From the Sector

The recent ITMA Asia + CITME exhibition was marked by a strong showing from Swiss Textile Machinery members, in what was the sector’s first major face-to-face showcase since the pandemic restrictions.

With an attendance comprised of 99% visitors, the show still proved a satisfactory venture, the Swiss companies reported. There was real product innovation, and meaningful customer interest, prompting a genuine mood of optimism among exhibitors. The event was held from June 12-16 in Shanghai, with 18 Swiss exhibitors, of whom 13 were Swiss Textile Machinery member companies.

The Swiss Textile Machinery member firms exhibiting at ITMA Asia + CITME 2020 were:

• Bräcker
• Graf
• Hunziker
• Loepfe
• Luwa
• Polytex
• Rieter
• Santex Rimar
• Sedo Engineering
• SSM
• Stäubli
• Uster
• Willy Grob

The new, industrial, entry-level EFI™ Reggiani BLAZE scanning printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is making its debut at the ITMA Asia tradeshow, 12-16 June in Shanghai, China. The high-quality printer is an easy-to-use, smart solution to help textile companies blaze their successful trail into the world of efficient, sustainable industrial inkjet printing. It is equipped with EFI Reggiani’s state-of-the-art technology, offering high quality, reliability and flexibility on the widest variety of designs.

Cutting-edge technology in a compact footprint
The EFI Reggiani BLAZE printer is designed to give textile companies the opportunity to enter the digital textile printing market with a compact solution. The new, 1.8-metre wide printer offers an innovative, low-maintenance, continuous recirculation ink system equipped with a level sensor and degassing as well as a printhead crash protective system for longer printhead life and superior uptime.
 
Thanks to its cutting-edge printhead reliability and low maintenance costs for a competitive TCO (total cost of ownership), the BLAZE printer can produce up to 125 linear metres per hour with a printing resolution up to 600x1200 dots per inch (dpi). The printer – which delivers excellent productivity as one of the fastest digital inkjet solutions in its class – has eight 300-dpi dual channel printheads and can print in up to eight colours with full variable drop size.

Flexible fabric feed and handling for higher productivity
The EFI Reggiani BLAZE is equipped with a continuous and switchable belt washing unit to remove water and fabric hairs. An embedded device for adhesive application offers the possibility to use thermoplastic, resin and permanent adhesives.
 
The printer also includes other features for enhanced productivity and value, including a 400-mm roll unwinder, expandable shafts, an air gun and a pneumatic bar for standard fabrics.

Efficient software and electronics technology
The Reggiani BLAZE printer offers a friendly and intuitive user interface with real-time image processing and flexible queue management. The software also runs a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) job editor, as well as tools to accurately predict printing speed and ink usage.

EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver enhancement
EFI has also released an enhanced version of the EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver printer, a 1.8-metre wide printer operating with EFI Reggiani’s unique TERRA pigment ink with binder solution for high-quality, highly sustainable, direct-to-textile printing without steaming or washing.

Features:

• A new recirculating ink system for superior reliability and minimum maintenance at start up and during production
• Several printing modes to ensure maximum flexibility in terms of design capability
• New, real-time image processing that eliminates time spent in image pre-calculations
• A user friendly, intuitive interface
• A more-efficient polymerisation process that takes place as printed textile goes through the printer’s on-board dryer.

Flat knitting solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan, together with its Hong Kong subsidiary SHIMA SEIKI (HonG KonG) LTD., will participate in the ITMA Asia + CITME 2020 exhibition to be held at the national Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China in June.

Through its exhibit theme—Step Beyond—SHIMA SEIKI will present its vision of the future, while addressing a variety of solutions for the new normal, including proposals in Factory Automation, Digital Transformation (DX), and various online solutions.

