From the Sector

Textile innovator Devan Chemicals will launch two new technologies at the upcoming Techtextil show in Frankfurt (May 14-17). Bio-flam, a bio-based flame retardant product and Odour Breakdown, a wash durable, non-biocidal odour control solution.
As tradition goes, every two years Devan participates in Techtextil, the leading international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens. In the quest for sustainability and transparency every company faces these days, the new Devan technologies offer answers to product developers and portfolio designers.

Bio-flam
Some facts & figures: There are at least 5000 fire incidents each day in the EU. Yearly, about 70 000 people are hospitalised with fire-related injuries. Fires cause pollution. So sustainable fire performance of products is an economic, environmental and human necessity. Take the example of mattresses: tests indicate that when on fire, non-FR treated products give less than 5 minutes escape time. Unfortunately, that is not enough time for the fire brigade to arrive. Needless to say that to increase escape time, to reduce the risk and to save lives, products need to be flame retardant. The challenge is to obtain flame retardant properties in the most natural way, to find the right balance between safety for the people and for the planet.

Companies can do this by replacing raw materials from a non-renewable source, by bio-based FR treatments, which are made from renewable sources and do not contain halogens or heavy metals, as described in the norm EN 16785 1:2015. Bio-based FR treatments, like Bio-flam, are made from renewable, vegetable sources and enable the FR treated products to be biodegradable. The active components are 100% halogen- and heavy metal-free. A welcome innovation for the bedding industry, as the European Commission requires mattresses to be recyclable by 2030 in order to reduce landfill.

Bio-flam P307 is the first introduction in the new Devan BIO-FR family, and is biodegradable and is developed to be used on 100% cotton or cotton/viscose mixtures, in order to create an ecological concept, safe for people and planet, whatever might happen. Bio-flam P 307 is developed for mattress ticking to pass EN 597 1&2. The Devan researchers are developing other bio-based products for other market segments and for other fire standards.

• Clean Technology. Smart Factory.

Remscheid – Oerlikon invites all visitors to this year's ITMA in Barcelona on a journey into the future of manmade fiber production. From 20 to 26 June 2019, the world market leader will show all its guests its vision of a sustainable and automated manmade fiber production in a virtual 4D showroom at its 1,000 m² stand in Hall 7, A101: "Clean Technology. Smart Factory." is the motto of the future. And this is only a stone's throw away from reality at the stand. Because today Oerlikon is presenting four world premieres for efficient machine and plant concepts in a new, innovative industrial design. Together with numerous other innovations, all this forms the new DNA of the Oerlikon Manmade Fibers segment.

The challenges for the manmade fiber industry are manifold and Oerlikon shows its customers solutions:

1. Choosing the right business model
Price pressure on fiber and yarn manufacturers is growing due to global market consolidation. Here it is important to position oneself correctly. Are you producing polyester, nylon or polypropylene for the niche market and skimming off good margins with innovative products and ingenious material properties, or are you looking for business success through economies of scale in the volume market such as the constantly growing apparel sector? Oerlikon has the right answers for both business models. And the most important thing: the market leader supplies all solutions from a single source. See for yourself at the world premieres of the machine and system concepts of WINGS FDY PA6, BCF S8 Tricolor and the revolutionary eAFK Evo texturing machine.

2. Finding alternatives for good personnel
Finding good operators in the manmade fiber industry is becoming increasingly difficult, even in emerging industrial nations such as China, India and Turkey. The solution is obvious. What, for example, the automotive industry achieved years ago with the 3rd Industrial Revolution is now also taking its course in the textile industry. And at the same time it is even shifting up a gear. In the next step, automation in combination with digitization will lead to new, sustainable production. Oerlikon will be showing how automation and digitization interact at ITMA. Self-learning machines and systems, artificial intelligence (AI), remote services and edge computing are just a few of the key words in the digital half of the new Oerlikon Manmade Fibers DNA.

3. Guarantee quality and traceability
The qualities of the fibers and yarns must meet the highest demands and their production must be traceable throughout the textile value chain. This no longer only plays an important role in the automotive industry, where safety is of paramount importance. Other branches of industry that use fibers, yarns and nonwovens also want to know where the raw materials they produce for consumer articles come from. Legal regulations are demanding this more and more frequently. Oerlikon offers optimal solutions with its DIN ISO certified manufacturing processes. More than half of the world's manmade fiber producers are convinced every day that the qualities produced on Oerlikon Barmag, Oerlikon Neumag and Oerlikon Nonwoven equipment are right – and all visitors to ITMA can do the same on site.

4. Efficient and sustainable production
In the future, the materials produced from manmade fibers must become part of a further improved global recycling economy. The recycling of polyester – with over 80% market share the most frequently used manmade fiber in the world – has not only been on the agenda since today. Oerlikon already has solutions at hand: from PET bottles to fibers and filaments, to textiles and carpets. ITMA is the next step. With the VacuFil® Oerlikon in cooperation with the subsidiary company BBEngineering presents the world premiere No. 4 – a recycling solution within a running polyester production with a waste-free approach.

Vision becomes reality
The Oerlikon Manmade Fibers segment thus demonstrates what the ITMA in Barcelona promises as the world's leading trade fair for textile machinery and plant construction: "Innovating the world of textiles – sourcing for a sustainable future". In Hall 7, A101, this is already reality.

