From the Sector

The winner of the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION competition was announced during a webinar broadcast on March 30 at 4pm attended by Giusy Bettoni, CEO of C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub, Anna Detheridge, President of Connecting Cultures, Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner of The Bear Scouts, Stefania Ricci, Director of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.
 
Vishal Tolambia, 24, a graduate with an MA in Fashion Futures from the London College of Fashion and in Fashion Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology India, is a Fashion Sustainability researcher and a multidisciplinary designer. In 2021, Vishal founded the organization Humanity-Centred Designs (HCD) with the aim of transforming "human-centred design into humanity-centred designs through sustainable practices to foster the Fashion Industry."
 
In his communication project, the "Fashion Affair" video proposes a speculative view of fashion dating - derived from dating apps - a tool to effectively evaluate brands and their products, in the form of augmented reality. The consumer is not only informed in real time about the brand and supply chain, but the app also becomes a platform for matching products based on individual sustainability goals and commitments. "Fashion Affair" also won the special social media contest open to the public among the finalists selected by the jury for being the most voted project by Instagram followers on C.L.A.S.S.' profile.
 
Vishal ranked first among the finalists selected by the international jury composed of:
- Anna Detheridge, Founder and President, Connecting Cultures
- Giusy Bettoni, CEO and Founder, C.L.A.S.S.
- Rita Airaghi, Director, Gianfranco Ferré Research Center            
- Paola Arosio, Head of New Brands & Sustainability Projects, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
- Jeanine Ballone, Managing Director, Fashion 4 Development
- Evie Evangelou, Founder and President, Fashion 4 Development
- Chiara Luisi, Sustainability Projects Coordinator, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
- Sara Kozlowski, Director of Education and Sustainable Strategies, Council of Fashion Designers of America
- Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner, The Bear Scouts
- Renata Molho, journalist and fashion writer, former editor-in-chief of L'Uomo Vogue and editor-at-large of L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Casa Vogue
- Stefania Ricci, Director, Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.

For its 2021 Green Collection, the Italian luxury hosiery brand Sarah Borghi presents a broadened product offer in terms of colors and categories, meeting the needs of a stylish, yet sustainable consumer. By mixing fashion, quality, innovation and research, the tights and stockings powerhouse continues its development in the journey towards a conscious future.

A decisive step has been added to the brand’s history thanks to the publication of the Integrated Report by Gizeta Calze. Sarah Borghi is one of the first Italian companies in the hosiery sector to include sustainability throughout its business model. A commitment of responsibility and transparency on a path that has been carried on for years and that, today more than ever, becomes of the utmost importance, as stated by Luca Marzocchi, CEO of Gizeta Calze. The Integrated Report provides a complete view of the business strategy, operating model and governance, which combines financial information with sustainability insights, conceived as complementary to other strategies and, indeed, essential for increasing business value.

The collection presents a range of versatile, colorful products combined with extra-luxury comfort and designed for every type of woman: from seductive tights to everyday socks, together with knee- highs, up to athleisure with leggings.
 
The collection features two new generation materials. One is Amni Soul Eco®, a biodegradable in anaerobic conditions polyamide 6.6 yarn that degrades in around 5 years* after disposing of in landfill, developed by SOLVAY and produced and distributed by FULGAR. The other is ROICA™ V550 by leading fiber manufacturer Asahi Kasei, a premium sustainable stretch yarn boasting the Gold Level Material Health Certificate by Cradle-to-Cradle Product Innovation Institute** as it has been evaluated for impact on human and environmental health. Moreover, it smartly breaks down without releasing harmful substances in the environment according to Hohenstein Environment Compatibility Certification. Key elements that makes ROICA™ V550 a precious choice when it comes to Circular Economy material approach.

*Reference System: ASTM D5511 - Standard Test Method for the Determination of Anaerobic Biodegradation of Plastics Under High-solids Anaerobic Digestion Conditions
** The Cradle-to-Cradle Product Innovation Institute, a non -profit organization, administer the Cradle-to-Cradle Certified™ Product Standard. It was created to bring about a new industrial revolution that turns the making of things into a positive force of society, economy and the planet. The Cradle-to-Cradle Certified Product Standard™ provides designers and manufacturers with criteria and requirements for continually improving what products are made of and how they are made aiming to achieve a circular economy approach.

