From the Sector

• The Green Revolution: How Microfactories Can Change the Face of Fashion by Mark Sollman, Product Manager EMEA, Mimaki Europe

With the all-important COP26 Climate Change Conference having taken centre stage in November, there is no time like the present for the fashion world to rally together in stepping up sustainability efforts and getting carbon emissions under control. Globally, the fashion industry is now estimated to account for around 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 20 percent of wastewater , making the pursuit of greener production methods more pertinent than ever before. Thankfully, we are seeing a new era of production enter the fashion arena, with the increasing emergence of technologically advanced, highly automated microfactories.

Along with reducing unnecessary waste through on-demand production, microfactories have a smaller ecological footprint than traditional garment production and require no water use during the production process, making it not only a faster solution, but a greener one too.

Last year’s FESPA saw Mimaki team up with fashion designer Carolina Guzman to bring her designs to life in real time at the show, setting up its own working microfactory live on-site to take her designs from screen to garment within just a day. Guzman’s designs were created using Mimaki’s TS100-1600 Sublimation Printer, before being transferred to textile, digitally cut and finally pieced together. Devised with a string of ethical and environmental objectives threaded throughout, the microfactory also exclusively utilised eco-friendly Greentex fabric, and any remaining material was donated to Sheltersuit: a wind- and waterproof coat that can be transformed into a sleeping bag, which is provided free of charge to homeless people and refugees.

Through working with a number of strategic partners – including transfer printing expert, Klieverik; paper solutions specialist, Neenah Coldenhove; and digital cutting equipment provider, Summa – Mimaki was able to produce a collection of unique, high-quality garments live on the stand during the tradeshow, demonstrating to visitors from more than 100 countries some of the key reasons that microfactories seem set to change the future of fashion…

Unparalleled speed and versatility
Where traditionally, apparel manufacturing has centred on a production chain model of sourcing materials and producing garments in bulk, microfactories are now enabling on-demand, on-location production, making it possible to create everything from unique, one-off pieces and samples right through to entire product lines – all at unprecedented speeds. This means greater flexibility and customisation, enabling designers to modify or update designs and respond to market trends as they occur.

Simplified supply chains and minimised risk
The microfactory setup brings production in-house and on-demand, minimising the cost of not only storing stock, but also of shipping it and responsibly disposing of unsold items. Where recent geopolitical events have highlighted the fragility of global supply chains, microfactories offer a unique independence from these systems, empowering garment manufacturers to future-proof their businesses, become less reliant on external systems and suppliers, and reduce the risk of disruptions.

A boosted bottom line and a greener future
Facilitating savings in a whole line of resources, from physical storage and production space to time and energy, microfactories ultimately have the potential to significantly increase profitability for garment manufacturers, with the additional benefit of being easily scalable as production increases. Perhaps even more compelling, however, are the environmental considerations. Demonstrated on a small scale through Mimaki’s recent project, the environmental benefits inherent to microfactory production will have an even greater impact as it becomes more prolific and commonplace throughout the fashion world, with the potential to effect meaningful environmental change as adoption increases in the years to come.

Monforts textile technologist Jonas Beisel will outline the benefits of the company’s Econtrol® continuous dyeing process during the next free-to-attend VDMA Textile Machinery Webtalk which takes place on February 3rd 2022 at 13.00 (CET).

“Our customers are increasingly looking at shorter production runs and the more economical use of dyestuffs, as well as reducing water and energy consumption,” says Beisel. “We have gained many years of experience in the optimisation of dyeing processes through working with our customers, both at their own plants and in our Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

“Our Thermex universal hotflue for continuous dyeing, curing and thermosoling achieves unrivalled reliability even at high fabric speeds, for exceptional cost-effectiveness when dyeing both large and small batches of woven fabrics. The Econtrol® process for reactive dyestuffs now has an impressive number of references on the market, as a quick and economical one-pass pad-dry and wash off process. This is the ideal process for fast change technology and operational savings.”