At ITMA Asia SHIMA SEIKI will be making proposals for factory automation centered around the special manufacturing capabilities of our WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machines. WHOLEGARMENT® knitwear can be knit in one entire piece without the need for linking or sewing, and allows for on-demand knitting. SHIMA SEIKI will present its WHOLEGARMENT® knitting technology in the form of two of the latest machines. The flagship MACH2XS is the one of most advanced flat knitting machines, featuring proprietary four-needle bed and Slideneedle™ technology combined with spring-type moveable sinkers and i-DSCS+DTC® Digital Stitch Control System with Intelligence and Dynamic Tension Control, and capable of all-needle knitting of WHOLEGARMENT® items. MACH2XS is presented in ultrafine 18L gauge, shown for the first time in China. Also shown for the first time in China, MACH2VS, a flexible V-bed machine capable of knitting WHOLEGARMENT® knitwear using every other needle, or conventional shaped knitting using all needles. It also features spring-type moveable sinkers and i-DSCS+DTC® Digital Stitch Control System with Intelligence and Dynamic Tension Control. MACH2VS is presented in ultrafine 18G with auto yarn carriers as a prototype option.

ITMA Asia will also be the occasion for a sneak preview of next-Generation 4-bed WHOLEGARMENT® knitting technology. The new machine is named SWG-XR, adopting the SWG moniker from the first-generation WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machine introduced back in 1995. The "X" represents 4 needle beds arranged in an Xshaped formation as per the original SWG-X machine, while "R" stands for Reborn and Revolution, referring to a renewal of SHIMA SEIKI's WHOLEGARMENT® knitting that raises the technology to unprecedented levels. By increasing the number of systems from 3 to 4 and featuring auto yarn carriers, SWG-XR allows even higher productivity and vastly improved range of knitting.

In order to further support efforts in DX in the fashion industry, SHIMA SEIKI has released three new online services over the past year which will also be showcased at ITMA Asia: 'APEXFiz™' subscription-based design software; 'yarnbank ™' digital yarn sourcing web service; and 'SHIMAnAVI™' e-learning service.

The 7th ITMA Asia + CITME takes place from 12–16 June 2021 in Shanghai, China. Groz-Beckert presents the new products from all six product areas:
Knitting, Weaving, Felting, Tufting, Carding und Sewing.

The products are presented both physically as exhibits and in extended form via augmented reality. Groz-Beckert welcomes guests on-site at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Hall 4, Booth C31. In addition to the face-to-face event, the company is inviting industry visitors to its virtual booth.

Fashion 4 Development & C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub will launch The Reclothe Resource Guide during the virtual exhibit: Discover the SDGs - To Make Peace With Nature, a virtual hub convened by the United Nations Office for Partnerships April 1 - 30, 2021.

The publication's mission is to inform and educate fashion industry professionals, schools, universities, students, and new generation brands to focus on the next generation of the circular economy and make an impact on the value chain. The ReClothe guide lists all solutions, technologies, fabric suppliers, dyers, and finishers currently available and scalable globally that can really answer the new generation needs of the contemporary consumer. ReClothe will be published quarterly and focus on innovators working the best practices and opportunities in development & manufacturing for a responsible fashion industry.

The guide includes Bacx™ by Centro Seta, Bext360, DYNTEX® Biosynthetics, Eastman Naia™, ECOSENSOR™ by Asahi Kasei, ECOTEC® by Marchi & Fildi, Iluna Group, Lanificio Zignone, Maeba International, Mending for Good, Modern Meadow, Re.VerSo™, ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei, Santoni, Smartex, Spiber Inc., SUPREME GREEN COTTON® by Varvaressos, TINTEX Textiles, VEGEA and YKK.

For registration click here.

• CHIC Shanghai, March 17 to 19, 2021 (due to new regulation to control the infection rate)
• 905 exhibitors are present at CHIC
• Parallel: CHIC ONLINE as a digital platform with upgrade of the CHIC
• APP
• CHIC GARDEN: puts fashion and sustainability in the limelight

The CHIC spring event takes place from March 17th to 19th under strict hygiene guidelines in the National Exhibition & Convention Center in Shanghai parallel to Intertextile Shanghai, Yarn Expo and PH Value.

The Chinese economy has recovered again after the pandemic in China and already reached pre-crisis level with 6.5% growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. McKinsey estimates are a 5 to 10% growth in sales in China in 2021 compared to 2019. Thanks to good sales in China, the fashion luxury brands in particular have been able to improve their sales figures. But also regarding online trade, Chinese ecommerce sales were in first place worldwide for the eighth year in a row. The average per capita income of consumers rose by 3.8% last year.

905 exhibitors and 932 brands will present themselves on site at CHIC. Around 95,000 trade visitors from all retail areas, including all relevant online sales platforms, are expected. The CHIC's online and live streaming events, which run parallel to the trade fairs, have recorded an average of 150,000 clicks on each show since April last year.

