From the Sector

• For Soft Vibrant And Durable Pigment Prints

Reinach, Switzerland - Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, has recently launched at the ITMA exhibition its new Helizarin® LTC New liq, a formaldehyde-free* low temperature curing binder for pigment printing on all kinds of fibers.

Prints are increasingly popular in apparel and interior textiles, as they allow us to express ourselves through vibrant colors and patterns. Consumers are especially drawn to the soft touch of an elegantly printed fabric.

Creating soft and vibrant prints can however be challenging for textile manufacturers: Pigment printing is usually applied to the fabric with a binder that often contains formaldehyde, needs a high temperature for curing, and can make the fabric harsh to the touch.

That is why Archroma developed its new Helizarin® LTC New to allow textile manufacturers to address these challenges.

The innovation was developed in compliance with “The Archroma Way: safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”. The approach finds its origin in Archroma’s deep belief that it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable, economically and ecologically.

Helizarin® LTC New is a binder designed for low temperature curing or no curing. This allows to reduce the fixation temperature and time compared to conventional pigment printing processes. In addition, manufacturers will not experience the change of shades that sometimes occur with high temperature processes.

When using Helizarin® LTC New, textile manufacturers can therefore improve the productivity of their printing process and reduce their energy consumption.

Helizarin® LTC New is also a welcome solution for textile manufacturers who do not have curing equipment, since it offers similar to better fastness than commodity binders that have been treated through a full process, and excellent fastness on synthetic fibers such as polyester and polyamide.

When it comes to the final result on the fabric, Helizarin® LTC New allows the creation of soft and durable prints for premium quality articles.

The new product will be the core of Archroma's Cool Print, a complete formaldehyde-free* system that keeps printed textiles soft and durable, and the planet cooler.

The system, which combines Helizarin® LTC New with Luprintol® softening and fixing auxiliaries and Printofix® pigment preparations, allows manufacturers to realize potential savings of up to 30% in processing time, 45% in energy consumption and 44% CO2 emissions – compared to benchmark pigment printing.

Helizarin® LTC New, as well as the Cool Print system, is formaldehyde free* and registered under REACH. It can be used in line with the ZDHC & bluesign® requirements, is compliant with the Oeko-Tex Std 100 Class 1 standard for baby wear, and with the MRSL of the most major brands.

“Helizarin® LTC New was developed by Archroma’s R&D team together with experts at our Global Competence Center for Printing, based in Barcelona, Spain”, says Joaquin Femat, Head of Business Development for Printing, Brand & Performance Textile Specialties, at Archroma. “As The Archroma Way is based on Safe, Efficient and Enhanced as its three pillars, we designed an innovation that offers our customers a balanced combination of resource optimization, safe handling, and controlled effluent. Because it’s our nature!”
 

• Operations, Product Development, Sales and Technical Support Growth

Celine Huang 黄秀蔚 is named Chief Executive Officer for HeiQ Greater China and Ming Wen Liang 梁銘文is named Chief Executive Officer HeiQ Taiwan. Huang, with her background as a general manager of a large player in the same industry brings a total of over 20 years of solid testing lab, agent and country strategies management expertise with an excellent relationship skills with customers, distributors, dealers and end users. She has a chemical engineering degree in dyeing and finishing from China Textile University. Huang has worked in both Australia and China in senior management positions. Huang will lead the group’s Greater China business from the newly created Shanghai office (瑞士海屹科新材料有限公司上海办事处).

Liang will manage mill relations, technical support and distribution at HeiQ Taiwan. She brings close to 20 years of experience in textile and garment production supply chain focusing on sales, material innovation and development, sourcing and production. Liang holds a Bachelor of International Trade from the National Taipei University of Business, Taiwan, speaks Chinese, English and Spanish and has lived in both Taiwan and Argentina. And will be based in the new office in Taipei (瑞士海屹科有限公司).

HeiQ continues to increase its global footprint with the creation of HeiQ Shanghai and HeiQ Taiwan. In addition to HeiQ Hong Kong, these offices aim to provide dedicated technical support in the Greater China area, further broaden its geographical reach in strategic locations and support HeiQ’s brand partners’ manufacturing activities in the region.

