From the Sector

The project "A Dress For Venice" get on the Red Carpet at the Venice Film Festival to advocate for sustainability. September 7th, actress Margot Sikabonyi will wear a dress from the collection designed by conscious designer Tiziano Guardini, illustrated by artist Jacopo Ascari, and produced by Martina Vidal Venezia, with the following materials:

• Bemberg™: The innovative and biodegradable fiber from the Japanese company Asahi Kasei.
• Burano lace: Produced by the historic Martina Vidal Venezia for four generations.

"Returning to Venice and experiencing the emotions of this place and the artists who have enriched it is exhilarating," says Tiziano Guardini. "It's a work based on volumes, shapes, three-dimensionality, colours and materials research… from Mariano Fortuny to the Ottoman Empire's Turcherie."

Illustrator Ascari adds, "I started with a careful study of the works of Canaletto, Guardi and Bellotto, masterpieces of Eighteenth-Century Vedutismo. I portrayed new perspectives on the city's splendour, enhanced by Guardini's vibrant shapes and color choices."

On Thursday, September 7th, at 12:30, in the Veneto Region's room at the Hotel Excelsior on Lido, Elena Donazzan, Councilor for Education, Training, Employment, and Equal Opportunities, will present the project alongside its creators Laura Scarpa and Lorenzo Cinotti of Venezia da Vivere, designer Tiziano Guardini, artist Jacopo Ascari, and actress Margot Sikabonyi.

"We conceived A Dress For Venice for Homo Faber in 2019, to celebrate Venice's 1600 years of craftsmanship," explains Laura Scarpa. "This year, the research extends to sustainable innovation thanks to an international team of designers, artisans and companies," continues Lorenzo Cinotti.

The project reaffirms Venice's role as an international laboratory to reflect on the planet's future. "A Dress For Venice" is a limited-edition collection realized with the support of a network of companies identified by the Tavolo Veneto della Moda (Confartigianato, CNA, Confindustria, Confesercenti and Confcommercio of Veneto), the global platform C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy), the partnership of Camera Buyer Italia and the media partnership of The Italian Rêve.

The presentation of the collection to buyers will take place at the Marina Guidi showroom in mid-September, while it will have its dedicated exhibition on Friday, October 20th, during the Venice Fashion Week.

"A Dress for Venice" is endorsed by the Comune di Venezia, the Regione del Veneto, and Homo Faber - Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, which promotes worldwide high craftsmanship and savoir-faire.

Partners in the project Infinity srl and Tessitura Grisotto, renowned Italian textile manufacturers who expertly craft Bemberg™ fiber into exquisite fabrics. Creazioni Digitali, a specialized company in sublimation digital printing, carries out the prints on Bemberg™ textiles with its unique project GreenDrop; with inks that reduces the water consumption.

Other partners include Marina Iremonger, Camera Buyer Italia, and the Tavolo Veneto della Moda, representing Confartigianato, CNA, Confindustria, Confcommercio, and Confesercenti.

The international OEKO-TEX® Association, offering collaborative solutions for partners in the textile and leather industry, has once again recorded positive business development. Overall, OEKO-TEX® issued more than 43,000 certificates and labels between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023 - an increase of 21% compared to the previous financial year. The MADE IN GREEN product label recorded the strongest growth of 52%. OEKO-TEX® continues to drive urgently needed change through cooperation and joint action - with their services and at the organizational level.

For their two new certifications, OEKO-TEX® focused on cooperation with numerous parties along the global supply chain. Launched in November 2022, OEKO-TEX® RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS addresses the increasing global expectations and due diligence requirements. The tool and certification supports textile and leather companies in preventing negative effects from their own business operations, supply chains and broader business relationships. Companies working with OEKO-TEX® ORGANIC COTTON benefit from a global network of certified companies to facilitate sourcing of chemicals, materials and business partners - from cultivation to finished product.

At the organisational level, OEKO-TEX® is focusing on partnerships with multi-stakeholder initiatives to include as many different perspectives as possible and allow all parties to benefit. Working with ZDHC to promote sustainable chemical management and becoming an ISEAL community member are just two of many collaborations for OEKO-TEX®, which is striving to address the industry's most pressing challenges.

Meanwhile, the Association’s core business advances. For example, based on industry developments and scientific findings, OEKO-TEX® issued a general ban on the use of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS/PFC) in textiles, leather and shoes certified by STANDARD 100, ORGANIC COTTON, LEATHER STANDARD and ECO PASSPORT. OEKO-TEX® also surpassed the milestone of 1,000 STeP certified production facilities. OEKO-TEX® is in a strong position to continue its work - enabling the industry and consumers to make more responsible decisions through partnership and education.

