From the Sector

For the second year running, Global Standard is taking consumers #BehindTheSeams this September, highlighting the sustainable and social qualities of GOTS-certified products – from runway fashion to hygiene products and so much more in between. Building on the success of last year, #BehindTheSeams 2024 has expanded to take over the entire month, Sept. 2-30, with more education on the people and practices making sustainable textiles, plus giveaways planned each day.

Throughout September, Global Standard introduces daily giveaways on Instagram, featuring partnerships with GOTS-certified brands such as Frugi, FC St. Pauli, LangerChen, Natracare, Mandala, Dedicated, and more. Additionally, a giveaway will be hosted on behindtheseams.eco, where visitors can learn about sustainability by answering daily questions while earning entries. The grand prize is a sustainable trip to Paris. This includes train travel, a two-night stay at the eco-friendly Eden Lodge Paris and a private fitting for a custom GOTS-certified jacket by John Preston, the only brand offering made-to-measure GOTS-certified fashion.

#BehindTheSeams is also spotlighting "organic in-conversion" farming and urging brands to support farmers during the critical transition period from conventional to organic. In this campaign, GOTS has partnered with the Organic Cotton Accelerator, an organisation dedicated to supporting farmers throughout the cotton supply chain as they make the shift to and sustain organic practices. Together, GOTS and OCA want to send a message that brands can bolster the organic cotton supply by investing in and buying organic in-conversion cotton.

adidas Originals and Edison Chen present the next chapter of their collaboration with the debut of an updated CLOT Gazelle in linen khaki and blue. The ongoing collaboration debuts its first global apparel range with the CLOT August Collection by Edison Chen.

As Edison Chen continues to build bridges between East and West, Chen brings together renowned Spanish football players, Vicky Lopez and Mapi Leon, and Tino El Pingüino, an influential rapper in the Latin music scene, to celebrate this new collection through a campaign that opens the door to their own imaginations. Coming together as one, each collaborator invites to experience a taste of their daily reality and the adventurous paths they tread along the way, igniting creativity and inviting consumers to step into new realms through the creative lens of Edison. With this campaign, Edison Chen was inspired to bring together fashion and cultural impact through the sport of football and music, all inspired by Chen’s extensive travels throughout Europe. The campaign embarks on a journey to create something new out of a classic with an untraditional execution for sportswear.

The CLOT Gazelle by Edison Chen arrives with premium nubuck details on a jute upper and an espadrille sole now adorned with blue stripes. The espadrille gives the shoe a luxurious touch while the khaki coloring achieves a playful, relaxing tone. Derived from the study of traditional Espadrille-making and inspired by classic Espadrille artisans, the stitching was applied to the final construction of the CLOT Gazelle, with special attention given to how the upper is assembled to the bottom. The cotton tape is all custom engineered for the shoe and beaded using an intricate process inspired by Eastern influence. Finally, the midsole is custom engineered for maximum support, highlighting the new construction process.

About 25 VDMA members will participate at CAITME, taking place from 11 to 14 September in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Among the VDMA companies present at the trade fair with their own booth or through agents, 13 companies will be exhibiting in the area of the official German Pavilion, organised by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and initiated by VDMA: Brückner Textile Technologies, Erbatech, Georg Sahm, Groz-Beckert, Heusch, KARL MAYER STOLL Textilmaschinenfabrik, KURIS Spezialmaschinen, Lindauer DORNIER, Oerlikon Textile, Stäubli Bayreuth, STC Spinnzwirn, THIES, Xetma Vollenweider.

With exports of textile machinery and accessories worth 85 million euros in 2023, Germany was once again the second biggest supplier to the Uzbek textile sector, surpassed only by China. Uzbekistan is one of the largest producers and exporters of cotton. In the cotton sector, Uzbekistan already has a fully integrated production chain. Almost the entire cotton fibre is spun in the country. The Uzbek government has pushed ahead with extensive economic reforms in recent years. The textile industry is one of the top investment sectors in the manufacturing industry. Besides cotton spinning, the textile sector is enlarging its capacities in the downstream production steps of the textile chain, such as fabric making, finishing and dyeing.

