From the Sector

International technology group ANDRITZ has successfully started up the new velour loom it delivered to Foss Floors, Rome, United States (GA). The loom produces flooring from recycled plastic for a wide range of applications. Start-up took place in early 2023.

ANDRITZ is one of the global market leaders for supply of nonwoven production technologies, with a full range of needling technologies, including velour equipment, which allows customers to address a variety of applications such as automotive, household, flooring, acoustics, geotextiles, filtration, and synthetic leather.

Foss Floors is a leader in needlepunched felt products in North America. Its facilities are located in Rome and Chatsworth, Georgia, and it distributes a vast array of flooring products worldwide. One of the company’s key strengths is its agility for product diversification to satisfy customer needs. Foss Floors also strongly expresses its unwavering commitment to environmentally sustainable manufacturing.´

Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Spring Edition is set for a renewal. After last year’s brief pause, 283 exhibitors from 5 countries and regions will showcase their latest innovations at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) during this traditional peak sourcing period. The fair will be held concurrently with Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition, Yarn Expo Spring, CHIC and PH Value from 28 – 30 March 2023.

Comprehensive range of products zoned for easy sourcing
The 27,000 sqm gross exhibition space in hall 5.2 will host suppliers in multiple product categories, such as bedding, towelling, table and kitchen linen, home textile technologies, and textile designs. Several product pavilions and zones will be formed to encourage efficient sourcing, with areas designated for quality bedding, towelling, feather and down duvet fillings, quilt fillings, intelligent equipment and upholstery fabric products. Buyers looking for sustainable fibres, yarns and fabrics may be interested in sourcing at the Lenzing Group’s brand new centralised Lenzing Home Textile Satellite Pavilion. With Lenzing joined by eight of its Chinese downstream manufacturers, the pavilion will showcase the various home textile applications for the Austrian company’s wood-based TENCEL™ fibres.

Other well-known international and domestic exhibitors include Cotton Council International (CCI), Zhangjiagang Coolist Life Technology, Guangdong Kulida Down, Wujiang City Yunjie Textiles, Yantai Pacific Home Fashion, Sunvim Group, and Jiangsu Goostars Hometextiles. These suppliers, and many more, will present their up-to-date products to meet the sourcing demands of buyers from different channels.

Programme
At every edition, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textile’s fringe events keep fairgoers informed on a variety of topics, allowing exhibitors and visitors alike to stay up to date with the latest market trends and make informed business decisions.

Aligning with the fair’s general direction on promoting sustainability, and to satisfy the industry’s needs, representatives from Lenzing will be holding an exclusive seminar about the e-commerce opportunities surrounding eco-friendly TENCEL™ products’ sleep enhancing qualities. Other presentations and discussions that touch on sustainability will also be available under the fair’s Textile & Technology event theme.

With consumers globally paying more attention to health issues and increasing their spending on health products, the home and contract textile industry is also a party to this rising trend. To this end, seminars discussing traditional Chinese medicine and how it relates to different health issues will be held on day one. Their crossover topics include how aromatherapy can encourage high-quality sleep, as well as an introduction on the innovation of traditional medicinal textiles.

Moreover, the well-known Chinese retailer JD.com will co-host an event that promotes home textile products made with Chinese cotton. Several talks will focus on different aspects, such as the products’ quality and the overall potential of this industry aided by government policies.

After China’s relaxation of border restrictions and other pandemic control measures, it is now easier for domestic and overseas buyers to visit their Chinese suppliers at the fairground, for the chance to touch and feel their desired products.

HeiQ Allergen* Tech will power a new and improved generation of Purotex, a BekaertDeslee product through its exclusive application to mattress ticking aiming to provide end-users with a good night’s sleep.

HeiQ Materials AG  has signed an Exclusive Supply Agreement with BekaertDeslee, a specialist in the development and manufacturing of mattress textiles, mattress covers, and on-trend sleep solutions, for the supply of HeiQ’s recently launched HeiQ Allergen* Tech.  

