From the Sector

The long-time sales manager is leaving the company at the end of this year. Frank Neumann joined Dibella in 1999 as a sales representative in the field service and was most recently responsible as sales manager for the areas of northern Germany and Berlin, as well as for exports, particularly for Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. He played a leading role in developing cruise companies as a new customer base for Dibella.

In addition, he was one of the co-founders of MaxTex, an international association that aims to ensure sustainable trade along the entire value chain, together with the then Dibella Managing Director Ralf Hellmann.

As an authorised signatory and member of the management board, Frank Neumann made a significant contribution to the company's success. "With Frank Neumann, we are saying goodbye to a valued colleague and proven expert. We would like to thank Mr Neumann for his extraordinary commitment to Dibella and wish him all the best for the future," says Stefan Tenbusch, Managing Director at Dibella.

Following a strong start at the Spring Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles early this year, global industry players have turned their sights to the next international event in August. As the first Autumn Edition to be held in the wake of China lifting many of its pandemic-related border restrictions, the three-day fair will gather around 1,000 international and domestic exhibitors. Traders looking to meet market demand will be able to source from an extensive range of trending and specialised home and contract textile products from 16 – 18 August 2023.

According to a recent market report, the global home textile market is expected to show a CAGR of 5.6% from 2023 – 2028 to reach USD 174.1 billion by the end of the forecast period. Asia-Pacific has dominated the global market in recent years, with China one of its most significant contributors.^[1]

As a manufacturing hub for home textiles, China is gradually recovering from social and business disruptions caused by the pandemic. Speaking at the recent Spring Edition, Ms Rosemary Li, Domestic Sales Manager of Zhangjiagang Coolist Life Technology Co Ltd, a long-time exhibitor specialised in bio-based and functional bedding products, said: “Since China relaxed its pandemic-related control and prevention measures, after Chinese New Year we have been flooded with orders. With both domestic and export orders increasing, it has been almost impossible for the production line to fulfil the order demand.”

While the spring show’s promising visitor flow was a positive start to the Chinese home textile industry’s post-pandemic era, a higher participation of overseas exhibitors and buyers is expected at the upcoming Autumn Edition

The return of special zones and international pavilions
Later this year in Shanghai, exhibitors will showcase their most up-to-date home and contract textile products, ranging from bedding & towelling, rugs, table & kitchen linen, upholstery & curtain fabrics, editors, home textile technologies and textile design. With a wealth of choices for buyers, several show highlights are listed below:

• Editor & Designer Zone: located in hall 5.1, the zone will feature international, high-end editor and designer brands brought by leading exhibitors J&C, Julai, Qianbaihui, Prestigious, Shanghai Lotus, SohoCut, Yada, and more.
• Country and region pavilions: premium suppliers from Belgium, Türkiye and Taiwan (China) will exhibit quality products in their designated pavilions in hall 6.1.
• Textile Designs: textile design studios from Japan, Portugal and Taiwan (China), namely Amilia Design Studio, Fine Art Inc and Tela's Design Lda, will also showcase their seasonal designs in hall 6.1.

Adding to buyers’ sourcing options, a multitude of domestic players from different categories will also showcase their respective products. Highlighted exhibitors include top curtain and curtain fabric suppliers Fu-Tex, Hangzhou Aico, Hexin and Xiaoxuanchuang; bedding suppliers Coolist, Huizhou Wah Shing and Yantai North Home; as well as Hightex, Huatex, Maya and Suzhou Roufang from the upholstery and sofa fabric sector.

Fairgoers can also learn more about the upcoming global trends and designs by visiting the ‘2023 – 2024 Intertextile International Lifestyle Trend’ area. In aid of this, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles has joined forces with NellyRodi™, the renowned French forecasting agency, to present the design theme for 2023 – 2024: ‘ALIVE’. HUMAN CAPITAL, ROUSING COMMITMENT and UNREAL REALITIES are the theme’s three main trends.