Among key benefits are the saving of resources compared to conventional continuous dyeing methods, excellent reproducibility of pale to dark shades, from lab to bulk, and greater flexibility in production planning due to a resulting dry fabric that does not need an immediate wash off.

Econtrol® is a registered trademark of DyStar® Colours Distribution GmbH, Germany, and Bertram Seuthe of DyStar® will be providing recommendations for dyes and auxiliaries for the process during the VDMA event.

A third speaker, Guido Seiler of Fong’s Europe, will explain how Goller washing ranges help to significantly reduce the water that is conventionally wasted in the washing off process, through a combination of process and chemistry know-how and advanced technologies.

Comber machines from Trützschler are already trusted by customers across the textiles industry and around the globe. The TCO 21 is the latest addition to their portfolio and was built to boost productivity,  ensure quality and support increased automation.

High productivity and raw material savings
One of the key benefits of the TCO 21 is its advanced processing speed. This next-generation combing machine is able to produce at a rate of up to 600 nips per minute. the TCO 21 can also be coordinated with Trützschler’s JUMBO CANS (Ø 1.200 mm). They not only reduce yarn defects due to fewer piecings which leads to quality improvements, but also offer a higher efficiency because of their larger dimensions. This, for example, has positive effects on the number of necessary cans and can transports – and results in lower personnel costs.

Excellent yarn quality
The TCO 21 comes with COUNT MONITORING as standard. This feature makes it possible for the machine operator to define limits for count variations via an easy-to-use display. Trützschler’s DISC MONITOR system of sensors measures the count continuously, and the machine alerts the operator and switches off if the limit is exceeded. In addition, the COUNT MONITORING function also includes spectrogram analysis.

Customers can further strengthen their focus on quality by choosing to add the COUNT CONTROL function to the TCO 21. It is managed via the same easy-to-use display, and offers automatic sliver count measurement, as well as spectrogram analysis. It also automatically regulates the main draft during production to balance count variations and ensure the desired sliver count. This feature is particularly attractive for customers who manufacture blends of cotton and synthetic, as it can also be used to avoid variations in the overall yarn composition.

Automatic optimization
The TCO 21 joins the TCO 12 from Trützschler as an combing machine that offers automatic PIECING OPTIMIZER technology, and that finds the right piecing setting without a single laboratory test, because of two functions: First by adjusting the piecing time in the combing cycle (timing function). Whereas the resetting of the detaching point (piecing time) is usually a very time-consuming task, it now takes only a few minutes and is performed automatically at a push on a button. Second the customer is helped to select specific detaching curve types (curve function) for their unique requirements.

Easy operation
The TCO 21 is simple to operate and maintain. The SMART TOUCH display is fast and intuitive, and a Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) sensor quickly identifies each user and adapts the information on the display to their individual needs. The multi-colored T-LED display provides visual indications of the machine’s status or quality parameters over large distances which enables the operator recognizing them at a glance in the entire spinning mill. The TCO 21 is built with original Trützschler electronics that ensure high performance and durability: Their intelligent cooling system, that has already proven itself in the draw frame TD 10, contributes to a longer service life by reducing the operating temperature of electronic power components. Even if components have to be replaced at some point, the customer can keep their spare parts inventory small, because they can switch also electronics spare parts flexibly between different machine types, e.g. cards and draw frames. The option to add an automatic greasing function completes the easy operation of the TCO 21.

International technology group ANDRITZ will present its innovative nonwovens and textile technologies at the booth of its Indian representative PRN Techtex at Techtextil India 2021 in Mumbai, India, from November 25 to 27, 2021. A special focus will lie on its technologies for air-through bonding, needlepunch, textile recycling, and processes for biodegradable wipes, like spunlace and WetlaceTM.

