From the Sector

Denim Première Vision marks the denim ingredient brand’s return to the tradeshow scene. Under the spotlight is “Iconic by nature”, ISKO’s show concept illustrates the company’s journey of evolution led by its signature Responsible Innovation™ approach. On this occasion, ISKO launches its 2023 Collection Vol.2 with new technologies, finishes and colors, and expressing the company’s passion for a cleaner and safer planet, laying the new foundations of ISKO’s sustainable fashion revolution.

The entire 2023 Collection Vol.2 contains recycled materials, and the majority consists of R-TWO™50+ fabrics made with a minimum of 50% recycled fibers, entirely GRS certified, resulting in less use of natural resources and a reduced carbon and water footprint of up to 45% and 65% respectively. An important and responsible development of this collection is that it features denim containing recycled and/or regenerated fibers, through unique fiber technology significantly saving on resources and energy while allowing for controlled traceability along the supply chain.

The new collection features comfortable ISKO Reform™ Xp 100, allowing for a flattering fit and enhanced shape retention; ISKO Reform™ Hp, characterized by incredible holding power, granting a more streamlined and slimmer appearance; ISKO Blue Skin™, a stretch technology that works 4-ways to respond to the body’s movement like a second skin; ISKO Pop™, a patented concept that starts from the yarn, developed to give a touch of glamour with a soft cotton hand feel. Colors are key in the new collection too, with an important aspect regarding the use of mineral colors, natural dyestuffs.

Stahl, an active proponent of responsible chemistry, has published its 2021 Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report. The report outlines the company’s sustainable development ambitions and its achievements over the year. It also features Stahl’s ambitious climate mitigation targets for 2030, such as the transition to more renewable feedstocks.

The 2021 Stahl ESG Report is a cornerstone of Stahl’s commitment to reporting transparently on its progress toward a more sustainable chemicals value chain. This acknowledges the important role that industry must play in tackling climate change while enabling a higher quality of life for more people. A key focal point of the new report is a progress update on Stahl’s ESG Roadmap. Introduced last year, this ten-year plan outlines the company’s ESG commitments and targets for 2023 and 2030.
 
Climate action
Stahl is focused on mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all activities over which it has influence. This includes investing in renewable energy and process efficiencies to lower the GHG emissions caused directly by Stahl’s own operations and the energy used to power them. On this point, progress was made toward the 2023 and 2030 targets in 2021, including a reduction in Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions of 15%. Also covered are Stahl’s indirect value-chain impacts, for example, from the raw materials it buys. Looking beyond Stahl’s direct environmental impacts and fostering greater supply-chain transparency will be vital for tackling emissions on a wider scale.

Creating responsible chemistry, together
In 2021, advances were made regarding the company’s diversity and safety targets, which are areas of continuous improvement. Stahl is committed to ensuring a safe working environment, as well as nurturing a diverse and inclusive workplace to continuously improve employee skills.

EcoVadis Gold rating
Fostering ethical behavior through exemplary leadership and governance is key to Stahl’s ambitions. Achieving the EcoVadis Gold rating was an important milestone in this respect. This well-established award reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to supply chain transparency and working with partners to improve the sustainability of its products and operations.

Packaging not only protects the product, it is also a powerful marketing and advertising tool that influences customers’ purchasing decisions. In the upcoming episode of Sappi’s Blue Couch series, viewers will find out what is meant by “packvertising” and how brand manufacturers can best showcase their products at the point of sale.

• “Packvertising and the power of brand at the point of sale”
• Lars Scheidweiler, Head of Packaging Solutions at Sappi, and Olaf Hartmann, Managing Director of the Multisense Institute for Sensory Marketing
• Tuesday, 26 April at 10:00 (CET)

The way people make purchase decisions in the face of overwhelming choice is very complex. Subconsciously, the brain is constantly at work making judgements about sensory signals such as touch, smell and sound. To attract customer attention, manufacturers should not only pay attention to functionality when selecting packaging material, but also never lose sight of the tactile experience.