CHIC Garden
China is to become climate neutral by 2060, which of course also affects the fashion sector. Overall, the awareness of Chinese consumers has developed even more towards high-quality, sustainable collections. In their "State of Fashion 2021" report, McKinsey & BoF analyze the awareness development in China that consumers and producers are increasingly recognizing the importance of joint efforts by all participants in the value chain to work together in order to achieve sustainability in the fashion industry.

The CHIC flagship event visualizes this topic with the "CHIC Garden" theme. With the help of garden design experts, the fair is transformed into an inspiring garden paradise that reflects closeness to nature and the appreciation of natural resources.

As an exception, the CHIC autumn event, CHIC Shanghai will take place in August this year (25th to 27th August 2021).

First edition of JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect, an online event platform devoted to medical and sports equipment manufacturers using composites, ended last week going above and beyond its set goals. JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect brought together professionals from the whole composites value chain and allows decision-makers to evolve and inspire through a subsequent event program. This summit was the first in a long line of events devoted to composites in the Sports and Health industry that are to come within the next two years.

The three-day event was conceived as a forum to gather composites professionals, affiliates, and high-profile speakers to share their expertise in composites materials involved in creating state-of-the-art medical devices and sports equipment.

“Following the enforced postponement of many trade shows, we took the step of becoming the first organizer to stage an online event dedicated to composites in the sports and health industry. We put together a high-level conference agenda and speaker roster, and devised some great ideas for virtual networking, said Christian Strassburger, Event Director at JEC Group. “I could not be prouder of what we achieved with many delegates from Europe and Americas tuning in, including representatives from more than 36 countries. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors and partners. Their trust, support, and input were a crucial part of both the quality and success of the summit.”

The event attracted an audience of more than 1,100 professionals from the composites industry, from 36 countries, and helped organize 216 pre-arranged one to one meetings between buyers and sellers via our dedicated online meeting rooms, this without mentioning informal networking between participants. It reached these numbers, as participants logged on in considerable numbers to learn from the insights and ideas of the unparalleled line-up of high-level speakers who took part in the summit’s twenty-track conference.

The agenda for the JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect featured tracks on current trends and Innovations in sports & health composite applications, with keynotes delivered by Dominic LeBlanc Senior Concept Engineer, at Callaway Golf, Christophe Lecomte, Director of Biomechanical Solutions R&D, at Össur, Fleur Jong, Professional Sprinter, and Co-founder of the Para Athletics Foundation and Damiano Salvatori, Materials Research Engineer, at the Straumann Group.

The panel of high-profile experts from Europe and America offered perspectives and inspiration for the next generation of medical and sports devices made of composites materials. The line-up included Bjorn Ivar Austrem, Technical Director, at Madshus, Laurine Calistri, Research Engineer, at Proteor, Anatole Gilliot, CEO of Suprem, Julien Duplay, Composites Methods Engineer, at Decathlon, Eric Jackson, President of Apex Watercraft, Stéphan Vérin, General Secretary, at EuraMaterials, Maximilian Segl, Principal Expert Composites, and Johannes Wölper, Development Engineer, both from Ottobock, and Matthew Dickinson, Senior Lecturer in Engineering, at University of Central Lancashire. Christos Karatzias, at Mitsui Chemicals Europe and Anthony Bert, at Helicoid Industries.

And one cannot omit the international startups that pitched all through the three-day event: ProsFit (Bulgaria), Alchemy (Greece), moi composites (Italy), Mercuris (Germany), Arevo/Superstrata (USA), Checkerspot/WNDR Alpine (USA), Ambrocio (Finland) Nairoby (Argentina). All gave inspiring and promising perspectives in the sector and what to look for in the near future.

• Looking to the future – Frankfurt Fashion Week is positioning itself with a consistently sustainable agenda and propelling the transformation of a modern, resource-efficient fashion industry.

The Conscious Fashion Campaign (CFC), working in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP), will be the presenting partner and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a prerequisite for all 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. The future of fashion has begun – and its key players will be coming together in Frankfurt am Main from 5-9 July 2021.
 
Frankfurt am Main, 2 December 2020. 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 and establish Frankfurt Fashion week as the platform on which to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and help guide the fashion industry into the 'Decade of Action'.
 