Under this agreement, BekaertDeslee will have exclusive worldwide rights to apply HeiQ Allergen* Tech to mattress ticking, which is used to cover mattresses. HeiQ Allergen* Tech, which was launched in October 2022, is a 100% biobased, naturally derived technology that reduces exposure to inanimate allergens such as house dust mite matter, and pet allergens with the help of active probiotics.

It has been granted the Allergy UK Seal of Approval by The British Allergy Foundation following a review and assessment of the technology. Additionally, an independent certification has shown that HeiQ Allergen* Tech successfully reduces 83,6% of cat (hair) allergen, 76,5% of dog (hair) allergen, and 96,6% of house dust mite matter allergen.

* Inanimate allergens such as house dust mite matter & pet allergens.

• Trevira CS Joint Booth with 16 Partners
• Sustainability Presentation: Path of Sustainability
• Special Exhibition: TEXTILE TALENTS by Trevira CS

The Trevira CS® brand presents itself together with 16 top customers and partners, an exciting special exhibition, and a sustainability presentation at Heimtextil in Frankfurt from 10 to 13 January 2023. The joint booth covers an area of over 1,400 m².

Visitors can find out about innovations in the fields of yarn production, woven and knitted fabrics and interior solar shading. Once again this year, the exhibitors on the Trevira CS stand will cover all textile applications with their flame retardant product for the home textile and contract market, from light curtains to heavy upholstery fabrics.

The following Trevira CS customers and partners will be exhibiting:
Chamatex SAS, F.lli Baroni s.r.l., FIDIVI Tessitura Vergnano S.p.A., Hoftex Färberei GmbH, Ilcat by Lei Tsu s.r.l., Lodetex S.p.A., Lonfil S.r.l., Mattes & Ammann GmbH & Co. KG, Mottura S.p.A., Pozzi Arturo S.p.A., PUGI R.G. S.R.L., Tessitura Mario Ghioldi & C. s.r.l., Tintoria Sala s.r.l., Torcitura Fibre Sintetiche S.p.A., Torcitura Padana S.p.A., Vlnap a.s., Wagenfelder Spinnereien GmbH and Wintex S.r.l.

The presentations on the Trevira CS brand will focus on 2 topics. One revolves around information on sustainability: The Path of Sustainability presentation will give visitors detailed information about the various sustainability aspects of the Trevira CS brand. The information chain will deal with Trevira CS technology, particularly sustainable product variants, the longevity of the textiles, the Trevira CS eco brand for flame retardant fabrics with recycled content, and the take-back program for Trevira CS fabrics. At the end of the chain, a prototype of a new product development will be presented, giving insight into the brand’s future sustainable development opportunities.

Once again, there will also be a special exhibition. The focus here will be on showcasing the special additional functions and properties that Trevira CS fabrics offer in addition to their flame retardancy. Visitors can look forward to a special staging: It’s showtime for the TEXTILE TALENTS by Trevira CS!

For the design of the special exhibition, all Trevira CS customers were invited to submit their latest Trevira CS products, distinguished by additional functions and/or special features, to the annual Trevira CS Fabric Competition. 227 products from 50 customers were submitted, from which about 150 were selected for the special exhibition. Several thousand meters of yarn will also be used in this year's special show.

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Jasztex Fibers Inc., Canada, to supply a crosslapper to its site of Pointe Claire (Quebec province).
The line will be dedicated to the production of polyester blends for a wide range of applications, including home furnishing, filtration, blankets, architectural, fire retardant, transportation. Start-up is planned for the second quarter of 2023.

ANDRITZ has been a regular supplier of Jasztex. Over the last years, ANDRITZ provided crosslappers for previous investments in Toronto (Ontario) and Pointe Claire (Quebec).

