From the Sector

Laying the bases for a more sustainable world, adopting responsible strategies is no longer an option but an indispensable and compulsory structural revolution today and for the future to come. This topic is the subject of the Smart Voice "The Circular Stories of C.L.A.S.S.: the journey of Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei towards a smart, responsible and contemporary luxury" organised by C.L.A.S.S. eco hub that has taken place on Thursday 27th May at 4 pm CET. 4 unique and complimentary design realities has been sharing  the  Bemberg ™ choice as unique and precious fibre ingredient that gives rise to a performing design incorporating new generation values, for their unique paths of style and fashion to offer to the contemporary consumer.

Specialist and expert of innovative fibres, during the session Ettore Pellegrini, Marketing & Sales Manager-Marketing & Sales Manager Asahi Kasei Fibers Italia, illustrated the history of Bemberg™ starting from its origins to nowadays, reporting its various applications that have been then illustrated in their uniqueness by the speakers of the session.

Paolo Verdoia, Lining research and development raw materials at Ermenegildo Zegna, who has been involved in the development of accessory raw materials for the Ermenegildo Zegna Group for 14 years. During the digital meeting he talked about priority collaborations with responsible and high quality materials such as Bemberg™, the brand's approach to sustainability and future projects.

The session has also been attended by new generation designer Gilberto Calzolari winner of C.L.A.S.S. ICON 2020, who used Bemberg™ in his latest AW 2021-22 collection entitled "At this stage".

Camilla Carrara, founder and zero-waste designer Zerobarracento says "We select Bemberg™ for our creations for two fundamental reasons: firstly, from a stylistic point of view for its extreme versatility: in the various collections we have adopted it to create Kimonos, padded jackets, wrap dresses as well as for the interiors of our garments, which are intended to be soft embraces for total physical and mental comfort. The second but no less important reason is that this fibre has circular values in line with our zero-waste commitment."

“By choosing to work with Bemberg™, we have made an exclusive and sustainable choice in order to offer tailors, designers, brands and garment manufacturers who believe in and are committed to responsible but at the same time premium and exclusive fashion a new business opportunity" says Alessandro Ivaldi Director Business Unit of Carnet, a division of Ratti Group that produces and distributes worldwide fabrics for the creation of made-to-measure garments for men and women.

Alchemie Technology, a leader in waterless, digital on-demand, smart dyeing technology, has today announced its partnership with HeiQ, a leader in textile innovation, as it prepares the production rollout of its NOVARATM digital multifunction finishing solution to the global textile market in Q3 this year.

NOVARA can apply single-sided, or simultaneous two-sided, coating of multiple finishes to specific areas of textile. For example, combining anti-odour and water repellence in one material.

“For example, using NOVARA for single-sided finishing of HeiQ Viroblock required 52% less chemistry, 66% water reduction and 50% less energy, whilst achieving a 99.7% reduction in antimicrobial activity after 15 washes at 400celsius. With the huge demand for high-performance antibacterial, antiviral finishing for face masks, medical apparel, gym wear, home furnishing, mattresses, and textiles for high-risk, high traffic areas such as train, plane seats, and more, our combined technology is critical for increasing protection and reducing environmental impact of these products” says Dr Simon Kew, Managing Director, Alchemie Technology.

NOVARA also enables unique lifestyle product innovations at lower production cost for fashion, sportswear, technical clothing, and upholstery such as combining sustainable odour control, skin care additives, and fragrance finishing, without impacting breathability, hand feel or wicking. It is suitable for finishing all fabric types, from 50 - 1000 gsm, including polyester, cotton, nylon and polycotton.

• Global online fashion retailer and UK supplier - Asos and Fashion-Enter Ltd. - teaming with Kornit for adoption of efficient, low-impact direct-to-fabric digital textile printing with zero water waste and accelerated production speeds

Kornit Digital (Nasdaq: KRNT), a worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, announced that global online fashion retailer ASOS and its supplier Fashion-Enter Ltd. are implementing Kornit Presto to explore the future opportunities presented by on-demand manufacturing.

Kornit Presto is the most advanced single-step solution for direct-to-fabric printing, enabling Fashion-Enter Ltd. to rapidly deliver test-and-repeat small product runs on behalf of ASOS. These production capabilities will enable ASOS and Fashion-Enter Ltd. to imprint designs on multiple fabrics at the push of a button, through a lower-impact production process that has zero water waste and accelerates production speeds by cutting out typical dyeing processes.

In Kornit’s pigment-based digital textile production capabilities and efficient workflow solutions, Fashion-Enter Ltd. sees an answer for brands serving the needs of today’s consumers, while reducing inventory waste and improving supply chain management and garment quality.