The 2nd edition of the SMCCreate conference jointly organized by the AVK and the European Alliance for SMC BMC takes place from 7-8-November 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic. The conference programme has now been published.

Within the time of only 1.5 day and 16 lectures, the SMCCreate 2023 conference will again cover a wide range of subjects, all relevant for designers in their selection of materials solutions that provide performance, cost efficiency, manufacturing ability and sustainability. The participants can expect presentations from the following top-class companies: Airbus, AOC, BYK-Chemie Dieffenbacher, EBG Group, ESI Germany, Fraunhofer, IDI, Mitras, Netzsch, Owens Corning, Siemens and Teijin.

The SMCCreate 2023 will take place from November 7-8, 2023 in Prague (Czech Republic) at the Vienna House Diplomat Prague.

Fashion for Good launches new pilot with brand partners adidas, Inditex, Target and Zalando, and footwear recycling innovator FastFeetGrinded to test and validate the innovative footwear recycling process to support the uptake of recycled content in footwear, driving the change towards a more circular footwear industry.

Globally, 24 billion shoes are added to the market each year*, and a staggering 90% of shoes are either landfilled or incinerated*. To tackle this challenge, Fashion for Good has launched a new pilot with partners adidas, Inditex, Target and Zalando, in collaboration with innovator FastFeetGrinded, aiming to test and validate the footwear recycling process and support the uptake of recycled materials in footwear. FastFeetGrinded possesses the unique capability to deconstruct any type of pre- and post-consumer shoe, breaking it down into its macro-components. These macro-components are then subsequently grinded down into smaller high purity granulates which FastFeetGrinded may use to create material streams for repurposed use.

Through this collaborative pilot, the partners will divert pre- and post-consumer footwear to FastFeetGrinded, who will transform them into various new material granulates. The next step involves FastFeetGrinded’s network of supply chain partners, who will produce output products, such as outsoles, midsoles, and flip flops. The brands will closely evaluate the products’ quality and purity, aiming to showcase the potential of FastFeetGrinded's footwear recycling technology and pave the way for scalable solutions.

*World Footwear Yearbook (2020). Footwear production with a new record of 24.3 billion pairs.
*Vivobarefoot. 22 billion pairs of shoes are dumped into landfill each year. It’s time for change.
*WRAP (2019) Valuing our Clothes.
*Material Innovation Initiative (2021). 2021 State of the Industry Report: Next-Gen Materials.

Archroma is bringing the entire portfolio of 5,760 Archroma Color Atlas colors to swatchbook, a platform for material digitalization and sourcing.

The new partnership provides fashion, apparel and textile designers and manufacturers with an elevated standard for color accuracy that meets the needs of today’s increasingly technology-driven and integrated supply chain. This will help the textile and fashion community to improve sustainability, whilst lowering costs and shortening turnaround times.

The Color Atlas by Archroma® was launched in 2016 to provide fashion designers and stylists with off-the-shelf color inspiration that can be implemented in production with just a few clicks.

Designers will use the 5,760 Archroma Color Atlas colors on swatchbook to rapidly develop accurate digital colorways and visualize their final product. They can then share these digital swatches with their manufacturing partners, providing access to the swatchbook metadata, which can include information such as the materials’ composition, weight and color.

This will streamline the overall design and production process for color-critical fashion and textile products, allowing for faster turnaround. Digital materials supported by trusted coloration technology also reduce the need for samples and eliminate physical swatchbooks, bringing environmental benefits and lower costs to brands and suppliers.

All 5,760 Color Atlas by Archroma® colors are now available free of charge to subscribers on the swatchbook platform.

The EPTA – European Pultrusion Technology Association organizes in cooperation with the ACMA – American Composites Manufacturers Association - the 17th World Pultrusion Conference on 29th February – 1st March 2024 in Hamburg, Germany. The conference is one of the leading pultrusion events in the world. The event takes place just before the JEC World 2024 in Paris (5th – 7th March 2024).

The presentations are to document innovations in the following subject areas of
pultruded reinforced plastics:

• Market development in Europe, USA, Asia
• Innovative applications
• New Markets: Ideas for potential new applications with pultruded shapes or
• systems
• Sustainability: Technical possibilities, recycling, etc.
• Raw materials
  ○ Development of fibres
  ○ Development of resins
• Construction / Testing / Calculation
• Processes

The presentation language will be English. Deadline for paper submission (title, short abstract, speaker name and address) until 15th September 2023 to info@pultruders.com.