ISKO is taking part in the Kingpins Show in New York City. At the event taking place on 17 and 18 July at Pier 36, Basketball City, ISKO presents a selection from its diverse collections.

Attendees have the opportunity to explore a selection from ISKO’s main collection, alongside some of the company’s most innovative technologies and products. Each piece exemplifies ISKO’s commitment to blending sophisticated designs with sustainable practices.

The Main Collection is organized into five main macro groups:

• Inflexible: a range of rigid fabrics for contemporary needs, true to denim’s original heritage.
• Motion: combining comfort and an authentic look for good old rigid denim with freedom of movement.
• Extended: traditional denim aesthetic and its ultimate stretch expression. Elegance, treatments, and 4-way-stretch technologies.
• Elite: fabrics families where softness, shine, and silky feel reach their full potential.
• Momentum: unique finishes, intricate constructions, colored coatings, and special denim features.

Other highlights are:

• Casual Line: the premium experience showcasing a versatile and innovative woven fabric collection made with FSC® certified viscose and certified postconsumer recycled polyester.
• ISKO™ Luxury by PG: curated by Paolo Gnutti, this collection merges classic tastes with contemporary visions.

Finally, as ISKO’s FW 25-26 collection features RE&UP fibers, visitors can learn more about the circulartech company that recycles cotton, polyester and polycotton textile waste and transforms it into high-quality Next-Gen fibers, becoming the go-to alternative to virgin options.

Finishing machinery specialist Monforts will exhibit at the upcoming Febratex textile machinery exhibition taking place in Blumenau, Brazil, from August 20-23, along with Uniferro, its new regional partner.

This new alliance follows the retirement of Herbert Erdmann of the service agency Euro Texteis, who has worked with Monforts over more than 30 years to secure a leading position in the region for Montex stenter dryers, Thermex dyeing ranges and associated finishing technology.

With offices in Sao Paulo and Ceara and sub-agents across Brazil, Uniferro has been active in the textile industry for over 50 years.

coaTTex
At Febratex, Monforts will introduce its latest coaTTex coating unit exclusively dedicated to air knife and knife-over-roller coating. For single-sided application with paste or foam, the versatile coater is suitable for both incorporation into existing finishing ranges as well as installation with new Monforts Montex stenter systems.

A wide range of coatings can be applied to fabrics for providing functions such as waterproofing, liquid and gas protection and breathability, in addition to foam lamination and black-out coating.

Denim hub
Brazil remains a buoyant hub for textile manufacturing with a particular stength in the denim dyeing and finishing sector and many Monforts Thermex hotflue dyeing systems are already operational in the region, reaping the benefits of the Econtrol® process.

Econtrol® is a continuous process for the dyeing of woven cotton and cellulosic fabrics, especially denim, in which reactive dyestuffs are fixed into the fabric in a one-step dyeing and drying process with a controlled combination of steam and air. The entire pad-dry process takes just two-to-three minutes.

“Differentiation is the key in the highly-competitive denim fabrics industry, whether through the successful incorporation of new fibres, accommodating new fabric constructions or exploring the many options for how to treat them at the finishing stage, to gain a market advantage,” says says Monforts Regional Sales Manager Achim Gesser. “Our lines allow users to be extremely versatile and respond quickly to market demand, while also allowing very short production runs.”

Because finishing is a particularly energy-intensive part of the textile production chain, it is exactly where convincing results can be achieved, he adds, and Monforts has developed a wide range of energy-saving. These included a range of heat recovery systems, such as the Universal Energy Tower and the ECO Booster. Both can also be retrofitted to existing ranges to make production more resource-efficient and economical, yet without having to invest in a new machine.

“Energy costs tend to be high in Brazil and can account for up to 70% of production costs for our customers, so there is great demand for ways of saving money,” says Gesser. “Cutting energy usage also helps in terms of global warming and reducing carbon footprint, of course, so these latest technologies are a win-win for fabric finishers. As we look forward to a promising partnership with Uniferro in Brazil, we would like to extend our thanks and best wishes for the future to Herbert Erdmann for his hard work over the years.”

