From the Sector

• INDA Announces Full Program and Opens Registration for Premier Event in New Orleans

With reusable and recyclable products and new inputs offering growth opportunities in absorbent hygiene and personal care products, Hygienix™ will provide an insightful view into the market’s future this November in New Orleans.

Industry participants from around the world and throughout the supply chain will convene and connect for the eighth edition of the premier event for the fast-growing segment on November 14-17, at The Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel.

The in-person conference will highlight the segment’s continued growth and new opportunities with presentations by more than 20 industry experts on sustainable inputs, natural fibers, product transparency, reusable menstrual products, recyclable diapers and more as well as the latest market forecasts and insights into consumer buying trends.

Hygienix also will offer two specialized workshops, and a myriad of business connection opportunities including a welcome reception on Nov. 14 and a first-time attendee mentorship program.
Participants will discover innovative products in absorbent hygiene and personal care at tabletop exhibits with evening receptions on Nov. 15-16, providing opportunities for 60 companies to showcase their unique offerings.

Three finalists will each present their innovative and technically sophisticated disposable absorbent hygiene products as they vie for the prestigious Hygienix Innovation Award™. Nominations are open until August 29. Demonstrating the interest in sustainability, last year’s award recipient was Kudos Diaper Subscription featuring its 100% cotton disposable diaper.

Hygienix Highlights
Absorbent hygiene – the single largest nonwoven end‐use category (by square meters) – is expected to continue its strong growth over the next four years, creating market opportunities in this thriving area driven by growing consumer interest for environmentally-friendly options in material inputs and end-of-life options.

Participants will hear the latest data and forecasts from analysts during presentations by Robert Fry, Jr., Ph.D., Principal of Robert Fry Economics LLC on the Global Economy – What we Can Expect in 2023; Pricie Hanna, Managing Partner, and Colin Hanna, Director of Market Research, Price Hanna Consultants on Disposables versus Reusables; and Simon Preisler, Vice President of Logistics, Central National Gottesman delivering a Logistic Market Update.

A panel of entrepreneurs will discuss the challenges, biases and taboos to bringing innovations into the marketplace. Experts sharing their insights will be Mia Abbruzzese and Alexandra Fennell, co-founders of Grace; Amrita Saigal, founder and CEO, Kudos; and Cindy Santa Cruz, President of ParaPatch.

A session on Next-Generation Menstrual Products and their Users will feature Liying Qian, Research Analyst, Euromonitor International providing market data on disposable and reusable period products; Frantisek Riha-Scott, Founder, Confitex discussing reusable products; and Greta Meyer, Co-Founder and CEO, Sequel on Reengineering the Tampon.
Also focusing on period products will be a presentation by Danielle Keiser, Managing Director, Impact, Madami on Changing the Conversation with Consumersmoderated by Heidi Beatty, Chief Executive Officer, Crown Abbey, LLC.

Other intriguing not-to-be-missed presentations centered on sustainability trends include:

• Assessing Sustainable Fiber Options in the Context of Disposable Hygienic Products – Richard Knowlson, Principal, RPK Consulting LLC
• Five Generations of Hygiene + Sustainability – Matt Schiering, Professor of Marketing, Dominican University
• Recycling Approaches for Disposable Diaper Waste – Jeannine Cardin, Quality and R&D, RecycPHP Inc.

Hygienix will provide additional focused learning opportunities with two essential short courses (with separation registration fees) on Nov. 14 focused on Absorption Systems for Absorbent Hygiene Products, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. and Global Diaper Trends from 3:45 to 6 p.m.

Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ: KRNT) (“Kornit”), a worldwide market leader in sustainable, on-demand digital fashionx  and textile production technologies, has opened the doors to a new interactive booth  at one of the world’s largest virtual printing tradeshows – Printing Expo Online 2022. The exhibit offers all the benefits of a physical tradeshow, but with convenient, online access any time.

Printing Expo Online is one of the most popular online tradeshows for the printing industry. Tailored to meet the demands of evolving businesses, the show is open 24-7-365 days a year – and has welcomed over 60,000 global visitors since November 2020. Kornit’s virtual exhibit is fully aligned with customer requests for a more flexible tradeshow experience – allowing participation at their convenience.

The multi-story showroom makes it possible to self-navigate across Kornit’s game changing single-step, digital direct-to-garment (DTG) and direct-to-fabric (DTF) solutions – unlocking new possibilities for on demand, sustainable digital fashion and textile production. Solutions on display include  Kornit Atlas MAX, the recently introduced Kornit Atlas MAX Poly, Kornit Presto MAX and the KornitX Workflow offering.

