the bayonet fitting. The IR-heater cover opens pneumatically and the lightweight screen can be easily removed by hand. Unlike with other methods, there's no need to deal with hot oil or any other heated liquid that requires cooling down.

The Caviscreen technology supports manufacturers by reducing costs with screens priced at a mere fraction, just 10%, of common gravure roller prices.

ACG Kinna Automatic and ACG Nyström – members of TMAS, the Swedish textile machinery association – have delivered the first microfactory for the production of fully finished filter bags to an international filtration industry customer, in cooperation with JUKI Central Europe.

The microfactory’s configuration is based on two separate interconnecting modules – the Smart Filter Line (SFL) and the Filtermaster 2.0. The SFL handles the fabric feeding from rolls and its folding prior to seam construction, which can either be by automatic sewing, welding or with sewing and taping, depending on specifications. Very rapid changeover of the modular seaming methods can be achieved during product changes. The specific size of the now fully-tubular fabric is then precisely cut to size for each individual unit and further folded ready to be fed into the Filtermaster 2.0. The Filtermaster 2.0 then automatically attaches the reinforcement, bottom and snap rings onto the filter tube with a second Juki sewing head on a robotic arm, to form the fully finished filter bag ready for packaging.

Filter bags are employed in a wide range of industrial processes and while they may be largely under the radar as products, they represent a pretty significant percentage of overall technical textiles production.
They are used in foundries, smelters, incinerators, asphalt plants and energy production plants. Other key manufacturing fields – often where dust is generated – include the production of timber, textiles, composites, waste handling and minerals, in addition to chemicals, food production, pharmaceuticals, electronics and agriculture.

As a further example of the scale of the industry and the high volumes of fabrics involved, one supplier has delivered a single order of 30,000 filter bags to be used for flue gas cleaning at a European power plant. The bags can also be anywhere up to twelve metres in length and frequently have to be replaced.

At the "International Conference on Cellulose Fibers 2024" in Cologne, Germany, the Nova Institute for Ecology and Innovation awarded first place in the Innovation Prize to the project partners of the EU-funded HEREWEAR project. They presented a dress made of cellulose fibers, which is entirely made of straw pulp.

HEREWEAR is an EU-wide research project that brings together partners from research and industry. They are working to establish a European circular economy for locally produced textiles and clothing made from bio-based raw materials.
The HEREWEAR consortium consists of small and medium-sized enterprises and research institutions. HEREWEAR covers all the necessary expertise and infrastructure from academic and applied research and industry from nine EU countries.

The HEREWEAR approach includes technical and ecological innovations in the production of fibers, yarns, fabrics, knitwear and garments, as well as the use of regional value chains and the circular development of fashion items.

New technologies for wet and melt spinning of cellulose and bio-based polyesters, e.g. PLA, from which yarns and fabrics are produced, form the technical basis. Coating and dyeing processes have been developed and tested as part of the project. In addition to reducing the carbon footprint of the product, another environmental goal is to reduce the release of microfibers throughout the textile manufacturing process and life cycle.

Improving the sustainability and recyclability of the developed garments is ensured by design for circularity and digitally networked production means. On-demand production is realized in so-called "microfactories", which are individualized and produce only for actual demand. This production method can be achieved through regional, networked value chains and enables the traceability of materials and manufacturing processes.

The dress presented at the award ceremony is an example of the cooperation and the different qualifications of the project partners: TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research) provided sustainably produced pulp. The HighPerCell fibers were produced in DITF's spinning facilities. At the same time, designers from the fashion label Vretena created the design for the flexible, two-piece dress, which can be knitted without cutting waste. DITF textile experts worked with the designers to develop the knitting pattern. DITF textile engineers and technicians produced the knitted fabric and assembled the dress at the institutes’ technical center. DITF computer scientists and engineers created the "value chain" and "digital twins" for digital traceability of the production processes.

The innovation prize was awarded to the HEREWEAR consortiu for their joint achievement. Representatives of DITF Denkendorf and Vretena accepted the award on behalf of the EU project partners.

In a move to enhance the global competitiveness of the Turkish apparel industry, the Istanbul Apparel Exporters' Association (IHKIB) has entered into a collaborative agreement with the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP).

IHKIB, representing 80% of Türkiye's apparel exports, aims to facilitate and guide its members in navigating new markets and staying abreast of sectoral developments.
WRAP, a US-based non-profit organization, focuses on promoting safe, lawful, humane, and ethical working conditions within the textile and apparel industry.

Mr. Selcuk Mehmet Kaya, Chairman of the International Relations and Sustainability Committee of IHKIB, and Mr. Avedis Seferian, President and CEO of WRAP, officially inked a collaboration agreement on March 8, 2024, marking a significant step towards fostering business relations between Türkiye and the USA. The agreement focuses on a pilot project developed by IHKIB and WRAP, aiming to identify leading Turkish apparel companies exporting to the USA and encouraging these facilities to attain WRAP certification. In return, WRAP will provide in-person and virtual training at no charge to guide these facilities through the certification process. The project seeks to strengthen business ties between Türkiye and the USA, creating additional opportunities for mutual cooperation between the parties in both countries.

Active Apparel Group (AAG), manufacturer of performance apparel for the leisure/lifestyle and active market, announces the seventh anniversary of their partnership with the sustainable textile finishing brand FUZE Technologies.

AAG is the first apparel manufacturer to adopt FUZE’s permanent, chemical-free textile finish, and the only company in China able to apply FUZE in a closed-loop system. AAG leverages the platform to provide a range of performance characteristics to customers, including odor control, UV protection, moisture management, and cooling.

