From the Sector

SHIMA SEIKI ITALIA S.p.A., Italian subsidiary of leading Japanese computerized knitting solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD., will exhibit at the 90th edition of the Pitti Immagine Filati exhibition in Florence, Italy. Products exhibited will include the N.SVR®123SP computerized flat knitting machine as well as APEXFiz™ design software.

The N.SVR®123SP computerized knitting machine features a special loop presser bed, capable of producing hybrid inlay fabrics with both knit and weave characteristics. Demand for such novel fabrics are very high across a wide range of applications, from fashion apparel to sportswear, innerwear, outerwear, uniforms and other functional clothing, as well as home furnishing and technical textiles. Shown in 18G at the SHIMA SEIKI booth, N.SVR®123SP will also feature the special i-Plating option, capable of alternating yarn colors in any pattern, producing jacquard-like designs using plain jersey stitch. Plating can be performed within the same course and for individual needles. In combination with the loop presser and spring-type moveable sinker system even greater diversity in knit design is possible. An SVR®123SP machine in 14G with i-Plating option will also be on display at the booth of yarn spinner IAFIL S.p.A. as well.

APEXFiz™ is subscription-based design software that maintains the proven functions that have made SHIMA SEIKI’s SDS®-ONE APEX series design systems so popular with fashion designers. Installed on personal computers, those strengths are now enhanced with the added versatility to adapt to different work styles and business environments including teleworking and telecommuting. APEXFiz™ software supports the creative side of fashion from planning and design to colorway evaluation, realistic fabric simulation and 3D virtual sampling. Virtual samples are a digitized version of sample making that are accurate enough to be used effectively as prototypes, replacing physical sampling and consequently reducing time, cost and material that otherwise go to waste. APEXFiz™ thereby helps to realize sustainability and digitally transform the fashion supply chain.

APEXFiz™ along with SHIMA SEIKI’s yarnbank™ digital yarn web platform are featured at a special section launched at the previous session of Pitti Filati no. 89 called Pitti Studios. Pitti Studios is a content production service that yarn companies exhibiting at Pitti Filati can use for their own promotion. Yarn companies provide a piece of yarn, which is digitized on yarnbank™ and used to simulate photorealistic fabric on APEXFiz™. This is then processed by a creative studio specializing in digital content to provide static and animated 3D virtual representations. The process shows how to use the latest DX tools to provide accurate representation of a finished garment without having to produce any fabric, converting the conventionally wasteful process of sample-making into a sustainable one.

Continuing from past editions of Pitti Filati are knit samples produced in collaboration with Italian designer Vittorio Branchizio.

Texbase, Inc., a cloud-based data management platform for the textile and consumer product industries, announces a collaboration with the global textile testing partner, Hohenstein.

As a Texbase Lab Connect partner, Hohenstein customers can collaborate, send test requests and receive test reports within Texbase Connect. In addition, data export files for digitized materials can be attached to their specific materials in the system. “Texbase has facilitated an improved workflow for our brand customers. Adding this system to our earlier OEKO-TEX® CertLink project gives our partners easy access to the data they need - in one location - instead of having to manage multiple emails," said Ben Mead, Managing Director, Hohenstein Institute America.

Hohenstein is a global leader in textile testing and innovation, specializing in applied research and development around the human - textile - environment interaction. Their lab testing determines compliance with legal requirements, standards, international specifications and internal quality guidelines. Hohenstein validates performance and safety claims through standard and customized testing and certifications.

Hohenstein and Texbase will both be exhibiting at the upcoming Outdoor Retailer/Snow Show on January 26-28th.

Under the ClusterXchange pilot scheme, the EXTRATEX partnership organised a 5-day exchange in Czech Republic, hosted by CLUTEX (cluster for technical textile).

15 participants visited strategic and innovative companies in the field of smart materials and advances technologies, as well as research centres and the Liberec University.

During the exchange, 92 B2B meetings were organized between local companies and the exchange participants, with 75% of the contacts established leading to follow-ups after the conclusion of the exchange. This collaboration laid the foundation for potential cross-border and cross-sector business collaboration, and participants of the physical exchange improved their competences in the field of smart materials and advanced technologies.

According to a testimony from the company Bipier Srl, their participation in the exchange allowed the establishment of two important working relationships with Bcb Informatica Y Control and Vyskummy Ustav Chemickych (Research Institute for Man-Made Fibers). This cooperation wil allow Bipier Srl to equip their machines with quality temperature control, and to expand the distribution of their products.

