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Photo: Sibi Suku, unsplash
29.01.2024

Naturalistic silk spun from artificial spider gland

Researchers led by Keiji Numata at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan, along with colleagues from the RIKEN Pioneering Research Cluster, have succeeded in creating a device that spins artificial spider silk that closely matches what spiders naturally produce. The artificial silk gland was able to re-create the complex molecular structure of silk by mimicking the various chemical and physical changes that naturally occur in a spider’s silk gland. This eco-friendly innovation is a big step towards sustainability and could impact several industries. This study was published January 15 in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Researchers led by Keiji Numata at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan, along with colleagues from the RIKEN Pioneering Research Cluster, have succeeded in creating a device that spins artificial spider silk that closely matches what spiders naturally produce. The artificial silk gland was able to re-create the complex molecular structure of silk by mimicking the various chemical and physical changes that naturally occur in a spider’s silk gland. This eco-friendly innovation is a big step towards sustainability and could impact several industries. This study was published January 15 in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Famous for its strength, flexibility, and light weight, spider silk has a tensile strength that is comparable to steel of the same diameter, and a strength to weight ratio that is unparalleled. Added to that, it’s biocompatible, meaning that it can be used in medical applications, as well as biodegradable. So why isn’t everything made from spider silk? Large-scale harvesting of silk from spiders has proven impractical for several reasons, leaving it up to scientists to develop a way to produce it in the laboratory.

Spider silk is a biopolymer fiber made from large proteins with highly repetitive sequences, called spidroins. Within the silk fibers are molecular substructures called beta sheets, which must be aligned properly for the silk fibers to have their unique mechanical properties. Re-creating this complex molecular architecture has confounded scientists for years. Rather than trying to devise the process from scratch, RIKEN scientists took a biomimicry approach. As Numata explains, “in this study, we attempted to mimic natural spider silk production using microfluidics, which involves the flow and manipulation of small amounts of fluids through narrow channels. Indeed, one could say that that the spider’s silk gland functions as a sort of natural microfluidic device.”

The device developed by the researchers looks like a small rectangular box with tiny channels grooved into it. Precursor spidroin solution is placed at one end and then pulled towards the other end by means of negative pressure. As the spidroins flow through the microfluidic channels, they are exposed to precise changes in the chemical and physical environment, which are made possible by the design of the microfluidic system. Under the correct conditions, the proteins self-assembled into silk fibers with their characteristic complex structure.

The researchers experimented to find these correct conditions, and eventually were able to optimize the interactions among the different regions of the microfluidic system. Among other things, they discovered that using force to push the proteins through did not work; only when they used negative pressure to pull the spidroin solution could continuous silk fibers with the correct telltale alignment of beta sheets be assembled.

“It was surprising how robust the microfluidic system was, once the different conditions were established and optimized,” says Senior Scientist Ali Malay, one of the paper’s co-authors. “Fiber assembly was spontaneous, extremely rapid, and highly reproducible. Importantly, the fibers exhibited the distinct hierarchical structure that is found in natural silk fiber.”

The ability to artificially produce silk fibers using this method could provide numerous benefits. Not only could it help reduce the negative impact that current textile manufacturing has on the environment, but the biodegradable and biocompatible nature of spider silk makes it ideal for biomedical applications, such as sutures and artificial ligaments.

“Ideally, we want to have a real-world impact,” says Numata. “For this to occur, we will need to scale-up our fiber-production methodology and make it a continuous process. We will also evaluate the quality of our artificial spider silk using several metrics and make further improvements from there.”

Source:

RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Japan

Photo: Claude Huniade
11.07.2023

Ionofibres a new track for smart and functional textiles

Electronically conductive fibres are already in use in smart textiles, but in a recently published research article, ionically conductive fibres have proven to be of increasing interest. The so-called ionofibres achieve higher flexibility and durability and match the type of conduction our body uses. In the future, they may be used for such items as textile batteries, textile displays, and textile muscles.

The research project is being carried out by doctoral student Claude Huniade at the University of Borås and is a track within a larger project, Weafing, the goal of which is to develop novel, unprecedented garments for haptic stimulation comprising flexible and wearable textile actuators and sensors, including control electronics, as a new type of textile-based large area electronics.

WEAFING stands for Wearable Electroactive Fabrics Integrated in Garments. It started 1 January 2019 and ended 30 June 2023.

Electronically conductive fibres are already in use in smart textiles, but in a recently published research article, ionically conductive fibres have proven to be of increasing interest. The so-called ionofibres achieve higher flexibility and durability and match the type of conduction our body uses. In the future, they may be used for such items as textile batteries, textile displays, and textile muscles.

The research project is being carried out by doctoral student Claude Huniade at the University of Borås and is a track within a larger project, Weafing, the goal of which is to develop novel, unprecedented garments for haptic stimulation comprising flexible and wearable textile actuators and sensors, including control electronics, as a new type of textile-based large area electronics.

WEAFING stands for Wearable Electroactive Fabrics Integrated in Garments. It started 1 January 2019 and ended 30 June 2023.

These wearables are based on a new kind of textile muscles which yarns are coated with electromechanically active polymers and contract when a low voltage is applied. Textile muscles offer a completely novel and very different quality of haptic sensation, accessing also receptors of our tactile sensory system that do not react on vibration, but on soft pressure or stroke.

Furthermore, being textile materials, they offer a new way of designing and fabricating wearable haptics and can be seamlessly integrated into fabrics and garments. For these novel form of textile muscles, a huge range of possible applications in haptics is foreseen: for ergonomics, movement coaching in sports, or wellness, for enhancement of virtual or augmented reality applications in gaming or for training purposes, for inclusion of visually handicapped people by providing them information about their environment, for stress reduction or social communication, adaptive furniture, automotive industry and many more.

In Claude Huniade’s project, the goal is to produce conductive yarns without conductive metals.

"My research is about producing electrically conductive textile fibres, and ultimately yarns, by coating non-metals sustainably on commercial yarns. The biggest challenge is in the balance between keeping the textile properties and adding the conductive feature," said Claude Huniade.

Currenty, the uniqueness of his research leans towards the strategies employed when coating. These strategies expand to the processes and the materials used.

Uses ionic liquid
One of the tracks he investigates is about a new kind of material as textile coating, ionic liquids in combination with commercial textile fibres. Just like salt water, they conduct electricity but without water. Ionic liquid is a more stable electrolyte than salt water as nothing evaporates.

"The processable aspect is an important requirement since textile manufacturing can be harsh on textile fibres, especially when upscaling their use. The fibres can also be manufactured into woven or knitted without damaging them mechanically while retaining their conductivity. Surprisingly, they were even smoother to process into fabrics than the commercial yarns they are made from," explained Claude Huniade.

Ionofibres could be used as sensors since ionic liquids are sensitive to their environment. For example, humidity change can be sensed by the ionofibers, but also any stretch or pressure they are subjected to.

"Ionofibres could truly shine when they are combined with other materials or devices that require electrolytes. Ionofibres enable certain phenomena currently limited to happen in liquids to be feasible in air in a lightweight fashion. The applications are multiple and unique, for example for textile batteries, textile displays or textile muscles," said Claude Huniade.

Needs further research
Yet more research is needed to combine the ionofibres with other functional fibres and to produce the unique textile devices.

How do they stand out compared to common electronically conductive fibres?

"In comparison to electronically conductive fibres, ionofibers are different in how they conduct electricity. They are less conductive, but they bring other properties that electronically conductive fibers often lack. Ionofibres achieve higher flexibility and durability and match the type of conduction that our body uses. They actually match better than electronically conductive fibres with how electricity is present in nature," he concluded.

Source:

University of Borås

04.01.2023

Circular Economy: It could all be so simple... or not

Interview with Henning Wehland & Robert Kapferer, Circularity Germany

Interview with Henning Wehland & Robert Kapferer, Circularity Germany

I'm a very curious guy by nature. That's why I offered to help out at a well-known hot dog station in Münster (Germany) this year, to draw attention to the shortage of staff in the gastronomy. I wrote an article about it on LinkedIn, which was in turn reacted to by Ines Chucholowius.
From her profile, I could see that she is a consultant for strategic marketing and communication in the textile industry. Not entirely serious, she offered me a job in her office. Like pushing a button, the pictures in my mind set in: Textile industry, exciting! Merchandising, contacts in the industry, collaborations, and I agreed to a short chat, at the end of which we spoke on the phone and arranged to meet.
 
She told me about her website TEXTINATION.de. And we were already involved in an exciting, heated exchange about perception and truth in the textile industry. Without further ado, we left it at that and I went home with a chunk of new information about an exciting field. Our dialogue on social media continued and eventually Ines offered me the chance to feed my die-hard curiosity with the support of TEXTINATION.de. I could write a blog on the site, about people, products, service providers, producers, startups or trends that interest me, to add to my half-knowledge about the textile industry.

Textile waste into the front ... new T-shirt out the back
During this exchange and a long brainstorming session, certain terms kept tickling my attention:
Circular economy, recycling, recyclable material loops. Circular Economy, Recycling, Recyclables. Even though there are many different definitions and some even distinguishing between different aspects: the former thought from waste that flows back into production as a secondary raw material, a more modern approach avoiding waste already in production - the general consensus is really only that circular economy is a cycle in which waste is used as a source for something new.

Sounds like useful additions for all areas of the manufacturing real economy to me. Ines introduced me to Robert Kapferer: He runs a startup called Circularity Germany in Hamburg. His company, founded in 2021 and consisting of Robert and another partner, is an offshoot of the Dutch-based company Circularity B.V. Its founder Han Hamers, with a degree in child psychology and a professional background in the textile dyeing industry, had the idea five years ago for a production facility that spins new yarn exclusively from textile production waste and old textiles turning it into T-shirts, polo shirts and sweatshirts.
Whether this works, and if so, how, is what I wanted to find out, and Ines and I arranged to meet Robert for a 90-minute online conference.

Robert, originally an industrial engineer, comes from a less sustainable industry. He worked for 11 years as managing director for AVECO Material und Service GmbH, where he was responsible for the workwear of more than 50,000 employees.

At the beginning of our conversation, he emphasizes that a moment in January 2021 changed his life and from then on, he wanted to dedicate himself to the topic of circular economy with all his might. That was when he met Han Hamers, who inspired him to found Circularity Germany. His enthusiasm and passion for the subject sound credible, and he begins to describe the differences between chemical and mechanical recycling methods. In summary, the mechanical process of shredding and the subsequent spinning shortens the fibers and thus restricts their properties for further processing. The advantage lies primarily in the comparatively uncomplicated, fast and more cost-efficient process. In the chemical variant, chemical waste remains, but the processed materials are broken down again into their basic building blocks in such a way that they have almost all the same properties as a so-called virgin raw material. Circularity Germany stands for the mechanical process.

And then comes the sentence that gets all our attention: "We've advanced a spinning technology so much that it relies exclusively on waste-based raw materials."
This sentence almost doesn't stand out because Robert still talks - quite excitingly - about the fact that they are planning a production and manufacturing facility where everything from knitting yarn to relatively fine thread can be spun and then further processed into fabric. And here Ines and I ask intensively: Essential requirements for industrial production still seem to be unresolved, and necessary processes are still in the planning stage. For example, the question of whether to work with pre-consumer or post-consumer waste. Pre-consumer waste is cutting waste from the production of clothes, which corresponds to about 10% of the processed material. Post-consumer waste we know as used textiles.

As long as production still takes place in India, Circularity currently uses mainly pre-consumer waste. These come exclusively from sewing factories in the Tirupur region in the south of India. When using used textiles, which exist in large quantities in Germany (according to a study, 28-40% of all garments produced are thrown away unworn), Circularity produces blended yarns of cotton and polyester. The company does not offer pure cotton yarns.

Textiles are treated with chemicals to varying degrees - workwear in particular cannot do without them. The fact that Han Hemers is also collecting used textile stocks from the Dutch army in order to reintroduce them renewed into the consumer cycle is therefore not reassuring. Military clothing has to be finished with all kinds of additives.

Therefor I ask how he can dispel doubts in a consumer’s mind like mine, with a healthy half-knowledge of mask deals and greenwashing, that a well-intentioned vision will be followed by a dark awakening. This concern cannot yet be resolved after the conversation.

We limit ourselves to what is planned: Robert has the dream of reversing the globalized process of textile production. He wants to end the decoupling of cotton growing regions and far-flung production such as Asia with subsequent shipping of ready-made goods to Europe. In the future, existing used textiles and/or cutting wastes are to be collected on site, recycled and processed locally into new textiles.

I believe him in having this dream. However, some of my questions about sustainability remain unanswered - which is why I have my doubts about whether the idea is currently capable of performing and competing.
What are the reasons for this? For one thing, I think it's always difficult to do necessary pioneering work. Especially when listening to smart comments at the regulars' table that large companies are already working intensively on the principle of circular economy. But sometimes, apart from the term "circular economy" and a vague commitment to it, not much remains.

Circularity Germany is committed to developing a technology based exclusively on waste. The interview points out that this also includes making production more environmentally friendly and eliminating transport routes, which further reduces the burden on the environment. When all the requirements for realizing this dream have been met and a product that is competitive in terms of both quality and price can be launched on the market, it is up to the consumer to decide. Here one would have the credible argument of sustainability and a socially and environmentally fair process. Circularity would then not have to worry about PR.

It needs to be given time and, above all, attention. But perhaps the industry should get involved right here and now, and invest in startups like this and make sure that problems are cleared out of the way. Because one thing has become clear to us in this conversation:

It could all be so simple. Circular economy is achievable, but the road there is still costly and rocky. That's why we wish Robert and his team every success and, above all, perseverance. Thank you for the interview.

