From the Sector

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.

The Japanese textile manufacturer ECOSENSOR™ by Asahi Kasei Advance presents its SS 2023 collection, made of high-tech fabrics implementing new-generation values, with the aim of keeping nature, body and mind in harmony.

ECOSENSOR™ presents 40 new references that meet the needs of the contemporary consumer, such as durability, wellbeing and performance. Being capable of combining active climate control, exquisite touch, lightness and comfort with sustainable values, ECOSENSOR™ stands out as a unique eco-high-tech performance proposition in its market. The collection covers the different market applications with 7 items for INNERWEAR, 2 for OUTERWEAR, 17 for SPORT KNIT and 14 for SPORT WOVEN.

Furthermore, all of ECOSENSOR™ fabrics are made with sustainable materials which are certified by internatinal certification such as GRS, RCS or self-certification by each yarn supplier, through a traceable and transparent production process and supply chain.
100% of the stretch articles (representing 35% of the collection) are made with ROICA™ EF by Asahi Kasei, the recycled stretch yarn made from pre-consumer materials.

The main fibers are GRS certified recycled polyester and recycled polyamide, but the collection also features some blends, such as in Bemberg™, the high-tech yarn born from the transformation of cotton linters through a circular, transparent and traceable process with a precious hand, optimal moisture management characteristics,  whose end of life guarantees its biodegradability.
Even the dyeing and finishing phases have been certified by international labels such as bluesign® or OEKO-TEX® Standard 100.

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.

ECOSENSOR™ by Asahi Kasei Advance presents its SS 2023 collection, made of high-tech fabrics implementing new-generation values, with the aim of keeping nature, body and mind in harmony at Performance Days.

ECOSENSOR™ presents 40 new references that meet the needs of the contemporary consumer, such as durability, wellbeing and performance. Being capable of combining active climate control, exquisite touch, lightness and comfort with sustainable values, ECOSENSOR™ stands out as a unique eco-high-tech performance proposition in its market. The collection covers the different market applications with 7 items for INNERWEAR, 2 for OUTERWEAR, 17 for SPORT KNIT and 14 for SPORT WOVEN.

All of ECOSENSOR™ fabrics are made with sustainable materials which are certified by internatinal certification such as GRS, RCS or self-certification by each yarn supplier, through a traceable and transparent production process and supply chain.
100% of the stretch articles (representing 35% of the collection) are made with ROICA™ EF by Asahi Kasei, the recycled stretch yarn made from pre-consumer materials.
 
The main fibers are GRS certified recycled polyester and recycled polyamide, but the collection also features some blends, such as in Bemberg™, the high-tech yarn born from the transformation of cotton linters through a circular, transparent and traceable process with a precious hand, optimal moisture management characteristics,  whose end of life guarantees its biodegradability.
Even the dyeing and finishing phases - key moments for performancewear - have been certified by international labels such as bluesign® or OEKO-TEX® Standard 100.

Through the collaboration Payal Pratap and Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei show a new way of making fashion, based on merging craft & tech, cutting-edge materials and deeply rooted optimism in troubled times.

With a strong focus on prints, the designer, Payal Pratap, has worked on hand-painted artworks which have then been digitized. The designs capture detailed elements and a three-dimensional depth and texture from the age-old crafts of Batik, plus powerful imagery and minute detailing from the ancient craft of Chintz printing. Batik was named after the Javanese words “Amba” which means to write and “Titik”, which translates to a dot or a point, while Chintz comes from the Hindi word “Cheent”, meaning spotted or speckled.  Both these techniques and crafts have been used in a contemporary context while creating the art works.

The prints encompass flora and fauna, bringing nature from the outside to the inside through the use of extensive flower, leaf, tree, vine and bird motifs, as an ode to sustainability. Placement prints have been engineered to make tailored jackets and structured pieces. A timeless collection comprising experimental pieces that blend the far east with India. A collection signaling holiday with a burst of colour. Bemberg™ in various avatars ranging from satins, muslins, mulmul, and silk blends have been used to create a collection with fluid drapes as well as structure.

The fabric takes printing and colour beautifully and has a slight sheen and glazed feel which resonates with chintz. The colour palette ranges from indigos, browns, rust, to burgundy brick and gold. Furthermore, Bemberg™ is an inherently sustainable ingredient, since it is made with cotton linters, pre-consumer materials derived from the cotton oil industry, and converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process. Coming from nature and going back towards nature, the Bemberg™ fiber is also biodegradable and compostable.

