From the Sector

Crescent Laundry, Davenport, Iowa, has again achieved Hygienically Clean (HC) Healthcare certification, reflecting their commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.
Crescent was first certified in 2014. Recertification confirms the organization’s continuing dedication to infection prevention, compliance with recognized industry standards and processing healthcare textiles using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, a focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation. The independent, third-party inspection must also confirm essential evidence that:
• Employees are properly trained and protected
• Managers understand regulatory requirements
• OSHA-compliant
• Physical plant operates effectively

Certified facilities pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare textiles and zero presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained. This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities. Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations through testing and inspections that scrutinize quality control procedures in textile services operations related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

On the occasion of the State Visit to Italy by Their Majesties The King and Queen of The Netherlands and a Dutch trade delegation led by the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Mrs Lilianne Ploumen, the Italian and Dutch fashion and textile industry will join hands.
MODINT, the Dutch association for the Fashion and Textile industries and lead of the fashion mission and Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), the Italian association for the Fashion and Textile supply chain in Italy, have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which emphasizes the growing interaction between the Dutch and Italian fashion and textile industries.
During the Best of Both Event on Friday June 23rd in Milan, the Minister and a delegation of Dutch and Italian VIP’s and innovators active in the Fashion and Textile industry will witness the signing of a promising Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU defines actions by MODINT and SMI to help the Dutch and Italian fashion and textile industries work together on recycling, labour standards, sustainable raw materials and domestic production.
Modint and SMI are both members of the International Apparel Federation (IAF), an international organisation that supports industry development by helping to build intelligent connections among its members. In the MoU, Italian and Dutch businesses will explain how they cooperate, how they can support sustainable value chains, how they envision their business growing together in the coming years, and what their respective governments can do to support that growth.

With digitalization transforming the way consumers shop, today’s fashion companies are playing a neverending game of catch-up, as they compete for the attention of a generation of connected, fickle-minded millennials who want it all: personalization, sustainability, quality and speed, accessible at all times, across multiple channels, and at the lowest price. Industry 4.0 is not only revolutionizing how manufacturers operate, but also how brands and retailers need to function, if they want to be fast and agile enough to meet the needs of this demanding new consumer. The stakes are high and how effectively companies harness technology to put the consumer at the heart of their process will be the deciding factor in who comes out ahead and who gets left behind.

Lectra Fashion PLM 4.0 has undergone a drastic reboot to give fashion and apparel companies the speed and agility they need to tackle the challenges of Industry 4.0 head on. Lectra Fashion PLM 4.0, with the widest functional scope on the market, acts as an intelligent nerve center to the digital supply chain, from planning through design to production. This ensures a consistent flow of error-free data between processes, technologies and people. The system connects CAD, industry-standard software such as Adobe Illustrator, company IT systems (such as ERP) and external suppliers, so that actors across the supply chain can work on, save and share information on the platform, ensuring data integrity.
The solution also draws on best practices, fashion-business intelligence and real-world scenarios to automate administrative and repetitive tasks, with templates, standard libraries and shortcuts that allows more time for value-added activities. The final result is a fast, connected digital supply chain that helps fashion companies jump on trends quickly and deliver products that fulfill their customer’s expectations.

Composites use in Building and Construction will be highlighted at JEC newest event dedicated to this specific Composites Industry next month in Chicago, IL, USA. The numerous and diverse benefits that these innovative materials bring to the Building Industry will help overcome the coming challenges such as, urbanization, increase of natural disasters (floods, storms, tsunamis, earthquakes…), along with the decrease of non-renewable raw materials and the high standard levels set by the society in terms of lightness and fluidity. Composites Materials bring answers and opportunities to tackle those issues in sustainable, durable and reliable manners. Solutions like ease of fabrication (Owens Corning), structures durability (Biteam), anti-seismic reinforcement (DowAksa), use of end-of-life products such as recycled bottles of water (Premier Composites Technologies), aerial forms (Optima Projects Ltd) or again energy saving (Armageddon Energy).

Following its strategy to address every Composites End-user, the JEC Innovation Awards will reward these 6 Composites Innovators in Building & Construction that will change the way we build.
If the majority of submissions relied on glass fibers, which is common in the Construction field, we see an increased interest in carbon fibers, especially for structural applications. And similarly to all sectors of the composite industry, thermoplastics are gaining in importance in Construction. Therefore, to promote the growing use of composites as a construction material, 6 categories are awarded, covering a large panel of applications and possibilities.

 Technical textile producers are invited to discover the diverse finishing and innovative customisation opportunities possible with BTT’s advanced, fully automated line for Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE) and Polyester (PES) woven fabrics and nonwovens.
BTT’s extrusion coating process can apply a wide range of polymers as a liquid layer – one-sided, two-sided or multi-layer – to make a fabric printable and/or achieve specific protective and functional performance, including waterproofing, flame resistance and antistatic properties. Optional UV stabilisation is also offered. Transparent and white transparent, standard white and black, and coloured coating options are available. Coatings range from minimum 25-30 g/m² up to 450 g/m². As well as standard widths, BTT offers extensive possibilities to customise lengths and widths, with supplementary cutting provided on a separate line with up to 6 cutters in width.

In addition to extrusion coating, BTT is also equipped for extrusion laminating to support the production of composite structures.
Franky Viaene, Global Sales Manager Beaulieu Technical Textiles, comments: “As an established leader and driving force in technical textiles, Beaulieu Technical Textiles supports a wide range of customers in varied markets, and our expertise extends right through to the finishing process. Our in-house extrusion capabilities are available to external customers and we offer close technical collaboration to ensure the optimal treatment for the desired result for their application. We’re looking forward to discussing new possibilities for the industry to benefit from our support, starting at Techtextil.”

LINGERIE becomes SMART with ROICA Cosabella premium lingerie brand with almost 2,000 styles of lingerie, daywear, loungewear, sleepwear and activewear sold in more than 100 countries. Cosabella chose Eco-Lace by Tessitura Colombo Antonio, a unique sustainable lace collection whose main premium stretch ingredient is ROICA™ Eco Smart by Asahi Kasei – the first and exclusive premium elastomer, sustainable and GRS certified (Global Recycle Standard by Textile Exchange) at international level.

DIESEL choose CUPRO Diesel presents its SS 2017 preview collection of 5 pure CUPRO pearl, washed finish silhouettes. CUPRO, by Asahi Kasei, is a refined, matchless material with an exquisite silk like touch. CUPRO is a matchless and original, new generation material made from the smart-tech transformation of cotton linter bio-utility waste, converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process. Innovhub 3rd party lab test proves CUPRO can claim full biodegradability end of life option.

Earlier this year, the Pensacola-based operation achieved Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification in its Quitman, Ga. and Columbia, Miss. facilities.
In addition, the Crown Health Care Laundry facilities passed three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare linens and garments and zero presence of harmful bacteria. To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing including yeast and mold detection to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.
This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities.

Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations through testing and inspections that scrutinize quality control procedures in linen and uniform service operations. The Hygienically Clean standard provides for two inspections every three years. OSHA compliance is closely examined, particularly toxic and hazardous substance handling rules governing textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.
Certified laundries use processes, chemicals and BMPs acknowledged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, American National Standards Institute and others. Introduced in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for healthcare linens and garments used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.
Objective experts in epidemiology, infection control, nursing and other healthcare professions work with TRSA launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles. With 100+ years as the textile services industry's leading business association, TRSA's expertise in laundry BMP development is unmatched.