Short and sweet: the profile of the company in the attached factsheet for download.

 

 

(c) INNATEX – international trade fair for sustainable textiles
06.12.2022

51st INNATEX targets the topic of conventional retail

International trade fair for Green Fashion focuses on new formats and strategic partnerships:

From 21 to 23 January 2023, INNATEX will be taking place for the 51st time in ac-cordance with its usual daily schedule. So far, well over 200 brands have regis-tered from Saturday to Monday in Hofheim-Wallau, near Frankfurt am Main, getting back towards pre-COVID levels. Its motto, ‘One Goal, Endless Styles’, refers not only to the diversity and solidarity in the INNATEX community but also to the fact that Green Fashion is a fundamental business area for the future.

International trade fair for Green Fashion focuses on new formats and strategic partnerships:

From 21 to 23 January 2023, INNATEX will be taking place for the 51st time in ac-cordance with its usual daily schedule. So far, well over 200 brands have regis-tered from Saturday to Monday in Hofheim-Wallau, near Frankfurt am Main, getting back towards pre-COVID levels. Its motto, ‘One Goal, Endless Styles’, refers not only to the diversity and solidarity in the INNATEX community but also to the fact that Green Fashion is a fundamental business area for the future.

Sustainability: a business model fit for the future
“We are seeking to promote constant new development in a sustainable textile industry through new formats and cooperation agreements,” says Alexander Hitzel, INNATEX Project Manager. “We are currently working with the Retail Federation (HDE) on addressing conventional retailers. In addition, we are planning creative and entirely novel concepts for the presentation of labels, as well as a business panel designed to deliver insights and hard facts for the trade. Sustainability projects are only truly sustainable if they are also selfsupporting business models.

From live presentations and strategic communication to fundraising campaigns
But, he says, the demand for established natural fibres and specifically designed production and certification options is also rising. The International Association of the Natural Textile Industry (IVN) will again be on site to offer its expertise and provide information on the implementation of the new German Supply Chain Act. The DesignDiscoveries support program, which will be on display in a freshly designed Special Area, offers selected newcomer labels a platform for their creative ideas. Applications are still open until 15 December.

“At INNATEX, retailers can seek out trends and discover new ideas and products, directly compare an unbeatable range of collections and articles from different suppliers, and get down to networking – those are the benefits of this ordering fair,” says Hitzel.

INNATEX is collaborating for the first time with the organisation Europe Cares, which provides humanitarian assistance for ‘people on the move’. Surplus goods that exhibitors can donate to the campaign will be used for the benefit of refugees at Europe’s borders.

Source:

INNATEX

Submarine sensors have lots to tell us about the situation below the surface. Fraunhofer IZM has mounted sensor systems on the two manta ray fins of the unmanned underwater vehicle designed by EvoLogics. (c) EvoLogics GmbH
11.10.2022

Textile Skin & Smart Sensors: Robo-Ray in Search of Munitions

Giant arsenals of unexploded ordinance are sitting on the ocean floor, lost in battle or dumped as waste. The risky job of detecting these underwater hazards is currently given to submarines specially fitted for the purpose. But even they cannot get to some of the tighter or harder to reach spots, forcing expert divers to go down and take over the often life-threatening work.

A German research consortium including Fraunhofer IZM is now using a submarine robot that is as nimble and mobile as a manta ray and equipped with innovative connected sensors on its fins to gather more information about its surroundings. It can measure water pressure so precisely that metal objects can be detected on the ocean floor, even if they are covered by sediment.

Giant arsenals of unexploded ordinance are sitting on the ocean floor, lost in battle or dumped as waste. The risky job of detecting these underwater hazards is currently given to submarines specially fitted for the purpose. But even they cannot get to some of the tighter or harder to reach spots, forcing expert divers to go down and take over the often life-threatening work.

A German research consortium including Fraunhofer IZM is now using a submarine robot that is as nimble and mobile as a manta ray and equipped with innovative connected sensors on its fins to gather more information about its surroundings. It can measure water pressure so precisely that metal objects can be detected on the ocean floor, even if they are covered by sediment.

Unmanned underwater vehicles or UUVs have been in use for several years, but high-tech pioneers for reliable underwater communication and innovative bionics like EvoLogics GmbH have let themselves be inspired by marine life like manta rays and adapted their look and technical anatomy to the submarine world.

With the enormous “wingspan” of their fins, manta rays are known to cover vast distances, while their extremely flexible vertebrae means that they can make surprisingly sharp turns on their seemingly weightless journey through the sea. Their robotic cousins can be very agile as well, but they were not smart enough yet to replace the professional divers who had to scour the sea floor for hours, looking for lost ordinance from the First or Second World War or other hazardous metal waste before offshore wind farms could be built or intercontinental cables could be put down. Now, the new robo ray will make it possible to detect submarine hazards with a whole battery of sensors.

The “Bionic RoboSkin” project, supported by Germany’s Ministry of Education and Research, is working to give the manta-shaped UUVs a flexible bionic sensor skin to help them navigate their underwater world. The skin is made from a compound fabric that is fitted with sensor elements and water-resistant connectors to supply the sensors with power and transmit their data. Researchers from Fraunhofer IZM have taken on the challenge of developing these integrated sensor modules with which the UUVs can detect touch or the proximity of objects and virtually see and analyze their surroundings. The project consortium is headed by EvoLogics GmbH and includes other experts in the field from TITV Greiz, Sensorik Bayern GmbH, the diving specialists of BALTIC Taucherei- und Bergungsbetrieb Rostock GmbH, and GEO-DV GmbH, all with one mission: To create a new generation of robots that can support their human partners with a range of semi or fully automated services and functions.

Their capabilities will not be limited to the sea: The researchers are looking at a second use case for a land-based robot sensor platform, fittingly called “Badger” or “Dachs” in German. It will navigate by GPS and be fitted with ground penetrating radar to detect metal objects below ground or conduct other ground survey work in harder to reach places (including tunneling work).

Under the robotic manta ray’s deceptively lifelike shell lies intricate technology: A permeable and therefore pressure-neutral fabric skin is created and fitted with integrated microelectronics for touch, flow, motion, and position sensors. This textile skin is then pulled tight over the robotic fins, creating a soft robotics machine that can sense its surroundings. The team at Fraunhofer IZM is responsible for the electronics that make this possible: They developed sensor nodes suitable for submersible use that can collect and pre-process the sensor data. These nodes do not only have to be fit for purpose, they also need to be extremely miniaturized to fit underneath the thin fabric skin and integrate the necessary connectors. In active operations below the waterline, these sensors can track parameters like acceleration, pressure, or absorbency. The researchers also included LEDs in the circuit board design that let the robotic manta rays communicate with human divers, for instance to signal a turn.

All of these components and sensor packages are integrated by means of a highly miniaturized embedding method and protected from the cold and wet environment by a robust case. Despite this, the footprint of the embedded modules is amazingly small at 23 x 10.5 x 1.6 mm³, fitting a complete sensor package and microcontroller in something the size of a common door key. The case itself works as a conductor by creating the mechanical and electrical contact with the sensor skin itself. The researchers chose a modular two-part design from their original vision of the product: The embedding module combines the individual electronic components on a millimeter scale for exceptional integration; the module case acts as the mechanical interface with the skin and makes the system as robust as it has to be for its destined purpose. The coupling between module and case relies on a seemingly simple clipping action: Small pins on the connector surface on the skin and tiny hooks on the sensor module itself snap together to form an easily de- and attachable interface. The resulting system is modular to allow easy reconfiguration.

The researchers at Fraunhofer IZM will now subject their robotic manta ray to a series of tests with their project partners. The results and findings from the “Bionic RoboSkin” project will likely be of use for many other projects and contribute to more pressure-neutral and reliable packaging solutions for flexible, mobile, and smarter service robots.

The “Bionic RoboSkin” project is supported through the VDI/VDE-IT by the Ministry of Education and Research (funding code 16ES0914) as part of the federal government’s research and innovation campaign 2016 to 2020 “Microelectronics from Germany – Driver of Innovation for the Digital Economy”.

Source:

Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM

Photo: Pixabay
12.07.2022

Study on Click & Collect in the Fashion Industry

Study reveals need for action

How well are online and in-store businesses linked in the German fashion industry? How smoothly do omnichannel models like click & collect work? And how satisfactory is this for consumers? These questions were addressed by the Cologne-based company fulfillmenttools as part of its study "Click & Collect in the German Fashion Industry".

Study reveals need for action

How well are online and in-store businesses linked in the German fashion industry? How smoothly do omnichannel models like click & collect work? And how satisfactory is this for consumers? These questions were addressed by the Cologne-based company fulfillmenttools as part of its study "Click & Collect in the German Fashion Industry".

For the study, around 80 of the largest fashion retailers in Germany were examined in the first and second quarters of 2022. Of these, 22 companies in the sample offered Click & Collect as part of their service portfolio and could be analyzed in detail as part of test purchases. The mystery shoppers focused on how Click & Collect orders are processed via the retailers' online stores, the shopping experience when picking up the merchandise at the stores, and the handling of the returns process. The result: there is a clear need for optimization in all steps. According to the study, none of the retailers analyzed is currently in a position to offer its customers a consistent and convenient omnichannel experience.

In the fashion industry in particular, Click & Collect allows customers to benefit from on-site service and the convenience of online shopping. Immediate fitting, simple returns and no shipping costs are just a selection of the many advantages. Last but not least, the restrictions imposed in the wake of the Corona pandemic have accelerated the spread of Click & Collect in the retail sector. But how well does it work and how is it perceived by customers? "There is currently still a lack of data in operational practice that illustrates how well Click & Collect is implemented in reality from the customer's point of view. That's why we took a closer look at the status quo of Click & Collect models in the German fashion industry," says project manager Marleen Ratert.

In the study of around 80 of the largest fashion retailers in Germany, it was initially surprising that only 22 of the 80 (27%) retailers surveyed offer Click & Collect as an option for their customers in their service portfolio.

In analyzing and evaluating the companies that offer Click & Collect, the focus was on the entire journey of a customer order: ordering process, communication, pickup, returns processing and refunding.

According to the study's authors, a positive aspect is that the ordering process in the online store runs smoothly at most fashion retailers. However, customer communication before, during and after the click & collect order process was generally deficient. Missing order confirmations and non-existent information about delivery time and pick-up time were particularly negative.

he German fashion retailers performed worst in the area of the collection process. In particular, long delivery times, a lack of service points at the point of sale, and forms that have to be filled out by hand are the main reasons for dissatisfaction with the pickup process. In the area of returns processing, it was primarily the lack of digitization of the process that stood out: A large proportion still work with manual forms. However, the majority of fashion retailers in Germany have no problems processing the payment afterwards.

Monolithic IT structures, different solutions for many operational areas, traditional processes, missing interfaces - the reasons for the problems with the quick and easy introduction of omnichannel processes are numerous on the part of the companies. The demands of customers, on the other hand, have risen rapidly in recent years.

The checklist for successful omnichannel retailers provides tips and tricks for optimizing online and offline business in a process- and customer-oriented manner:

SIMPLIFY ONLINE ORDERS

  • Prominently feature Click & Collect as a service in the online store in order to draw customers' attention to it more quickly and fully exploit sales potentials
  • Improve availability of Click & Collect products

CREATE SEAMLESS IN-STORE EXPERIENCES

  • Install service points for picking up orders and clearly mark them as such to avoid waiting times at the checkout and provide customers with better orientation
  • Make store staff aware of upselling and cross-selling opportunities to encourage additional purchases

OPTIMIZE PROCESSES

  • Pick online orders in the store to significantly speed up delivery times and easily meet delivery promises
  • Digitize handover and return processes to make store operations more efficient and reduce the workload on staff
  • Regularly test omnichannel processes to identify gaps in communication and potential for optimization

IMPROVE SERVICE QUALITY

  • Implement end-to-end communication throughout the process to keep customers informed about the status of their order at all times
  • Offer various return options to best meet customer expectations

Modular software-as-a-service solutions for fulfillment processes are available to simplify complex processes for retailers, reduce the workload of employees and prevent errors in order picking. The entire study (in German) is available for download here.

Source:

fulfillmenttools.com / REWE digital

(c) Oeti
31.05.2022

OEKO-TEX® Association celebrates 30th birthday

The international OEKO-TEX® Association, which consists of a total of 17 independent research and testing institutes in Europe and Japan, turns thirty this year. As one of the founding members, OETI is taking this as an opportunity to talk to OEKO-TEX® expert Helene Melnitzky (Head of the Ecology Department at OETI) about the role of the OEKO-TEX® Association, market trends and current OEKO-TEX® certifications and labels.

The international OEKO-TEX® Association, which consists of a total of 17 independent research and testing institutes in Europe and Japan, turns thirty this year. As one of the founding members, OETI is taking this as an opportunity to talk to OEKO-TEX® expert Helene Melnitzky (Head of the Ecology Department at OETI) about the role of the OEKO-TEX® Association, market trends and current OEKO-TEX® certifications and labels.

The international OEKO-TEX® Association is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year. What role has it played so far with regard to the product safety of textile and leather products?
Helene Melnitzky:
In the area product safety1, OEKO-TEX® has had a great impact over the last three decades by ensuring certain pollutant additives, some of which were found in large quantities in textiles 30 years ago, no longer exist. The OEKO-TEX® Association was also the first to limit certain heavy metals. Based on our actions, legal provisions were ultimately passed. We have been testing banned dyes since before there even was an EU regulation in this regard. Of course, we now test according to the EU regulation, but in this respect OEKO-TEX® was a clear trailblazer.