An exclusive collection of archival wedding dresses by Atelier Emé artfully reworked in collaboration with mending for good, the consulting firm offering luxury brands creative and ethical solutions for design-driven upcycling.

Re-Love is the capsule collection composed of sixteen wedding dresses - 10 developed in collaboration with mending for good, 6 created in-house by the company's style office. Sixteen iconic garments of the brand selected among the most significant in the history of the maison, reworked with love through a transformation project based on the principles of circularity. Harmonious and enchanted fusion of past and present, an effort that makes clear and possible innovation strategies following sustainability paths.

Atelier Emé has decided to collaborate with mending for good by developing a series of pieces based  on craftsmanship techniques, creativity, romance and fun, starting from the archive dresses. A work carried out by the style office in the sartorial laboratories of the Maison Atelier Emé deconstructing and reconstructing the chosen garments, while mending for good, on the other hand, has provided repurposing solutions through painting on fabric by Karl Joerns of La Serra MK textile Atelier in Florence, hand embroidery by Donatella de Bonis and hand decorations. A fairy-tale upcycling, achieved through a synergistic work that has combined highly specialized skills and craftsmanship for ten creations, full of colorful designs, watercolor bouquets, three-dimensional applications and ton-sur-ton embroidery.

118 organisations signed today the TCLF (= Textiles, Clothing, Leather and Footwear) Pact for Skills, an initiative promoted by the European Commission and coordinated by EURATEX. The signatories acknowledge the skills challenge in the textiles ecosystem, and commit to invest in reskilling and upskilling workers, integrating green and digital skills and improving the attractiveness of the sector. Members of the Pact will benefit from networking, guidance and resources offered by the EC to implement the targets which are proposed in the Pact.

The Pact for Skills is part of the EU Industrial Strategy, addressing the competitiveness of 14 critical ecosystems, including textiles. The main aim of the Pact is maximising the impact of investments in improving existing skills (upskilling) and training in new skills (reskilling). To reach such an ambitious goal, the Pact gathers various actors in the TCLF sectors: industry, employers, social partners, national and regional authorities, education and training providers. These actors should work together and invest in large-scale skills partnerships, guarantee exchange of best practices and increase the attractiveness of the sector.

Specifically, the TCLF Pact for Skills focuses on 5 objectives and for each of them, the signatories identified a certain number of target actions:

1. Promoting a culture of lifelong learning for all: one of the actions is to design and roll out courses promoting latest technologies and digital tools such as VR and AI (digital skills) and promoting durability, repair and waste management activities (green skills), in particular circular design skills.
2. Building a strong skills partnership with relevant stakeholders: signatories foresee to build regional and cross-sectoral partnerships between industry, education providers and authorities, which are adapted to their specific needs. .
3. Monitoring skills supply/demand and anticipating skills needs: to reach it, industry, policy and education stakeholders will establish the TCLF Skills Observatory.
4. Working against discrimination and for gender equality and equal opportunities: signatories will launch a TCLF manifesto of diversity and a supporting initiatives to improve the gender balance and ensure equal opportunities for all.
5. Raising awareness & attractiveness on the TCLF industries, i.a. though dedicated information campaigns, showcasing the opportunities in the sector and promoting mobility for young workers.

As of early 2022, the European Commission will offer signatories of the Pact for Skills to benefit from collaboration at EU, national and regional levels and in particular gain access to networking, knowledge and guidance & resource hubs.

“EURATEX is proud to coordinate this initiative” says Alberto Paccanelli, EURATEX President. “Our companies’ success is based on finding the right people with the right set of skills. This becomes increasingly difficult, so this Pact is a wake-up call to work together and develop a forward looking strategy, where people are put at the heart of our sector.”

AMUT’s strategic partnership with EREMA contributes to accelerate the transition towards a greener world.  In summer 2021, EREMA in collaboration with AMUT  has finalized the installation and commissioning of ALTO packaging ́s first extrusion line for food grade PET sheets in New Zealand market. At the ALTO Plastic Packaging site, in Albany, the plant now processes 100 % washed post-
consumer flakes into 100 % food contact grade monolayer thermoforming sheet. In New Zealand, this milestone represents the first system to be installed for this special application.

The plastic packaging company ALTO, a division of PACT Group, invested for this new food grade PET sheet extrusion line as a part of Pact Group ́s vision to lead Circular Economy through Packaging in Australia and New Zealand.