SHIMA SEIKI ITALIA S.p.A., Italian subsidiary of leading Japanese computerized knitting solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD., will exhibit at the 90th edition of the Pitti Immagine Filati exhibition in Florence, Italy. Products exhibited will include the N.SVR®123SP computerized flat knitting machine as well as APEXFiz™ design software.

The N.SVR®123SP computerized knitting machine features a special loop presser bed, capable of producing hybrid inlay fabrics with both knit and weave characteristics. Demand for such novel fabrics are very high across a wide range of applications, from fashion apparel to sportswear, innerwear, outerwear, uniforms and other functional clothing, as well as home furnishing and technical textiles. Shown in 18G at the SHIMA SEIKI booth, N.SVR®123SP will also feature the special i-Plating option, capable of alternating yarn colors in any pattern, producing jacquard-like designs using plain jersey stitch. Plating can be performed within the same course and for individual needles. In combination with the loop presser and spring-type moveable sinker system even greater diversity in knit design is possible. An SVR®123SP machine in 14G with i-Plating option will also be on display at the booth of yarn spinner IAFIL S.p.A. as well.

APEXFiz™ is subscription-based design software that maintains the proven functions that have made SHIMA SEIKI’s SDS®-ONE APEX series design systems so popular with fashion designers. Installed on personal computers, those strengths are now enhanced with the added versatility to adapt to different work styles and business environments including teleworking and telecommuting. APEXFiz™ 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.

APEXFiz™ along with SHIMA SEIKI’s yarnbank™ digital yarn web platform are featured at a special section launched at the previous session of Pitti Filati no. 89 called Pitti Studios. Pitti Studios is a content production service that yarn companies exhibiting at Pitti Filati can use for their own promotion. Yarn companies provide a piece of yarn, which is digitized on yarnbank™ and used to simulate photorealistic fabric on APEXFiz™. This is then processed by a creative studio specializing in digital content to provide static and animated 3D virtual representations. The process shows how to use the latest DX tools to provide accurate representation of a finished garment without having to produce any fabric, converting the conventionally wasteful process of sample-making into a sustainable one.

Continuing from past editions of Pitti Filati are knit samples produced in collaboration with Italian designer Vittorio Branchizio.

Kornit Digital Ltd. announced that Portuguese textile specialist Blur has installed the Kornit Presto S with Softener solution for sustainable, single-step direct-to-fabric production of multiple fabrics in any quantity. The print services provider, which supports the production needs of high fashion brands has previously installed multiple Kornit Atlas and Avalanche systems for industrial-scale digital direct-to-garment (DTG) production on demand.

Using Kornit’s efficient, eco-conscious, proprietary technology and consumables, Blur provides rapid fulfillment of orders ranging from a single piece to mass production, with an average order of about 500 items. Since implementing the Kornit Presto S, the system has been in operation day and night, producing samples during normal business hours and fulfilling diverse incoming orders overnight.

Mariano Dias, CEO at Blur, believes Kornit technology empowers his business to adapt quickly to the constantly evolving needs of his clients, which include both larger established brands seeking large quantities and ambitious designers seeking to build a brand with limited risk or investment. In many cases, they are fulfilling different types of designs for clients serving both Europe and North American markets.
“The quality is just outstanding, and some clients only want to print with Kornit technology”, said Dias. “We are extremely happy with Kornit’s collaboration, and our printers are working perfectly around the clock. Any textile printing company looking to move into fashion and work with famous brands will need both roll-to-roll and DTG capabilities. Our recommendation for success is to buy the Kornit Atlas and Kornit Presto printers.”

He added that Blur’s success with its current Kornit systems, as well as increased demand for sustainably-produced textiles, has the business considering the addition of a second Kornit Presto S to accommodate additional volumes.