^[1] Globe Newswire: Global Home Textile Market Report 2023-2028: Increase in Consumer Spending on Home Renovation and Decoration Bodes Well for the Sector. https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2023/03/08/2622718/28124/en/Global-Home-Textile-Market-Report-2023-2028-Increase-in-Consumer-Spending-on-Home-Renovation-and-Decoration-Bodes-Well-for-the-Sector.html

In light of the current pandemic circumstances in China, the 2022 edition of Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles Autumn will be deferred. The Autumn fair, which was originally scheduled to be held from 15 – 17 August at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, will now take place in 2023 at the same venue. The fair’s organisers will announce the new date in due course.

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, explained the decision: “After holding discussions with our stakeholders, we have made what we believe to be the responsible decision to delay the fair. While the call was made with the safety of the fair’s participants in mind, deferring the fair to the early part of next year will also allow more time for fairgoers to plan for their participation.”

“We understand that there is a lot of anticipation surrounding this fair, with exhibitors and buyers eager to connect in person. We would like to thank all participants for their patience and understanding, and also to express our continued dedication to provide a quality international trading platform for the home textile industry.”

Exhibitors or visitors with any further enquiries related to the fair can email, or visit the fair’s official website.

Over 400 employees work hard every day to improve the environmental performance of Radici Yarn’s site. Through teamwork and continuous improvement in energy efficiency, Radici Yarn has obtained ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems certification, which attests to the organization’s commitment to contain and progressively reduce energy consumption.

Radici Yarn, one of the companies in the RadiciGroup Advanced Textile Solutions Business Area, is engaged in the production and sale of polyamide 6 polymer, PA6 and PA66 continuous filament and staple yarn, and other synthetic fibres, including products made of recycled or bio-based materials.

All the processes - polymerization and spinning (Villa d'Ogna plant), as well as warping and draw-warping (Ardesio plant) - are run under constant monitoring with the goal of achieving maximum energy efficiency and lower consumption. Both sites are powered by two hydroelectric power plants owned by Geogreen, a RadiciGroup partner and energy supplier. The share of energy consumption from renewable sources and reduced environmental impact (natural gas) sources  is constantly increasing.

The energy issue has always been a priority for Radici Yarn, whose products serve numerous sectors, including automotive, clothing and furnishings.

"Already at the beginning of the 1990s, Radici Yarn started investing in cogeneration, the simultaneous production of electricity and steam,” pointed out Laura Ravasio, energy manager of Radici Yarn SpA. “We have recently started up an advanced trigeneration plant – a highly efficient system that produces not only electricity and steam, but also chilled water for our production processes. One of the first results recorded in 2021 was a 30% reduction in water consumption. Thus, ISO 50001 certification seemed like the next logical step to take in formalizing a long-term approach to energy.”

The ISO 50001 certification, which is voluntary and valid for a period of three years, was added to the ISO 14001 Environmental and ISO 9001 Quality Management system certifications previously achieved by Radici Yarn.

• The Green Revolution: How Microfactories Can Change the Face of Fashion by Mark Sollman, Product Manager EMEA, Mimaki Europe

With the all-important COP26 Climate Change Conference having taken centre stage in November, there is no time like the present for the fashion world to rally together in stepping up sustainability efforts and getting carbon emissions under control. Globally, the fashion industry is now estimated to account for around 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 20 percent of wastewater , making the pursuit of greener production methods more pertinent than ever before. Thankfully, we are seeing a new era of production enter the fashion arena, with the increasing emergence of technologically advanced, highly automated microfactories.

Along with reducing unnecessary waste through on-demand production, microfactories have a smaller ecological footprint than traditional garment production and require no water use during the production process, making it not only a faster solution, but a greener one too.