The first installations of the Trützschler Card TC 30i and the Trützschler Integrated Draw Frame IDF 3 are now complete – and the first customers have finished rigorous testing in direct spinning applications.

The Italian company Marchi & Fildi, headquartered in Biella, was one of the first to test the new IDF 3. The company specializes in producing pure and blended yarns made from natural or man-made fibers for flat knitting, circular knitting and weaving. Its products are used for fashion, furnishings and technical applications worldwide. It also places a strong focus on reducing its environmental impact.

Marchi & Fildi’s first trials were carried out with different fiber blends. This included a blend of 70 % soft waste cotton and 30 % polyester as the raw material for rotor direct spinning, with a yarn count in a range of Ne 8 to Ne 12 and Ne 30.
Later tests involved fiber blends of 50 % PET and 50 % recycled cotton from hard textile waste for rotor direct spinning with a yarn count of Ne 30. Experts at Marchi & Fildi stated that this material blend is typically very challenging. Processing secondary fibers made from hard textile waste requires very high competence in yarn production, which Marchi & Fildi impressively demonstrates. It also requires advanced technologies. This is due to technological challenges such as significantly lower fiber length. Trützschler’s IDF technology has a special drafting zone geometry that ensures reliable fiber guidance and controls floating fibers. It generates lower drafts than a conventional draw frame passage and avoids the risk of false drafts and count variations.

Decades of experience with the IDF technology have demonstrated that the higher the short fiber content, the better the result with IDF compared to conventional two draw frame passages. In combination with the TC 30Ri, a variant of TC 30i that has been specifically equipped and configured for processing recycled fibers, the IDF 3 delivers maximum possible quality for the production of sustainable yarns.

Overall, the company’s results showed a 75 % increase in productivity over the previous card model and a 14 % reduction in energy consumption at higher production rates. Combining the TC 30Ri and IDF 3 also enabled Marchi & Fildi to skip the drawing stage from its process, which boosts quality while saving resources and cutting costs.

Circ^®, a US-based textile-to-textile recycling innovator, announced the launch of Circ^®-Ready, an exclusive community of global supply-chain partners who have demonstrated their ability to make high-quality, better-for-the-planet solutions for fashion brands using Circ materials. The inaugural Circ-Ready partners include AGI Denim, Foshan Chicley Textile Co., Ltd., Giotex, Marubeni Corporation, MAS Holdings, PYRATEX®, Selenis, SHINJINTEX, Soorty Denimkind, Tainan Spinning Co., Ltd., and Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI).

The Circ-Ready community is a selected group of partners who have a proven positive track record and commitment to working with Circ recycled products and have been individually evaluated for industry success. Circ-Ready partners work alongside the Circ team of experts to adequately test and utilize Circ fibers, exceeding quality standards from end to end. To promote transparency and ensure the integrity of Circ products, each Circ-Ready partner provides a commitment to relevant best-in-class certifications for recycled products.

Consisting of processors, manufacturers, and other vital industry players across tiers 1-4, each Circ-Ready partner has undergone a testing process to replace virgin inputs with Circ’s products, proving the ability to utilize Circ products in their existing operations and produce premium materials as a result. Being a member of the Circ-Ready community provides partners the opportunity to work with pilot-stage Circ products, receive ongoing support from Circ’s technical experts, and be among the first recommended by Circ when brands and partners seek to utilize Circ material.

Circ is a leader in blended textile-to-textile recycling, a known challenge for the industry. Each year, tens of millions of tons of polycotton textile waste is landfilled or burned because existing recycling solutions cannot separate the plastic from the natural fiber and recover both materials. Circ’s innovative recycling technology is the only platform to successfully separate polycotton blended textile waste and recover both cellulosic and synthetic fibers. Circ’s primary fiber outputs are regenerated Circ Lyocell and Circ Polyester from textile waste.

The Lectra Group company announced a new collaboration between TextileGenesis, the textile traceability platform and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®). It will enable the implementation, via the TextileGenesis platform, of new solutions to ensure the traceability of cellulose fibers from responsibly managed forests.