Increasing energy and resource efficiency in the construction sector will be key to the EU’s ambition of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. By enabling the manufacture of strong, durable and lightweight products, composite materials can help the construction sector improve its environmental sustainability, as well as reduce total lifecycle costs. The latest EPTA industry briefing, Pultruded composites contribute to a more sustainable future for construction, discusses how pultruded composites answer the need for materials offering high performance, faster installation, corrosion resistance and low maintenance.

The report is available to download from the EPTA website.

The future of construction
As one of the largest global users of energy and raw materials, the construction industry is under immense pressure to improve its sustainability. At the same time, it must respond to demands for improved performance and reduced total cost of ownership. New materials will be needed to minimise the use of natural resources, enable a reduction of carbon footprint and facilitate circular economy practices. Choosing the optimum materials required for durability throughout the lifecycle will be increasingly important. A shift to off-site production is also forecast, where factory-controlled environments and automated processes can improve quality control, lower waste, and reduce work on site.

Lightweight pultruded parts can be pre-assembled into modules or complete structures in the factory for faster installation on site. Lightweight profiles lower energy use during transportation and installation, and a longer service life combined with minimal maintenance can deliver a reduced through-life carbon footprint. Pultruded parts such as profiles, gratings, beams, tubes and planks are increasingly found in a range of building, construction and infrastructure applications. Examples include bridge decks, fencing, stairs and handrails, train platforms, cladding, utility poles, modular building concepts, and window frames.

One application offering large growth potential for composites is bridges. Composite bridges are being designed to provide a service life of 100 years and unlike steel bridges do not require regular repainting to protect them from corrosion. Over recent years, pultruded glass fibre composite has become a highly popular choice for pedestrian and cycle bridges. Pre-fabricated ‘easy fit’ bridge decking planks, pre-assembled bridge modules and complete bridge ‘kits’ are now available. Corrosion-resistant composite bridges are ideal for use near water or on the coast, and in remote locations where regular maintenance operations would be difficult. A composite bridge can deliver the same performance as a steel structure with a weight saving of up to 50% or more. This enables more streamlined bridge designs which require less substantial supporting structures and foundations, greatly reducing consumption of materials and energy. Lightweight also results in easier logistics and simplified installation. Pultruded are more easily transported to the construction site, with lower fuel consumption, and easier to move on site, often reducing labour requirements and the capacity of lifting equipment.

A lifecycle approach
As the construction industry looks to the future, the environmental and economic benefits of composite materials linked to easier logistics and installation, durability and low maintenance are becoming increasingly valued. More projects are demonstrating the benefits of composite materials and standards covering the design, fabrication and installation of pultruded profiles are making it easier for the construction industry to use them. With ongoing development and collaboration, pultrusion has the potential to contribute to a more sustainable future for construction and many other industries. EPTA will continue to promote the advancement of pultrusion technology and its applications and foster sustainable practices within the industry.

With combined regional, global, and industry specific expertise, the Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles and Textile Technologies (VIATT) will make its debut from 28 February – 1 March 2024. Following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in late March, Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE) announced the new international fair for the entire textile value chain. The three-day platform will be staged at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC), Ho Chi Minh City.

Commenting on the new event, Ms Wendy Wen, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, said: “With Intertextile Apparel in Shanghai a prime example, our Texpertise Network provides the ideal global framework from which to launch this diverse, comprehensive platform for the integrated textile supply chain. VIATT itself will capture the essence of Texpertise in one platform – a diverse, one-stop sourcing event for buyers across all categories, from garments, fabrics, yarns and fibres, to textile machinery, technical textiles and nonwovens, and everything in between.”

Discussing the event’s potential, Mr Le Hoang Tai, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE), said: “Vietnam is one of the world’s leading textile producers and exporters, and going from strength to strength as one of Southeast Asia’s manufacturing hubs. Our establishment has many years of experience organising trade fairs throughout Vietnam, and together with Messe Frankfurt we are excited to help international fairgoers unlock the potential of the country’s fast-growing textile market. In addition, Ho Chi Minh City’s accessibility, and Vietnam’s proximity to other leading textile-producing nations such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, China and India, make it the logical venue to host an event of this nature.”

Many international textile manufacturers have been expanding operations into Vietnam, augmenting an already strong domestic industry. According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the country’s textile and garment industry achieved staggering annual growth of 20 – 26% from 2018 – 2022. Participation in international trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)[2], bodes well for future growth.

As one of the world’s biggest importers of textile machinery, and a consistent importer of fabrics, yarns and fibres, garment production is the cornerstone of Vietnam’s industry. The country utilises cotton and functional materials to produce casualwear, childrenswear, swimwear, workwear, and much more, with sportswear an especially fast-growing category, and high-utility garments expected to achieve high exports.