Last year’s FESPA saw Mimaki team up with fashion designer Carolina Guzman to bring her designs to life in real time at the show, setting up its own working microfactory live on-site to take her designs from screen to garment within just a day. Guzman’s designs were created using Mimaki’s TS100-1600 Sublimation Printer, before being transferred to textile, digitally cut and finally pieced together. Devised with a string of ethical and environmental objectives threaded throughout, the microfactory also exclusively utilised eco-friendly Greentex fabric, and any remaining material was donated to Sheltersuit: a wind- and waterproof coat that can be transformed into a sleeping bag, which is provided free of charge to homeless people and refugees.

Through working with a number of strategic partners – including transfer printing expert, Klieverik; paper solutions specialist, Neenah Coldenhove; and digital cutting equipment provider, Summa – Mimaki was able to produce a collection of unique, high-quality garments live on the stand during the tradeshow, demonstrating to visitors from more than 100 countries some of the key reasons that microfactories seem set to change the future of fashion…

Unparalleled speed and versatility
Where traditionally, apparel manufacturing has centred on a production chain model of sourcing materials and producing garments in bulk, microfactories are now enabling on-demand, on-location production, making it possible to create everything from unique, one-off pieces and samples right through to entire product lines – all at unprecedented speeds. This means greater flexibility and customisation, enabling designers to modify or update designs and respond to market trends as they occur.

Simplified supply chains and minimised risk
The microfactory setup brings production in-house and on-demand, minimising the cost of not only storing stock, but also of shipping it and responsibly disposing of unsold items. Where recent geopolitical events have highlighted the fragility of global supply chains, microfactories offer a unique independence from these systems, empowering garment manufacturers to future-proof their businesses, become less reliant on external systems and suppliers, and reduce the risk of disruptions.

A boosted bottom line and a greener future
Facilitating savings in a whole line of resources, from physical storage and production space to time and energy, microfactories ultimately have the potential to significantly increase profitability for garment manufacturers, with the additional benefit of being easily scalable as production increases. Perhaps even more compelling, however, are the environmental considerations. Demonstrated on a small scale through Mimaki’s recent project, the environmental benefits inherent to microfactory production will have an even greater impact as it becomes more prolific and commonplace throughout the fashion world, with the potential to effect meaningful environmental change as adoption increases in the years to come.

The 2022 Spring Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles is set to return to the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from 9 – 11 March 2022. The fair, once again held concurrently with Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition, Yarn Expo Spring, CHIC and PH Value, will continue to offer a one-stop trading platform for businesses during the traditional peak sourcing season of the Chinese home textile industry.

The fair provides an opportunity for suppliers to tap into the fast growing Chinese home textiles market and allows prospective buyers to meet their sourcing needs. Following the success of the 2021 edition, which attracted 18,951 trade buyers and 216 exhibitors to participate in this leading industry event, the upcoming spring fair will once more focus on finished products. Nevertheless, a wide range of items are also on offer including bedding & towelling, rugs, table & kitchen linen, home textile technologies, textile design and more.

The Home Textile Products for Campus & School Zone, as well as the Feather & Down Product Zone, will roll out again in the spring show after they were launched in the last edition. The Campus & School Zone was introduced to fulfil the rising market demand for domestic student bedding: “The current demand in China for student bedding is high. There are around 8 million new university students and 16 million secondary school students each year, and nearly all university students and 70% of secondary school students need bedding, equating to over 19.2 million sets needed each year,” Mr Shi Xiangyu, Department Manager at Yantai Pacific Home Fashion Co Ltd, a 2021 exhibitor, outlined.  

Helping businesses to reach their target buyers
Ms Weiqing Peng, Trade Department Supervisor of Wujiang City Yunjie Textiles Co Ltd commented on how the 2021 fair has helped them during the challenging times caused by the pandemic: “We treasure this opportunity to communicate with customers face to face. Buyers usually need to touch the fabrics in person. Many domestic companies are enthusiastic about exhibiting here, and we’ve been really busy as many new and old customers came to our booth. This fair is very popular with the whole industry supply chain.” Mr Leo Chen from Yantai Pacific Home Fashion Co Ltd also applauded the fair for helping them to “reach some big brands in China and explore more cooperation opportunities.” 