• BASF’s photopolymer materials for advanced manufacturing applica-tions qualify for early development access in new WAV™ technology
• BASF’s Ultracur3D ST 45 reactive urethane photopolymer fulfills the re-quirements of functional applications

BASF 3D Printing Solutions is to provide innovative additive manufacturing materi-als to Paxis LLC for their new WAV™ technology. This is currently in development and is designed to meet the needs of additive manufacturing users, advanced manufacturing as well as traditional manufacturing markets. The WAV™ (Wave Applied Voxel) process was created with the end-user firmly in mind in an effort to solve trapped volume issues of current liquid resin-based technologies.

"The combination of BASF materials and Paxis’s system will revolutionize the way end-applications are designed, manufactured and integrated into production", states Arnaud Guedou, Business Director Photopolymer Solutions, BASF 3D Printing Solutions. "With the new WAV™ technology, Paxis extends the application possibilities of additive manufacturing to a much broader scope than current technologies allow. What’s more, equipment and processes can be adapted to requirements that were previously unimaginable in additive manufacturing. BASF’s innovative photopolymer materials are a perfect match for Paxis's WAV™ technology."

BASF’s Ultracur3D ST 45 reactive urethane photopolymer for tough applications has been designed to fulfill the requirements of functional applications for high accuracy and mechanical strength, where existing 3D printing materials often reach their limitations. Ultracur3D ST 45 can be used to produce high performance functional parts by using a wide variety of equipment, such as stereolithography (SLA), digital light processing (DLP), or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).

Two successful events made in Bangladesh where fashion and innovation have, once more, come together to champion change and foster sustainability.

Bangladesh has a mission: to fetch its share in the global 130 billion dollars market of smart apparel by 2025. To reach this goal, the country aims to foster modern, innovative, technology-driven apparel manufacturing and to constantly engage in supply chain conversations.

A fitting stage for these conversations was the 2nd Bangladesh Fashionology Summit that took place on day 1 of the Bangladesh Denim Expo – held on 02-03 May 2019 at the International Convention City Bashundhara. This was a platform for thinkers, innovators, experts, educators to share innovative ideas on this edition’s main theme: “Digitalization – the Next Destination”. Sessions were provided to learn more on how innovation, specifically digitalization, fits in the world of the fashion industry.

Further to an increase in cost of production, the industry is even more compelled to focusing on finding added value for products. Here is where the smart clothing market comes in, an opportunity on which a thriving community of thinkers will commit to lead the “current-generation” garment production into the “next-generation” apparel manufacturing by using latest digital technology.

The Summit has also provided a Tech Innovation Zone (Tech Innovators: Trustrace, Shimmy Technologies, Infinited Fiber, Seachange Technologies, Reverse Resource) in collaboration with Fashion For Good, a platform for innovators to meet with the other components of the eco system, and an Exhibition Zone (Exhibitors: Pivot88, Lectra, Sindabad.com, Pacific Associates, Earlycavehuman, Foursource Group GmbH, A2i-Access to Information, GoBlu, Rudholm Group, QuizRR, BRAC, SNV, SR Asia, Swiss Contact) for companies to showcase their latest innovations, paying special attention to information sharing.

DyStar®, the leading dyestuff and solution provider, for the first time will use the PERFORMANCE DAYS in Munich (May 8th & 9th) as a platform to showcase its innovative new products and processes, partly developed in collaboration with selected partners.
Located at Hall C6, Booth P08, show visitors will have a chance to participate in several workshops that allow direct interaction with the specialists from DyStar Group on environmental and technical solutions to improve efficiency and significantly reduce waste of valuable resources.

The workshop on the Cadira® Polyester module, for example, will highlight that reductions of 50% water usage and more than 40% of energy consumption are possible with optimized processing.

As a market leading supplier of high-quality water-based inks for digital printing, DyStar will present their renowned Jettex® reactive, acid, disperse and vat ink ranges that enable digital printers to achieve digital prints with high fastness levels, outstanding depth and sustainable processing results.

Being fully committed to sustainability, DyStar will leverage on the PERFORMANCE DAYS fair to reach out to more brands and retailers with similar goals for potential collaboration in the areas of color, color inspiration, communication and realization tools.

Two of the five workshops conducted per day will also highlight examples of successful collaborations that provided innovation and efficiency to the textile industry.