In addition to product safety, OEKO-TEX® has been working on the topics of ‘environmentally friendly textile products manufactured under fair working conditions for 30 years, which also included leather products for the last five years, and with STeP by OEKO-TEX® on the ‘certification of environmentally friendly production sites’ since 2013. In one way or another, we have been preparing the market for thirty years. In the process, we are always creating new things: currently the Impact Calculator and, in autumn-2022, a new certification for brands and retailers: RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS by OEKO-TEX®.

How does that benefit the customers of OEKO-TEX®?
Helene Melnitzky:
Customers can use these calculations for external communication to demonstrate on their products or webpages that their products have a lower footprint than their competitors. This means that customers sourcing everything regionally will have a smaller footprint than companies that source products from different countries. In the future, it will be necessary to display the water and carbon footprint on the product, so that consumers can decide whether they want to buy product A or B.

How is the aspect of fair working conditions taken into account?
Helene Melnitzky:
This topic has also been gaining significant momentum over the last ten years. There is now enough pressure on brands and retailers to improve local working conditions. We cover this area as part of our STeP by OEKO-TEX® certification2 with our ‘social responsibility’ module. The advantage for our customers is that they can subsequently use the MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® label to show how they have performed in the social module.

What does Transparency with MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® mean?
Helene Melnitzky:
Everything that is written on the product is transparent. The MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® label is a traceable product label for all types of textiles and leather items that have been produced in environmentally friendly factories and at safe and socially responsible workplaces. Furthermore, the MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® label gives consumers the certainty that the textile or leather product is made from materials tested for harmful substances. In order to ensure that textile or leather products with the MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® label have been produced using environmentally friendly processes under socially acceptable working conditions, manufacturing and wet production sites must be certified according to STeP by OEKO-TEX®.

For a year now, it has been possible to have recycled materials STANDARD 100 certified and display that certification as a hangtag to communicate that the product consists of a certain proportion3 of recycled materials. Which market demand is this certification addressing?
Helene Melnitzky:
There is an increasing demand that at least part of the product must be made from recycled material. This is partly attributable to market pressure because raw materials are scarce and expensive. However, we are also voluntarily informing consumers about recycling as part of the circular economy.

What is your outlook for the next few years?
Helene Melnitzky:
Producing textile and leather products in a more environmentally friendly and fair manner, while making the value chain more transparent, is a global challenge that sets new environmental standards. In the long term, however, it also involves important economic and social aspects. The goal is to raise awareness of these interdependencies and a common understanding of environmental issues – among producers and, of course, end consumers. It is clear that the demand for certified and traceable products is growing among consumers. This trend is reflected in purchasing behaviour and thus in manufacturing. Nevertheless, there’s still a lot to do.


1 STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® und LEATHER STANDARD by OEKO-TEX®
2 The STeP by OEKO-TEX® certification includes the modules Chemical Management, Environmental Performance, Environmental Management, Quality Management, Occupational Health and Safety, and Social Responsibility
3 To qualify, the product must contain at least 20 per cent recycled material.

Photo: Rostyslav Savchyn, Unsplash
22.03.2022

Again more Chinese company takeovers in Europe

  • Increase from 132 to 155 transactions - transaction value increases eightfold to 12.4 billion US dollars
  • Number of Chinese acquisitions in Germany rises from 28 to 35
  • UK most popular investment destination for Chinese companies followed by Germany

After the pandemic-related decline in Chinese company acquisitions in Europe in 2020, the number of transactions increased again in 2021: from 132 to 155. The transaction volume also increased: The value of investments and acquisitions has increased more than eightfold from $1.5 billion to $12.4 billion.

  • Increase from 132 to 155 transactions - transaction value increases eightfold to 12.4 billion US dollars
  • Number of Chinese acquisitions in Germany rises from 28 to 35
  • UK most popular investment destination for Chinese companies followed by Germany

After the pandemic-related decline in Chinese company acquisitions in Europe in 2020, the number of transactions increased again in 2021: from 132 to 155. The transaction volume also increased: The value of investments and acquisitions has increased more than eightfold from $1.5 billion to $12.4 billion.

Chinese investors also appeared more frequently again in Germany: After only 28 transactions by Chinese companies were counted in 2020, there were 35 of such investments or acquisitions in 2021. The investment volume rose from USD 0.4 billion to USD 2.0 billion. This figure does not include venture capital investments in German startups totaling USD 1.9 billion in 2021, in which Chinese companies were active as part of international investor groups.

These are the findings of a study by the audit and consulting firm EY, which examines investments by Chinese companies in Germany and Europe.

"Chinese companies remain cautious about investing in Europe overall," observes Yi Sun, partner and head of China Business Services in the Europe West region at EY. "One contributing factor is still the pandemic, which continued to cause disruptions in 2021 - partly because of mitigation measures such as travel restrictions, strict quarantine rules for people traveling to China from abroad, and lockdowns both in Europe and in China itself. Most Chinese companies that have already acquired companies abroad have been more concerned with restructuring in Europe in recent years rather than expanding further - especially in the automotive supply and machinery sectors."

According to Sun, the now high hurdles for foreign investments, especially in certain critical industries, as well as increasing competition from financial investors with strong capital, also had a dampening effect. "Purchase prices on the M&A market have risen sharply recently - in some cases, the Chinese interested parties didn't want to go along with that. Listed Chinese companies in particular fear putting pressure on their own share price with expensive acquisitions," Sun said. "In addition, some of the potential takeover candidates own production facilities or R&D centers in the US. In such cases, they may fear rejection by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) - and potential Chinese bidders may not even be invited."

Declining interest in industrial companies
Traditional industrial companies continue to account for the majority of deals - especially in Germany: 12 of the 35 transactions in Germany and 30 of the 155 transactions in Europe took place in the industrial sector.

However, their number is declining: In 2020, 36 industrial transactions were counted across Europe. "Chinese investors are still interested in European automotive suppliers or mechanical engineering companies - but now more in the subsectors of electromobility, autonomous driving and high-tech materials," says Sun.

However, Yi Sun identifies a significant increase in interest elsewhere: "Chinese private equity funds and venture capitalists are becoming increasingly active. In Germany in particular, there were some very large investments in startups last year in which Chinese investors were significantly involved. In addition to German engineering skills, e-commerce expertise is increasingly in demand."

High tech/software companies accounted for 27 transactions across Europe last year (previous year: 20). "We see an increased interest in game developers and software programmers, for example. Especially the most active Chinese investor last year, Tencent, has recently become heavily involved in this segment," observes Sun.

The number of acquisitions and investments in the healthcare sector also increased: from 16 to 26 transactions. "The healthcare sector - whether pharma, biotech or medical technology - is increasingly becoming one of the most important target sectors for Chinese companies because there is a lot of pent-up demand in this sector in China, especially in research and development."

Great Britain replaces Germany as top destination in Europe
Most transactions were recorded in the UK last year. With 36 acquisitions and investments, the UK is just ahead of Germany (35 transactions) and well ahead of the third-placed Netherlands (13).

In the previous year, the order at the top was reversed: in 2020, Germany with 28 transactions was ahead of the UK with 21 deals.

"To the extent that the interest of Chinese investors is moving away from classic industrial companies toward technology, software and media companies, the target market of Great Britain is gaining in importance," says Sun. However, she is convinced that Germany remains an attractive market for Chinese investors: "Many Chinese companies have had good experiences with their investments in Germany in particular. In addition, there are now close and resilient ties between China and Germany at many levels. We will see more Chinese transactions in Germany in the coming months - especially when the impact of the pandemic on the economy subsides," Sun expects.

The largest investment in Europe last year was the sale of Philips' home appliances division to Hong Kong-based investment firm Hillhouse Capital for $4.4 billion.

The second largest transaction was Tencent's acquisition of the British developer studio Sumo Digital for US$1.1 billion, followed by China International Marine Containers' takeover of the Danish reefer container manufacturer Maersk Container Industry for also US$1.1 billion.

Study Design:

  • Sources: EY research, Thomson ONE, Merger Market, communications from the companies or consulting firms and law firms involved.
  • Acquisitions and investments originating from companies headquartered in China and Hong Kong or their subsidiaries were examined.
  • The target companies are headquartered in Europe and are operationally active.
  • Pure real estate transactions were not included.
  • The analysis also included transactions that had not yet been completed as of the reporting date of Feb. 17, 2022

Increasingly, Chinese investors are also participating in venture capital financing rounds, mostly as part of investor groups. In these cases, it is often not possible to determine the amount provided by the Chinese investor. Therefore, these transactions are included in the number of transactions but not in the total values.

Source:

Ernst & Young Global Limited (EYG)

Photo: Henning Rogge
09.03.2022

DRESSED. 7 WOMEN - 200 YEARS OF FASHION

  • Exhibition in Hamburg Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe: 25/02/ - 28/08/2022

  • Exhibition in Hamburg Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe: 25/02/ - 28/08/2022

Our wardrobe is among our most personal possessions. Nothing is closer to our bodies. Alongside its purely practical function, clothing is also a nuanced means of communication and self-expression. The exhibition DRESSED. 7 WOMEN – 200 YEARS OF FASHION presents seven fashion-conscious women and their wardrobes, ranging from the nineteenth century to the present day.
The spotlight is on the personalities and biographies of the wearers, who reveal themselves to be both performers and consumers of fashion. Whether haute couture, daywear, protest gear or avant-garde trends – what they chose to wear is every bit as diverse as their lifestyles. Their wardrobes tell of the status-consciousness of high-society wives, of an existence marked by illness, of “power dressing” for projecting confidence in the executive suite, of Hamburg’s punk scene, and of the aesthetics embraced by an art and design collector.
 
Rather than basing the selection on status or celebrity, the protagonists cover the greatest possible variety of women’s lifestyles and their expression through fashion. Around 150 garments and accessories from the Fashion and Textiles Collection at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MK&G) illuminate seven different walks of life and 200 years of fashion, women’s liberation and contemporary history. The fashion items were produced by famous designers, couturiers/couturières and fashion ateliers such as Maison Worth, Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Martin Margiela as well as by anonymous tailors and seamstresses. They are supplemented by biographical testimonies, photographs and documents.

„The idea of approaching not only fashion history but also the former wearers through the seven wardobes on display immediately excited me”, remarks Tulga Beyerle, director of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. “The narrative also goes beyond that and deals with a topic that is still relevant today: the changing role of women in society.”
 
Senator Dr Carsten Brosda says of the exhibition:” The history of clothing is the history of man. The history of fashion is the history of our social self-image. “Dressed” tells both the story of individual lives and the spirit of the times. The exhibition traces our understanding of aesthetics, the relationship between no-go’s and avant-garde, do’s and don’ts and as a whole is a symbol of possibilities. With the exhibition „Dressed”, the MK&G once again sensitises us to the social value of clothing in a time of material hyperconsumption.”
               
SEVEN PERSONALITIES – SEVEN WARDROBES
The earliest apparel ensemble, which once belonged to ELISE FRÄNCKEL (1807 – 1898), consists mainly of accessories and reveals the up to date fashion sense of the senator’s wife from Oldenburg in Holstein around 1820. The wardrobe of the diplomat’s wife EDITH VON MALTZAN FREIFRAU ZU WARTENBERG UND PENZLIN (1886 – 1976) includes elegant daywear and exquisite afternoon and evening attire from the years 1895 to 1950. The life and clothing of ERIKA HOLST (1917 – 1946) were shaped by war and her illness with tuberculosis. Dating from 1935 to 1945, her wardrobe contains mostly daywear. The Hamburg gallery owner and museum founder ELKE DRÖSCHER (b. 1941) wore almost exclusively pret-à-porter models by Yves Saint Laurent between 1968 and 1986, opting for a form of “power dressing”. INES ORTNER (b. 1968), active in Hamburg’s punk scene since the mid-1980s, combines an interest in fashion with a socio-critical stance in her ”self-constructed”, in some cases anarchic clothing objects. ANGELICA BLECHSCHMIDT (1942 – 2018), editor-in-chief of German Vogues from 1989 to 2002, clad herself in high-end products from international fashion houses as befitting position. Her “work uniform” consisted of little black dresses in combination with chunky costume jewellery. The art and design collector ANNE LÜHN (b. 1944) has over the years donated individual pieces from her wardrobe to MK&G. The often asymmetrical garments created by an international design avant-garde display an aesthetic of resistance.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FASHION
The seven wardrobes selected for the show shed light on the development of fashion since the early nineteenth century. The items on view can be seen in one sense as an abstract succession of generations. The Second World War marked a clear turning point in terms of women’s opportunities, as revealed by the marital status and occupation of the carious women portrayed. Women born after 1940 were no longer confined to the role of mother, wife and house wife but were able to pursue their own professional goals. The garments also tell of contemporary political and social developments. The rigid corset disappeared after the First World War, roughly concurrently with the rise of women’s suffrage. The proliferation of trousers in women’s fashion from the 1970s onwards went hand in hand with the women’s liberation movement. And in the 1980s, an increasing plurality of clothing styles reflected developments in society at large.
          
CLOTHING AS AN ARCHIVE
The design of the exhibition is inspired by the concept of an archive. Reference is thus made to the museum’s mission of collecting and research but also to the archival function of clothing itself, which serves as a material but also to the archival function of clothing itself, which serves as a material witness to the history of design, technology and trade. At the same time, garments perpetuate the traces of individual bodies, movement and use, providing immaterial clues to the wearer’s aura and calling to mind notions of femininity, beauty and chic as well as personal and collective memories.
 