“Frankfurt will play host to the whole world. We are seeing a very positive response indeed,” confirmed Peter Feldmann, Senior Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main, at today’s digital press conference, before going on to say: “The fact that the initiators are able to rethink the concept of a Fashion Week in such a way is extremely impressive and proves that the fashion industry is correctly interpreting the signs of the present and future. The time has come for value creation and values to be reconciled. Consistent alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals is an important step in this direction.”
 
“Frankfurt Fashion Week aims to play a crucial role in finding solutions for macrosocial challenges and supporting the goals of international politics such as the European Green Deal. The fashion and textile industries are also expected to be climate-neutral by 2050. If we want to achieve this, we all need to pull together. Frankfurt Fashion Week is inviting all initiators and supporters of sustainable concepts and congresses or shows dedicated to sustainability to meet in Frankfurt, partake in discussions and make tangible decisions for the greater good. We will connect the most relevant players and pave the way for a future-proof fashion and textile industry,” says Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt.
 
“Given its global reach, the fashion industry is uniquely positioned to collaborate and engage on the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular on climate action and responsible production and consumption,” said Annemarie Hou, Acting Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships. “Frankfurt Fashion Week and the Summit will serve as an important platform for education and engagement of the fashion and textile industry in the Decade of Action,” emphasised Ms Hou.
 
The aim of Frankfurt Fashion Week is for all exhibitors, participants and partners to align with the Sustainable Development Goals by 2023. The SDGs will also be incorporated into all formats of Frankfurt Fashion Week. This will help to make the UN’s sustainability goals visible and tangible for the Fashion Week audience, therefore bringing its claim, goals and specific proposals for implementation to an international opinion-forming fashion and lifestyle community. During a one-day Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit presented by Conscious Fashion Campaign, topics like gender equality, clean water, climate protection, social justice and their significance for a forward-looking fashion industry will be examined in greater depth. Another point on the sustainability agenda: Frankfurt Fashion Week is launching a Sustainability Award for outstanding, innovative, sustainable design, alongside other categories with a global appeal for the fashion and textile industry.
 
"We are committed to setting the wheels of transformation in motion. Not only does the overall mindset have to fundamentally change; the entire industry also needs to have the courage to be transparent and honest. It’s important to see values and value creation as opportunities rather than contentious. We are doing what we do best: connecting the relevant players at all levels. With its ecosystem, Frankfurt Fashion Week will become the enabler. We are creating a platform that will orchestrate industry-wide change. With this as our inspiration, we are also developing our tradeshow formats from a ‘marketplace of products’ to a ‘marketplace of purpose and ideas’,” explains Anita Tillmann, Managing Partner of the Premium Group.
 
A new start in Frankfurt: In summer 2021 the entire fashion industry will be coming to the metropolis on the Main river to inform themselves, be inspired, discuss, negotiate and celebrate. “There’s a huge need to finally meet in person again, to exchange ideas and be inspired. At the same time, digital tools and formats have become an integral part of the fashion industry,” says Markus Frank, Head of the City of Frankfurt’s Department of Economic Affairs and therefore also responsible for its creative industry. “To implement such a future-oriented, all-encompassing overall concept, Frankfurt’s business and creative scenes offer an almost unique concentration of different expertise with its internationally networked agencies, universities and museums. The city’s multifaceted, high-end club, bar and restaurant scene, diverse hotel industry and internationally renowned retail landscape will become the stage for this. This network will be a key factor in the successful implementation of Frankfurt Fashion Week and the way in which it will expand into the public space as a cultural and social happening.”
 
A number of major publishing houses are also showing their commitment to the new Fashion Week in Frankfurt with conferences, events and awards: Textilwirtschaft, the leading professional fashion journal by the Deutscher Fachverlag publishing house, is moving its traditional meeting of the industry’s top decision-makers – the TW Forum, the presentation of the renowned Forum Award, as well as its subsequent conference – from Heidelberg to Frankfurt’s Palmengarten botanical gardens, and will therefore be kicking off Frankfurt Fashion Week on Sunday evening and Monday morning. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung will be hosting its traditional fashion party for the first time in Frankfurt and publishing a special edition of its FAZ Magazin on Frankfurt Fashion Week. And the ZEIT publishing group is holding its ‘UNLOCK Style by ZEITmagazin’ conference, which was established in 2014, and the ZEITmagazin Fashion Week party in Frankfurt for the first time and will dedicate the whole new issue of ZEITmagazin Frankfurt to Frankfurt Fashion Week. Condé Nast will also be involved in next summer’s Frankfurt Fashion Week with an exclusive event by GQ. And the Burda publishing house will also be represented with various event formats from its lifestyle and fashion brands.There will also be talks with SHINE  Conventions, the organiser of GLOW, about what a mutual collaboration could look like.
 