Jasztex’s nonwoven products are sold throughout the bedding, furniture, filtration, acoustic and thermal insulation, transportation and medical markets.

Kornit Digital is collaborating with furniture start-up Cozmo and London design studio Raw-Edges to showcase the unlimited creativity made possible by digitally produced custom sofa jacket designs at the London Design Festival, September 17th -25th. Dubbed “Cheek Prints,” the collection was created sustainably, quickly, and on-demand with Kornit’s digital fashion and textile production solutions. Each unique cover features visually designs intended to transform plain, standard sofas into custom creations with an entirely fresh look and feel. The collection was designed by Raw-Edges at their London design studio.

The sofa collection was produced using Kornit’s Presto direct-to-fabric digital production system. With the on-demand technology, designers can easily and rapidly embrace new possibilities to transform mere concepts into custom fabrics. Digital production removes typical limitations of one fabric, one design at a time – whether it’s a single sofa or many sofas – and at the same cost. For industries ranging from fashion and home décor to other advanced textile applications, the Kornit solution consistently unlocks unlimited creativity – producing garments and fabrics with a high quality and a soft feel.

Lectra, whose connected industrial equipment and software facilitate the digital transformation and Industry 4.0 transition of fashion, automotive and furniture companies, announces its selection for the new Euronext Tech Leaders stock market index. This brings Lectra into the community of European technology leaders identified by Euronext as innovative and high-growth companies.

The new Euronext Tech Leaders market index, launched on June 7, comprises 100 European technology companies listed on the Euronext markets, which meet various performance and growth criteria. With the launch of this initiative, Euronext aims to offer better visibility and new services to selected European technology leaders.

Lectra is one of the 41 French companies that are now members of Euronext Tech Leaders. The company, founded in 1973 on a close relationship with fashion industry players, has also for the last three decades worked globally with automotive equipment and furniture manufacturers. In its three strategic markets, Lectra sells connected equipment that optimizes the cutting processes of fabric, leather and other soft materials used by manufacturers, and markets software and services that streamline their production processes while enabling them to be more agile and make considerable material savings.

In fashion, through the use of market data – made accessible and exploitable by the Internet of Things, the cloud, artificial intelligence and big data – Lectra’s software solutions also enable a better understanding of consumers’ behavior. They therefore facilitate strategic decision-making for brands, manufacturers and distributors at the key steps in the value chain of design, production and distribution. In this industry, the impact of Lectra’s solutions on reducing material consumption is even greater because it takes effect as early as the garment design stage.

Technology and innovation are therefore at the heart of Lectra’s strategy, with the company aiming to become a key player in Industry 4.0 in its strategic markets by 2030.

This year, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles again joins forces with NellyRodi™, the renowned French agency for international forecasting, to present the design theme for 2023 – ‘ALIVE’ – together with three trends: HUMAN CAPITAL, ROUSING COMMITMENT and UNREAL REALITIES.

Nature is a keyword in HUMAN CAPITAL
This direction reflects how people want to reconnect with the environment by choosing a local approach, short supply chains, raw and natural materials, and traditional techniques. For instance, 100% plant-based materials, as well as metalised fringed jacquards and gold yarns are used to illustrate this concept.

Inspired by everyday basics and daily essentials, the trend uses a soft, luminous white palette mingled with muted and amber shades of vegetal dyes. Designs also incorporate figurative hand-drawings, archaic bestiary, stylised wildflowers and geometric patterns.

ROUSING COMMITMENT celebrates creative self-expression
The trend combines a lively play of mix-matching patterns and colours. This embraces the integration of neutral shades through touches of metallic silver and fluorescent colours to represent the urban life.

Foamback and other fabrics influenced by sports materials, as well as extravagant jacquards, silicon embossing and bouclé fabrics draw out feel-good factor of the theme. Prints using modern twists on traditional patterns, lettering plays, exuberant florals and bold geometrics, also deliver the desire to live freely by sharing joy and happiness with others.