CLOTHING AS OBJECT OF DAILY USE
Garments are everyday items inscribed with signs of their use and of the body that wears them and bearing the marks of material wear and tear and of storage. These visible marks are just as unwelcome in private wardrobes as they are in museum collections – and yet they prove to be extremely valuable as evidence for object-based research. The exhibition therefore also shows objects with clear signs of wear and provides information about their state of preservation.

CLOTHING AS A MEANS OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
Clothing norms and dress codes depend on factors such as age, gender, body shape, occasion, location, status and social group. We already start learning in childhood how to navigate this maze of rules and find the right mix for ourselves between conformity and individuality. As demonstrated by the biographies recounted here, fashion and a preoccupation with how we look is even today primarily a topic for women and people who read as female. Women are judged more by their appearance that their male counterparts and
are held to account more harshly for ostensible “mistakes” in how they present themselves. The role dress plays in social communication cannot be overestimated. Its effect is immediate. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we send and receive signals with our clothes bodies – not to communicate is impossible.

FASION HOUSES AND DESIGNERS REPRESENTED
The exhibition provides a detailed look at high-quality items of clothing in the MK&G collection along with glimpses of the creative work of a wide range of both anonymous makers and famous national and international fashion designers, couturiers/couturières and ateliers, including Georges Doeuillet, Romeo Gigli, Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons, Alice Lanot, Emilienne Manassé, Maison Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Elsa Schiaparelli, Worth, Yohji Yamamoto and others.

CATALOGUE
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue of the same name, published by Hirmer Verlag Munich, edited by Turga Beyerle and Angelika Riley, and with essays by Claire Beermann, Turga Beyerle, Joanne Entwistle, Birgit Haase, Peter Kempe, Ingrid E. Mida, Angelika Riley and Maria Stavel, and photographs ny Anne Schönharting. In German with two essays in English, ca. 250 pages, ca. 475 colour illustrations, 90 of them full-page plates, 49.90 Euro.

Ingo Offermanns (Hamburg) is responsible for the graphic design of the catalogue and exhibition. The exhibition architecture is the work of designer and scenographer Katleen Arthen (Berlin).

EDUCTAIONAL PROGRAMM
As part of the exhibition, the MK&G is organising numerous analogue and digital guided tours, including the exhibition tour “With Pen and paper” – a drawing workshop on the seven wardrobes on display with the artist Anne Pflug. You can participate in the exhibition via MK6G’s social media channels: Which favourite piece of clothing should be preserved for posterity? The best photos and stories that are shared with MK&G links can be seen digitally in the exhibition shortly afterwards. More information on the event programme on the website under CALENDAR.

The exhibition is made possible by funds from the Exhibition Fund of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Hubertus Wald Foundation and the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation.

Source:

Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe, Hamburg

(c) CHT Group
22.06.2021

CHT: "We are hiring." Humans Resources Policy in Times of Pandemic and Skills Shortage

The CHT Group is a globally operating company group for specialty chemicals. It has been in business for more than 65 years in a wide variety of industrial sectors and markets. Innovative and high-quality specialty chemicals alongside convincing services are just as much part of the portfolio as chemical auxiliaries and additives.

Textination spoke with Kurt Speckle [Head of Technical Service Dyestuffs] and Ursula Häberli [Head of Human Resources] specifically for the Textile Solutions division about the challenges of a successful human resources policy in such special times as a pandemic and the shortage of skilled workers.

The CHT Group is a globally operating company group for specialty chemicals. It has been in business for more than 65 years in a wide variety of industrial sectors and markets. Innovative and high-quality specialty chemicals alongside convincing services are just as much part of the portfolio as chemical auxiliaries and additives.

Textination spoke with Kurt Speckle [Head of Technical Service Dyestuffs] and Ursula Häberli [Head of Human Resources] specifically for the Textile Solutions division about the challenges of a successful human resources policy in such special times as a pandemic and the shortage of skilled workers.

The Technical Service Dyestuff department, headed by Kurt Speckle, who has worked for CHT for 32 years, currently comprises 16 people. It consists of a technical staff, which supports customers worldwide in the form of technical advice, on-site trials, lectures and in the creation of presentations, as well as a laboratory team, which handles inquiries regarding color settings, problem solutions, fastness, etc. Depending on the customer inquiry, both departments work hand in hand together.

The know-how and the heart of the technical staff consists of six people, all 50+, whom Kurt Speckle - with a grin - also calls "textile dinosaurs". In addition, young technicians with operational experience are being trained in order to be introduced to larger tasks. The apprenticeship training for textile laboratory technicians at CHT SWITZERLAND AG has a supporting effect.

As a globally operating company group for specialty chemicals, the CHT Group has been active in numerous industrial sectors and markets of 20 countries for more than 65 years. CHT Switzerland AG turns 50 this year and is the world's competence center for dyes. How has it been possible to establish and maintain such a good market position in dyes?

Kurt Speckle: In addition to the quality level of our products and the wide range of more than 700 products covering the various quality requirements of today's customers, CHT Switzerland also offers an excellent technical service for the product application. This globally known additional service makes us interesting for customers and generates inquiries worldwide. Transferring customer-specific problem solutions from our laboratory to production is one of the keys to our success.

In the Textile Solutions division, you have a wide range of specialty chemicals and dyes for textile production in your portfolio. In your opinion, in which direction is the textile industry currently moving in terms of dye chemistry - what trends do you see? What does this mean for your product range?

Kurt Speckle: One of the challenges today is to find the right dye gamma for the desired application. In recent years, we have constantly adapted the range to the new needs and requirements. In addition to these technical specifications, the entire textile finishing industry is also constantly confronted with new ecological and toxicological legal requirements. Textiles and also technical textiles not only have to meet certain fastness requirements, but also have to comply with countless label requirements. REACH and many labels lead to constant adjustments in the dye finishing to ensure that the products are up-to-date with the latest technology.

How does optimal teamwork work in the dyestuff team, and how can you ensure that the knowledge and experience gained over many years is passed on?

Kurt Speckle: Exchange of experience works with people who have practical experience. Only this can be built upon and new information can be stored accordingly. We operate and communicate on a common drive. Lively verbal communication is also essential for this. Our own tests in the laboratory and also in the production at customers' sites form the actual wealth of experience of our employees.

We are observing various megatrends that have taken a new turn as a result of the pandemic and that also directly affect your customers in the textile industry: Neo-ecology, connectivity and digitalization, health - to name just a few. To what extent does this challenge you as a service provider for your customers and as an employer? Is there a changed requirements profile for your employees?

Kurt Speckle: Due to the omission of traveling and direct customer contact, the working picture has of course changed. Due to the experience potential, however, many problem inquiries can be processed and solved via a wide variety of communication options. However, this cannot be seen as a sustainable and permanently established system. Experience and further development can only take place through practical trials on the most varied machines under the most varied conditions and with our dyes.

In which areas of training - whether at university or in apprenticeships - do you see a need for improvement in the curricula? Do career starters have the necessary skills for your company, or do you need to provide additional training in fundamental required areas?

Ursula Häberli: We train our future pool of specialists internally. In addition, we have several apprentices every year as textile and chemical laboratory technicians, whom we offer a permanent position afterwards. The training at the vocational school and in the advanced courses is excellent. The apprentices are challenged in many different areas. Textile laboratory assistants complete exactly the same training as chemical laboratory assistants, but have additional 240 lessons of textile training and textile courses. Textile laboratory assistants now require very extensive, in-depth and broad specialist knowledge. The textile industry is developing rapidly and new, complex content is constantly being added to the already very broad basic knowledge. We also actively support further education, for example the BSc Design & Technology at the Swiss Textile College. This training is broadly based and provides employees with good specialist knowledge and various additional essential skills.

What do you think about the personnel situation at CHT in general? Can you fill all positions? Who are you currently looking for most urgently?

Ursula Häberli: Our long-standing market presence and the good reputation we have built up over 50 years with our "customer first" approach always help us to attract talent. We are currently looking for a person as a textile technician for the Dyestuffs BU. Here we are planning early for the succession of a textile dinosaur who may retire in 2022. And for the Garment Team we are also looking for a textile technician.

The garment sector is a textile specialty that has been increasingly relocated to eastern countries in the last 10 years. Therefore, the search will certainly be a challenge.

You have built a career portal for CHT at https://career-switzerland.cht.com. With this website, you directly address different target groups: Apprentices, students, young professionals and experienced professionals. What role do the "old stagers" play in the company group?

Ursula Häberli: The old stagers are sometimes called "dinosaurs" by us - textile workers like them, with an often lifelong career in the textile world, are rare, pessimistically speaking: dying out. But all joking aside, the old stagers are enormously important. It is up to them to actively pass on their knowledge to future generations. This is already working very well on a day-to-day basis. The dyestuff team - including the boss - deliberately sits together in one large room so that a lot can be overheard and discussed. The team recently launched the "Textile Lunches". These are short concise learning nuggets to share knowledge and experience.

Employer branding seems to have been the magic word for some time now. Create an attractive employer brand, focus on strengths such as open corporate culture, transparent communication, responsibility for one's own area and employee benefits - and all positions are filled very quickly. What does CHT think of employer branding, what experience have you had with it, and what special offers do you provide to prospective employees?

Ursula Häberli: With the career site https://career-switzerland.cht.com, we have deliberately chosen a modern, outward-looking tool to strengthen our employer brand. CHT ambassadors tell their stories and make job seekers want to join us and help shaping the future. Another big plus is that the workplace is located in a wonderful landscape with a high recreational value, close to Lake Constance and an impressive mountain landscape, where our employees like to spend their time.

For some time now, the CHT company group has been operating under a new claim: Chemistry with Character. This statement was created for marketing purposes, but it certainly also says something about the company. What does this claim mean in particular for your personnel policy? Who is already on your team? Who are you looking for? And how many rough edges are employees allowed to have?

Ursula Häberli: We are looking for doers with high team player qualities. That's what sets us apart and makes us prepared for the future. We offer an extremely exciting field of work that demands a high degree of personal responsibility, initiative and creativity. We are proud to be the competence center for dyes at the Montlingen site - one of the few companies in the geographic area of Eastern Switzerland / Vorarlberg / Southern Germany that still exists and will continue to exist for a long time.

 

The interview was conducted by Ines Chucholowius, Managing partner Textination GmbH

(c) Neonyt/Messe Frankfurt GmbH
30.03.2021

Circularity and Fashion: Interview about the Business and Communication Platform Neonyt

Circular instead of throwaway economy - from fast fashion to zero-waste philosophy. The key elements of the circular economy in the fashion business are: Avoiding waste and pollution through new processes, continuous recycling of products and materials, and regeneration of natural systems. Textination talked with Olaf Schmidt, Vice President of Textiles & Textile Technologies, and Thimo Schwenzfeier, Show Director of Neonyt, from Messe Frankfurt about the Neonyt trade show as a business and communication platform for circularity & fashion.
 
It has been about 10 years since Messe Frankfurt ventured onto the "sustainable" fashion trade show stage. Initially with the Ethical Fashion Show, then with the Greenshowroom, there were two trade show formats in Berlin dedicated to the topic of green fashion. What prompted you as a trade show organizer to launch such a special format in Germany at that time?

Circular instead of throwaway economy - from fast fashion to zero-waste philosophy. The key elements of the circular economy in the fashion business are: Avoiding waste and pollution through new processes, continuous recycling of products and materials, and regeneration of natural systems. Textination talked with Olaf Schmidt, Vice President of Textiles & Textile Technologies, and Thimo Schwenzfeier, Show Director of Neonyt, from Messe Frankfurt about the Neonyt trade show as a business and communication platform for circularity & fashion.
 
It has been about 10 years since Messe Frankfurt ventured onto the "sustainable" fashion trade show stage. Initially with the Ethical Fashion Show, then with the Greenshowroom, there were two trade show formats in Berlin dedicated to the topic of green fashion. What prompted you as a trade show organizer to launch such a special format in Germany at that time?

Olaf Schmidt: Messe Frankfurt's Texpertise Network brings together the world's most important textile trade shows - at around 60 events worldwide, we show what drives the textile and fashion industry. We present the current topics and trends and set impulses for the entire textile value chain. Messe Frankfurt recognized the need for a suitable platform for the future topic of sustainability at an early stage. It was therefore obvious to expand our expertise in the field of fashion and to meet the demand from this segment. To achieve this, we have adapted and realigned existing formats: After launching the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris in 2004, Messe Frankfurt France took over the event in 2010. Two years later, Messe Frankfurt founded the Ethical Fashion Show Berlin in Germany and found, with the moving of the event to the polarizing capital, the ideal location for the coming years. Messe Frankfurt merged the already existing Greenshowroom with the Ethical Fashion Show, and from January 2015 the two shows took place in one venue. For Messe Frankfurt, hosting these events was the next logical step on our way to a sustainable fashion future - the concept is now established in the sustainable fashion market and has a continuous growth potential. The merging of the trade show duo in 2019, with the current name Neonyt, allowed us, our exhibitors and visitors a new content orientation and a holistic approach to the topic of sustainability as well as a more direct access to the conventional fashion market, especially with regard to retail. In summer 2021, Neonyt will take place for the first time in the new fashion hotspot Frankfurt as part of the new Frankfurt Fashion Week.

 
In 2019, both event formats were merged, the new trade show Neonyt was born and 1 + 1 became what? What components does Neonyt offer in addition to the previous trade show concepts, what is so "new-new" and how did you actually come up with the name?