Experts from LENZING™ will present LENZING™ Lyocell, a sustainable cellulosic fiber that provides innovative solutions for workwear.

Additionally, Datacolor® will present the new ColorReader Pro, a new Ultra-Portable Color Measurement Tool for the textile and apparel industry.

DyStar cordially invites you to Performance Days Functional Fabrics Fair, where the latest trends in fabric development for the functional textile industry will be showcased.

China is the world’s undisputed front-runner in the global car market, leading the way in both production and sales. 2018 saw 27.8 million vehicles produced and domestic sales of 28.1 million, and while these numbers were down slightly year-on-year, the opportunities for global textile producers are still unrivalled given the overall size of the market. These opportunities can best be explored at this year’s biennial China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil), which runs from 3 – 5 June in Shanghai.
While CINE features nonwovens & nonwoven products, machinery for nonwovens and raw materials & chemicals for nonwovens for a wide range of applications, it is the potential in the automotive sector that is generating a lot of talk before this June’s event. And considering only around 50% of demand for automotive textiles is met by domestic output, the opportunities for imports from overseas suppliers is high.

While new car sales in China dropped for the first time last year since 1992, production still reached 27.8 million vehicles, including 23.5 million passenger cars and 4.3 million commercial vehicles. Furthermore, strong growth is still evident in new energy vehicle (NEV) sales, as well as exports of all vehicle types. NEV production totalled 1.27 million units last year, a staggering 60% increase, while sales grew by nearly 62%. More e-vehicles are sold in China than rest of the world combined, while the government recently set a target of selling 7 million e-vehicles by 2025, ensuring growth in this sector will remain robust for some time. Exports of all vehicle types in 2018 did not grow as fast as NEVs, but the 1.04 million vehicles produced for overseas markets last year still represented growth of 16.8%.

Premium automotive industry buyers attend CINE
Given CINE’s strong reputation in the Chinese nonwovens sector, a number of leading automobile brands, and textile suppliers to these companies, source at the fair. Previous buyers have included Autoliv, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Lear Corporation, Lydall, Toyota Boshoku, Volkswagen, Wangbo Co Ltd and more.

This edition, buyers such as these can source from a range of automotive nonwovens suppliers. This includes Shanghai Shenda, one of the country’s largest producer of automotive textiles, who will group together a number of automotive interior suppliers.

This year the fair will take place in a new venue, the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, located conveniently between Hongqiao airport and downtown Shanghai. Visitor registration for the fair is now open and can be accessed here: http://vis.eastfair.com/CINEPCEN/reg.aspx.

• HPR is the highest status a plant can achieve for fire risk prevention and protection
• The site Beaulieu Fibres International is the fourth in the Beaulieu International Group to reach HPR status
• Underlines Group’s commitment to risk prevention at B.I.G. sites & to reinforcing our strong business contingency plan

Beaulieu Fibres International, one of the leading polyolefin staple fibre producers, is pleased to announce the achievement of Highly Protected Risk (HPR) status for its production site in Wielsbeke, a designation that means a facility meets the highest industry standards for property protection.

HPR status was awarded by FM Global, Beaulieu International Group’s (B.I.G.) industrial property and business interruption insurer for the past three years. The company offers B.I.G a unique concept that supports the Group in reducing its exposure to loss and increasing its business resilience. A dedicated worldwide team of engineers focuses on providing assistance and protection of its assets, helping the Group to achieve a higher level of risk protection.

The Beaulieu Fibres International site produces high performance fibres for a large variety of applications and market segments. It scored exceptionally well in its FM Global assessment which focused on aspects including fire protection, protection against natural hazards, mechanical breakdown of machinery, cyber risks and consequent business interruption.

Its overall risk mark of 83 ranks it within the top 25% of its industry for fire risk prevention and protection.

Commenting on the Award, Maria Teresa Tomaselli, Global Sales Director Fibres, said: “This HPR fibre production site reinforces strongly our supply chain security and demonstrates our engagement towards our customers and partners. Our contingency planning and risk management are essential, well-considered elements within our long-term business strategy to demanding sectors such as Automotive, Geotextiles, Flooring industries.”

