From the Sector

from both inside and outside of Asia. Looking ahead, the stage will be set once again at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) next year, allowing exhibitors and buyers from the industry to match their trading needs onsite. Thanks to the resumption of global travel and the ongoing industry recovery, the next Autumn edition is slated to attract even more multinational fairgoers and diverse home and contract textile collections. The fair will return in 14 – 16 August 2024.

A recent study showed a significant rise in corporate travel in 2023, driven largely by the resurgence of live business events and the easing of restrictions following several turbulent years. Adding to this, the Chinese government has announced several measures in a bid to attract more international visitors, including a simplified visa application process as the latest initiative.
 
As one of the largest economies in the world, China is renowned for producing high-value products across the home textile spectrum, making Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles an essential stop for global suppliers and buyers aiming to kick off the next business season.  
 
Emerging markets have become a significant focus for the industry in recent years. China's exports of home textiles to the ASEAN market amounted to around USD 2.09 billion in the first quarter of 2023, with an increase of 18% year-on-year; of which around USD 1.38 billion was exported in finished goods, seeing a rise of over 42% year-on-year[3]. With this growth in trade, buyers from fast growing emerging markets are expected to increasingly benefit from the Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles platform to fulfil their sourcing needs.
 
The upcoming Autumn edition will continue to comprise a wide range of home textile products, including bedding & towelling, rugs, table & kitchen linen, upholstery & curtain fabrics, editors, home textile technologies and textile design.
 
Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Home Textile Association (CHTA).

• The European Confederation for Flax and Hemp (CELC) has unveiled its new visual identity and name: Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp.
• The European Flax-Linen and Hemp industries have announced they are organizing their development around a strengthened team with a clear mission: to expand the entire industry whilst making European Flax-Linen and Hemp the preferred sustainable premium fibers worldwide.
• The Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp will launch its new identity in the first semester of 2023 for all target groups including Natural Fiber Composite Applications.

CELC has announced its new name and visual identity. The organization, which is the only European agro-industrial organization that serves as a global reference, will now be known as the Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp.

The new name - Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp – reflects a newly restructured European industry which brings together the entire value chain around a common goal: to make European Flax-Linen and Hemp the preferred sustainable premium fibers worldwide for Fashion, Technical Textiles and Natural Fiber Composite Applications.

The new brand identity is accompanied by a new logo that connects the identity, values and strategic direction of the Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp. In addition to visual changes, the Alliance has announced enhanced values and a clear strategic path to turn European Flax-Linen and Hemp into the preferred sustainable premium fibers worldwide.

The Alliance’s future development pathway will focus on three distinct strategic pillars.

• Enhancing its work in publishing structured, reliable economic data and information on a regular basis, in order to be able to continuously deploy a set of specific decision-making support tools.
• Transforming the Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp into an innovative and sustainable international reference which continuously improves its environmental footprint through two essential elements: traceability and Life Cycle Analysis.
• Guaranteeing quality and better describing the quality of its fibers by using technological innovations to create a reference for describing long fibers. A description of European Flax® fibers through optical imaging will soon complement the organoleptic method.

“Europe is the top global producer of Flax fiber. In an international context of growth and reindustrialization, Flax, which accounts for just 0.4% of global textile fibers, is a globalized fiber with remarkable technical and environmental properties. At the same time, the European textile Hemp industry is organizing itself to boost growth. Today, the European Flax-Linen and Hemp ecosystem thus embodies an innovative and sustainable European textile dynamic that meets the needs of consumers and brands.” Bart Depourcq, President, Alliance for European Flax-Linen & Hemp.

A delegation from TMAS, the Swedish textile machinery association, will participate in the forthcoming Febratex textile show which is being held in the German Village Park in Blumenau, in Santa Catarina, Brazil from August 23-26.

As the fourth largest textiles manufacturer in the world, Brazil’s annual revenues from textiles and apparel amount to an annual $48 billion and the industry employs around 1.5 million people directly.

As with the USA and many European countries, product shortages resulting directly from the Covid-19 pandemic, and subsequent supply chain difficulties, have emphasised to Brazil’s industry the attractiveness of more diversified and shorter supply chains which are closer to customers wherever possible. In the past two years, there has been less reliance on imports from Asia to Brazil, and opportunities are arising again for local manufacturing.

Svegea of Sweden has supplied many automatic collarette cutters to Brazilian companies, which are used by garment manufacturers around the world for the production of tubular apparel components such as cuff and neck tapes and other seam reinforcements.

