From the Sector

During the second quarter of 2023, the orders index for textile machinery, as compiled by the Economics Department of ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, dropped significantly compared to 2022 April – June 2022 period (-30%). In absolute terms, the index stood at 85.1 points (basis 2015=100).

This drop is the result of a reduction in the collection of new orders recorded by manufacturers both domestically and on foreign markets. The decrease in orders in Italy amounted to 21%, whereas a 31% downtrend was observed abroad. The absolute value of the index on foreign markets settled at 81.9 points, while in Italy it stands at 117.2 points. New orders for the second quarter amounted to 4.1 months of guaranteed production. ACIMIT’s data also shows that the use of production capacity by Italian manufacturers was 70% for the first half of 2023. This percentage is expected to remain stable for the second half of the year.

ACIMIT president Marco Salvadè stated that, “The orders index for the second quarter elaborated by our Economics Department clearly shows a decline in new orders both in Italy and abroad compared to the previous year. The decline that usually precedes an event such as ITMA, the international textile machinery exhibition held last June in Milan, however, is part of a negative trend that has been going on for several quarters”.

Uncertainty appears to be weighing heavily especially on markets abroad, where foreign trade statistics updated to the first quarter of 2023 are marked by a slackening in Italian sales in some important reference markets, such as Turkey, China, the United States and Pakistan.

Salvadè added that, “Feedback from over 400 Italian companies that took part in ITMA is positive. It’s now necessary for the many contacts made during the event to materialize and for the demand for machinery in the main textile machinery markets to resume a path towards growth.”

On the occasion of EURATEX’ General Assembly held in Milan on 7 June, the European textile industry  discussed the relationship between innovation, sustainability and people in the industry of tomorrow. EURATEX members welcomed the Textiles Transition Pathway, released on 6 June by the Commission, as a valuable roadmap to ensure a successful green and digital transition. The meeting in Milan was also the occasion to strengthen links with textile machine manufacturers, gathering at ITMA 2023.

Hosted by Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), EURATEX meetings addressed the crucial issue of how to develop new competitive business models for the future, following the Industry 5.0 concept. In 2021, the European Commission launched “Industry 5.0”, which puts the wellbeing of the worker at the centre of the production process and the use of new technologies to provide prosperity beyond jobs and growth, while respecting the production limits of the planet.

The keynote speakers, Francesco Pinto (Chairman, Yamamay) and Claudio Cavacini (Director of Retail Industry Solutions & Strategy, Salesforce), presented how the digital transformation is affecting companies in the retail industry and how they should adapt to maintain their competitive edge. A panel session of textile machinery manufacturers debated how their companies can help delivering this transformation through state of the art machineries. They all agreed that it requires common efforts by all actors and stakeholders along the textile value chain and public support to make the necessary investments. According to Enzo Maurer, ITMA President, ITMA 2023 in Milan will exactly showcase excellence in innovation and new available technologies to make a leap forward in sustainability.

According to Sergio Tamborini, "we are particularly honored to host this event organized by Euratex, the association which is the voice of the European textile industry and its demands, especially those concerning the circular economy. Sistema Moda Italia wants to play its part and there are priorities, from legislation on extended producer responsibility (EPR) in Italy to eco-design, where textiles and clothing will act as a testing ground. SMI's goal will be to continue to encourage the debate on circularity  promoting it in all institutional settings aiming to a growing sustainable  supply chain.”

Alberto Paccanelli, EURATEX President added: “Today’s discussions showed that we are ready to take up new challenges. Nevertheless, this  transition towards a textiles 5.0 can only happen with the support of all actors, from policy makers to retailers. Today’s meeting was also the occasion to review the EU transition pathway for the textiles ecosystem, published yesterday by the European Commission. The pathway is the perfect example of a co-creation process between the European institutions and the stakeholders. We hope that other EU initiatives or legislative proposals will follow the same co-creative process.”

Fong’s Europe will showcase the advanced features of its THEN Smartflow TSF at ITMA 2023.

These include the machine’s smart fabric transport system which ensures extremely even dyeing of the fabric through accurate control of the nozzle pressure and pump power, with movement through the machine via an PLC-controlled plaiting system and variable chamber adjustment depending on fabric characteristics.

The machine is equipped with a heat exchanger enabling it to heat the dyeing liquor quickly and efficiently, to reduce energy consumption. Its bath preparation unit and chemical dosing system ensure accurate and precise dosing of chemicals, dyestuff and salt, reducing chemical waste and optimising results while reducing process times.

The Smartflow TSF operates with a low liquor ratio of down to 1:2.5 with full loading of synthetic fabrics, which means that it requires less water to dye a given amount of fabric compared to traditional dyeing machines. This not only reduces the consumption of water and steam, but also the amount of wastewater generated.

The machine's control panel is easy to use, allowing operators to programme and monitor processes with ease.