Air-through Bonding
Air-through-bonding lines are the preferred choice for producing nonwovens with the best quality of softness and bulk for acquisition distribution layers, top sheets, and back-sheet products. With ANDRITZ carding machines and the new flat belt oven, customers benefit from high-performance fabrics from 16 to 80 gsm, produced with bicomponent fibers. Several Chinese customers have already invested in ANDRITZ aXcess carding machines, which provide perfect web uniformity. In addition, the CETI (European Center for Innovative Textiles) in Lille, France, has installed an air-through-bonding oven from ANDRITZ.

Textil-recycling Technologies
Recently, ANDRITZ acquired Laroche SAS, a leading supplier of fiber processing technologies such as opening, blending, dosing, airlay web forming, textile waste recycling, and decortication of bast fibers. The product portfolio further complements and increases the ANDRITZ Nonwoven product range. One focus of this product range lies on complete recycling lines for post-consumer and industrial textile waste to produce fibers for re-spinning and/or nonwoven end uses.

Needlepunch Technologies
Driven by the dynamic market for durable nonwovens, ANDRITZ has developed an elliptical pre-cylinder tacker – the PA3000. With this modern machine, ANDRITZ is responding to customer demands for higher capacities and lighter products. The PA3000 is an optimized cylinder pre-needleloom, which offers greater speeds and widths and has been specially developed for lighter webs. There is no friction between the web and the rolls, and there are no issues with the visual appearance.

ANDRITZ is also focusing on its latest needling technology for producing veloured felts, mainly for applications in the automotive industry.

In addition, ANDRITZ will be presenting the next generation of its batt-forming technology, the ProWin system. ProWin is a further development of ProDynTM and ProWidTM, which have achieved a high level of acceptance on the market with around 200 systems installed. This technology improves the current weight-profiling options and increases the actual production capacity.

Production of Bio-Wipes
For many years now, ANDRITZ has offered different nonwoven processes, such as spunlace and Wetlace, with one goal in mind: reduction and elimination of plastic raw materials while maintaining the high quality of the desired product properties. The latest development in this field is the ANDRITZ neXline wetlace CP line. This is a fully engineered production line, combining the benefits of wetlaid and drylaid technologies to produce a new generation of biodegradable wipes. This process achieves high performance entirely with plastic-free raw materials. The added benefit of using a blend of fibers, like wood pulp, short-cut cellulosic fibers, viscose, cotton, hemp, bamboo, or linen, without chemical additives, results in a 100% sustainable fabric.

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Albaad Massuot Yitzhak Ltd. to supply a neXline wetlace hybrid line for their Dimona facilities, Israel. The line will produce a wide variety of pulp-based wet wipes and is scheduled for start-up during the third quarter 2023.

The state-of-the-art neXline wetlace hybrid is the perfect combination of inline drylaid and wetlaid web forming with hydroentanglement and drying, including quality control equipment and a Metris Industry 4.0 package. All components will be delivered by ANDRITZ and are designed to produce first-class fabrics, including biodegradable, carded-pulp and flushable/dispersible nonwovens for end uses as wipes.

Tobias Schäfer, Vice President Sales at ANDRITZ Nonwoven, comments: “Our innovative production line gives Albaad enormous flexibility in the production of wipes. In addition, the Metris digitalization package by ANDRITZ will provide Albaad with highly efficient and smart operation.”

Dan Mesika, CEO and President of Albaad, says: “We are dedicated to developing new products – such as eco-friendly, biodegradable wipes. As pioneering manufacturers of our Hydrofine® flushable wipes, we are committed to environmental sustainability. Thanks to the new ANDRITZ line, we will enlarge the product portfolio at our Dimona production site with innovative fabrics and high efficiency.

Gadi Choresh, President of the Nonwovens Division at Albaad, says: “Our knowledge and experience in drylaid and wetlaid technology, together with the state-of-the-art equipment supplied by ANDRITZ, will enable us to provide the market with natural-source nonwovens and the best answer to the market demand.”
 