ISKO teams up with Paolo Gnutti, to break new ground in the world of premium, luxury denim. Combining ISKO’s advanced denim technologies with PG’s creative vision, the result is a special ISKO™ Luxury collection by PG, characterized by a unique high-end appeal.

The collection embodies ISKO’s most revolutionary technological innovations combined with the long-standing expertise of Paolo Gnutti, who explored aesthetics highly profiled to the unique needs of the luxury segment through 7 main moods:

1. Denim addicted, celebrating total denim looks, offering classic silhouettes mixed up with revised volumes and details;
2. Y2k, bringing back the 2000s typical style featuring exposed skin, low waist pants, micro tops, mini skirts, shrunken garments, butterfly decorations and embellishments;
3. Fanaticism, featuring bright, bold colors, intricate prints and logos combined with details that meet ample volume styles;
4. Bounder glam, all about glammed-up leather effects inspired by bikers' unapologetic style and applied to oversize fits, cutouts and lace-ups styles;
5. Moto’roll, where the iconic 60s and 70s biker style is back with a modern twist and a vast range of treatments and fabrics, offering men and women true crowdpleasers;
6. Gingham mania, an in-depth exploration of the gingham trend which finds expression through various dimensions and techniques that cater to any silhouette;
7. Rugged re-made, which celebrates workwear and historical garments creating a style that combines history with technologies, solutions and treatments to recreate that vintage look dear to the heart of lovers of denim heritage

The premiere of the large Premium Group event cosmos in Berlin was with a number of visitors of 70% compared to before Corona a great success. The new combination of B2B and D2C, entertainment and edutainment, fashion and culture provided a lot of exchange, new input, ideas, contacts and 360 degree inspiration.

In focus: content & communication
With the conferences FASHIONTECH, CONSCIOUS CLUB Conference and The Ground Talks, the Premium Group Team put an additional focus on communication and edutainment. Important topics such as diversity, wellbeing, metaverse and sustainability were discussed and relevant lessons learned for the market, brands and consumers.

“Restart was a statement!”
“It's been quite a rodeo ride putting together two B2B trade shows, one D2C festival, three conferences, parties, dinners and receptions for so many different audiences and all while the pandemic continues in full swing – barring the rain and flight chaos. I would have wished that even more visitors would have come, but overall the restart was much better than expected. It was definitely an announcement." Anita Tillmann, Managing Partner Premium Group

New togetherness, new exchange, new ideas
With the premiere of the festival for style & culture, The Ground, young consumers and Berlin communities from GenZ and GenY were part of the Premium Group event cosmos for the first time. Almost 6000 fashion enthusiasts and trade visitors came together at The Ground. Exciting conversations, interactive fire moments and cool shows created a special vibe in and around the Palais am Funkturm. The focus was on young target groups wearing, feeling and thinking. How brands can reach young customers, communicate with them and build trust and much more.

New community through 'Larger than Life Ball'
On Saturday, the day with the most visitors at The Ground, the spectacular ballroom event, the Larger than Life Ball, curated by The House of Gorgeous Gucci in the summer garden of the Palais, caused enthusiasm. Numerous stars and friends of the international LGBTQ+ scene from New York, Rio de Janeiro and Berlin celebrated a colourful open-air party for over 5 hours with cool music and live MC, sensational outfits, plateau heels and wild vogueing and dance competitions on a water catwalk.

Must have PEACE charity initiative
The must-have PEACE merch collection initiated because of the Ukraine war in favour of Be An Angel e.v. was very well received. The sale of limited-edition clothing and accessories from Carry, Closed, Drykorn, Eastpak, Lala Berlin, Lee, Le Specs, MCM, Merz b. Swans and Wranglers as well as generous donations from Boss, among others, brought in a total of almost 15,000 euros. The remaining stocks are promoted and sold via influencer accounts.

January 2023: Happy Birthday, PREMIUM!
The next Premium Group event cosmos will take place from Tuesday, January 17th to Thursday, January 19th, 2023 with a B2B focus again at the Berlin exhibition centre. The focus is on a big anniversary: the PREMIUM will be 20 years old! After the successful kick-off, the CONSCIOUS CLUB Conference will also be further developed for the next round.

The Berlin Fashion Week and Premium Group events will take place at the same time again from 2023.