In light of recent Covid-19 cases in China, the Autumn Editions of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles and Yarn Expo will be rescheduled to 9 – 11 October 2021. The fairs were originally due to take place at the end of August at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd explained: “To comply with the government guidelines for pandemic containment and following discussions with our stakeholders, we have made the decision to postpone the fairs from their original August timing. To allow our exhibitors and buyers as much time as possible to plan ahead, we have already confirmed new dates with the fairground for the three concurrent fairs: 9 – 11 October.”

“I would like to thank the participants of all three fairs for their understanding and ongoing support as we continue to operate in uncertain times. We remain dedicated to providing a quality international trading platform for three sectors for the autumn / winter sourcing season, and our overseas suppliers will still be able to participate through our hybrid exhibition scheme if they are unable to be in Shanghai in-person.”

Exhibitors or visitors with any queries about these fairs should email textile@hongkong.messefrankfurt.com, or visit the fairs’ respective websites:
•    Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics: https://intertextileapparel.hk.messefrankfurt.com/
•    Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles: https://intertextilehome.hk.messefrankfurt.com/
•    Yarn Expo: www.yarnexpochina.com

Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre. The co-organisers of Yarn Expo are Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT. Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Home Textile Association (CHTA).

• Elasticated melange tape by JUMBO-Textil for exacting requirements

Reliable functionality, select aesthetics, exceptional comfort – the new elasticated melange tape from JUMBO-Textil can really do a lot – and looks extremely good doing it.

Great functionality and an elegant design
To create this innovative elasticated tape, different premium-quality yarns are woven into a high-performance tape for especially exacting demands in terms of comfort and visual appeal. The elasticated material offers amazing performance and robustness beyond its elegant, shimmering melange look and its pleasant, fabric-like feel.

•    Ideal for all applications on visible textile surfaces
•    Premium fabric-like aesthetic and feel
•    Shimmering melange effect
•    Can be manufactured in many individual types and fabrications
•    Additional designs possible: water repellent, flame retardant, etc.
•    For applications in vehicle interiors, functional clothing, the furniture industry, medical technology, and much more

Wide range of applications in numerous industries
The new melange tape is specially designed and made for all visible applications: from multimedia holding tapes or document retainers in vehicle interiors to the functional and attractive cuff on sleeves, trousers or braces of outdoor or work clothing through to tensioning straps on backpacks, in exoskeletons or upholstered furniture.

"Elasticated tapes are often developed and considered primarily from a functional point of view. In our case it is different: our new melange tape combines great functionality with an elegant design and shows that elasticated narrow textiles can also be aesthetic highlights," as Patrick Kielholz, Business Development Manager at JUMBO-Textil emphasises. "The potential applications for our melange tape are almost limitless. Exciting solutions are available for almost all industries."

The most important properties at a glance:

Colours: grey melange, black melange; optionally, various other colour options
Sample: single-colour melange; optionally, longitudinal stripes, melange
Width, Standard: 40.0 mm
Width, Customized: 10 mm – 320 mm
Elasticity: up to 60%

Kornit Digital has announced its partnership with Matset (Turkey) as it continues to broaden its market presence.

Delivering digital textile production-on-demand solutions to the Turkish market
With over 45 years of experience, Matset has a long-standing reputation as being a pioneer of innovation in the printing industry. After the first meeting, Kornit and Matset were quick to recognize how their partnership would effectively accelerate the development of the Kornit brand and solutions in the Turkish market. The deal will see Matset sell and deliver after-sales support for all Kornit textile solutions, including both direct-to-garment and direct-to-fabric product lines, particularly for t-shirts, activewear, denim, fashion, beachwear, home textiles, and fabrics.