In fashion, many textiles such as viscose, lyocell and modal use man-made cellulose fibers. These fibers are themselves made from wood pulp, the production of which can contribute to deforestation.

Founded in 1994, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) is an international NGO whose mission is to promote responsible forest management worldwide. In particular, the organization offers certification for products and raw materials which have been obtained from wood grown in responsibly managed forests, and comes from supply chains where social rights of workers, communities and indigenous peoples have been safeguarded.

Amit Gautam, founder and CEO of TextileGenesis, explains: "We've already been working with Man Made Cellulosic Fiber Producers for several years to facilitate, thanks to our blockchain-inspired technology, the traceability of fibers manufactured by the most virtuous producers, and we've integrated their analysis criteria into our platform. By also becoming an FSC® partner today, we're taking things a step further. This new collaboration will support companies in the traceability of FSC certified fibers and support the administration and data management of FSC Chain of Custody certification. All players in the value chain will benefit from increased transparency and much more reliable upstream data. Fashion brands will be able to demonstrate much more easily that their garments use textiles made from responsibly sourced man-made cellulose fibers."

Fabian Farkas, FSC International Chief Commercial Director, adds: “We are seeing a rapid increase in interest in FSC certification from the textile industry, marking a very positive trend. Through this collaboration with TextileGenesis, we aim to simplify the administrative part of FSC certification for companies within the textile supply chain by automating many required data processes. Our goal is to empower brands to identify opportunities for seamless progress in meeting their FSC procurement policies.”

Following the signature in October 2023 of a memorandum of understanding with the International Cotton Association (ICA) and the launch last January of two consortiums with footwear and leather players, and more recently the announcement of its partnership with the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF), the initiator of The Good Cashmere Standard® (GCS), TextileGenesis confirms, with this new collaboration with the FSC®, its central place in the ecosystem of players mobilizing for more sustainable and responsible fashion.

Lifestyle brand Napapijri has released a range of sustainable summer essentials for men, women and kids, using Good Earth Cotton®.

The partnership between Napapijri and Good Earth Cotton® highlights the brand’s aim to source 100% of its materials from regenerative, responsibly sourced, renewable or recycled sources by 2030. The range includes premium knitwear including T-shirts, polos and more.

Good Earth Cotton is a production system verified as having a positive Net Zero position. The Australian-grown program focuses on regenerative farming that improves soil health, enhances biodiversity and sequesters carbon ensuring that it not only has a neutral impact on the environment but net positive one.

One of the most innovative aspects of Good Earth Cotton® is the use of FibreTrace® technology, a real time verification for fibre integrity. Unlike other traceability technologies, FibreTrace® embeds luminescent pigments into the raw cotton, creating a unique signature to verify the fibre and track across the global supply chain. Luminescent pigments are pigments that create physical traceability locked to a scanning device. FibreTrace® also validates the data of the raw cotton fibre and sustainability improvements through the supply chain.

Each product in Napapijri’s Good Earth Cotton® range comes with a QR code on the label which can be scanned to display the products supply chain journey from fibre to store.

Archroma and Cotton Incorporated, a research and promotion company for cotton, have renewed their eight-year collaboration to help accelerate the shift to more sustainable circular economy.

The two organizations began working together in 2016 when Cotton Incorporated approached Archroma with the goal of developing a dyestuff from the byproducts of cotton production.

The U.S., the world’s third-largest cotton producer and largest exporter, produces sustainable cotton fiber for the textile and apparel industry as well as cottonseed for food and animal feed. Cotton farming and processing also generate byproducts, such as burs, stems and leaves, that are used to create insulation, packaging, erosion control products, and more. Cotton Incorporated recognized the potential to use these natural byproducts to produce dyes.

Drawing on a century-long heritage of sulfur dye innovation, the Archroma research team was able to apply its patented EarthColors® technology to create DIRESUL® Earth-Cotton using cotton by products from the U.S. supply chain. An alternative to the usual oil-based dyes, Earth-Cotton allows brands to offer textile products in warm natural shades, using cotton to create both fabric and dye.