“As with many of our customers, Blur was built around more traditional textile operations—in their case embroidery—before discovering the vast potential for growth and versatility offered by quick, efficient, digital production on demand,” said Chris Govier, Kornit Digital Europe, Middle East, and Africa President. “Whether you’re serving an internationally-known fashion house looking for more agile fulfillment and simpler supply chains, or the independent creator hoping to bring unique inspirations to life, Kornit’s product portfolio offers continuous opportunities to answer market needs, create new markets, and scale upwards under any conditions.”

The new claim “Crafted Elegance” embodies Bemberg™’s values of preciousness, uniqueness, quality and refined aesthetic blended with innovation and responsible values. In 2021 Bemberg™ celebrates nine decades of commitment to deliver true timeless beauty, style and touch thanks to its responsible innovation heritage and soul. And today it relaunches a new gender aesthetics that speaks about contemporary values of transparency, inclusivity and sustainability.
 
Bemberg™ is all about joyful comfort, premium values delivering an unparalleled wellbeing. It’s the one-of-a-kind material that offers design, beauty, innovation and responsibility all at once.

Its heritage talks about premium high-quality lining for formal and sportswear, but the contemporary and worldwide journeys and designers’ cooperation are talking about fashion, outerwear, innerwear dedicated to contemporary consumers.
 
Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei is the brand name of the regenerated cellulose fiber made from the smart tech transformation of cotton linters - short downy fiber enfolding cotton seeds. It is pre-consumer materials obtained from manufacturing process of cotton oil that are converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process, taking place in Nobeoka, Japan, the only plant producing Bemberg™ at worldwide level. So, the Bemberg™ DNA is really based on a circular economy approach.

Bemberg™ fiber is the key ingredient of some of the most cutting-edge design innovations on planet Fashion, proving to be a sustainable, responsible and innovative material.

The Bemberg™’s 90th anniversary signs also another important moment for the company. Mr. Koji Hamada is appointed as new CEO of Asahi Kasei Fibers Italia. Mr. Hamada has a strong connection to the Italian market having already spent more than 5 years in the Gallarate’s headquarter working in close contact with all partner of the territory.

Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles concluded its 27th autumn edition in early October. Held alongside four other concurrent textile shows, the fair was the only major event for this sector able to take place in China during this season, providing a much-needed business platform for 735 exhibitors and 20,106 trade buyers. The fair was held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd expressed: “Due to the valuable cooperation of many parties and the continued support of our exhibitors and other partners, we were able to hold the fair as scheduled despite a number of challenges. Since the pandemic situation was brought under control in China last year, we have expended considerable resources to ensure our textile fairs still take place to provide trading platforms that connect the global industry. This edition was especially important as it was the only major fair to take place in the country at this time.”

While a number of international exhibitors participated this year with individual booths, the Belgium Pavilion presented home and contract products and five Chinese regional pavilions from Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, Haining, and Tongxiang also featured. Two trend forums also provided inspiration for 2022, while the IKASAS Japanese Home Design Gallery, New Voices of Top Youth Upholstery Designers City Roving Exhibition and China International Fiber Art Exhibition gave further insights into various aspects of the industry.

Fair’s fringe programme highlights sustainability, design and more
As with all of Messe Frankfurt’s textile fairs around the world, sustainability is a big focus. A number of events under this focus took place in the fair’s fringe programme, including a half day forum titled How Sustainable Fashion is Reshaping Lifestyles, with a range of innovative companies and prestigious universities participating as speakers.

The Design Talk session featured a series of presentations from leading international designers, including from China, Japan and Europe, to share their design insights. And a new concept this year, titled New Voices of Top Youth Upholstery Designers – Intertextile Upholstery Design and City Roving Exhibition, showcased the work of six groups of young local designers from across China who presented the interior design ideas of their generation through displays and a forum. And reflecting the changes that continue to accelerate in the industry, a number of e-commerce and cross-border trade events took place, including sessions from the likes of JD Home, AliExpress and Tmall.

The 2022 Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Spring Edition will take place from 9 – 11 March, while the Autumn Edition is scheduled for 23 – 25 August 2022.

Officina+39, an Italian sustainable chemical developer, attends Superstudio Più in Milan to show its technical progress and share its concrete contribution to a more Trustainable™ denim. Under the spotlight, among multiple innovations, the latest addition to the Officina+39 family: the brand-new NOVASCRAPER INDIGO.