At ITMA 2023 in Milan from June 8-14, BTMA member VeriVide will introduce UltraView – its first all-LED light booth for achieving a new level of consistent and standardised colour assessment.

The company’s light booths and lighting cabinets are specified by major global retailers around the world, who rely on them for establishing and maintaining visual quality standards across their supply chains.

This is no easy feat, given the textile industry’s complex structure and the many process stages each individual garment undertakes from the designer’s desk to the finished garment on the retail shelf – often criss-crossing several continents during the journey.

Benefits
UltraView brings a range of sustainable new benefits to designers, mills and brands, and combined with VeriVide’s successful DigiEye system for non-contact colour measurement and digital imaging, can have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line, bringing savings in time, money and CO₂ emissions.

The new all-LED light booth meets all relevant international lighting and colour assessment standards. The UltraView incorporates the company’s A rated CIE D65 and CIE D50 artificial daylight light sources and includes multiple pre-set point of sale light sources while being fully tuneable for recalibration to the individual requirements of each customer. In the past, individual light booths have had to be dedicated to the stipulated settings of each specific customer’s switch sets. The rapid flexibility of UltraView, however, makes the need for multiple light booths a thing of the past.

It also eliminates the need for the regular bulb changes that were necessary with fluorescents, to provide significant energy savings.

As supply chains continue to move towards digitisation away from time-consuming and expensive physical sampling, a version of the UltraView, VisionView, is available with an internal monitor to enable physical samples to be compared with their digital versions, if required.

DigiEye
For non-contact colour measurement and digital imaging, VeriVide’s DigiEye collects and processes data that can be communicated and shared instantly, enabling manufacturers, producers and processors to speed up quality control, sustain product integrity and reduce waste.

DigiEye also overcomes the limitations of spectrophotometers, which are limited to products with a solid colour appearance and can only measure ‘average’ colour, assessing the limited area of the product exposed in the instrument’s aperture.

These limitations are further compounded if the product has any form of multi-coloured characteristics or appearance, an uneven or inconsistent surface, a colour area too small to be captured by the instrument or any sort of surface effect, such as carpet pile and the sheen of satin and silk.

At ITMA 2023 in Milan from June 8-14, Fong’s Europe will introduce its latest THEN Synergy Airflow and THEN Airjetwin machines, which exploit the principle to provide high-quality, efficient and eco-friendly dyeing processes for a variety of fabrics.

“THEN introduced its first machines with Airflow technology in 1980 and since then we have had wide experience of pretreating and dyeing with Airflow transport systems on all kind of fabrics,” says Fong’s Europe Director of Sales and Marketing Richard Fander. “Our team of engineers has collected data on dyeing processes, results and consumption figures for years and constantly makes use of this accumulated know-how to optimise the processes of our customers.

“The THEN team understands Airflow dyeing processes and technology based on it guarantees the lowest liquor ratio on round shape machines. The transport of fabric by air reduces the liquor ratio compared to every kind of hydraulically driven transport system.”

He adds that while not every fabric can be dyed and treated on Airflow machines with the same handle and appearance as on hydraulic round shape or long shape machines, where it is applicable, it can lead to significant savings of up to 35% in water, 50% in salt, 20% in dyestuffs and 30% in process time.

The THEN Airflow dyeing machines have several features, including several parallel functions for reducing process time. The VPR system shortens the rinsing time and water usage and the robust and homogeneous spraying device in the nozzle ensures a uniform dyeing in the shortest process time. The very short liquor ratio also reduces the use of salt and chemicals.

Svegea of Sweden – a member of TMAS, the Swedish Textile Machinery Association – has recently installed an EC300-S collarette cutter for the high speed production of tubular apparel components as well as an FA350 automatic roll slitter at the plant of Löffler, in Ried im Innkreis, Austria.

The EC 300-S collarette cutter is equipped with the computer-controlled True-Drive II and high pre-feed device, which is used by garment manufacturers around the world for the production of tubular apparel components such as cuff and neck tapes and other seam reinforcements. It operates at speeds of up to 20,000 metres per hour. The integrated, fully automatic FA350 roll slitter FA500 roll slitter is equipped with three separately adjustable settings enabling three different band widths to be cut within the same cutting cycle. Automatic tube sewing units are provided for sewn tubes in optional rolled or flat folded forms, depending on customer preference.

Sports and knitwear specialist Löffler is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023. Its plant in Ried houses 25 circular knitting machines and three seamless knitting machines with an annual output of around 905,000 square metres of fabric, and in addition to product development, design, cutting and some sewing are all carried out in-house.

Löffler is known for its transtex under garments, which ushered in the two-layer principle of structures combining hydrophobic polypropylene and other fibres like cotton, Modal, Tencel or merino wool.