Thimo Schwenzfeier: One plus one, as you so nicely put it, did not simply add up to two with Neonyt. One plus one equals unique, neo-new, internationally relevant: Among other things, the trade show business was supplemented by the international conference format Fashionsustain and a showcase to gradually bring
together the topic of sustainability with the topics of technology, innovation and prepress. Our content creator format Prepeek ensures the necessary lifestyle and the fashion show provides the glamour of the fashion world. Neonyt combines the most important elements of the international textile and fashion industry - style, business, inspiration, innovation, knowledge, fun and community. And that is exactly what makes Neonyt so "new-new". Progressive and polarizing - the artificial word Neonyt is derived from the ancient Greek word "neo" (eng. new, revolutionary) and the Scandinavian word "nytt" (eng. new). "The renewed new" - Neonyt is our synonym for the fundamental transformation process of the textile and fashion industry, a reinterpretation of what has already been there and our commitment not to stand still and to promote positive change together.

 
For the Neonyt trade show format, you have teamed up with partners - for example, for conferencing components and in the design area. What expertise do they provide, and what is the added value for exhibitors and visitors?

Thimo Schwenzfeier: We know which future topics our brands and the community are currently dealing with and therefore create the right platform - for personal encounters and exchange, for networking and successful business deals. To put it simply: we organize trade shows, we organize events, we provide the right setting, we connect people and business. Neonyt therefore forms the global interface between the various players in the textile and fashion industry - between industry, trade, politics, services and consumption. And so that a lively, transparent and, above all, authentic dialog can develop between all counterparts, we naturally draw on the knowledge of industry experts and form strong partnerships to push fashion and sustainability forward. Only together can we achieve real change and guarantee that our community is provided with sufficient and, above all, the right information to make self-determined decisions.
 

In recent years, the keyword circularity - or rather closing the loop - has been encountered everywhere in the fashion industry. Whether Stella McCartney, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, or large retail groups - many players and decision-makers are of the opinion that the future of the fashion world lies only in a circular economy and not in downcycling of any kind. What is Neonyt's view on this?
         
Thimo Schwenzfeier: That's right, the concept of circular economy is not new, nor is it limited to the textile and fashion industry. Circularity - actually the ultimate for every product, every industry, for our global society. The concept is supposedly simple: All materials and products are kept in a closed loop, the useful life is increased and at the end of the product life cycle everything is recycled. Many sustainable fashion labels are already showing how it's done. Neonyt brands are right at the forefront and are already implementing practices that should become the norm as soon as possible: starting with T-shirts or shoes made from recycled materials and take-back systems for collection items. As well as compostable clothing that "dissolves" at the end of the product life cycle and breaks down into its natural components, and on to repair services and leasing models for denim and co. - thinking holistically, acting in a sustainable manner and producing in a circular way are definitely the trends of the coming fashion seasons and at least one important, if not the most important, component of the future fashion world.

 
For the idea of a circular economy to be implemented successfully, there needs to be an interplay between technology, production, design and sales. What presentation options and forms of communication does Neonyt have in store for the various components?  

Thimo Schwenzfeier: The combined innovative power of technology, sustainability and digitization is an important driver of the current developments in the textile and fashion industry - including the topic of circularity. Processes and production sequences are changing along the entire value chain - the industry has to reinvent itself for the most part. Neonyt shows how this can work successfully in the long term, with the internationally established Fashionsustain conference format - including spin-offs in China, Europe and the USA - and the supplementary Showcase. Together, these two formats offer the ideal mix of orientation and inspiration to prepare the industry for the future. Virtual fashion, authentic brands and textile value chains, science and innovation as well as retail, business models and impact investment - at Fashionsustain, top-class experts will exchange ideas with an interested professional audience and discuss the change and new solutions in the textile and fashion industry. The Neonyt Showcase takes a deeper look at the topics and innovations presented and discussed on the Fashionsustain stage. Expert knowledge on-demand, so to speak: whether microfactories or installations - Neonyt brands as well as brands from the rest of the Texpertise Network of Messe Frankfurt, such as exhibitors at Texprocess, get the chance to present sustainable innovations, new technologies and materials, initiatives, change-maker campaigns or research projects. Here they interact directly and practically with Neonyt's international cross-sector community.
 

Last year was an unprecedented challenge for trade show companies due to the pandemic situation. Neonyt was also affected by this - and physical events had to be canceled. With a digital format "Neonyt on Air" you have tried to offer exhibitors and visitors an alternative platform. What has been your experience: Did the focus of the trade show and its community perhaps even help to make such a virtual event easier to launch? 

Olaf Schmidt: Corona has already changed a lot and will certainly continue to do so in one way or another. Nevertheless, it will continue to be our task as trade show organizers to offer the industry the best possible meeting platforms for presenting their new products worldwide. We are convinced that people will continue to want to meet in person and discuss new products as well as services in the future. This is particularly the case in the textile sector, where haptics plays a very crucial role. We expect that there will even be a certain catch-up effect after the crisis. Because what the last two very successful digital seasons of Neonyt on Air, for example, have nevertheless shown clearly: Fashion lives from personalities, presentation and inspiration. Digital formats can support this, but they cannot fully replace it.
 
Thimo Schwenzfeier: The digital Neonyt on Air was far from being a total replacement for the original physical seasons, but nevertheless a huge success. For one week, fashion, lifestyle and digital experts were discussing about more authenticity, immediacy and transparency in the textile and fashion industry in numerous keynotes, interviews and panel discussions. With more than 24,000 international followers on Instagram, we generated around 50,000 impressions and more than 4,700 content interactions with our presenting partners Grüner Knopf, Hessnatur and Oeko-Tex in just five days. These figures show, that the topic of sustainability has arrived in the middle of society and is being discussed across all industries. I think that the polarization and, above all, the prevailing restrictions, as far as trade and commerce are concerned, have certainly contributed to holding a successful digital format. Digitization was truly the booster for the fashion industry in this case: Instead of replacing personal exchange, it helps to maintain and expand the business activities of brands, especially in the current times. And quite clearly, the need for exchange in the fashion industry and the motivation to initiate together a change are still enormous. Neonyt on Air has once again shown us that clearly. However, we are already looking forward to the next physical edition of Neonyt.
 

The COVID-19 pandemic has also left its mark on the textile and clothing industry. When you look back on just under a year of "state of emergency" - what positive experiences do you take with you, where do you see a need for improvement, for what support are you grateful for and where did you feel you were left on your own? 

Olaf Schmidt: A year like no other - that can clearly be said about the last one. The Corona pandemic caught everyone off guard - us as trade show organizers, but of course also our exhibitors, visitors and partners. Especially in the near future, we must continue to expect, that trade shows can only be held under stricter health and safety regulations at first. Messe Frankfurt reacted quickly and developed a comprehensive safety and hygiene concept. One thing was clear: we all had to adjust and deal with a new situation. And so far, we've done a great job together, the team understanding among each other, the close contact - although physically at a distance, but globally networked - between all those involved, makes me feel positive about the future. For me, an important realization of this global pandemic, a credo almost, is to be open to new ways and opportunities and to find ways to combine things rather than separate them: Hybrid solutions, so to speak.    

Thimo Schwenzfeier: There was no master plan for Neonyt, and in places there was also the impression that we now had to "reinvent the wheel": How does collaboration work when face-to-face meetings cannot take place? Can digitized contact compensate for the social distancing that is currently being imposed and still make it possible to work closely together? How can business relationships be maintained when stores are closed? How can priorities be set when well-tested solutions and established annual plans lose their validity? Who am I, who are 'the others' and what defines community? Never have questions about our creation and existence, about what makes us who we are and what we want to be, been more relevant than right now. One thing that I take away from the current situation and that allows me to continue to look forward positively despite difficult circumstances is the fact, that cohesion and solidarity with one another - both privately and professionally - have become increasingly important. Like a magnifying glass, the crisis has magnified existing opportunities, but also challenges, and brought the essentials into focus. I think that if we continue to try to experience things more consciously and not take them for granted, we will manage together to create a " new normal " and leave this crisis with more strength.
 

As in the past in Berlin, Neonyt is currently also located in Frankfurt in the environment of the Fashion Week and conventional trade shows. Can you imagine that a special event concept like Neonyt will be unnecessary in a few years, because the circularity concept will have established itself in the clothing industry worldwide?

Olaf Schmidt: A clear no. Sustainability per se is already no longer a unique selling point. The important thing is to keep up with the times, to follow trends or, even better, to track down new trends yourself and develop them further. Things, strategies, concepts will always change - if last year showed us one thing, it was certainly that. It is more than desirable that we all learn from this crisis and reflect on the really important values, on solidarity between partners, on climate protection and sustainability. It may be exactly for this reason, that companies that place particular emphasis on sustainability will emerge even stronger from this crisis. So you can be sure that we, as a leading international trade show organizer for the textile industry, will continue to focus on sustainability and support future-oriented companies and solutions. However, this will not make our formats obsolete due to the establishment and normalization of holistic business practices in the textile industry. But it is impossible to make an exact forecast for the coming decades. Over the last few months, we have all noticed ourselves in our personal everyday lives or in our professional lives, how uncertain and volatile the future is. What is clear, however, is that the fashion industry - the world in general - will change even faster than before. And therein lies the opportunity for formats like Neonyt. The ten-year history shows in how many directions Neonyt has already developed, content focal points have been shifted and it has reinvented itself - this will also be the case in the future.
 

Mr. Schwenzfeier, in addition to your role as Director of Marketing Communications for Messe Frankfurt's textile exhibitions, you have also been Show Director of Neonyt since 2018. You have spoken to many exhibitors and visitors - which ideas or creations have particularly impressed you?

Thimo Schwenzfeier: I think it's not so much the individual innovations or creations of the exhibitors at our trade shows. And I deliberately choose the plural here. Because in my function as Director of Marketing Communications in the Textiles & Textile Technologies division of Messe Frankfurt, Neonyt is just one of "my" events. I think it's more the variety of fashion, technical and professional innovations that brands, labels, companies, start-ups and designers present every year. But if I really had to choose one innovation, it would probably be the vegan "Currywurst" sneakers made of red pepper and recycled PET bottles - the same label also offers shoes made of wood, stone, coffee and mushrooms or now even meteorite particles. It is impressive to experience every season anew of how creative the textile and fashion industry is.
 

Breaking new ground means being willing to make decisions, overcoming fears - and thus also having the courage to fail. Not every project can succeed. In retrospect, about which entrepreneurial decision by Messe Frankfurt are you particularly glad, that you made?
 
Olaf Schmidt: Clearly the decision to create Neonyt. To establish our own trade show format for fashion, sustainability and innovation and to integrate the freedom and lifestyle, which entail this topic, into our event. After more than a decade, we may be saying goodbye to Berlin in 2021, but not to our community and our spirit. Together we look back on many fashionable seasons and great locations in the capital: starting in the Hotel Adlon Kempinski to the Ewerk, the Postbahnhof, the Kronprinzenpalais, the Funkhaus and the Kraftwerk to the last physical event in Tempelhof. With the turn of the year and in the setting of Frankfurt Fashion Week, Neonyt is about to move to the metropolis by the Main. In Frankfurt, worlds collide: Skyscrapers and 19th-century villas. Architectural sins and masterpieces. Business and middle class. Red-light district and luxury boulevard. Frankfurt Fashion Week sets new impulses in this area of conflict. And in the middle of all this is Neonyt. The signs are pointing to a new beginning - a restart for the entire fashion industry, together we are taking sustainability to the next level - the focus topics Applied Sustainability and Applied Digitization are creating a completely new Fashion Week ecosystem in the metropolis by the Main.
 

If everything works out, Neonyt can be held again as a face-to-face event for the first time in July 2021. What are your plans? What and who can visitors look forward to? And what backup is there for a worst-case scenario?

Thimo Schwenzfeier: Of course, due to the currently ongoing tense situation around Covid-19, it is difficult to make binding statements about the next physical event. However, we are cur rently expecting the situation to ease into the summer summer 2021 is therefore on the health of everyone - exhibitors, visitors, partners and employees of Neonyt. Messe Frankfurt has developed a concept that includes detailed hygienic measures: Hygiene, distance and fresh air supply are important factors, which we coordinate with the responsible authorities in Frankfurt and those in charge of Frankfurt Fashion Week. In due course, the Neonyt community will receive advice and recommendations for the trade show attendance and participation, that comply with current regulations. We have not yet thought about a concrete backup for a worst-case scenario, as we are currently anticipating a physical B2B event - but the last two seasons have shown, should it not be possible to hold the Neonyt face-to-face, that we are quite well positioned with the digital Neonyt on Air and could certainly adapt the format for another summer event. We regularly exchange ideas with all market participants and try to get a sense of opinions and wishes from our community through surveys. Wait and see, one might say - in the end, we also have to act according to what the current health situation allows and what decisions are made by politicians.

The Interview was conducted by Ines Chucholowius,
Managing Partner, Textination GmbH

Entries now open for Basecamp of Inspiration by ISPO Brandnew in cooperation with Globetrotter © KontraPixel | Jana Erb
16.03.2021

Entries now open for Basecamp of Inspiration by ISPO Brandnew in cooperation with Globetrotter

  • Calling all innovative start-ups in the outdoor industry
  • Globetrotter as official Partner
  • Online entries incl. submission of products open until May 14, 2021

Basecamp of Inspiration by ISPO Brandnew in cooperation with Globetrotter is taking place in 2021. The competition is open to start-ups working in the outdoor industry that have developed innovative products. 10 shortlisted start-ups will be given the opportunity to make their pitch for first place live during OutDoor by ISPO from July 6 to 8, 2021. The winner will receive a “Globetrotter Innolab Scholarship”. The outdoor retailer is the Basecamp’s official partner. The competition entry process has already been successfully launched and will remain open until May 14, 2021.