Albaad is one of the world’s three largest wet wipe manufacturers and is committed to delivering excellent wipes for every need. The company runs world-leading production facilities on three continents, each equipped with the latest technologies. Albaad produces spunlace and flushable fabrics in its facilities as well as purchasing from other roll goods suppliers in order to support production of a wide variety of wipes.

Reifenhäuser Enka Tecnica will exhibit its wide range of replacement components for spunbond, meltblown, and composite lines at the world's leading nonwovens trade show INDEX in Geneva from October 19 to 22, 2021. The highly specialized custom manufacturer offers high-end technology "Made in Germany" that is 100% compatible with all globally installed lines.

Producers of nonwovens worldwide rely on Enka Tecnica components to manufacture products for complex applications in hygiene, medical or filtration to provide them with access to new profitable markets. Trade-show visitors will gain a detailed insight into the entire range of products, from meltblown and spunbond spinnerets to meltblown cassettes and complete meltblown spinning beams designed with an energy concept optimized for sustainability. The tips and capillaries assure consistent product quality and precision, allowing producers to meet their tolerance specifications reliably and avoid scrap at the same time..

With its refresh service for refurbishing used components, Enka Tecnica not only offers a cost-efficient alternative to new parts, but also extremely fast delivery times, a factor that is often decisive to maintain daily production targets. Visitors to Geneva will be able to see the quality of refresh components displayed at the booth - a meltblown and a spunbond spinneret, half of which has been refurbished. They will be able to see the condition of the capillary holes before and after the refresh through a microscope.

Another trade show highlight includes jet strips for hydroentangling nonwovens. Depending on the application, they are offered in Smart, Advanced, and Premium versions and have a special unique selling point – the strips are fully hardened, whereas competitor products usually only have a hardened surface. This quality advantage results in significantly longer service lives, which is why they are also known on the market as "The World's Hardest Strips”.

• EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver Makes Debut at Fespa Global Print Expo 2021 for a Short, Smart and Green Process
• The new, industrial, entry-level EFI™ Reggiani TERRA Silver textile printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is making its debut at the Fespa Global Print Expo 2021 tradeshow, 12-15 October at RAI Amsterdam.
• The EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver uses unique TERRA pigment ink for high-quality, highly sustainable direct-to-textile printing without steaming or washing.       

“This is one of the first trade shows to return after the pandemic, and we are very excited to again meet customers in person and showcase an innovative offering that delivers superior printing results while using less time, water and energy,” said EFI Reggiani Vice President and General Manager Adele Genoni. “We are introducing this advanced EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver solution to the many print service providers at Fespa, presenting them with an ideal path to enter the industrial textile segment with a short, smart and green production process.”

The new-version TERRA Silver printer is part of EFI’s complete TERRA line-up of pigment ink printer solutions. It is a 180-cm wide printer that can print up to 190 sqm per hour with eight dual-channel printheads. The printer also features:

•    A new recirculating ink system for superior reliability and minimum maintenance
•    Several printing modes to ensure maximum flexibility in terms of design capability
•    New, real-time image processing that eliminates time spent in image pre-calculations
•    A user friendly, intuitive interface
•    A more-efficient polymerisation process that takes place as printed textile goes through the printer’s on-board dryer.

In Fespa stand 1-G71, attendees can see the EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver print smoothly and precisely on knitted and woven fabrics. The printer’s quality is evident in its high-uniformity printing modes, and it delivers numerous features that enhance the production process, including an accurate WYSIWYG interface and flexible queue management.
 
EFI Reggiani is also a leading developer of textile inks. The EFI Reggiani TERRA pigment inks used on the Silver model deliver excellent wet and dry fastness properties and remarkable sharpness in detail. Designed to leverage EFI Reggiani digital printers’ market-proven industrial performance capabilities, these eco-friendly, water-based inks provide an extraordinary level of print durability and yield longer print head life with reduced maintenance costs. The high-performance digital pigment inks also use an innovative binder technology for fast, sustainable, and cost-competitive industrial textile printing on the widest range of fabrics. Users also gain superior print definition and colour intensity.
 