Frankfurt Fashion Week is also delighted to have the Fashion Council Germany (FCG) on board.  The FCG is theinstitution when it comes to German fashion design. It promotes designers, is committed to gaining more political relevance and strengthens the international visibility and awareness of German fashion. At Frankfurt Fashion Week, the FCG will contribute selected formats, such as its already established Fireside Chat, and a future-oriented accelerator format to support German designers.
 
“What really impresses me about Fashion Week is the whole networking aspect: the creative industries will meet the financial world and sustainability is the common denominator. The Green Finance Cluster is another project that we could link with Frankfurt Fashion Week in the future. This will provide new inspiration in the fashion industry, which will certainly extend way beyond its own horizon of Frankfurt and Hesse. After a very difficult year for the trade fair industry, the concept is an encouraging breath of fresh air,” sums up Tarek Al-Wazir, Hesse’s Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development and Deputy Minister-President of the state of Hessen.

The textile industry, one of the major industrial sectors worldwide, is going through a significant revolution, with changes taking place in various sections of textile processing. Biotechnology and biomimicry, for example, are continuously playing an important role in redefining the influence of the textile industry on society, and so is progress made in auxiliary chemistry, with advances investigated and then applied in almost every section of textile processing.  The outcome is amazingly promising.

Modern, real science is inextricably intertwined with environmental consciousness and they are definitely not mutually exclusive.

At RUDOLF GROUP modern, real science means pushing R&D so to constantly explore new technology and innovations that help transform the textile and fashion industries. We work to reduce the overall dependency on traditional and virgin resources.  Getting textile manufacturers as well as brand and retailers on board is key to achieve real change. By 2030 we aim for a significant fraction of our products to be either sourced through paths alternative to the traditional petrochemicals, or by upcycling waste and/or byproducts from other industries.

“This is the kind of genuine, tangible, environmental consciousness that truly defines us and that entails that RUDOLF GROUP has a responsibility for the needs of society as a whole.” Said Alberto De Conti, Head of Rudolf Fashion Division “We have a maniacal attention to the environmental impact of our operations and products. We have truly embedded in ourselves the notion that “sustainability” is a key issue and critical to the long-term survival of our company and of society at large. “

The combination of modern, real science and environmental consciousness leads to what RUDOLF GROUP call aspirational chemistry something unique and something that positions us as shining example and guiding light throughout the industry. That is, in fact, BETTER CHEMISTRY.

Two are the innovations rooted in aspirational chemistry that RUDOLF HUB1922 presents. The first one is our WASHLESS technology and the second one is a brand new launch: LASER SMOOTHER, which supports laser technology and helps creating much better denim looks.

WASHLESS

HUB1922 WASHLESS, which can be applied to both denim and non-denim, is the simultaneous application of
-    proprietary fluorine-free DWR (Durable Water Resistance) based on biomimicry to repel dirt
-    anti-microbial, anti-bacteria and anti-viral, non-migrating chemistry to stop body odour.
The combination of the 2 translates into garments that don’t require to be washed as much.

Life cycle assessment studies on clothes, detergents and washing machines show that home laundering is always the most energy‐demanding period during these products' life cycle, even higher than production or transportation phases.

“WASHLESS aims at changing consumer habits in clothing maintenance to a more environmentally friendly direction and represents a change that is the most feasible and efficient. Making washing machines obsolete is impossible, but even though the technologies in clothes cleaning have improved greatly, the washing frequency has not been reduced. We own more and more clothing and wash it more frequently. This increased amount of washing counteracts the technological improvements in home laundry. “ said De Conti.