  • Calling all innovative start-ups in the outdoor industry
  • Globetrotter as official Partner
  • Online entries incl. submission of products open until May 14, 2021

Basecamp of Inspiration by ISPO Brandnew in cooperation with Globetrotter is taking place in 2021. The competition is open to start-ups working in the outdoor industry that have developed innovative products. 10 shortlisted start-ups will be given the opportunity to make their pitch for first place live during OutDoor by ISPO from July 6 to 8, 2021. The winner will receive a “Globetrotter Innolab Scholarship”. The outdoor retailer is the Basecamp’s official partner. The competition entry process has already been successfully launched and will remain open until May 14, 2021.

The format for start-ups, which is based on a long tradition spanning 20 years, is being slightly reworked this year: the jury, consisting of industry experts, will shortlist the 10 best entries after which the relevant entrants will be invited to make their pitch for the scholarship and other prizes live on stage at OutDoor by ISPO. 

Winners will benefit from global reach and communications strategies
The winner of the top spot will receive a Globetrotter Innolab Scholarship: the winning product will be included in Globetrotter’s range and prominently showcased and advertised in the Globetrotter Innovation Lab in Berlin for an entire season. The winning start-up will also be given the golden opportunity to present the product or service in the Globetrotter online store and in selected retail spaces. Finally, the Globetrotter Innolab Scholarship will also involve inclusion in the outdoor retailer’s communications and content strategy. Globetrotter will promote the winning product via various different digital channels, including newsletters, social media platforms, blogs, and the Globetrotter magazine. The winner may also benefit from support in terms of subsequent marketing as well as joint further development of the product.  

Outdoor and adventure photographer Jana Erb from KontraPixel will shoot a video for the runner-up about the brand, including interviews and a tour of the company. Both the product and the start-up involved will therefore benefit from professional production. The third-placed start-up will win exclusive PR material from KontraPixel, including photos of its products.
Jana Erb is thrilled about the partnership with Basecamp: “Prizes like these firstly enable fledgling brands to network with the industry’s big hitters and secondly provide them with a unique opportunity to present their new products to a diverse audience.“

Globetrotter as solid partner for Basecamp of Inspiration by ISPO Brandnew
Globetrotter has its finger firmly on the pulse in terms of the industry’s latest developments and trends. The Globetrotter Innovation Lab has been a feature of the Berlin store since fall 2020. This area’s sole purpose is to showcase innovative developments in the outdoor retail industry. As such, Globetrotter is offering the Basecamp winner an unbeatable environment in which to present both itself as a newcomer and its award-winning product.
 
Franziska Zindl, Head of ISPO Awards & Innovations: “Not only does the cooperation demonstrate retail’s huge interest in and commitment to the summer format of ISPO Brandnew but the extensive service package is also set to provide the smallest players in our industry with yet another incredible springboard for gaining a solid foothold in the market.”

Andreas Vogler, CEO Globetrotter: “We are truly thrilled to be able to work together with the ISPO Brandnew team to offer up-and-coming new start-ups the benefit of our marketing expertise. We are proud of the fact that we are passionate about innovation and are now perfectly positioned to offer our services as a sales and launch partner. And, for us, ISPO is a partner with vision and a seemingly infinite network.”

More information:
ISPO OutDoor by Ispo
Source:

Messe München

Wanted: Start-ups with innovations for textile care © Photo: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jens Liebchen
09.02.2021

Wanted: Start-ups with innovations for textile care

From 24-hour deliveries, status tracking and green packaging to textile recycling and innovative cleaning technology: new services have the potential to revolutionise the business of dry cleaners and laundries. Against this background, Messe Frankfurt invites start-ups to present their products and ideas at Texcare International. The world’s most important event for the textile-care sector in Frankfurt am Main from 27 November to 1 December 2021 offers young entrepreneurs outstanding opportunities to draw the market’s attention to their innovations.

From 24-hour deliveries, status tracking and green packaging to textile recycling and innovative cleaning technology: new services have the potential to revolutionise the business of dry cleaners and laundries. Against this background, Messe Frankfurt invites start-ups to present their products and ideas at Texcare International. The world’s most important event for the textile-care sector in Frankfurt am Main from 27 November to 1 December 2021 offers young entrepreneurs outstanding opportunities to draw the market’s attention to their innovations.

The demands placed by both private and commercial customers on textile care are extremely high, especially in terms of speed, immediate availability, transparent communication and sustainable solutions. In this connection, Johannes Schmid-Wiedersheim, Director of Texcare International at Messe Frankfurt, says, “Start-ups have an important role to play when it comes to promoting digitalisation and sustainability in the world of textile care. In many cases, they succeed quickly in transforming the results of scientific research or trends from other sectors into useful projects. To support this, we want specifically to promote young, agile companies at Texcare International and offer them an attractive ‘Start-up Package’.”

Digital platforms offer dry cleaners and laundries an opportunity to promote their services online in a modern way. Summarising what makes these platforms so important, Daniel Dalkowski, Managing Director of the European Research Association for Innovative Textile Care (EFIT), says, “Digital platforms are undoubtedly one of the most important achievements of recent times – not just because there are so many of them but also because they have found imitators in the sector. In this case, the innovation is to be seen in a combination of ordering, flexible logistics and billing in a smartphone app or online platform.”

With their robotics solutions and bright ideas for artificial intelligence, IT start-ups help textile care companies on their way to becoming smart laundries. Elgar Straub, Managing Director, VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies, explains how machine and plant manufacturers have benefited from their input: “In the field of mechanical engineering, an important role is played by start-ups offering technical solutions covering a broad spectrum of sectors, e.g., virtual machine commissioning and the optimisation of production process chains.”

Naturally, company founders in other disciplines are also putting forward their ideas. Against the background of the plastic waste debate, there are, for instance, numerous start-ups offering biodegradable packaging materials. As well, there are start-ups in the field of textile recycling, which process used workwear or laundry and thus contribute to the circular economy. And what does the future hold for the sector? One thing is for the experts certain: artificial intelligence and automation offer a great potential for ‘outsiders’ with genuine innovations to gain a foothold in the market. Improvements in the logistics chain of laundries and dry cleaners also have excellent chances of success.

Market entry at Texcare International Texcare
International from 27 November to 1 December 2021 offers start-ups an outstanding opportunity to draw attention to their services and to make contact with established companies. The Start-up Package of Messe Frankfurt includes a turnkey exhibition stand.

The prerequisites for participation:

  • The company was founded no more than ten years ago per 27 November 2021
  • The company employs max. ten people.
  • The annual turnover does not exceed € 1 million (net).
  • The start-up offers innovative products or services especially for the textile-care sector.

The product spectrum of Texcare International embraces machines and plant, laundry and cleaning substances, IT and logistics solutions and workwear and laundry.

More information:
texcare Startup Start-ups
Source:

Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH

(c) Claudia Bitzer
05.01.2021

Telling good Stories - PR Challenges of the medium-sized Textile Industry

Interview with Claudia Bitzer, Owner Bitzer PR, Albstadt

The past year was not only a big economic challenge for many companies, but also in terms of communication - whether in advertising or in PR topics - new ground had to be broken. Contact restrictions up to a strict lockdown, the cancellation of many trade fairs, congresses or other event formats made it necessary to rethink.

Textination discussed it with Claudia Bitzer, owner of the PR agency of the same name in Albstadt, Baden-Württemberg. Her customers include medium-sized companies from the textile and clothing industry as well as machinery manufacturers, public clients and the media.

Interview with Claudia Bitzer, Owner Bitzer PR, Albstadt

The past year was not only a big economic challenge for many companies, but also in terms of communication - whether in advertising or in PR topics - new ground had to be broken. Contact restrictions up to a strict lockdown, the cancellation of many trade fairs, congresses or other event formats made it necessary to rethink.

Textination discussed it with Claudia Bitzer, owner of the PR agency of the same name in Albstadt, Baden-Württemberg. Her customers include medium-sized companies from the textile and clothing industry as well as machinery manufacturers, public clients and the media.

With your PR agency based in Albstadt, you have also been busy in the textile industry for a good 5 years. If you had to introduce yourself in 100 words to someone who doesn't know you: Why did you decide to become your own boss after working for an agency, and what distinguishes your work?
Actually, self-employment gave me a call: An acquaintance suggested that I take over the communication for his employer, a textile machine manufacturer in the Alb, as a freelancer. When I was on the phone, I had our ten-day-old son in my arms. I was also a PR consultant at Ketchum in Stuttgart. Because I was curious, I got to grips with the matter over the next few months. With success: The textile machines have turned out to be surprisingly tangible products, after all, they make the clothes that we wear on our bodies every day. From this my access to the textile industry developed, which I would call my home base today.

Because I serve various companies along the textile chain, I have an overall view of the industry and can offer overarching stories with different perspectives. I also have a weakness for complex, "dusty" topics, regardless of the industry. I can delve in them with devotion in order to present them vividly. That's why I would call myself a content specialist.

In addition to German, English, Spanish and French, you speak Swabian fluently. Why is it important to have regional roots when you work for export-oriented companies in the textile industry in Baden-Württemberg?
You got that about fluent Swabian from my website, right? (Laughs) But yes, it is very helpful if you can feel whether "gschwind" – Swabian for “pretty fast” - tolerates a delay or has to be dealt with immediately.

I think the Swabian is really important in terms of the mentality behind it. I grew up in the Alb, my father ran a medium-sized company of his own. I understand many things without a customer having to explain them to me.

For example, modesty in relation to one's own person. Especially in long-established family businesses, the owners play an important role. They bear a great responsibility, both in the company and at their location. Nevertheless, the focus is always on the entrepreneurial performance, the product that, manufactured somewhere in the Swabian province, can keep up with the German, European or global competition. That doesn't happen by itself, but requires courage, entrepreneurial spirit and a great deal of openness to new things, and that fascinates me. I also often notice that by the passion, that these leading family businesses bring with them, I am carried away.

Breaking new ground means being willing to make decisions, overcoming fears - and thus also having the courage to fail. Not every project can succeed. In retrospect, which entrepreneurial decision are you particularly glad to have made?
Apart from being self-employed? The first corona lockdown with home schooling and closed daycare centers was a big challenge. On the one hand, I was relieved that it became quieter on the customer side between the end of March and the beginning of June, otherwise it would not have been feasible either professionally or in terms of family. On the other hand, this silence scared me and I often asked myself whether self-employment was the right way to go.

In early summer, when the situation on all sides had stabilized somewhat, I tackled the problem head on: I looked for co-working spaces and took extensive further training in online marketing. Being honest, of course, these were business decisions. Fortunately, they are already paying off, even if I may sit alone in the office for now.

Is there any work you are particularly proud of? Which story moved you beyond normal and which thematic challenges do you love?
One project that I fondly remember is the communication referring to a repdigit anniversary one of my clients was celebrating. For this, I first put 111 years of the company’s history down on paper in weeks, no, months of archive work. Because I had delved so deeply into the subject, I came up with many ideas for the messages of the anniversary celebration. Fortunately, the client was quickly convinced. At some point we had a signet, a slogan and a really good story for the anniversary. Incidentally, we still benefit from the numerous proof points we worked out for the occasion in our product and corporate communications today.

In addition, the project has naturally deepened the relationship with this client. I also work closely with the advertising agency that accompanied the anniversary communication. I consider such long-term partnerships as a great asset.

Have the messages you want or need to communicate for your clients changed in Corona times? And what was the focus of your work in 2020?
Unsurprisingly, the focus of work in 2020 was on online communication. For almost all of my customers we will start planning and implementing new measures in this area in the coming year.

As for the messages, little has altered. This is certainly due to the fact that the meta-topics have remained the same. Take sustainability, definitely a long-running favorite in the textile industry, and the sub-topic regionality. In contrast to previous crises, the Corona pandemic has not sidelined these approaches, but intensified them because it has shown us how dependent we are on production abroad. The same applies to the issues of transparency and quality.

Precisely because the themes have stayed the same, the crucial part for me is to find a unique story within these permanent themes so as not to disappear into the big river. That requires empathy, creativity - and a good portion of diligence.

Moving away from the simple advertising message to storytelling - what recommendation would you give medium-sized companies in general regarding their communication for the coming year? Are there any special features that the textile industry in particular should consider?
I think that will go in the direction of "We are still there, and even stronger than before". After all, the crisis demanded a lot from everyone. But it is always a productive phase, because when it comes to a head, it forces us to develop further that otherwise would not have been initiated or at least would have been initiated later. Therefore, it can represent a turning point, definitely for the better.

Take digitization, which is the most obvious approach: the crisis has given rise to a boost in this area; the online shop was or is to be expanded, the service is to become more digital.

Apart from that, there are certain individual changes in every company that the crisis has brought about. You can have the courage to name and tell them, because these are stories that interest everyone.

Goodbye Facebook - good morning TikTok. Which social media platforms do you recommend to your clients and under what conditions should medium-sized companies get involved?
TikTok has so far been more of a topic that I discuss with my daughter, who is almost 12 years old. But seriously: I recently read in a study published by Hootsuite that at the beginning of 2020, less than ten percent of Germans were using TikTok. On Facebook, the user share is still over 60 percent. For that reason alone, we shouldn't simply dismiss Facebook.

When I discuss the topic of social media with my clients, it is important for me not to think from the channels. Sure, it's tempting, but other questions should be asked at the beginning: What is the long-term goal of the social media activities? What resources are available - and what budgets? By now it is well known that social media is an extensive field of activity in its own right, which ties up corresponding resources. In medium-sized businesses, where I rarely have access to a multi-headed marketing team, a solid strategy is the be-all and end-all. It must be very, very clear which target groups are to be addressed. Then I can talk about channels and choose the most important ones. This almost certainly includes LinkedIn and Xing, as well as Instagram and Facebook, the latter especially in an international environment. By the way, the evaluation is just as important, it tends to fall behind. The relationship between measured values and corporate goals is anything but trivial.