By linking textile players from across Asia, Europe and beyond with this market, VIATT 2024 is willing to play an important part in shaping the future of Vietnam’s industry. Next year’s fair will host an extensive mix of international and domestic exhibitors covering multiple textile sub-sectors, including garments, apparel fabrics and accessories, yarns and fibres, digital printing, home textiles, technical textiles and nonwovens, textile processing, textile machinery, and more.

Exhibitors and buyers can utilise the fair’s global business matchmaking service, where connections are made based on the specific needs of each party. In addition to the fair’s main function as an international trading platform, its fringe programme will facilitate participants’ networking with industry leaders and offer diverse market insights via various seminars, forums, and panel discussions.

The Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles and Textile Technologies (VIATT) is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE). Covering the entire textile industry value chain, the inaugural edition will be held from 28 February – 1 March 2024 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC), Ho Chi Minh City.

Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel Europe (Freudenberg) has expanded its facility in Sant´Omero, Italy, into a competence center for finishing and coating apparel interlinings. The Competence Center was officially opened on May 26, 2023.

The Freudenberg team in Sant´Omero has over 35 years of expertise in the manufacture of high-quality interlinings for menswear: base materials produced at the site are finished and coated to customers’ specifications. With the new competence center, the facility will now focus on coating and finishing all nonwoven, woven and weft apparel interlinings in Freudenberg’s portfolio. Customers throughout Europe will enjoy the advantages of greater manufacturing flexibility and a more diverse product offering.

Freudenberg installed the necessary finishing and coating technology at the new competence center in Italy over the last few months, building a new production hall for this machinery and equipment. Until recently, the bulk of interlinings were coated and finished in Weinheim, Germany. The facility there will now operate as a further competence center specializing in the production of base materials for apparel interlinings.

In addition to establishing the competence center, Freudenberg has also improved logistics. A new central warehouse in Italy now supplies customers in Southern Europe. It complements the central warehouse in Germany that delivers goods to customers in Northern Europe. As a result, Freudenberg is shortening both delivery routes and delivery times.

Lenzing Group, a global producer of wood-based specialty fibers, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its biorefinery and co-product brand LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased. The brand was first introduced on May 4, 1983, and has since become one of the leading and most trusted biobased acetic acid providers.

Over the past 40 years, LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased, which has a reduced carbon footprint that is 85% lower than that of fossil-based acetic acid, has continued to gain trust and support from customers. Specialty chemical company Evonik, and food production company Speyer & Grund Group, have been incorporating LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased in the production of their products since 1983. LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased has also been in high demand from the hygiene industry during the COVID-19 pandemic as an all-purpose cleaning agent in conventional and green products.

Pioneering a carbon neutral future in the biorefinery segment with a new offering
To mark the important occasion, Lenzing will introduce its first carbon neutral LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased to meet the growing sustainability needs of industries which predominately rely on fossil-based materials. Similar to the standard LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased, the carbon neutral LENZING™ Acetic Acid Biobased is produced using sustainably sourced beech wood as a universal replacement for non-renewable raw materials such as crude oil. By calculating, reducing and offsetting emissions during production processes, this expansion will create a more sustainable supply chain with highly functional products across various industries. From now on, Lenzing customers across the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical and textile industries will be able to choose between carbon neutral and reduced carbon footprint acetic acid products.

Advancing circularity and carbon neutrality through efficient use of valuable resources
Lenzing’s biorefinery concept ensures that 100% of wood components are used to produce pulp for Lenzing’s botanic fibers, biorefinery products, as well as bioenergy, which is used to power Lenzing’s facilities. This makes Lenzing’s biorefinery sites almost fully energy self-sufficient to remain as carbon neutral as possible. To ensure a low carbon footprint, rail transportation is the preferred means for transporting LENZING™ biorefinery products, with trucks being leveraged in regions where rail transportation is not available.

Together with ClimatePartner, a recognized global leader in the design, development, and delivery of corporate climate action programs, Lenzing strives to reduce carbon emissions to net-zero through a mix of higher production efficiencies, use of renewable energy sources, low-carbon materials, and the dedicated support of an external nature-based carbon removal project. For instance, to offset remaining carbon emissions that cannot be reduced, Lenzing works with ClimatePartner to support and finance the switch to biomass as an energy source at a ceramic factory in Kitambar in northeastern Brazil. Using natural waste materials, like coconut shells, as renewable biomass for its energy production, the factory is able to produce roof tiles in a more climate-friendly way while saving on carbon emissions. Besides contributing to the fuel switch, the project also helps to reduce the deforestation rate in Brazil and avoid methane emissions that could result from the uncontrolled rotting of biomass.