Denim Expert Ltd. joined the Fashion Industry Charter for ClimateAction alongside other brands and suppliers.
Denim Expert Ltd. is the first manufacturer in Bangladesh to join the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and currently taking climate action in line with the goals established by the Paris Agreement of 2015. The company is limiting their Green House Gas (GHG) emissions supporting the world reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty, which entered in to force on 21st March 1994, having being ratified by a sufficient number of countries. The ultimate objective of the convention is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

The parties to the convention have met annually from 1995 in Conferences of the Parties (COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was concluded and established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the period 2008–2012. The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference produced an agreement stating that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0°C relative to the pre-industrial level. In 2015 the Paris Agreement was adopted, governing emission reductions from 2020 onwards, through commitments of countries in Nationally Determined Contributions, lowering the target to 1.5°C. The Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016.

China is the world's largest producer and exporter of nonwoven fabrics, as well as having the largest consumer market for products made from nonwovens, making the upcoming biennial China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil) the place to be for industry players from 3 – 5 June. This year’s event will relocate to a different venue, the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, located conveniently between Hongqiao airport and downtown Shanghai.

“The nonwovens market has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the Chinese textile industry over the last decade, and we expect this to continue in the coming years,” Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of the fair’s co-organiser, Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, commented. “The demographic changes, evolution of the manufacturing sector and greater awareness of environmental protection that have driven growth in China, among other factors, are also evident in a number of markets in the region, particularly Southeast Asia, so we anticipate production growth will remain strong to meet export demand, even if the Chinese economy slows further.”

Reports by the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA), the Freedonia Group and Smithers Pira support this. Nonwovens output in China grew year-on-year by 9.67% for the first 11 months of 2018, exceeding the corresponding figure for 2017 of 8.71%, while demand for nonwovens is predicted to reach 4.9 million metric tons in 2022, a 6.9% per year increase over this period.

Turning to the region, in 2015 Asia occupied 43.1% of the global nonwovens market – with China alone accounting for more than half of the share – with this figure expected to increase to 47.1% in 2020. The Freedonia report also notes that healthy growth in markets nearby to China such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam will also fuel nonwovens output in the country to meet export demand.

Globally, nonwovens demand is expected to increase 4.4% per year to 12.2 million metric tons in 2022, with developing regions being the main driver of this, in particular within Asia-Pacific. In the PP nonwovens sector, output is predicted to nearly double between 2013 and 2020, with the major drivers of this growth being baby diaper, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene products. In the durable nonwovens sector, annual growth of 6 to 7% for the period 2017 – 2023 is also anticipated for filtration, engineering construction and packaging uses.

A constantly evolving market and new global challenges ask for exciting concepts that unite the most forward-thinking players of the industry. For the show in January 2019, SEEK enters the next level with its TRADE UNION concept.
“At SEEK, we always look for new strategies to meet the demands of our valued buyers and brands”, explains SEEK Director Maren Wiebus. “Within that community spirit, TRADE UNION was created to enhance business opportunities for both sides. Moving away from a classic competitive model, SEEK’s TRADE UNION is about defining goals collaboratively – and achieving them together.”
 
SEEK’s 10th Anniversary marks an important moment not just for the event itself, but also for the TRADE UNION movement: with further development and relocation into the foyer of Arena Berlin, which highlights and strengthens this cooperative approach. Relevant buyers will be provided with special services and be able to reach an even more targeted brand audience what makes all parties benefit from this individual concept.
With his distribution agency Haptiques Felix Engelmann supports the TRADE UNION idea from the beginning and emphasizes the time saving aspect: “The few days in Berlin are always very important for my company so that I aim to max the business days as much as possible. The SEEK team is very empathic about the market needs and already started talking about the new concept inside of SEEK several seasons ago. We are looking forward to work with our partners and colleagues in an extra space where we are able to value the time and make the life of buyers, press and brands easier.”

And Engelmann is not the only fan of this concept that Wiebus and team developed together with their long-term partners.
''The TRADE UNION is a fantastic concept aimed at giving brands with a true heritage an opportunity to sit together in one personal space. We feel that this will give our brands an opportunity to be shown in the best light possible, within a relaxed environment,” explains Joe Sharpe, Sales Director at Options. “We’re excited to be a part of the Trade Union and looking forward to seeing existing and potential clients in January.