Thanks to the direct combination of VACUREMA® PET recycling technology and the AMUT Inline Sheet production technology there is no longer any extra process stage. This is, because the melt goes straight from the VACUREMA® 1716 T Basic to the AMUT plant without the detour of pelletising. The post-consumer PET material is already decontaminated and pre-dried prior to extrusion in the vacuum reactor of the VACUREMA® Basic, with a throughput of up to 1,500 kg per hour. After high capacity filtration by EREMA SW-RTF backflush filter and online IV measurement, the melt goes directly into the AMUT Inline Sheet plant where it is processed into thermoforming sheet from 0.15 mm till 1.2 mm thickness. The monolayer thermoforming sheet produced from pure rPET is not only 100 % food contact compliant, it also fulfils the FDA and further regulations. At ALTO it is further processed into trays and food containers.

AMUT played its part by providing a full range of downstream equipment ranging from the Automatic Tdie, three rolls stack calender with automatic gap control and motorized cross axing unit, lamination unit for welding and barrier films, thickness control gauge to anti-static silicon coating unit, fully automatic two shafts turret winder and in line edge trims grinding and recycling.

The special features of this extrusion line come from the complete automatic and easy management of the line. This is due to the new Amut`s software including the Easy Start and Easy Change functions that will allow the operator to start the extrusion line and change product formats in automatic mode.

EREMA and AMUT are long-term partners in the Inline Sheet sector. EREMA ́s VACUREMA® technology is currently in use in more than 100 Inline Sheet facilities around the world, also for PACT Group companies in Australia. 

Gina Tricot releases its first collection that has been produced with We aRe SpinDye. The collection is part of Gina Tricot's innovation program Gina Lab. and consists of a coat, shirt, trousers and two bags colored with We aRe SpinDye's method.

With the collaboration, Gina Tricot continues to focus on sustainability, now with the coloring process at the center. Of all the resources that arise during the entire lifespan of a garment - from the production of raw materials, to recycling, 80% is used during the production phase itself. To maximize the effects of the sustainability changeover, an increased focus is required on the entire production process and in particular on the most resource-intensive of them all: the dyeing.

One of Gina Tricot's focus is to explore new methods and technologies in sustainability, which makes the collaboration with We aRe Spin Dye feel just right for us. Together we get a product with more durable and circular fibers, in addition with a more sustainable textile production with a focus on minimal water use. We are extremely proud of this collaboration. says Emma Garrote, Global Production & Sustainability Manager at Gina Tricot.

Gina Tricot is a shining example of an agile organization with short decision-making processes. They have managed to enthuse both the design and production department. It has been crucial to reach the launch of this collection that takes place today, says Andreas Andrén, CEO of We aRe SpinDye®.

Gina Tricot
Gina Tricot is a Swedish fashion brand that offers fashion to women in over 30 countries. Today, Gina Tricot has over 160 stores around Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, as well as e-commerce throughout Europe. With around 1,900 employees, 98% of these are girls. For Gina Tricot, it is important to build pride from the inside out, we are a company that chooses to invest in and highlight women.

We aRe Spin Dye
The company is a Swedish cleantech company that provides and offers a process and platform for production and quality control that enables players in the fashion and clothing industry to significantly reduce their environmental impact. The company's business concept is to establish a new, sustainable and transparent standard for dyeing synthetic textiles in the fashion and apparel industry in a simple and user-friendly way.

• Iluna Group and Maglificio Ripa present their new collections and an innovative, strategic symbiosis for sustainable fashion
• 9-11 November - Palais de Festivals, Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes, France, Booth 28-29

Values, strategies, an imprinting for innovation and a well-defined vision and expertise in sustainable fashion. This mix is  the  wide  and  solid  common  denominator  giving  birth  to  the  collaboration  between  Iluna  Group,  leader  in  the production of smart lace, and Maglificio Ripa, internationally recognized for the production of premium and responsible jersey.

Two mature companies projected towards new formats of proactive collaboration, both established in common industries  - from underwear to beachwear  and  sportswear  -  that  have  chosen  to  create  a  symbiosis  of intents and strategies, each maintaining its own identity and independence.

"We are living in a moment of strong change, from the wave of sustainability  that  is  finally  sweeping  the  fashion  world  to  new  market scenarios. And we are convinced that collaboration is the key to facing these new  challenges.  In  Maglificio  Ripa  we  saw  a  complementary  and  unique partner with whom we can reach customers, suppliers and other partners in a  more  complete  way."  comments  Furio  Annovazzi,  CEO  of  Iluna  Group. "Ours is not a union between companies, but a new model of partnership, a sort of strategic symbiosis aimed at developing together new paths that can make the both of us grow, while offering a more complete proposal to the market." adds Luca Bianco, CEO of Maglificio Ripa.