Facts

• Premium Group event cosmos
• 2 trade shows: PREMIUM and SEEK
• 1 festival: The Ground
• 3 conferences: FASHIONTECH, CONSCIOUS CLUB Conference, The Ground Talks
• More than 800 participating brands
• 45,000 sqm total area
• 50 talks & panels with 85 speakers
• Newcomer brands: 230 at PREMIUM, 134 at SEEK

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.

ROICA™ strengthens its presence in the apparel segment thanks to its established network of partners, who will present their latest innovations at the upcoming Première Vision.

ROICA™ partners are the “artists” and “heartists” of premium stretch in fabrics: because they have at heart all the values for which ROICA™ stands for. These partners presenting at Première Vision are:

• Iluna Group, whose journey into the new dimension of responsibility continues with developments in GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified recycled yarns aimed at unprecedented effects in looks, performance and hands. Brand new for this edition of Première Vision is the inclusion of GOTS-certified organic cotton in GRS-certified galloons and allover lace containing ROICA™ EF, so as to meet market demands for natural comfort in the underwear sphere.
• Innova Fabrics, which recently enhanced its smart offering by launching the RF (Residual Free) line, with the goal of reducing the impact of microplastics derived from the fashion industry. This is made possible by mixing two responsible ingredients, SENSIL® BioCare by Nilit and ROICA™ V550 by Asahi Kasei, which give birth to both sporty and casual fabrics.
• Inplet, which enriched its production of smart elastic and rigid knitted fabrics with three new products: a powernet fabric in 77% polyamide RECO and 23% ROICA™ EF with good recovery; a net fabric in 55% polyamide RECO and 45% ROICA™ EF characterized by a soft hand and good elasticity; and a 79% polyamide and 21% ROICA™ V550 good power, good recovery and a soft touch.
• Penn Textile Solutions/Penn Italia, whose highlights of the new collection are on one side fabrics developed with the use of Neride eco yarns by Nurel with ROICA™ V550, characterized by restraining lace effect, soft touch and breathable, in combination with tulle as a sustainable basic, and on the other side charmeuses with soft hand, raw cut in combination with a band fabric from the dreamshape family with reinforced gripping edge, made again in Neride eco yarns by Nurel with ROICA™ V550
• Tessitura Colombo Antonio, which in its new A/W 23-24 collection expands its proposal of regenerated lace from the ECO-LACE line: new designs inspired by fashion trends using ROICA™ EF. Also, in its BIODEGRADABLE line it uses ROICA™ V550 for the realization of new designs. The new MICROMODAL line uses ROICA™ V550; the effect of this lace range is softness, elegance and relief effect.

ITM 2022 hosted textile technology leaders in Istanbul for 5 days, presenting the latest innovations in every field of textile from weaving, knitting, yarn, digital printing, finishing to denim. The ITM 2022 Exhibition, where a business volume of over 1.5 billion Euros was created in 5 days, accelerated the Turkish and world economy.

Organized by the partnership of Teknik Fairs Inc. and Tüyap Tüm Fuarcılık Yapım Inc., ITM 2022- International Textile Machinery Exhibition was held at Tüyap Fair and Congress Center between 14-18 June.  ITM 2022 Exhibition, attended by 1280 companies and company representatives from 65 countries, was visited by 64,500 people from 102 countries, consisting of 44% international and 56% domestic visitors.

Turkey became a Supply Center at the ITM 2022 Exhibition
The successful sales graph achieved at the ITM 2022 Exhibition proved that the difficulties experienced due to the pandemic for the last 3 years have been left behind. Turkey has become a supply center for European, Middle Eastern and African countries, especially with the disruption of the supply chain in Far East countries, including China. The profile of the professional visitors visiting the ITM 2022 Exhibition revealed that in the new world order that has shifted after the pandemic, the trade network has also changed hands and new players have appeared on the scene. The fact that manufacturers from all over the world such as Andorra, Angola, Honduras, Peru, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Egypt, Iran, and Oman purchased a large number of machinery and signed collaborations at the ITM 2022 Exhibition has proven this.

Exhibitors of ITM 2022 enlarge their stands for ITM 2024
Many company officials, who stated that they have achieved a sales graphic far above their expectations starting from the very first day of the ITM 2022 Exhibition and that they have hosted visitors from all over the world, decided to enlarge their stands at the ITM 2024 Exhibition. During the exhibition, companies visited the registration application points and applied for ITM 2024 participation.

The next meeting of the ITM and HIGHTEX Exhibitions will be held in Istanbul between 4-8 June 2024.