So how do brand manufacturers go about selecting the right packaging material? How can packaging trigger emotions with consumers? And what role does environmental awareness play here? Lars Scheidweiler, Head of Packaging Solutions at Sappi, and Olaf Hartmann, Managing Director of the Multisense Institute for Sensory Marketing, will discuss this in the upcoming episode of the Blue Couch Series. Among other things, Hartmann will report on an interesting experiment that illustrates the impact various surface structures have on consumer behaviour.
The “Packvertising and the power of brand at the point of sale” episode will be broadcast on 26 April.

Under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) initiative to enhance transparency and traceability in the garment and footwear industry, Haelixa realizes a pilot project with Costach Cooperative and Peruvian textile company Creditex to give sustainable rural cotton producers in Peru more visibility in the value chain.

In 2019, UNECE and United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) have set up an initiative to drive transparency and traceability for sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear industry. The initiative is jointly implemented with the International Trade Centre (ITC) with financial support by the European Union. Haelixa is proud to be part of the group of experts that develops policy recommendations, traceability standards, and conducts projects to set traceability benchmarks. With the support of the +Cotton Project, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) a pilot is being realized in this context to mark and trace the finest Pima cotton for Creditex directly at the gin in Piura, Peru. Haelixa’s DNA marker connects the actual lint cotton to the entry on a blockchain system provided by UNECE. The Haelixa technology ensures that the information about the product’s origin and the journey of the product along the value chain is always safely embedded into the product itself. The marked cotton will be used to make exclusive pajamas sets for Cat´s Pajamas. DNA traceability will enable the verification of the premium origin of Peruvian Pima cotton in the final garment produced using sustainable practices by family farmers associated with the Costach cooperative.

Costach is the main cooperative of cotton farmers in Peru. The cooperative consists of 5,200 family farmers in the Piura region, producing mostly extra-long fiber of Pima Cotton. Since 2017, the +Cotton project has been supporting the farmers with training on sustainable practices and has been providing technical assistance for improved markets access.

Creditex is vertically integrated from cotton ginning to fine thread, up to the production of high quality apparel for international premium brands. The company takes social responsibility and environmental stewardship very seriously and therefore makes a strong partner for this project, empowering the cotton family farmers that hold the majority of cotton production in Peru.

This collaborative and educational project showcases the use of waste as a resource and prolonging the life of the garment through color. It came to life thanks to key brands who donated items that were then transformed by Officina39’s Recycrom™ applications into a renewed head-to-toe look that was then displayed as an art installation.

What’s the Recipe for change? For Officina39 and Adriana Galijasevic’s Cocircular Lab, this question gives shape to the collaborative and educational project Circular Explorations, specially presented at Amsterdam Denim Days Festival on April 22-23.

Sharing ground values and a common view on the fashion of tomorrow, Officina39, Italian based Chemistry plus Creativity company for the textile sector, joined hands with Adriana Galijasevic’s Cocircular Lab and influential brands to celebrate the importance of an ongoing commitment towards circularity.

Several donated items – overstock, second-grade production or damaged, unsold pieces – were updated with newly developed applications made with Officina39’s Recycrom™, the one-of-a-kind, patented dyestuffs range made from textile waste. This Circular Explorations capsule is displayed at Denim Days Festival as an art installation, not only to dress people but also to get them acquainted with circularity because they are an important player in closing the loop.

The Recipe for change that emerges from this color research is based on important values and keywords:

• Consciousness – awareness of oneself and one's surroundings
• Courage – the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.
• Creativity – the power to imagine and produce new possibilities.
• Connection – a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else, the act or state of connecting.
• Collaboration – the act of working together for a common goal.

Combined together, they produce CHANGE, which is a driving force for a better tomorrow.