Before transtex, endurance athletes usually wore pure cotton underwear next to their skin, which became wet over time and cooled the body down. Löffler’s two-layer fabric prevented this, since the polypropylene does not absorb moisture and instead wicks it to the outside, where it can evaporate to keep the skin dry.

Innovation has been ongoing ever since, and in December, Löffler received an ISPO Award 2022 for transtex Retr’x – its latest functional underwear made from recycled polypropylene from textile waste and a combination of recycled and GOTS-certified organic cotton. Transtex Retr’x is neither dyed or bleached and is Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex as well as Made In Green by Oeko-Tex approved.

In addition to its own branded products, the plant makes sports garments for sister company Fischer, which is also based in Ried, and is at the same time involved in significant government tender projects, including the supply of polo shirts for the Austrian Red Cross and for the German and Austrian police forces. Combined, Löffler and Fischer employ approximately 700 people in the region of Upper Austria.

SHIMA SEIKI ITALIA S.p.A., Italian subsidiary of leading Japanese computerized knitting solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD., will exhibit at the 92nd edition of the Pitti Immagine Filati exhibition in Florence, Italy. Products exhibited will include the new SWG-XR®154 and N.SVR®183 computerized flat knitting machines as well as APEXFiz® design software.

As pioneer of seam-free WHOLEGARMENT® knitting, SHIMA SEIKI has been setting the standard almost exclusively with nearly 30 years of experience in complete garment technology. Now that benchmark has been raised once again with its new SWG-XR® flagship WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machine. SWG-XR® features 4 needle beds for all-needle knitting of high quality WHOLEGARMENT® products using the company's original SlideNeedle®. SWG-XR® features a renewed sinker system and a compact, light-weight carriage featuring 4 systems as well as auto yarn carriers. All contribute to increased productivity of more than 25% over the previous MACH2®XS machine, as well as increased product range using a wider variety of yarn for supporting knits for all seasons, and higher quality for knitting beautiful fabrics and silhouettes; even items that were impossible to knit with the MACH2® series. SWG-XR® sets new standards for the next generation of waste-free, sustainable WHOLEGARMENT® knitting.

A new proposal in WHOLEGARMENT® knitting will also be introduced in the form of the N.SVR®183 WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machine. SHIMA SEIKI's global standard in shaped knitting, the N.SVR® series now features a model for producing WHOLEGARMENT® knitwear using every other needle in ultrafine gauge. N.SVR®183 is equipped with the R2CARRIAGE® system and a compact, lightweight carriage for even higher productivity. Shown in 21G at Pitti Filati 92, N.SVR®183 is the ideal machine for flexible, entry-level WHOLEGARMENT® production, with the versatility to respond to fluctuating market demand.

APEXFiz® subscription-based design software supports the creative side of fashion from planning and design to colorway evaluation, realistic fabric simulation and 3D virtual sampling. Virtual samples are a digitized version of sample making that are accurate enough to be used effectively as prototypes, replacing physical sampling and consequently reducing time, cost and material that otherwise go to waste. APEXFiz® thereby helps to realize sustainability and digitally transform the fashion supply chain.

• Building Leadership Position in Luxury Market

Oerlikon announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Riri, a leading provider of coated metal accessories for the luxury fashion industry. This transaction marks a milestone in Oerlikon’s growth strategy and diversifies Surface Solutions’ offerings and market access. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and standard closing conditions.

“Riri is highly complementary to our existing luxury business and will reinforce our fashion jewelry and metallic components for leather goods. It is the ideal next step after our acquisition of Coeurdor in 2021 and will make us a market leader and an integrated provider with a complete offering of coated luxury metalware for high-end fashion brands,” said Michael Suess, Executive Chairman, Oerlikon. “The acquisition will drive cross-selling and strengthen our footprint in the global luxury metalware market, which sees mid- to-high single-digit growth rates annually.”

“Our portfolio, particularly in zippers and buttons, is an excellent fit to Oerlikon’s strengths in coated metal-based fashion components. Together, we are ideally positioned in Italy and France – the two major European fashion hubs – and can provide a complete offering to fashion customers,” said Renato Usoni, CEO, Riri. “We are excited to join Oerlikon as it will allow us to accelerate the luxury goods industry’s sustainability transition to greener technology by applying technologies such as Oerlikon’s PVD¹.”

Riri, headquartered in Mendrisio, Switzerland, is a market leader in metal accessories manufacturing, with a wide product range and unique offering. The company supplies global leading brands in the luxury fashion industry and has a strong foothold in the Italian luxury market. The company has more than 1 100 employees and expects to generate sales of EUR ~170 million (CHF ~165 million) in 2022.

¹ PVD, or physical vapor deposition, coating is a thin-film coating solution that is more environmentally friendly than traditional processes such as chrome plating.