• March 16-18, 2022, Istanbul Expo Center
• Successful start of Texhibition, Istanbul Fabric and Textile Accessories Fair with over 10,000 visitors from 63 countries
• More than 160 exhibitors presented fabrics, yarns and accessories on approx. 5,000 square meters in the Istanbul Expo Center
• Intensive order activity in a professional trade fair atmosphere of over 1billion US$
• The organizer's objective: to double the area and number of exhibitors for the second event in September

With over 10,000 visitors, the premiere event of Texhibition Istanbul Fabric and Textile Accessories Fair, organized by the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters' Association (ITHIB) and the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) from March 16th to 18th, 2022 has successfully started.

İTHİB President Ahmet Öksüz: "Our exhibition platforms Texhibition Istanbul Fabric and Textile Accessories Fair and IFCO, Istanbul Fashion Connection, which was launched by our sister association IHKIB in February, play an important role in making Istanbul the fashion center of the Turkish textile and clothing industry. For the follow-up event to Texhibition in September this year, we expect the number of exhibitors and space to double."

The consistently positive feedback from the exhibitors underscores this expectation, as does the great interest shown by international visitors, including those from Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK.

The Turkish textile industry started with an export target of US$ 15 billion in 2022. The exhibition organizers assume that their platforms will contribute US$ 1 billion. Turkey is one of the most important procurement markets for the European textile industry and is becoming even more important in the course of the global supply chain problem and is now one of the top 3 most interesting procurement locations with its low prices, good quality products, reliable suppliers and short delivery times.

Exhibitors
On offer were high-quality and innovative fabrics from the weaving sector, including Kipaş Textiles, BTD Textile, Özdoku, Bossa and Yünsa; knitters like Gülle, Saka, Örkumod or İskur showed their current collections; yarn market leaders such as Korteks, Tepa and Gama were present, as were Şimşek Ege, EMR Zippers, Çağ-Tek and Öz-El Lastik for the accessories sector. A total of 166 exhibiting companies presented themselves in clearly structured segments in a professional trade fair atmosphere.

Frame program
In the Texhibition Forum, experts discussed the topics Sustainability, New Trends, Supply Chain and GMO-Free Cotton giving an outlook on the upcoming trends and developments in the Turkish textile industry. All events were heavily frequented by visitors.

Next Texhibition September 21-23, 2022

• C.L.A.S.S. ICON 2021 winner DUARTE returns to Milan Fashion Week launching its SEASON 2 “Eco-Street Dance” collection as a special feature at White Sustainable Milano inside the “Unveiling the fashion backstage” event

By mixing C.L.A.S.S. responsible materials, colorful prints, urban feels and artistic inspiration, the Portuguese streetwear brand creates a new style and a clear yet cool message for conscious fashion consumers
The rewarded 2021 C.L.A.S.S. Icon Award Portuguese brand Duarte is ready to presents its Fall/Winter 2022/23 collection developed in collaboration with C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub during Milan Fashion Week. With the support of WHITE, Duarte’s creations will be featured as a special project at WSM (WHITE Sustainable Milano) platform space inside “Unveiling the fashion Backstage”, a docu-event focusing on an immersive journey into the amazing world of premium and smart supply chains that make innovative and responsible fashion wardrobes a reality.

For its second collection Duarte still counts on C.L.A.S.S. support in sourcing materials and communication activities as part of the Icon Award yearly program. The streetwear designer Ana Duarte, with the help of the Milanese hub, is back with a renewed collection that counts 40 pieces continuing the concept and the story behind the previous World Keeper: the irresistible superhero Tadao - Ana Duarte’s dog – fighting against the environmental issues created by mankind and personified as Smog Man (air pollution), Fire Man (climate change), Deforestation Man (forests destruction) and Wave Man (water overconsumption).

This time the inspiration is also Street Dance drawn directly from the city streets, with majorly unisex pieces (apart from some small specific details linked to sizes or ergonomics) and materials that both respect the planet and keep you warm. The prints drawn from ripped posters giving birth to a sort of new style that we can name “Eco-Street Dance”. The color palette explores the dark shades of grey, cream, blue and black, with artistic pops of color of a hopeful urban culture that tears apart posters from the past and turns them into a new brighter story. 

The linings complete the full sustainable picture, thanks to Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei fabrics by Gianni Crespi Foderami. Bemberg™ is a new generation material made from the smart-tech transformation of cotton linter pre-consumer material, converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process. Entirely made in Japan, it comes with Compostability and Ecotoxicity Certifications verified by Innovhub-SSI, RCS, OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 and the Eco Mark certifications. The factory is ISO 14001 certified, too.

The collection will mark the return of Duarte’s cool and responsible style to Milan Fashion week and White Sustainable Milano. “We are proud to support Duarte as her style, her creations, visual communication and message are so beautiful, innovative and responsible. On top of that, her message to the consumer is so clear and easy for everybody to understand. With Duarte it is very easy to make a “conscious choice” without any sacrifice, and completely in line with the C.L.A.S.S. manifesto” says Giusy Bettoni, C.L.A.S.S. CEO & founder.