This collaborative and innovative project that addresses circularity is also in direct support of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular number 12-Responsible Consumption and Production, number 9-Industry innovation & Infrastructure and number 17-Partnership for the Goals.

Chemistry plus creativity” is Officina39’s new tagline expressing the most important values at the core of the company’s approach, founded on a deep understanding of sustainability. Embracing the “plus” that used to feature as part of the Officina39 logo, it now takes the shape of a true formula of innovation that echoes throughout the renovated brand look that the company is introducing for the first time at Kingpins.

The latest addition to the Trustainable™ collection is Aqualess Fade, a technology that recreates the bleaching effect of chlorine on fabrics, a waterless special compound for the discoloration of denim on indigo/black garments which is reducing resource consumption and environmental impact. This innovation completes and integrates Aqualess Mission, a combination of technologies that allows garment laundry processes to reduce 75% of the water use.

Traditional systems usually use about 52 liters of water for a pair of jeans, while Officina39’s cutting-edge technology employs only 12.5 liters without affecting the quality of the final product. Until now, the process included three eco-friendly technologies: Novascraper Indigo, a laser finishing technique that adds a natural, vintage look to denim garments; OZ-ONE Powder, an advanced product to give garments a bleached yet eco-friendly treatment, for a worn and distressed look; and Aqualess Aged, a waterless compound to give denim abrasion effects.

“In our field, the word “less” is to be found pretty much everywhere you look: less water, less energy, less impact and the list goes on. So I asked myself if we could work on implementing the word “plus” in this collection.” stated Stefano Parrotta, Officina39 Technical Manager. “And the answer, of course, was yes: we thought of all the ways in which the idea of more (plus) best represents what we do – more passion, more creativity, more collaboration, more inspiration, more Officina39. I think it is important to look for what the industry needs more of and the word “plus” perfectly embodies that!”

Hologenix® announces that its newest innovation has achieved two recognitions. In addition to being a Top Ten winner in the Fibers & Insulation Category of ISPO Textrends Fall/Winter 2023/24, pure white CELLIANT has been shortlisted in the Drapers Sustainable Fashion 2022 Awards. The company is sharing the spotlight with recognized brands such as H&M, Sweaty Betty and Timberland. According to Drapers, the leading authority on fashion retailing in the UK since 1887, which sponsors these awards annually, this year they received the most entries ever, making them very competitive.

To create pure white CELLIANT rPET fiber, Hologenix developed a strategic partnership with the Ireland-based Wellman International Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Indorama Ventures. Indorama Ventures is investing $1.5 billion on sustainability initiatives, allowing them to recycle 50 billion PET bottles globally by 2025 to support the growth of the circular economy. Wellman International has been a pioneer of recycling technologies for almost 50 years, offering specialist solutions for the medical, hygiene, automotive, home care and apparel sectors.  

Pure white CELLIANT rPET fiber is sustainably manufactured, with a low-impact supply chain. It is achieved by embedding bioceramic materials, that are naturally derived and ethically sourced, into fibers, yarns and fabrics. Wellman International has converted 100% of pure white CELLIANT Polyester production into rPET. This conversion to rPET has been implemented across all CELLIANT product categories, replacing traditional polyester and dramatically enhancing CELLIANT’s sustainability initiatives.

Pure white CELLIANT is recognized as a Class 1 medical device in the European Union and is able to carry the CE mark. Like CELLIANT, pure white CELLIANT captures and converts body heat into infrared energy, powering bio-responsive textiles. This energy is reflected back to the body, resulting in increased local circulation and cellular oxygenation. These advantages have a variety of wellness benefits, including stronger performance, faster recovery and better sleep, as well as many functional properties such as thermoregulation, quick-dry properties and odor inhibition.  

Wellman International distributes pure white CELLIANT fibers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the USA.

At a time when global food security is becoming a rising concern for governments around the world, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today announced a call to its 177 Member States to nominate candidates for the Fund’s next President.
 