Svegea supplies many other bespoke machines for applications in the production of both garment components and technical textiles, including rewinding, measuring, inspection and band knife machines.

Eton Systems, the inventor and world’s leading provider of automated production systems for apparel and other textile-based processes, has supplied a large amount of workstations to Brazilian companies over the years, and believes its newly-launched Opta system is good news for this market becoming more efficient and profitable.

Automation is also high on the agenda of ACG Kinna Automatic, which specialises in automation solutions for filled products such as quilts, pillows and mattresses and also has extensive knowledge in areas such as bed linen and textile filters.

Given Brazil’s extensive forestry sector, the country is a key market for Texo AB, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of weaving machines for the production of paper machine clothing (PMC).

All paper manufacturing machines require a regular supply of PMC, which as large continuous engineered fabrics, carry the paper stock through each stage of the paper production process. With technologically sophisticated designs, they employ fibres and other polymeric materials in complex structures and each paper machine has an average of ten separate fabrics installed on it. Although the PMC business represents just a small proportion of the total cost of manufacturing paper, it can have a significant impact on the quality of the paper, the efficiency of a machine and machine production rates.

Emphasis on Process, Third-party Validation and Outcome-based Testing

Angelica, one of the nation’s largest healthcare linen providers, now has 23 laundries that have earned the Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification. This is reflective of  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. Angelica’s locations are throughout the United States, and the laundries now carrying the certification are located in Phoenix, AZ; Colton, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Pittsburg, Pomona, and Sacramento, CA; Holly Hill and Safety Harbor, FL; Rockmart, GA; Chicago, IL; Somerville and Worcester, MA; Durham, NC; Henderson, NV; Batavia, NY; Lorain, OH; Pawtucket, RI; Columbia, SC; Ooltewah, TN; and Dallas and Houston, TX.

The Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification 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

To achieve certification initially, laundries pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare textiles and diminished presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. They also must pass a facility inspection. To maintain their certification, they 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. Re-inspection occurs every two to three years.

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 by verifying quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services operations related to the handling of 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 Hygienically Clean launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles.

“Congratulations to Angelica on their certifications,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their commitment to infection prevention and that their laundries take every step possible to prevent human illness.”

TRSA, the global association for the linen, uniform and facility services industry, has donated approximately $80,000 to Anayat House, Children of Restaurant Employees (CORE) and ConPRmetidos: organizations assisting those impacted by hurricanes in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico.

The donations are the result of TRSA’s 105th Annual Conference, which had been scheduled for last September in Miami, but was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. While offering to refund all registration and sponsorship fees, TRSA asked members to donate all or a portion of those fees to support local charities.

“We’re very proud of the TRSA community, which was able to create some positive outcomes in an overwhelmingly tragic circumstance,” said Joseph Ricci, CEO of TRSA.

"The contribution from TRSA will directly assist low income families and the elderly who seek overnight accommodations during a medical crisis,” said Tressa Clarke, Executive Director of Anayat House, which provides affordable overnight accommodations for family members of patients at local Beaumont, TX, hospitals and anyone traveling to Beaumont for medical care and outpatient treatment. “This contribution will help bridge the gap between the suggested donation of $20 and the actual cost of $90 per room.”

CORE, an organization that is part of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, grants support to children of food and beverage service employees navigating life-altering circumstances. "CORE was incredibly grateful to receive the generous donation from TRSA," said Lauren LaViola, executive director of CORE.  “The donation to CORE will help to fulfill grants for qualifying children of food and beverage service employees navigating life-altering circumstances."

“I feel truly inspired by TRSA’s continued commitment to the support of our industry’s community of families. It is an honor and a privilege to be part of such great association,” said Pablo Lucchesi, Managing Partner of Crown Linen, in whose name TRSA made the CORE contribution.

An additional contribution was made to ConPRmetidos, an organization that specializes in matching Puerto Rico’s “diaspora” – people who settle away from their ancestral homeland – with companies there to help them grow.

“We don’t have words to say thanks for all your generosity,” said Michael Shulevitz, President of Cadillac Uniform & Linen Supply in Puerto Rico. “Thank you for helping Puerto Rico to rise up again.”

The $80,000 donation follows an immediate TRSA charitable effort that took place just after the conference, when several hundred homeless residents were given welcome boxes that had been packaged for conference attendees at the time of the cancellation.