The 2021 C.L.A.S.S. Icon Award Portuguese brand Duarte is ready to presents its Fall/Winter 2022/23 collection developed in collaboration with C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub during Milan Fashion Week. With the support of WHITE, Duarte’s creations will be featured as a special project at WSM (WHITE Sustainable Milano) platform space inside “Unveiling the fashion Backstage”, a docu-event focusing on an immersive journey into the amazing world of premium and smart supply chains that make innovative and responsible fashion wardrobes a reality.

For its second collection Duarte still counts on C.L.A.S.S. support in sourcing materials and communication activities as part of the Icon Award yearly program. The streetwear designer Ana Duarte, with the help of the Milanese hub, is back with a renewed collection that counts 40 pieces continuing the concept and the story behind the previous World Keeper: the irresistible superhero Tadao - Ana Duarte’s dog – fighting against the environmental issues created by mankind and personified as Smog Man (air pollution), Fire Man (climate change), Deforestation Man (forests destruction) and Wave Man (water overconsumption).

This time the inspiration is also Street Dance drawn directly from the city streets, with majorly unisex pieces (apart from some small specific details linked to sizes or ergonomics) and materials that both respect the planet and keep you warm. The prints drawn from ripped posters giving birth to a sort of new style named “Eco-Street Dance”.

The collection presents a selection of urban pieces for everyday superheroes, fighting against environmental issues - with a holistic approach to sustainability values thanks to the synergy with C.L.A.S.S. and its Back in the Loop area: a section dedicated to alternative and sustainable sourcing against the massive amount of materials and textiles produced that are not used and discarded by the fashion system. This is mostly powered by MAEBA International - and its ReLiveTex® fabrics - leader in selecting and repurposing premium Italian fabrics with exceptional 60 years of expertise in collecting high-quality materials from leading brands and textile manufacturers, and one of the first companies at an international level to be accredited for the UNI EN ISO 14021 certification which grants the traceability of the collected materials.

The linings complete the full sustainable picture, thanks to Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei fabrics by Gianni Crespi Foderami. Bemberg™ is a new generation material made from the smart-tech transformation of cotton linter pre-consumer material, converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process.

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, and Jeanologia, a world leader in sustainable and efficient technology development, joined forces to launch an eco-advanced alternative to the denim fabric washing process, including in some cases the mercerization, one of the most water-intensive and pollutant processes of denim fabric finishing.

It all starts with the spinning step where the cotton is turned into yarn. The second step is a pretreatment that will prepare the yarn for the dyeing step. The dyed yarn then goes through the sizing process, which is a treatment preparing it for weaving. At this stage, we have obtained a denim fabric that will go through a few more steps. First, the fabric may undergo a washing treatment or, in some cases, mercerizing treatment which consists of treating it with caustic soda in order to obtain a more lustrous, flat and less reddish blue and black denim.

In both traditional ways to clean the fabric, washing or mercerizing, multiple highly water intensive washings are required in order to restore optimal fabric pH and remove unfixed dyestuff and any undesired deposits or impurities from the fabric. One of such impurities released in the washing process is aniline, a substance that is classified as a category 2 carcinogen and considered toxic to aquatic life.

That is why Archroma and Jeanologia decided to team up and develop an alternative to the traditional fabric cleaning process and its subsequent water-intensive and water-polluting washings.

• The breakthrough alternative to the fabric cleaning concept presented by Jeanologia and Archroma combines the use of the aniline-free* PURE INDIGO ICON dyeing system of Archroma, and the water-free** and chemical-free “G2 Dynamic“ finishing technology of Jeanologia.
• The Archroma/Jeanologia solution allows to create aniline-free* denim, and improve the final aspect of the fabric through a fully chemical-free and almost water-free** cleaning alternative treatment.
• The Archroma/Jeanologia solution can also be used with additional Archroma coloration systems such as INDIGO REFLECTION or PURE UNDERTONES.

Umberto Devita, Business Development Manager at Archroma’s Competence Center for Denim & Casual Wear, who was the project leader for this new development, comments: “At Archroma, we strive to develop solutions in line with our principles of “The Archroma Way to a Sustainable World: Safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”. It was therefore very inspiring to work with a partner who shares the same values of developing efficient new processes to bring all know-how to our customers to maximize value – for denim that looks as good as the good it creates.”

For Jean-Pierre Inchauspe, Business Director of G2 Dynamic at Jeanologia, “this association is another step to change traditional, more polluting and water consuming processes in the textile industry for new ones using technology, improving, and boosting subsequent production stages up to the finishing of the garment, making them more efficient and allowing companies to be more competitive, increase productivity and offer a product that is completely sustainable with high quality.”

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.