NOVASCRAPER INDIGO, the new technology for classic aesthetics
NOVASCRAPER INDIGO allows to give a natural vintage look to denim garments through laser finishing, an actual innovative alternative to manual scraping. NOVASCRAPER INDIGO guarantees a natural effect with unparalleled quality and accuracy, requiring less manpower and less rejection rate when compared to manual scraping.

The Sixth Sense: less water, more Trustainability
Officina+39 and Tejidos Royo joined forces to create a denim line that drastically reduces water consumption: this is “The Sixth Sense”, a project concretely inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically by its SDG6, calling to action to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Officina+39 personally accepts this global challenge by contributing to the realization of “The Sixth Sense” with its AQUALESS MISSION. Featuring three cutting-edge laundry products for one innovative process, AQUALESS MISSION combines the application of REMOVER BC, AQUALESS AGED – a waterless compound to give denim abrasion effects –, and OZ-ONE POWDER – an advanced product to give garments a bleached yet eco-friendly treatment in a dry application, for a worn and distressed look. Compatible with conventional washing and treatment machinery, it allows for water consumption savings up to 75%.
Focused on driving sustainability in the textile industry, Tejidos Royo uses low-impact fibers and yarns as a raw material and the implementation of foam-dyeing technology with its Dry Indigo®, the first-ever technology to foam-dye denim with zero water use and no water discharge.

CircularKromia: a colorful path for preloved garments
At Officina+39 the word “waste” becomes synonymous with opportunity, a source to create something new, fostering true, Trustainable™ circularity. This is the background to the collaboration with Atelier Riforma, an innovative startup born in Turin (Italy) with a social vocation. Through the contribution of Officina+39’s RECYCROM™, it has been possible to obtain new pigment and dyestuff pulverizing discarded garments and pieces usually difficult to recover through tailoring transformation alone. The collection made it possible not to generate any waste, no new raw materials were required to create CircularKromia.

The Circle Book 2: the power of collaboration and circularity
A collective project gathering a total of ten companies with common goals focused on transparency and circularity in denim design, The Circle Book is now in its second edition that culminated in CULTURE.IN, a circular capsule collection transparently made from recycled and degradable materials.

Officina+39 opens its doors, with Lenzing and Meidea
In the evening of October 13, the recently inaugurated brand-new headquarters of Officina+39 in Biella opened their doors to welcome denim personalities, brands, designers and partners to show where Officina+39's innovative technologies are created, to network and celebrate while preparing new steps towards the design of a more circular and – of course – Trustainable™ fashion Industry.

Buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of all energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. Improving energy efficiency in buildings therefore has a key role to play in achieving the ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 set out in the European Green Deal. A new briefing from the European Pultrusion Technology Association (EPTA) discusses how composite materials can help improve the thermal performance of the building envelope to satisfy increasingly stringent energy efficiency regulations. The EPTA report, Opportunities for pultruded composites in energy-efficient buildings, explains how pultruded profiles offer durable,  low maintenance solutions which can help reduce both operational and embodied carbon emissions from buildings in applications including energy-saving windows, thermal break connectors, and solar shading and cladding systems.   

“Economic and population growth mean energy demand is set to rise, making energy efficiency measures even more critical,“ comments Dr Elmar Witten, Secretary of EPTA. “Regulations and standards will continue to push for lower U-values for building elements, driving the increase use of materials and designs which minimise operational carbon emissions. Pultruded profiles offer an attractive combination of properties for designers of energy-efficient buildings – low thermal conductivity to minimise thermal bridging, together with excellent mechanical performance, durability, and design freedom.“  
 
It is estimated that today, roughly 75% of the EU building stock is energy inefficient, meaning that a large part of the energy used goes to waste. This energy loss can be minimised by improving existing buildings and striving for smart solutions and energy efficient materials for new builds. Areas of focus include improving glazing systems, better insulation of envelope components, and reducing unwanted solar heat gains. The low thermal conductivity of composites is being exploited in components and structures that help to minimise energy required for space conditioning. 