Trade fairs, events, press conferences and meetings - these have almost completely fallen by the wayside in 2020. How important do you consider face-to-face communication to be in the long term, and which channels and measures do you recommend to your customers to compensate for these losses?
Face-to-face contact remains important! Of course, we all realised last year that not every event has to be a face-to-face event. A video conference saves time and money and, with the right discipline, can be just as effective as a face-to-face meeting. Many service cases can also be solved by video telephony, no one has to travel around. I am therefore convinced that we will not return to the meeting in person culture we had before Corona, even if this will be possible again at some point.

That's why I advise my clients to take advantage of the digital opportunities that are opening up everywhere. At the moment, everyone is still a beginner, you can only learn. Take virtual trade fairs: This is a fundamentally different approach than the classic presence fair. There is no need for a large trade fair team that is ready from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are no press appointments either. It is much more important to contact the visitors directly, i.e., to collect leads, to group the visitors and to stay in touch with them after the event by providing them with tailor-made content. Speaking of content: at the latest with such online events, it becomes clear how diverse content must be prepared. To pick up customers in the virtual space, you need graphics, videos, animations and much more.

Nevertheless, it will not work without direct, physical contact. I remain convinced that people buy from people. Video conferences work particularly well when the participants already know each other from real life. And the textile industry in particular thrives on haptics. I can never feel a yarn or a fabric digitally. Nor can I feel the production speed of a machine. With every revolution there is a slight breeze. You can't get that digitally.

 

The interview was conducted by Ines Chucholowius, CEO Textination GmbH

(c) Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH
22.12.2020

Decade of Action: Texpertise Network launches further measures to implement the Sustainable Development Goals

Since 2019, the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network has been working with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships to bring the Sustainable Development Goals to all 58 textile events in the network worldwide. Numerous measures have already been implemented. Others are imminent.

Shortly before the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutérrez hailed the start of the Decade of Action. As of 2020, the international community now has just ten years to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which the UN Member States committed themselves in the 2030 Agenda. As part of the collaboration with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships, the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network will put the SDGs on the agenda of additional events in December, thus further supporting their implementation in the fashion and textile industry.

Since 2019, the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network has been working with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships to bring the Sustainable Development Goals to all 58 textile events in the network worldwide. Numerous measures have already been implemented. Others are imminent.

Shortly before the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutérrez hailed the start of the Decade of Action. As of 2020, the international community now has just ten years to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which the UN Member States committed themselves in the 2030 Agenda. As part of the collaboration with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships, the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network will put the SDGs on the agenda of additional events in December, thus further supporting their implementation in the fashion and textile industry.

Virtual event “Discover the SDGs – To Power the Decade of Action”
From 1-30 December 2020, the Texpertise Network is taking part in the virtual learning experience “Discover the SDGs”, which was initiated by the Conscious Fashion Campaign in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships. The aim of the event is to strengthen the knowledge and commitment within the fashion industry that is needed to further support the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. One component of the event is a virtual and interactive exhibition on the 17 goals, as well as on-demand discussions with industry leaders, United Nations representatives and advocates of the United Nations, including Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board, and Thimo Schwenzfeier, Director Marketing Communications Textiles and Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt, as well as from Kering, Lenzing, Allbirds, Arch and Hook, Artistic Milliners, Orta, ITL, Vogue Business, CFDA, Collina Strada and the Swarovski Foundation.

“This is a critical time to accelerate partnerships to address the world's biggest challenges – from eliminating poverty, hunger and inequalities to reversing climate change and unsustainable consumption and production practices,” said Annemarie Hou, acting Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships. “The fashion industry is an important ally for the United Nations in this Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs by 2030.”

Conscious Fashion Campaign becomes a presenting partner of Frankfurt Fashion Week
Joining forces to improve the fashion industry: Frankfurt Fashion Week is positioning itself as the host of the future of fashion and actively driving forward the transformation towards a future-oriented, more sustainable fashion and textile industry. All decision-makers looking to instigate this change will be coming together in Frankfurt am Main from 5-9 July 2021. The initiators of Frankfurt Fashion Week – Messe Frankfurt and the Premium Group – have achieved a real coup: Conscious Fashion Campaign, working in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships, will be the presenting partner. Messe Frankfurt will build on its collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a prerequisite for exhibitors by 2023. And the Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit by CFC is set to become the leading international conference for sustainability in the fashion world.

Expansion of internal sustainability communication
17 goals, 58 textile events worldwide, around 600,000 visitors and 23,000 exhibitors in 2019: with its global events, the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network offers unique reach for supporting the SDGs, even during the corona pandemic. The participating subsidiary companies, sales partners and Messe Frankfurt partners abroad who organise the relevant events play an important role in this. To actively expand knowledge about and further commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, the Texpertise Network is organising several online seminars, including for staff members in Argentina, Ethiopia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa and the USA and thus expanding its internal sustainability communication.

SDG actions up to now
Ever since the expanded collaboration between the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network, the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships was announced at the UN headquarters in New York in December 2019, the international Messe Frankfurt textile events have implemented numerous measures to support the SDGs.

At the Messe Frankfurt textile events in Germany alone, a number of things came to fruition: the most recent physical and digital editions of Heimtextil, the leading trade fair for home and contract textiles and Neonyt, global hub for fashion, sustainability and innovation, offered panel discussions, press conferences and video messages, including with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and United Nations Office for Partnerships. An SDG Lounge in the Green Village at Heimtextil and selfie walls with the SDGs inspired exhibitors, visitors and influencers alike to engage with the 17 goals and share them on their social network channels. Podcasts were produced that can still be listened to on the Neonyt and Heimtextil channels and Neonyt also hosted e.g. the influencer challenge “Let's wear the goals!”.

A great deal has also already been achieved internationally: in March 2019, Neonyt organised a showcase with selected Neonyt brands to mark the foundation of the “UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion” in Nairobi. Techtextil India launched Techtextil NEXT at its 2019 edition, India’s first hackathon for technical textiles and sustainability. Among those who attended were Shrikar Dhole, founder and CEO of the SDG Foundation and Niharika Gautam, who campaigns for the achievement of the SDGs in the fashion industry and co-leads the fashion section of the All Ladies League Delhi. The Heimtextil Russia 2020 Digital Edition was able to attract a prominent figure to give a message of greeting, namely Vladimir Kuznetsov, head of the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow. The digital edition of Texworld USA (now Texworld New York City) and Apparel Sourcing USA in summer 2020 offered a talk by the Conscious Fashion Campaign and supported the production of a podcast with Claire Kells from the UN Global Compact.

With its SDG actions to date, Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network is estimated to have reached around 146,000 visitors, 170,000 followers on social media channels and 65,000 subscribers to newsletters about participating events at home and abroad. Added to this is also the approx. 2.5 million followers of the influencers involved in the actions.

Koelnmesse 1 (c) Koelnmesse / imm cologne
29.09.2020

imm cologne "We make it happen"

“We make it happen” is the idea that is currently guiding the whole imm cologne team. As a message to imm cologne exhibitors and visitors, it underscores Koelnmesse’s firm commitment to the industry event and signals that imm cologne will be ready to welcome visitors on 18 January 2021. To increase the event’s reach further, the trade fair organisers in Cologne are working to extend it into the digital sphere with the new imm cologne @home platform.

“We make it happen” is the idea that is currently guiding the whole imm cologne team. As a message to imm cologne exhibitors and visitors, it underscores Koelnmesse’s firm commitment to the industry event and signals that imm cologne will be ready to welcome visitors on 18 January 2021. To increase the event’s reach further, the trade fair organisers in Cologne are working to extend it into the digital sphere with the new imm cologne @home platform.

“We at Koelnmesse believe firmly that everything is possible with our hygiene and safety concept #B-SAFE4business and a positive attitude,” explains Matthias Pollmann, Vice President Trade Fair Management at Koelnmesse. “This progressive attitude is one that many national and international exhibitors and visitors share with us. They are looking forward to networking at the emotional high point of the year for the industry – even if it is clear to everyone that many things will be different next year,” he adds.

Digital formats will ensure maximum reach
The second key challenge facing the team led by Matthias Pollmann and Claire Steinbrück is reaching those visitors who are unable to or do not want to travel to Cologne due to the pandemic. “By extending the trade fair into the digital sphere, we have the best opportunities to increase our reach. Digital reach will be used as a new success criterion for all our trade fairs going forward. It will no longer simply be about the numbers of exhibitors and visitors and where our visitors come from – we want to be measured in terms of our digital reach as well,” says Matthias Pollmann, as he explains the future strategy for imm cologne. “Our goal is to show how many contacts our exhibitors can generate globally in addition to the purely physical visitors,” adds Claire Steinbrück. “gamescom was something like our future lab for reaching consumers, and DMEXCO, which will be hosted this month, will be our blueprint for trade events. Based on our experiences with these two trade fairs, we will draw up a tailored digital strategy for imm cologne by the end of October,” says the trade fair management team, sketching out imm cologne’s evolution into a hybrid format.

Ready for launch: imm cologne @home is in beta
With the launch of the new imm cologne @home platform, the Interior Business Event is doing more than simply expanding business opportunities for its exhibitors. It will also reach a broad spectrum of visitors, creating a diverse range of further possibilities for interaction. The platform will be a forum for virtual exchanges between industry peers, for networking with relevant contacts and elevating business to the next level. In addition to a variety of live-streamed digital stages – including the highly respected talks forum The Stage – there will be open and thematically curated video chats in the virtual cafe, and online trade fair visitors will be able to experience exclusive new launches by imm cologne exhibitors in private showrooms.

Exhibitors to benefit directly from additional contacts and broader reach
Unlike standard webinar and video conferencing systems, imm cologne @home will offer exhibitors more than just the option to stream content – they will also be able to start one-to-one conversations with customers directly. imm cologne @home will thereby offer real networking opportunities, direct dialogues and real-time solutions – a decisive advantage for any exhibitor.

LivingKitchen visitors and exhibitors will also benefit from the new hybrid format. In addition to presenting events and talks programmes digitally, all the functionalities of the new platform will be made available for LivingKitchen as well. Visitors to the Interior Business Event will be able to access imm cologne @home as a website and an app. The platform is designed to serve as an information and communication hub between the industry events and as a digital trade fair for visitors and exhibitors.

Digital content by imm cologne and its exhibitors is crucial to the hybrid trade fair’s success
“By the end of October, we will decide which tools we will take from the large toolbox for DMEXCO and use for imm cologne. What our exhibitors think will play an important role in this. Everything that supports their business is crucial,” says Pollmann. He adds an appeal to the industry: “The path into a hybrid future is one that we cannot and do not want to take alone. In order to reach virtual visitors, it is vitally important that our exhibitors also produce digital content to accompany the content that we can generate as imm cologne. The same rule applies here as it does with a physical trade fair: We provide the platform and activate the visitors. But the products, the innovations, the stories – this is content that has to come from the exhibitors themselves.”

“You make it possible – we make it happen.”
It is crucial for imm cologne that both exhibitors and visitors realise that the trade fair can be a success for their companies, for the entire industry and for Germany and Europe as a hub for commerce and industry only if they themselves adopt the guiding idea behind imm cologne. “You make it possible – we make it happen,” is how Matthias Pollmann puts it in his invitation to the industry to join imm cologne on this journey.

Photo: pixabay
08.09.2020

German Trade Fairs start again in September

  • 84 exhibitions still planned until the end of the year

After a shutdown of almost six months due to the Corona pandemic, major exhibitions for trade visitors and the general public will be held again in Germany from September onwards, often in modified formats and sometimes with digital supplements.
 
“Many exhibitors and visitors are waiting for trade fairs to restart, because they will once again stimulate demand through the presentation of innovations and personal trust-building communication,” explains Jörn Holtmeier, Managing Director of AUMA – Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, the importance of the restart for the German economy.
 

  • 84 exhibitions still planned until the end of the year

After a shutdown of almost six months due to the Corona pandemic, major exhibitions for trade visitors and the general public will be held again in Germany from September onwards, often in modified formats and sometimes with digital supplements.
 
“Many exhibitors and visitors are waiting for trade fairs to restart, because they will once again stimulate demand through the presentation of innovations and personal trust-building communication,” explains Jörn Holtmeier, Managing Director of AUMA – Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, the importance of the restart for the German economy.
 
“Through their participation exhibitors and visitors show that they expect high benefits from trade fairs even under altered conditions. In addition to business success, side-effects for companies such as image building are included, for example through showing innovative force, or being present in trade media or by direct exchange of experience within the industry.”

Caravan Salon is the largest exhibition to kick off
Twelve exhibitions are planned in September alone, including several international events, from the CARAVAN SALON in Dusseldorf as the largest show to restart, the compact version of the IFA Berlin right in the first week of September to the INTERBOOT in Friedrichshafen at the end of the month.

Messe Dusseldorf’s President & CEO Wolfram N. Diener, is looking forward to the restart of trade fair operations in Germany: “We want to signalise: Trade fairs can work in corona times, too. In close cooperation with authorities, partners and customers, we have realised the CARAVAN SALON 2020 under high hygiene and safety standards. The result: Around 350 exhibitors in eleven exhibition halls are presenting the entire spectrum of mobile travel.”

Exhibitions are not major events
The trade fair industry is not affected by the extension of the ban on major events in Germany by the Prime Minister’s Conference on 27 August 2020. Trade fairs have already been considered separately since 6 May 2020. Accordingly, a total of 84 exhibitions listed by AUMA, are currently planned for the months of September to December, 47 of them with international or national relevance and 37 with regional relevance. Dates for trade fairs, taking place in the near future are listed by AUMA at www.auma.de/Exhibition-Data.