This year, EFI Reggiani celebrates 75 years of heritage and innovation in the textile world. Always committed to deliver to the market new cutting-edge technologies, EFI Reggiani has world-class products offering boosted uptime and reliability, high performance throughput, and remarkable printing uniformity and accuracy – all while helping customers increase the sustainability of their textile manufacturing activities. Green EFI Reggiani processes give users fast, complete and sustainable solutions across a broad range of textile applications.
 
In this 75th anniversary year, EFI Reggiani has also launched several other ground-breaking solutions, such as EFI Reggiani HYPER, the fastest scanning digital printer on the market, and the EFI Reggiani BLAZE, an industrial entry-level, easy-to-use printer designed to give new textile companies the opportunity to adopt digital inkjet production with a compact solution to blaze a successful path into the industry.

The UK’s Fibre Extrusion Technology (FET) will introduce its new lab-scale spunbond system at the forthcoming INDEX 2020 nonwovens exhibition taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 19-22.

The new spunbond range provides unprecedented opportunities for the scaled development of new nonwoven fabrics based on a wide range of fibres and polymers, including bicomponents.

FET has already supplied one of these new spunbond lines to University of Leeds in the UK, and a second, in combination with a metlblown line, to the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.

“Our new spunbond technology is unique in providing the ability to process a wide range of polymers, including those normally not considered appropriate for the spunbond process, at the scale required to fully explore material combinations and bring new products to market,” says FET Managing Director Richard Slack. “FET has built on its melt spinning expertise to develop a true laboratory scale spunbond system.”

Kornit Digital announced that the London-based LOVE HERO fashion label uses Kornit’s sustainable, digitized, on-demand production capabilities to deliver its complete line of nature-themed apparel.

All fabrics are traceable and certified via their blockchain platform, Retraced, to minimize their eco footprint. Cut-and-sew operations take place in Portugal.

LOVE HERO is currently engaged with Kornit on the mechanics of imprinting silk, biodegradable nylon, and other diverse materials. One such application involves two-sided fabrics—nylon on top, with cotton on the reverse.

“Kornit is committed to becoming the operating system for sustainable fashion fulfillment, on demand,” says Chris Govier, KDEU Managing Director. “With visionary creators like Joshua and LOVE HERO ready to test the bounds of our design and color capabilities, and our growing network of digitized producers ready to make those visions tangible with speed, economy, and quality from all corners of the globe, we’re changing the public percetion of what digital can do—meeting the global sustainability imperative, without demanding compromise from any actor in that value chain.”

International technology Group ANDRITZ will be presenting its innovative nonwovens production and textile solutions at INDEX20 in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 19 to 22. The broad ANDRITZ product portfolio covers state-of-the-art nonwovens and textile production technologies such as air-through bonding, needlepunch, spunlace, spunbond, wetlaid/WetlaceTM, converting, textile finishing, airlay, recycling, and natural fiber processing.

One highlight at INDEX will be the new member of the ANDRITZ Nonwoven division: ANDRITZ Laroche – a company that has been an important partner for ANDRITZ in the field of fiber preparation for drylaid nonwovens for over 10 years. ANDRITZ Laroche is a leading supplier of fiber processing technologies such as opening, blending and dosing, airlay web forming, textile waste recycling, and decortication of bast fibers.

One focus of this product range is complete recycling lines for post-consumer and industrial textile waste to produce fibers for re-spinning and/or nonwoven end-uses. Customer awareness and regulations are pushing clothing brands to recycle their textile waste in their own products. Recycled fibers can also be used in the nonwovens industry for various applications, such as automotive, insulation, mattresses, and furniture felts.