One of the first examples of this new format is the joint stand at MarediModa, a single space where visitors can discover the latest  collections  of  the  two  companies,  and  imagine  new  designs  and solutions for sustainable fashion.

Iluna Group and Maglificio Ripa also created the new campaign and photo shoot together, as well as developed a trend scenario that allowed both companies to better embrace the evolving market by sharing information, perspectives and ideas.

With its resource-saving dyeing technology, We aRe SpinDye takes place in H&M's latest Innovation Stories collection called Co-exist.

The use of We aRe SpinDye's technology contributes to reducing both water consumption and CO2 emissions, which in turn leads to a lower impact on the world's ecosystem and creates conditions for our co-existence with nature.

Up to 24% of a garment's entire climate footprint occurs during dyeing. We aRe SpinDye's technology can reduce the consumption of the earth's resources in textile production. On average, the reduction of water is -75%, chemicals -90% and energy consumption and CO2 emissions -30%.

In just one year, the clothing industry uses 9 billion cubic meters of water (which is in line with the annual need for drinkingwater for the entire population of our planet) and 168 million tons of process chemicals to dye fabrics. We aRe SpinDye now hopes that more players in the industry will pay attention to the ways that are available when it comes to resource-efficient dyeing process and quickly implement this technology in their production.

"The enormous resource consumption in the dyeing process is a global problem that must be addressed on a broad front. It is therefore inspiring to work with major brands with an organization that is sensitive to cutting-edge expertise and at the same time shows a willingness to work together to achieve common goals", says Andreas Andrén, CEO of We aRe SpinDye.

Officina+39, an Italian sustainable chemical developer, attends Superstudio Più in Milan to show its technical progress and share its concrete contribution to a more Trustainable™ denim. Under the spotlight, among multiple innovations, the latest addition to the Officina+39 family: the brand-new NOVASCRAPER INDIGO.

NOVASCRAPER INDIGO, the new technology for classic aesthetics
NOVASCRAPER INDIGO allows to give a natural vintage look to denim garments through laser finishing, an actual innovative alternative to manual scraping. NOVASCRAPER INDIGO guarantees a natural effect with unparalleled quality and accuracy, requiring less manpower and less rejection rate when compared to manual scraping.

The Sixth Sense: less water, more Trustainability
Officina+39 and Tejidos Royo joined forces to create a denim line that drastically reduces water consumption: this is “The Sixth Sense”, a project concretely inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically by its SDG6, calling to action to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Officina+39 personally accepts this global challenge by contributing to the realization of “The Sixth Sense” with its AQUALESS MISSION. Featuring three cutting-edge laundry products for one innovative process, AQUALESS MISSION combines the application of REMOVER BC, AQUALESS AGED – a waterless compound to give denim abrasion effects –, and OZ-ONE POWDER – an advanced product to give garments a bleached yet eco-friendly treatment in a dry application, for a worn and distressed look. Compatible with conventional washing and treatment machinery, it allows for water consumption savings up to 75%.
Focused on driving sustainability in the textile industry, Tejidos Royo uses low-impact fibers and yarns as a raw material and the implementation of foam-dyeing technology with its Dry Indigo®, the first-ever technology to foam-dye denim with zero water use and no water discharge.

CircularKromia: a colorful path for preloved garments
At Officina+39 the word “waste” becomes synonymous with opportunity, a source to create something new, fostering true, Trustainable™ circularity. This is the background to the collaboration with Atelier Riforma, an innovative startup born in Turin (Italy) with a social vocation. Through the contribution of Officina+39’s RECYCROM™, it has been possible to obtain new pigment and dyestuff pulverizing discarded garments and pieces usually difficult to recover through tailoring transformation alone. The collection made it possible not to generate any waste, no new raw materials were required to create CircularKromia.

The Circle Book 2: the power of collaboration and circularity
A collective project gathering a total of ten companies with common goals focused on transparency and circularity in denim design, The Circle Book is now in its second edition that culminated in CULTURE.IN, a circular capsule collection transparently made from recycled and degradable materials.

Officina+39 opens its doors, with Lenzing and Meidea
In the evening of October 13, the recently inaugurated brand-new headquarters of Officina+39 in Biella opened their doors to welcome denim personalities, brands, designers and partners to show where Officina+39's innovative technologies are created, to network and celebrate while preparing new steps towards the design of a more circular and – of course – Trustainable™ fashion Industry.