Comprehensive concepts for health protection, which are approved by the responsible health authorities, are the basis for the industry meetings. “The trade fair organizers are doing everything possible to create safe and promising conditions for exhibitors and visitors. Size and quality of the exhibition grounds offer very good conditions for implementing hygiene and distance regulations”, says AUMA Managing Director Jörn Holtmeier.

AUMA has listed the key points of the protective measures as well as the safety concepts for all exhibition sites in Germany on its website at https://www.auma.de/en/exhibit/legal-matters/hygiene-and-distance-concepts-at-trade-fairs-in-Germany.

AUMA Chairman Philip Harting: "Those who focus on trade fairs can gain market shares”
"The principle is: Whoever dares wins. Anyone who bets on trade fairs in the coming months will have an earlier chance than others to receive a direct, unfiltered response to innovations, because at trade fairs customers can check and test the product. Once the customer is convinced of the quality, he simply decides faster.

Winning new customers in particular is extremely difficult with the help of digital formats. Many companies have experienced this in recent weeks and months. Along the way an exhibitor also gets valuable advice for the enhancement of his products". And, according to Harting, those who exhibit at trade shows find suitable cooperation partners faster, both professionally and personally, to help them weather the crisis better. Last but not least, he says, one can initiate urgently needed business deals, perhaps not as extensive as usual, but small orders often enough turn into large ones in the medium term.

Trade fairs offer just as great a benefit to visitors in the current situation. The AUMA Chairman: "Trade fair visitors can personally negotiate with potential new suppliers at an early stage, experience technology and design innovations earlier than others. And they may find suggestions on how retailer can inspire hesitant consumers".

Protective masks for Augsburg University Hospital (c) Fraunhofer IGCV
14.04.2020

Protective equipment from 3d printers

  • Fraunhofer IGCV supplies protective equipment made via 3d printers to university hospital Augsburg

For more than a week, the Institute for Materials Resource Management at the University of Augsburg has been supplying the University Hospital Augsburg with protective masks from 3D printers. In order to meet the enormous demand for absolutely necessary protective equipment for the the needs of hospital staff, a call for support was sent to cooperation partners - Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and Fraunhofer IGCV are stepping in.
 

  • Fraunhofer IGCV supplies protective equipment made via 3d printers to university hospital Augsburg

For more than a week, the Institute for Materials Resource Management at the University of Augsburg has been supplying the University Hospital Augsburg with protective masks from 3D printers. In order to meet the enormous demand for absolutely necessary protective equipment for the the needs of hospital staff, a call for support was sent to cooperation partners - Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and Fraunhofer IGCV are stepping in.
 

Fast communication in the research network:
Production of 3D-printed parts accelerates in the shortest possible time
Without further ado, an internal university group searched for possibilities of manufacturing via 3D printing. Prof. Dr. Markus Sause and Prof. Dr. Kay Weidenmann of the Institute for Materials Resource Management at the University of Augsburg immediately agreed and pulled out all the stops to start production as quickly as possible. In order to provide as many protective masks as possible in the shortest possible time, an appeal was also made to existing cooperation partners. They found what they were looking for in their direct colleague Prof. Dr. Johannes Schilp, Professor of Production Informatics at the University of Augsburg and Head of the Processing Technology Department at the Augsburg Fraunhofer IGCV: Max Horn, research associate at the Fraunhofer Institute, and Paul Dolezal from the FabLab (production laboratory) at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences immediately promised their help. "Thanks to the excellent cooperation of our team, the first parts were produced in our laboratory for additive manufacturing just a few hours after the first telephone call," Max Horn recalls. "With the support of the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and the Fraunhofer IGCV, the production capacity of 50 masks per day could be significantly increased," Markus Sause is pleased to report.
          

Printing masks with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) was selected as the manufacturing process for the face protection. This means that the mask is created by forcing fusible plastic through a nozzle and applying it in layers in individual lanes. In addition to an extensive laboratory for metal-based additive manufacturing, the Fraunhofer IGCV operates a new laboratory unit with various FDM printers. Due to the simplicity of the process and its great flexibility, it is particularly suitable for prototypes and sample components. "However, the masks produced are by no means only illustrative objects", adds Georg Schlick, Head of the Components and Processes Department at the Fraunhofer IGCV. The team processed durable polymers for the parts, which have good resistance to the disinfectants used in the hospital. This results in high-quality components that are ideally suited for multiple use.
 
Additive manufacturing for flexible production
In the meantime, some bottlenecks have been overcome: The Institute for Materials Resource Management at the University of Augsburg is switching back to production processes for the manufacture of face masks that are better suited for the production of large quantities. "The great strength of additive manufacturing lies rather in the production of very complex components with smaller quantities," explains Matthias Schmitt, group leader for additive manufacturing at the Fraunhofer IGCV. "But 3D printing also enables us to act at very short notice and to compensate for lack of capacity for almost any component as required," Schmitt continues. Thanks to the flexibility, motivation and expertise of all cooperation partners, a complete production and supply chain for the face masks was implemented within a few days. Georg Schlick therefore emphasizes the need for good networking and rapid exchange between the research institutions. "The close networking within the 3D printing community enables short communication channels and fast action. This can save lives in this case."

Source:

Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV

Photo: Pixabay
24.03.2020

Coronavirus: Cancellations and Postponements of German Exhibitions May Cost up to 3 Billion Euro

  • Calculation by AUMA - Association of the German Trade Fair Industry concerning the macroeconomic impact for Germany based on ifo-survey

Germany as a trade fair venue has already been hit hard by cancellations and postponements of trade fairs. Trade fair organisers and service providers like booth constructors are already suffering from heavy financial losses. Many other branches of business are affected as well, especially the hotel and catering industry, the transport industry and numerous local suppliers and contractors. These industries are suffering considerable losses in sales with a direct impact on employees. Due to sales losses the tax revenue will fail, hence cities or regions are directly affected economically.

  • Calculation by AUMA - Association of the German Trade Fair Industry concerning the macroeconomic impact for Germany based on ifo-survey

Germany as a trade fair venue has already been hit hard by cancellations and postponements of trade fairs. Trade fair organisers and service providers like booth constructors are already suffering from heavy financial losses. Many other branches of business are affected as well, especially the hotel and catering industry, the transport industry and numerous local suppliers and contractors. These industries are suffering considerable losses in sales with a direct impact on employees. Due to sales losses the tax revenue will fail, hence cities or regions are directly affected economically.

AUMA’s Institute of the German Trade Fair Industry has forecasted the consequences for Germany for the first time based on the calculation of the ifo Institut in regard to the macroeconomic relevance of German trade fairs in 2018.

Thus a loss of about three billion Euro for the national economy is to be expected – just by cancellations and postponements of trade fairs. This affects more than 24,000 jobs and tax authorities will miss over 470 million Euro of tax revenue.

These sums do not include lost sales of companies, which had expected to generate turnover during the trade fair. These figures are many times higher than the above-mentioned sums and can only be substituted to a limited extent through other measures. No other marketing device is able to represent a company and its products as comprehensively as the personal contact.

“Almost all plans for trade fairs during the next months are null and void. Organisers, exhibitors, visitors and contractors are losing any planning reliability. They have high up-front costs without the prospect of any benefit or they suffer from severe and acute loss of sales. The trade fairs’ annual contribution of more than 28 billion Euro to the national economy could decrease by 10%. It has to be made sure that the (German) economy – particularly small and medium-sized enterprises – in future will be able to utilise the highly effective instrument called “Messe” (trade fair) and can continue cooperating with potent contractors. Without governmental support this can hardly be realised, despite great efforts of the exhibition industry itself.”

Germany is number one worldwide in terms of organising international trade fairs. Annually 160 to 180 international trade fairs take place in Germany, with 180.000 exhibitors and ten million visitors. Partners from all over the world meet up on German exhibition sites.

German exhibiting companies are investing almost half of their b2b communication budgets in trade fair participations. The expenses of exhibitors and visitors for trade fairs in Germany result in macroeconomic production effects of more than 28 billion Euro. More than 230,000 jobs are ensured by the organisation of trade fairs. Tax revenues based on trade fairs sum up to approx. 4.5 billion Euro annually.

More information:
trade fairs Coronavirus
Source:

AUMA Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.

Photo: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jens Liebchen
25.02.2020

AUTOMATION PROGRESSES ALONG THE LAUNDRY SECTOR

The productivity of a laundry depends on unbroken process flows and transparent commodity streams. Thanks to increasing digitalisation and consistent integration of data, the through-put of textiles in laundries is being continually improved. The solutions required for automation in the sector are therefore a high priority at Texcare International, from 20 to 24 June in Frankfurt am Main.
 

The productivity of a laundry depends on unbroken process flows and transparent commodity streams. Thanks to increasing digitalisation and consistent integration of data, the through-put of textiles in laundries is being continually improved. The solutions required for automation in the sector are therefore a high priority at Texcare International, from 20 to 24 June in Frankfurt am Main.
 
The be-all and end-all for the laundry sector is the ability to monitor the quantity, quality and storage location of the textiles that are circulating on site, at all times. The data collected form the basis for precise price calculations, throw up any weak points in the system and serve to provide documentation for third parties. But it is only when all the machinery and plant involved in a given textile service are interlinked on a single network that the logistics of the laundry service run seamlessly, with minimal down-time of the machinery, reduced quantities in circulation and the resultant increase in productivity that is closely associated with it.

Transparent tracking for each individual laundry item
Automation in the processing of workwear is already well advanced. As the dirty laundry is sorted on arrival, each item is recorded using an identification system such as a barcode or RFID technology. From this moment on, all the stages that the textiles undergo are controlled. ‘Readers’ or ‘gates’ on the premises enable each item to be recorded as it progresses through the system, right up to the point of order picking; and they monitor whether an item is sent to a repair station or directed into storage. In addition, high-frequency transponders (UHF tags) can monitor the movements of laundry items outside of the laundry: in hospitals, for instance, identification systems have been installed, which record the despatch and return of apparel and enable an extensive process of textile management via data transfer procedures.

Robots for the soiled laundry area
This already high degree of automation in a workwear laundry facility is, however, capable of still further refinement. Artificial intelligence can simplify the ‘dirty’ work in the reception area: robots separate and sort the soiled clothing and x-ray machines, cameras and metal detectors are used to identify any foreign bodies. The advantages of such systems are particularly in evidence in hospital laundries: medical instruments, which regularly find their way into the laundry bags, are automatically separated from the clothing, thus minimising damage to the items themselves and to the machinery. The useful life of the textiles is extended and costs are reduced. Moreover, there is no danger of infection for the staff.

Real-time laundry processes
Whilst individual control and traceability are already widespread in the professional treatment of work apparel, when it comes to flat linen, often only generalisations about quantity, quality and storage location for the textiles are possible. “In order to assess a business’s efficiency, calculate prices and efficiently control processes and procedures, laundries need reliable figures […],” observes Martin Rauch, CSO of the Jensen Group, who operate on a worldwide basis.

In the pursuit of automated production, ultra-modern information and communications technologies assume a key role. They synchronise the machines involved in a given production process and facilitate communication and cooperation between plant, product and the human being. This way, you get self-organising, flexible production with unbroken processes and high levels of utilisation of equipment. With the synchronisation of commodity streams and information flow in the laundry, all items arrive at the right processing station at the appropriate time. A central database controls all the processes in the entire laundry, regulates the machinery and the linked sub-systems, chooses the correct processing programmes and optimises machine use.
 
Data accompanies the laundry throughout
“Trolleys of laundry standing around, waiting times at the machines, excessive buffering and time spent searching for items are all lost capital […],” says Matthias Schäfer, who is responsible for product management, laundry logistics / smart laundry at Kannengiesser (Vlotho).

When data and goods flows are successfully synchronised throughout a flat-linen laundry, each washing station contributes its information along with that of other stations, right from the initial sorting of the soiled linen through to the folding machines. The laundry can, therefore, be monitored throughout the entire operation, as the information from each station is sent on with the item, either automatically or – after the drier – in the form of bar-coded labels. (“Stabilisation of production through the synchronisation of material and production flows.”)

RFID identification systems do indeed enable complete transparency to be built into the passage of goods through the various stages, as each chip or tag carries the necessary information for each individual item. In view of the high cost of the transponders, ‘chipping’ of flat linen is, however, currently an option for only very few laundries. So the textile care sector is waiting on more economical, more functionally reliable solutions from the machinery and plant manufacturers.
 
Smart to the very end of the chain
Further potential for automation resides in the picking and packaging. Collecting together items for delivery manually is subject to error and that leads to customer complaints. With intelligent storage facilities and transport solutions, smart stacking management and the networking of equipment with the laundry’s information system, order picking becomes simpler, quicker and more reliable. To ensure that the integration can function, modern machines are equipped with interfaces, so that each new installation can be linked seamlessly into a laundry’s existing system. The same goes for accessory machines, which exchange all the important information relating to preparation and repair online.

User friendly apps
Digital developments are not only large scale: they are to be found on a smaller scale as well. For launderettes, too, apps provide important information on the status of the equipment, enable operators to see what is going on, even at considerable distances, as well as being able to provide digital payment models. Moreover, in heavily used laundry facilities, they can take on the entire job of time management, as Andreas Barduna, Head of Business Management, Miele Professional (Gütersloh) is very aware.

At Texcare International, from 20 to 24 June 2020, machinery and plant manufacturers from all over the world will be presenting their smart solutions for the laundries of tomorrow. The focus will be very much on artificial intelligence and smart information systems, which will help maximize the degree of automation within the sector.