• Energy-saving windows and doors
• Thermal break connectors and structural assemblies
• Solar shading systems
• Rainscreen cladding and curtain wall facades
• Building a sustainable future

ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei, specialized in sustainable premium stretch fibers, and Bemberg™, a fiber made from the smart-tech transformation of cotton linters pre-consumer materials and converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process, have been invited to showcase at Filo, the international fair of orthogonal weaving yarns for clothing and furnishings, circular knitwear and technical textiles from the 29-30th of September.

ROICA™ will show its main innovations and four key pieces of the modern and sustainable contemporary wardrobe able to enhance the versatility of the fibers, applied to fashion, sportswear, legwear and underwear.
The brand will also be the protagonist of “The contemporary consumer: Stretch your imagination with ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei smart innovation” speech on September 30th, 11am, organized by the fair to tell its sustainable story.

Bemberg™ will be at Filo showing some selected fabric innovation, and three responsible-driven designers representing different and complementary part of contemporary consumer wardrobe: ZEROBARRACENTO, Maurizio Miri and WAXEWUL.
Bemberg™ will be also involved in two speeches – entitled “Il viaggio di Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei verso una moda contemporanea, premium e responsabile” - organized by the fair (Sept. 29th and 30th at 4pm), where it will share its story made of creation, production and process, as well as product performance, aspects related to sustainability and circular economy approach.

• Kornit Digital and threeASFOUR Give Shape to the Future of Fashion and Technology with the KUNDALINI Collection at New York Fashion Week
• Event will showcase how fashion technology transforms creativity and expression, and eliminates wasteful overproduction prominent in the fashion industry

Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ: KRNT), a worldwide market leader in digital textile production technologies, announced today a collaboration with fashion designers threeASFOUR. The new collection, KUNDALINI, premiered today during New York Fashion Week, demonstrating exceptional capabilities for designers in the fashion industry to express brilliance, creativity, and extraordinary quality by using Kornit’s sustainable, on-demand fashion production technologies.

Founded in 2005, threeASFOUR has built a legacy of fusing cutting-edge technology with traditional craftsmanship to create pieces that are both fashion and art. The intricate designs in the KUNDALINI collection unlock the full value of Kornit’s innovative and cutting-edge technology and showcase the power of the digital-first approach for fashion. The entire collection was produced using Kornit’s revolutionary MAX technology, which offers never-before-seen digital decoration and design capabilities.

Working closely with Kornit, threeASFOUR was able to maintain complete design freedom in accordance with their vision, while producing quickly and significantly eliminating waste. Using Kornit technologies enabled their designers to shrink design cycles to mere days—or even hours in some cases—which is inconceivable in the traditional ways of producing fashion.

“Collaborating with top global designers like threeASFOUR demonstrates that fashion production can be cleaner and more sustainable, while also being efficient and more responsive to inspiration and creativity,” said Ronen Samuel, Kornit Digital Chief Executive Officer. “Following the massive success of Tel Aviv Fashion Week, we are now creating exhibits and partnerships in New York, Los Angeles, London—and other global fashion hubs that need to adopt eco-conscious digital means of production. This collaboration with threeASFOUR is another step on our journey to become the operating system for on-demand sustainable, proximity fashion.”

“We’ve built our brand on pushing boundaries, advancing social progress, and uniting fashion with nature and with self, while experimenting with technological innovations,” said Adi Gil, Creative Director at threeASFOUR. “Our vision for more sustainable and meaningful fashion unites us with Kornit Digital, whose technologies seem to have been designed from the ground up to help us achieve our goals. We’re excited about the infinite design freedom that Kornit on-demand production solutions offer the fashion industry, and how it could help grow our brand and raise our profile and accessibility in the marketplace.”
Kornit Digital’s on-demand production ecosystem uses considerably less water and energy and generates far less greenhouse gas emissions relative to traditional analog production processes. As the cornerstone of an efficient micro-factory production model, Kornit’s technology uses safe and sustainable consumables to enable proximity production, eliminating the logistical waste, vulnerability, and time to market associated with multinational supply chains.