IFAD is a specialized United Nations agency and international financial institution focused on the alleviation of rural poverty and hunger.
 
The President is IFAD’s most senior position with responsibility for leading the organization and chairing its Executive Board. Nominations for President can only be made by IFAD Member States and must be received by the Secretary of IFAD no later than 6 May 2022.
 
The President will lead IFAD at a crucial time. Fears that rising food and fuel prices - worsened by the current conflict in Ukraine - could lead to a global food crisis are running high, with the world’s poorest rural people likely to be hardest hit. Small-scale producers are already reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, droughts, cyclones and other natural disasters. Their incomes are expected to be affected by the rising cost of inputs and disrupted markets. This is also likely to have devastating and long-term impacts on their nutrition and food security.
 
IFAD plays a crucial role in increasing the resilience of rural small-scale producers to shocks, and ensuring that they can continue to grow food and earn incomes. The Fund’s investments in climate adaptation and sustainable food systems are helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate hunger and poverty.
 
Following the nomination process, the appointment of the next President will take place on 7 July 2022 during the first special session of the IFAD Governing Council. The Governing Council is IFAD's principle governing body with full decision-making powers.
 
The President of IFAD serves a four-year term, renewable once. The newly appointed President will take office on 1 October 2022.

Premium Group presents its D2C festival The Ground, which premieres from 7 - 9 July at Messe Berlin. The Ground is a new event format where fashion, lifestyle, culture, and diverse perspectives are merged. It was founded to bring brands and consumers together to build a better future through celebration and collective action.

Over three days, guests from across Europe will meet up to experience innovative brand pop-ups with stories and collections, panel talks, live music, physical and mental health activations, and even step inside the Metaverse.

Power of purpose
The Ground mainly targets Gen Z which is driven by a deep sense of purpose. The 18-29 year olds expect the brands they support to share the same values. Their priorities are sustainability, relationships, health and wellness, work and education as well as inclusivity and individuality.

The Ground features six distinct areas where visitors can take part in different experiences: Sport, Beauty, Music, Play, Soul and Talk provide inspiration and many moments to learn. Fashion is featured throughout all areas and is the connecting element of The Ground.

Special season topic: MAKE PEACE!
Building off the Good Life Goals (personal actions that everyone can take to help support the SDGs by the UN), The Ground focuses on one goal for each edition that touches people and brands at this moment in time. A goal that makes a positive contribution to the future, and is thus worth celebrating.

Due to the current conflicts in the world, this July’s goal is more clear than ever: PEACE! It will be reflected in a big charity auction of specially designed pieces of the exhibiting brands and partners.

1 ticket - 4 events
Taking place simultaneously as the trade show and conference formats SEEK, PREMIUM and FashionTech which will attract over 20,000 buyers, retailers, brands, professionals, influencers, and media to Berlin – The Ground will help to create lots of fashion buzz in the capital. The all-in-one ticket for trade visitors also guarantees access to The Ground.

Statement
Notwithstanding the industry support to the sanctions in place against Russia, EURATEX highlights that companies are at risk of stopping their production if energy and gas prices continue to rise.

The energy crisis that started at the end of last year has been worsening in the last week. Prices of energy, gas and oil has been skyrocketing. According to Reuters, Benchmark European gas prices at the Dutch TTF hub rose by 330% last year, while benchmark German and French power contracts have more than doubled.

The textile and clothing industry is facing an unprecedented situation. Many companies are considering shutting down production because of energy costs.

EURATEX supports the measures taken by the EU in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, but asks the European Union and Members States to compensate the situation by supporting their industries. Companies need access to energy at reasonable prices, may those be subsidies, removing environmental levies or VAT from bills and price caps. The transfer to renewable and cleaner sources of energy needs to speed up, so to guarantee less dependency. But it is a long process that cannot be achieved in the forthcoming months. That’s why Europe should urgently look at the available options to control such market shocks.