The fantasy of UNREAL REALITIES
In order to push the limits of imagination, science and technology, consumers tap into digital realms to connect with other realities, augmented worlds and futurist utopias that draw out the potential of today’s technology. Metalised rainbow colours highlight the magic and wonder under this virtual reality theme, while surrealistic photoprint shapes, misty landscapes, blurry effects and fantastical nature adds a futuristic touch.

The theme adopts iridescent gleam of semi-transparent voiles, muslins, recycled synthetics and added pearly or glazed aspects. Soft, light meshes, honeycombed or blistered surfaces and cloudy seersuckers elevate the textures in the fabrics.

The trends are decided by a committee led by the NellyRodi™ Agency (France) and formed by top forecasters including Mr Vincent Grégoire (France), the agency’s Consumer Trends and Insights Director; Mr Shen Lei (China), Founder and Chief of Interior Architects Design; and Ms Tracy Jen (Taiwan, China), the Host of ‘Eremito’; as well as Ms Sakina M’sa, the beloved French fashion designer and entrepreneur.

In order to integrate exhibitor and industry resources more effectively, the organisers of Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles have announced that the Spring and Autumn editions will be merged this year. The two fairs will now be held concurrently from 15 – 17 August 2022 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center.

Turkish company Altun Tekstil, a manufacturer of home textiles and upholstery fabrics, has ordered a total of five of the latest Orthopac RVMC-15 weft straighteners from Mahlo.

The production of textured yarns, weaving and raschel knitting as well as dyeing and finishing is included in Altun’s operations. While the focus is on tulle curtains and upholstery, the company’s fabric range also encompasses a wide variety for apparel.

When investing in the future, Altun Tekstil has consistently trusted in Mahlo and has installed 10 Mahlo Orthopac RVMC-15 weft straighteners in its two plants since 2016.

Lowest residual distortion at highest speed
All the Mahlo weft straighteners Orthopac RVMC-15 are integrated into existing production lines. Mahlo’s latest weft straightener is fit to interact and communicate via the newly mSmart concept with all production lines and provide historical data, which help to improve the production processes.

The fully integrated units benefit from universal control technology and the intuitive Mahlo mSmart G15 visualization concept. The HMI has been optimized for userfriendliness. The visualisation concept is constantly enhanced and ready for Industry 4.0. The path to a digital future within Altun is prepared.

HeiQ announces the launch of HeiQ Cool, the world’s first textile technology to deliver both instant contact cooling and continuous evaporative cooling.

Addressing the importance of body temperature control, whereby both overheating and feeling chilly are problematic, HeiQ Cool powered fabrics constantly regulate the skin temperature with a dual cooling capability. In a first step, melting energy absorption delivers instant contact cooling before the first sign of sweat and delays the build-up of heat, followed by a vaporizing energy action that mimics the skin’s thermal regulating system by providing continuous evaporative cooling as long as the body is hot and sweaty. Suitable for all fabrics, the initial launch focuses on home textiles, especially sleeping products such as mattress ticking, pillows and bed linen because of its clear benefit to help users get a good night’s sleep. It cools before the first sign of sweat, delays the build-up of heat and continuously regulates the temperature. Instantly cool to the touch, the components synergistically recharge the surface layer ensuring a consistently cool, dry and comfortable body climate.

USDA certified biobased dual action cooling textile technology
The biobased vegetable oil-derived thermo-functional polymer absorbs heat energy, giving an instant cooling sensation. If the body continues to heat up, perspiration is generated and the patented hydro-functional polymer transports moisture away together with the heat, creating a continuous cooling effect that stops once cooling is complete. The combination of a hydro-functional polymer with biobased vegetable oil-derived thermo-functional polymer formulation of HeiQ Cool contains more than 50% USDA® certified biobased content. It is also OEKO-TEX class 1 suited and meets most brand RSL (restricted substances list) requirements.