The 2002 prize of the Walter Reiners Foundation of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association for the best Master's thesis in German textile mechanical engineering was awarded to a young engineer from the ITA Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University. The prize ceremony took place at Techtextil 2022 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Peter D. Dornier, Chairman of the Board of the Walter Reiners Foundation, presented the award at the VDMA Textile Machinery Association’s booth.

Felix Xaver Zerbes, M.Sc., was awarded the "Promotional Prize for the Best Master's Thesis of the German Textile Machinery Industry 2022", endowed with 3,500 EUR, for his master's thesis "Development and Construction of a Separation Unit for Weft Yarns in Air Jet Weaving".

The subject of the master's thesis was the development of a mechanism with which faulty sections in the weft yarn can be sorted out before they are woven into the textile. This way, both yarn-related weft defects and material defects can be drastically reduced. The prototype developed by Mr Zerbes shows how this can be done even during the ongoing weaving process without having to stop production. Due to its modular design, the yarn rejection unit can be retrofitted to many different types of air-jet weaving machines, which represents an enormous savings potential not only in Germany but in weaving mills all over the world.

• Printing Expo Online is expanding again by doubling the size of Zone 2 with new exhibitors and feature zones making it one of the largest virtual trade shows in the world.

Visitors will be able to visit the new Zaikio underground catacombs that are accessible from several portals around the show. Click on a New York taxi, a London Phone Box or a funky Hot Dog Van and you will be transported into the Zaikio cavern environment where visitors will be able to watch application videos, arrange demos and sign up to this amazing new cloud-based platform.

Another addition to Zone 2 is the new Software Technology Centre (STC). This feature area will grow over time to show a wide range of software solutions that are available on the market.

Joining Printing Expo Online in the STC for the launch is EFI Fiery, who are showing their full portfolio of software solutions.

Design’N’Buy are also a new exhibitor in the STC with their all-In-One Web2Print software solution that helps users leverage technology, people and processes for the multi-fold growth of your printing business.

Also moving into the STC will be PrintIQ who offer the modern print shop a solution for businesses that need to be able to grow and scale as needed without slowing down or sacrificing quality.

Another new addition to the show is the introduction of the Global Print Trade Club. This initiate is free to all Print Service providers around the world and offers the opportunity to network on a global scale.

New to the exhibition is Kornit Digital with their multi storey showroom which will shortly be opening its doors where visitors will be able to view Direct to Garment and Direct to Fabric printing equipment, technical data, case studies, clothing designs and applications as well as visit the Kornit dedicated auditorium where live streaming content will be shown of Kornit Digital’s Fashion weeks as they happen throughout the year.

Another addition is the new application journey added to the Xeikon Innovation Centre at Printing Expo Online. Visitors will now be able to experience a virtual tour of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and garage where Xeikon will show applications for commercial, label and Wall Deco products that can be produced on their digital print engines.

Printing Expo Online is open 24/7 365 days a year and has now welcomed over 60,000 visitors from all over the world and continues to grow not only its footprint and total visitor numbers, but also its relevance as an important resource tool for Print Service Providers from around the world that, for whatever reason, are unable to attend live events.

• Target markets: automotive, furnishings, sports and technical apparel
• New product entry: radipeople® line of personal protective equipment

RadiciGroup is at Techtextil 2022, the leading European trade fair for technical textiles, taking place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from 21 to 24 June. On display in the RadiciGroup exhibition area are the Group’s latest products for the automotive, furnishings and apparel markets: from nylon and polyester yarn, including biosource and recycled lines, to nonwovens and the new radipeople® line of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Indeed, at Techtextil, RadiciGroup is showcasing RENYCLE®, a yarn obtained from recycled nylon; REPETABLE®, a polyester yarn from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles; RESPUNSIBLE®, a nonwoven fabric from recycled polypropylene; and BIOFEEL®, a brand identifying a yarn line obtained from renewable sources of both nylon and polyester.

Moreover, RadiciGroup is participating in a forum organized by the Technical Textiles Section of Sistema Moda Italia in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ICE) (Hall 12.1 – Stand C58), with the goal of introducing product innovations not only coming from a single manufacturer, but also from an innovative synergistic approach all along the supply chain, from raw materials to finished products. An example of this synergistic collaboration is the “Mars Spacesuit”, recently tested in the USA by analogue astronauts as part of a space medicine project designed to measure the vital signs of future astronauts and develop technologies to support the simulation of life in space and planetary environments. RadiciGroup teamed up with major Italian textile companies and supplied the materials to make the suits for the six analogue astronauts participating in the mission and coordinated the development of the technologies needed to create the technicalwear for use in extreme environmental conditions.