Doğu Pabuççuoğlu, General Manager at Matset, explains the collaboration combines the digital leading vision of Matset with the market awareness and quality of Kornit’s products: "With Kornit’s production systems, we have made an important addition to our product portfolio. We were able to quickly build a roadmap and are sure the market share will increase very rapidly in the near future. With Kornit’s reliable and creative solutions and our well-known and engaged distribution network, we will provide customers with a strong sales and support service.”

•   Mimaki Tiger-1800B MkII Printers for Faster, High-Quality Textile Printing

Amsterdam - Mimaki Europe, a leading manufacturer of inkjet printers and cutting systems, announces today that Pakistani textile company, Moti Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd., is leveraging multiple Mimaki Tiger industrial textile printing units to take its business to the next level. As a result of on the outstanding performance and process optimisation delivered by the Mimaki digital printing equipment, the company has been able to adapt to changes in the textile industry and is now projected to reinforce its market position and expand its capabilities in high-quality textile production.

Headquartered in Faisalabad, Punjab province – the second largest textile hub in Pakistan –, Moti Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd. mainly serves the high fashion industry and uses its cutting-edge technology to print about 100,000 metres daily. Faced with recent challenges in the global textile market, management at Moti Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd. embarked on innovating the company’s business model, shifting from conventional to digital printing. In doing so, the company invested in Mimaki’s advanced industrial textile technology and installed three Mimaki Tiger-1800B MkII units. “We were – and still are – experiencing a massive transformation in the printing segment, with brands demanding high quality products delivered within short deadlines. This change in our customers’ requirements urged us to move to digital printing,” says Muhammad Asif, CEO at Moti Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd. “Our choice has already proved sound as our brand-new Tiger-1800B MkII printing systems have enabled us to cope with the high standards of the fashion industry in terms of both quality and delivery times. In addition, we have been able to gradually enhance our production processes in a cost-effective way.”

The Tiger-1800B MkII is Mimaki’s flagship industrial volume textile printer, available either in dye sublimation configuration for transfer printing or with reactive ink for direct-to-textile printing. Of the three Mimaki Tiger-1800B MkII solutions operating at Moti Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd., two are equipped with reactive inks, enabling the company to directly print onto natural fibres such as cotton and linen, as well as onto manufactured cellulose fibres, including rayon and nylon. The third Mimaki Tiger-1800B MkII features sublimation inks serves the ever-growing printed polyester market, allowing the company to strategically diversify its product portfolio.

“There are several features of the Tiger-1800B MkII that benefit our production and our business at large. The MAPS (Mimaki Advanced Pass System), just to name one, prevents banding and colour-shifting to deliver a higher standard of quality, while the NRS (Nozzle Recovery System) provides uninterrupted production, minimising downtime and ensuring superior results. The sticky belt system together with the large-size ink tanks (with a capacity of 10kg) and the high-performance software RIP TxLink3 are some of the other features that make these printers efficient, user-friendly and reliable,” says Asif.

Asif concludes, “Looking at the future, our aim is to set up a print department featuring only Mimaki’s technologies. We are already considering the next steps to make this possible, knowing that we can count on the support of Signtrade, Mimaki’s dealer in the region and our trustworthy partner.”

Moti Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd. was founded in 1992 by Muhammad Asif’s father Haji Muhammad Yousaf and his partner Haji Rasheed Ahmad. Established as a dyeing company, Moti Fabrics (Pvt) Ltd. was able to gradually diversify the business over the years to become an advanced textile printing specialist. Today, the company is an established provider to the high fashion industry in Pakistan and on an international level.

“The story of Moti Fabrics is incredibly inspiring. Belonging to a region with such rooted textile printing heritage, the company has been able to embrace a new, challenging business model in order to stay at pace with the changing demand from the textile industry and has succeeded,” comments Ronald van den Broek, General Sales Manager at Mimaki Europe. “Customers like Moti Fabrics make us proud as they demonstrate how our advanced Mimaki Tiger industrial textile series can be the enabling technology for those textile companies planning the shift from conventional to digital printing.”