It is only by understanding the climate change impact associated with home laundering that product innovations and consumer education can be explored. Studies consistently show that a carbon dioxide reduction of 105 MT and electricity savings of 142 thousand GWh can be obtained by reducing home laundering, on average, by 1/3. This is roughly equivalent to removing 12% of the 140 M passenger cars in the US, or taking 23 coal power plants off the grid. In addition, more than 60% of water consumed while laundering (2,000 billion liters) can be reduced through these strategies.

LASER SMOOTHER

Laser denim is the current dominant technology available to the denim industry to create locally abraded areas, vintage effects, whiskers, patterns, patches, and even intentional holes and tears in a garment. Laser technology uses less water, harmful chemicals (such as potassium permanganate) and energy to create a wide variety of denim looks.

However, laser is not always able to produce the desired look, on the desired fabric, in the desired time. Therefore, chemical companies have been developing laser boosters that can be pre-applied to the garments in order to intensify the effect of the laser to mimic heavier bleaching applications. Unfortunately, laser boosters can create blurred images where the definition is lower and the overall image less natural.

The brand new RUDOLF HUB1922 LASER SMOOTHER is an all-in-one formulation, very easy to pre-apply to garments before laser burning and that return a very natural image which is very similar to the highly desirable hand scraping. Laser smoother can be applied by traditional exhaust or through nebulization and it dries at normal temperature in normal tumble driers.  Advantages of LASER PRIMER are:

•    Remarkable enhancement of the fabric’s characteristics (heightening of material)
•    Overall effect much more natural and similar to manual scraping (craftsmanship dimension)
•    Reduced required laser power to achieve the wanted effect (conspicuous energy saving)
•    A faster laser burning process (significant time saving, depending on the final effect)
•    Any other chemical spray is not required (environmental friendliness)
•    Reduced cost compared to other solution (financial viability)

Two ISKO I-SKOOL™ 7 looks make their debut at the Graduate Fashion Foundation, part of London Fashion Week, a springboard for new talent striving to bridge the gap between education and industry.

Following an unprecedented academic year, GFF celebrates how the Class of 2020 have adapted and overcome adversity to complete their degrees across 26 fashion specialisms, from Design and Knitwear to Comms, Marketing and Business. London, 17-22 September – To bring together fashion educators and industry leaders and to support their graduates to reach their full potential once they have graduated: this has always been GFF’s main goal for the past 28 years. Now more than ever, GFF continues in its long-standing commitment to share good practice and knowledge and to inspire students to become innovators, environmental leaders, employees, and educators while promoting cultural diversity and inclusivity within an international platform – very much in keeping with ISKO I-SKOOL™ values and approach which resonate throughout the contest’s Denim Awards.

Designers Kotryna Adomaityte and Isabel Hambly from Nottingham Trent University were 2 of the 9 winners of the ISKO I-SKOOL™ 7 Awards, announced in a phygital ceremony held on July 22. The two students were invited to showcase their winning creations at GFF. Kotryna, winner of the ISKO I-SKOOL™ PERICOLO Award by Cadica Group, impressed the audience with her “Wild West Denim” look to London at the GFF Showroom.

Isabel Hambly, winner of the ISKO I-SKOOL™ Best Marketable Product, stole the show with her “Women at war” outfit which was displayed at the Catwalk Show, live-streamed from Samsung KX on September 22. That two of ISKO I-SKOOL™ 7 winners and finalists were part of this important event is proof of the significant role the contest – developed and supported by ISKO – plays in nurturing and championing talent and creativity. This edition’s main concept was world’s citizenship, with the Creative Theme “North, East, South, West – connected by one planet”. The twenty shortlisted finalists were asked to dig into their roots and to approach different cultures, defining and tracking down the geography of the world connecting them through responsibility. In addition to exploring the planet both locally and globally, they were also required to take into account the product life cycle of their outfits – featuring a 5-pocket jeans to interpret their view on the “local” concept and two Denim Show Pieces to reflect their worldwide influences and topics of interest. These were made with top ISKO™ denim fabrics, meeting the designers’ needs and providing a strong sustainable ingredient.

“We are really proud that two of our winners made it to GFF, with which we have many values in common – it marks another important step in their journey” said ISKO Senior Executive ISKO I-SKOOL™ Project Irem Orhun. “All of this goes to show how ISKO I-SKOOL™ plays a fundamental role in providing the foundation to enter the industry more aware of your skills and capabilities.”