The FUZE finish utilizes gold and silver particles permanently bonded to a wide variety of natural and synthetic materials to achieve a range of performance characteristics. AAG customers employing the FUZE finish create apparel for the yoga, active lifestyle, workout, golf, and swimwear markets. 

KARL MAYER has already produced a wide range of electrically conductive warp-knitted items for a wide variety of applications in the TEXTILE-CIRCUIT division of its TEXTILE MAKERSPACE, including a sensor shirt, a gesture control system and a conductive charging station. In order to drive the topic of wearables forward, the textile machine manufacturer has signed a cooperation agreement with the Grabher Group and delivered an MJ 52/1-S to the specialist for high-tech textiles in Lustenau. Managing Director Günter Grabher officially inaugurated the key machine for project work in the smart textiles sector in May 2023.

The machine is involved in various research projects, but is also available for new projects and tasks. The smart textiles competence team at KARL MAYER and Grabher is looking forward to supporting the ideas and work of interested parties also outside the research network with its know-how and the possibilities of the MJ 52/1-S.

The MJ 52/1 S is also an extremely flexible project machine. The 138″ model in gauge E 28 produces a wide range of warp-knitted fabrics and incorporates conductive material directly into the textile surface - exactly where it is needed and with the structure that is required. The basis for the tailor-made fiber placement is KARL MAYER's string bar technology. The system for controlling the pattern guide bars ensures a fast, established textile production process and a high degree of pattern freedom.

Turkey's leading garment machinery manufacturers and representatives have collaborated with Teknik Fuarcılık for GarmentTech İstanbul Garment, Embroidery Machines Spare Parts and Sub Industry Exhibition to host the first GarmentTech İstanbul Exhibition.

The GarmentTech İstanbul Exhibition will be held at İstanbul Expo Center (IFM) between June 25-28, 2025 and brings together all the technologies used in garment and ready-to-wear production.

The ready-to-wear and garment sector is among the locomotive sectors of the Turkish economy with both employment and export income. With 22 thousand 640 exporters and 42 thousand 434 manufacturers, the sector is among the priority sectors in the country's employment with approximately 700 thousand people working in production. Together with the retail and ready-to-wear sectors, total employment exceeds 2 million.

On the other hand, ready-to-wear and garment sector is the 3rd largest exporter in Turkey. Turkey is the 5th country in the world that exports the most ready-to-wear and garment. In 2023, the sector reached 19.3 billion dollars in exports and has a share of 7.5% in general exports.

Teknik Fuarcılık, which has more than 30 years of experience in exhibition organization and has made the ITM International Textile Machinery Exhibition a world brand, has taken action to make the success achieved by the garment and ready-to-wear sector sustainable. GarmentTech İstanbul Exhibition, which will be organized with the support of the members of the Garment Machinery Advisory Board and in cooperation with the Apparel Automation and Machinery Manufacturers Association (KOMİD), will host professional visitors and global buyers from all over the world.

The press conference of GarmentTech İstanbul Exhibition was attended by members of the Garment Machinery Advisory Board, Vice Chairman of Astaş Holding H. Kaya Aşçı, Astaş Juki Board Member and General Manager Turgay Aşçı, Chairman of the Board of Çatma Makine Yavuz Çatma, Chairman of the Board of Alba Makine Cengiz Albayrak, General Manager of Malkan Makine Alparslan Er, General Manager of Uğur Makine Temel Kamiloğlu, Tetaş Sales and Marketing Assistant General Manager Murat Eren, Malkan Makina Factory Manager Metin Kılıç and KOMID President Haluk Akın, TEMSAD President Adil Nalbant, KOMİD Members Serkon Makina Chairman İzzet Savaş, Robotech General Manager Hüseyin Çetin, Chairman of the Board of NewTech Machinery Nezir Yazıcı, LGM Foreign Trade Specialist Yiğit Sağdık Manav, Avtek Manager Oğuz Avcı and many sector representatives.

Texhibition Istanbul Fabric and Textile Accessories Fair, organised by İTKİB Fuarcılık A.Ş. in cooperation with the Istanbul Textile Exporters Association (İTHİB), is ready for its fifth edition. From 6 to 8 March 2024, 558 exhibitors will present themselves to the 30,000 expected visitors from over 100 countries, including the European Union, Great Britain, the USA, North Africa and the Middle East. With this edition, Texhibition has more than doubled the space compared to the last event to 35,000 square metres.

The fifth edition of Texhibition Istanbul offers a comprehensive overview of all product groups in the textile prepress sector: from woven fabrics to knitwear, from denim to artificial leather and textile accessories

Due to popular demand, the fair has been expanded to five halls, including the new Yarn Hall (Hall 8) with exhibitors such as Sasa, Aksa, Karafiber, Kortex, Tepar, Ensar, Kaplanlar and Iskur and the BlueBlack Denim Hall (Hall 7), which showcases the latest denim trends and presents a wide range from blue shades to black denims with exhibitors such as İsko, Çalık Bossa, Kipas and İskur. BlueBlack Denim is designed by the  designer Idil Tarzi in cooperation with the creative directors Gönül Altunisik and Selvi Yigci.

Curated by Idil Tarzi and her creative team, the Texhibition Trend Area in Halls 4 and 5 presents the latest colour trends, materials and accessories.

Under the direction of designers Arzu Kaprol and Filiz Tunca, the Innovation Hub showcases technological innovations that add value to textile production: from fibre to yarn, from fabrics to clothing.

Digital art installations in the entrance area, which run through the entire trade fair, as well as piano performances in the foyer await visitors at the upcoming Texhibition.

Seminars and workshops with industry experts shed light on current topics in the industry, including innovations, production processes and design developments. These opportunities offer participants a platform to exchange knowledge and discuss the latest developments in the textile industry.