The 11^th India ITME will take place from December 8.– 13., 2022, in Noida, India. Over 1,800 exhibitors and more than 150,000 trade visitors from the textile and apparel industry from all over the world are expected. Groz-Beckert will be presenting innovations from its various product areas..

India ITME takes place every four years and is the ideal technology platform for forward-looking innovations in the textile world. At the 11th edition of India ITME, exhibitors will be presenting their highlights from research and development across 15 halls.

The Knitting Product Division will be presenting several new products at India ITME: Among them the SAN™ SF staple fiber needle and the SNK SF staple fiber sinker, which are specially designed for use on large circular knitting machines. The division will also be exhibiting the SAN™ TT for application-related use in the field of technical textiles for flat knitting machines, as well as a needle which enables the advance into new dimensions of gauge in the flat knitting sector.

Groz-Beckert will also be demonstrating its competence as a system supplier in the field of warp knitting at the India ITME. The warp knitting machine needles and system parts from Groz-Beckert are precisely matched to one another and achieve a uniform and flawless warp knitting process.

With the WarpMasterPlus and the KnotMaster, the Weaving product division presents the latest generation of drawing-in and knotting machines from Groz-Beckert. They are particularly distinguished by their ease of operation and flexibility.

The product area Felting (Nonwovens) presents its product and service highlights for the nonwovens industry. These include the HyTec P jet strip for spunlace customers as well as the GEBECON felting needle, the dur needle, EcoStar felting needle and the Groz-Beckert customer product. The HyTec P-nozzle strip is characterized by improved handling and higher hardness. The patented GEBECON felting needle offers an improved surface finish and optimized breakage bending properties.

The Carding product area will present its further developments for the spinning industry. These include the new stationary flat series, the TV56 revolving top and the cylinder wire set with special tooth geometry. The new stationary flat series is characterized by an innovative tooth geometry and a new type of tooth distribution. The new TV56  revolving top with its new setting pattern and 560 points per square inch is particularly easy to clean. The improved cylinder wire convinces with its special and patented tooth shape, which has a positive effect on the maintenance effort. This makes it particularly suitable for quality-oriented cotton spinning mills producing high-quality yarns. Visitors can also look forward to the new InLine card clothing series for the nonwovens sector.

In the Sewing exhibition area, the focus is on technical textiles – in particular the manufacture of car seats. The answer to the high demands of sewing car seats is the special application needle SAN® 5.2 from Groz-Beckert. The special geometry gives it sufficient stability. The double groove at the point improves thread guidance and leads to a uniform seam pattern, especially in multidirectional sewing processes. The scarf chamfer on both sides of the needle prevent skipped stitches and optimize loop formation. The wear protection is increased by the titanium nitride coating GEBEDUR. In addition, the quality management INH will be exhibited and the functions and contents of the customer portal will be presented.

As part of an ongoing investment programme ensuring it remains at the forefront of advanced technology for carpet production, West Yorkshire, UK-headquartered Phoenox Textiles has recently installed a new two-metre-wide shearing line supplied by BTMA member Sellers Textiles Engineers.

Phoenox, which has been family owned since its foundation in 1954, develops original creative flooring design concepts for retail brands. Its products are sold through high street outlets, department stores and volume retailers across Europe and North America, in addition to substantial online and catalogue-driven business. All told, the company’s 24-hour parcel service dispatches some 3.2 million orders every year.

Operating from two manufacturing sites, Phoenox manufactures an annual 1.7 million metres of flooring in the UK. Over a combined area of 1,700,000 square metres, the two plants are equipped for tufting, backcoating, cloth printing and finishing along with automated cutting, sewing and packing.

In addition to the Sellers shearing line, other recent investments for the UK operations have included three new advanced tufting machines and a high-speed Sellers backcoating line equipped to handle widths of up to two metres and coat at six metres per minute. Washable and dyeable foams and eco-friendly applications in different weights are applied for many product areas.

The company’s state-of-the-art Chromo jet printing process line is meanwhile the only one of its kind in the UK, with its 256 jets making possible designs in up eight colours per pattern. With sustainability very much at the forefront of the company’s approach, Phoenox recycles most of its paste and inks and uses organic options wherever possible, as well as recycled water.

“We operate a piece dye colour cloth programme and can dye nylon and cotton with weights of up to 500kg per load, working with direct, organic, vat and reactive dyes,” says Mosley. “We also offer computerised and weighed commission dyeing. Computerised automated cutting machines and photocell pattern recognition enable us to cut at high speed in most cloth densities. With finishing and sewing though, it’s all about the detail, and our team have years of experience and hand-finish our products on traditional high-speed machines.”

The new Sellers Hybrid Shearing Cylinder can provide a competitive edge for manufacturers which is currently being proven in the field, including at Phoenox. It’s one of a number of new innovations BTMA members are planning to showcase at next year’s ITMA exhibition in Milan.