Companies get a close-up of new consumer buying journey and explore how they can meet challenges with Lectra’s latest technologies and industry experts

Lectra cements its position as a fashion industry opinion maker by leading a much-awaited discussion on new consumer behavior at its latest fashion event, ‘Winning Over the New Fashion Consumer’ in Bordeaux-Cestas, France.

More than 75 industry insiders and market experts from 14 countries convened at Lectra’s International Advanced Technology and Conference Center (IATC) for two days to examine how the digital age is bringing about major shifts in consumer behavior. Today’s digitally attuned consumers have become co-creators in the production process, changing the fashion landscape entirely.

The keynotes, live demonstrations, and customer testimonials highlighted the importance of process digitization and data analysis for meeting new consumer needs. The event kicked off with two keynote speakers. Peter Jeavons, Managing Director of First Insight Europe, stressed the importance of using data to understand the hyperconnected fashion consumer. Craig Crawford, Strategist and Founder of CrawfordIT, outlined the arising challenges and opportunities from these changes, and urged fashion companies to embrace digital transformation internally by cultivating a conducive environment for it.

Beyond just understanding the new fashion consumer, the event stressed on the importance of leveraging data to deliver customer-centric services and products. Lectra presented their responses to this challenge in the form of two new major solutions, Kubix Link and Fashion on Demand by Lectra.

Sappi wins Avery Dennison Supplier Distinction Award for the second time in a row

In 2019, Sappi was selected for an Avery Dennison Supplier Distinction Award for the second consecutive year. In doing so, the awarding authority honoured the paper manufacturer’s sustainable conduct, its high-quality products and being a real global supplier. While its group headquarters is in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sappi’s global packaging and speciality papers business supports eight Avery Dennison plants worldwide with numerous products from multiple facilities.

The Sappi team was delighted when they heard the results of this year’s Avery Dennison Supplier Distinction Award. Following an award last year, Sappi’s status as a leading supplier was again honoured with this significant award in 2019. “We were recognised for our excellent quality and for being a truly global supplier supporting Avery Dennison’s growth, especially in the USA. And finally, because of our expanded portfolio following the acquisition of Cham Paper Group,” said Thomas Kratochwill, Vice President Sales & Marketing Packaging and Speciality Papers (Sappi Europe).

Archroma announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Textile University (NTU) in Pakistan. The memorandum will pave way for cooperation initially for a five-year period.

The partnership will explore innovations in textile research with futuristic visualization to help the textile industry to align with the fast pace of global requirements and evolutions. Another important aspect of this collaboration will be research in the field of unsaturated polyester resins in establishing quality and accessible product lines in non-conventional technical textiles. Both partners will jointly hold sessions to prepare students for the challenges of the textile industry through in-house training sessions, developmental projects, research in textile applications and process innovative methodologies by pioneering value additions. The students of NTU will also be able to join internship placement programs at Archroma’s Center of Excellence in Karachi.

At home, at work, on the street, in the sky, on the water, even in space, technical textiles and nonwovens are swinging towards ever higher performances in amazing applications. Versatile and light, but sometimes stronger than metal, these materials of the future gain their superpowers from the interaction of precisely coordinated textile systems. At Techtextil in Frankfurt am Main from May 14 to 17, 2019 in Hall 3, B06, Oerlikon will be showing chemical fiber applications made of polyester, polypropylene and Co. and what they can do in these fields. However, these exhibits are only a communicative means to an end, as Oerlikon is primarily interested in placing the associated machinery and plant solutions at the centre of discussions with trade fair visitors.

More than two thirds of all technical innovations are directly or indirectly based on new materials, says the German Research Ministry. One could add: The key to a more advanced world, for technological products with amazing functions, breathtaking performance and greater environmental benefits, is also to improve the properties and processing of materials. This applies first and foremost to textiles. Probably no other fabric is so strong as a "team player" who draws its strength from its cohesion. A single polyester thread, for example, looks inconspicuous. Processed into a thigh-thick special weave, however, high-strength High Modulus/High Tenacity fibers anchor floating oil platforms in the deepest waters. These kilometer-long "Mooring Ropes" withstand a breaking load of well over 1,000 tons and perform their task better than steel. For decades, Oerlikon Barmag has been offering special solutions for the production of so-called industrial yarns (IDY) that are tailored to customers worldwide. "We will once again be presenting numerous innovations at this trade fair to inspire our customers," explains Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Chem. Roy Dolmans, Technology Manager IDY and R&D Filament Processing.

Sappi launches a sublimation paper optimised for glue-belt printers
The rapid individualisation and personalisation of fashion and home textiles on polyester-based materials using sublimation transfer is in high market demand. With this in mind, Sappi is expanding its portfolio of dye sublimation papers: with its silky-smooth reverse side, the Transjet Drive sublimation paper innovation enables better runnability on digital high-speed printers with a glue-belt system. This smooth printing performance increases productivity. Moreover, due to its low grammage, Transjet Drive offers weight per unit area advantages.

The new sublimation paper is specifically designed for glue-belt printers, but is also suitable for high-speed printers without a glue-belt system. Due to its specially treated reverse side, it adheres to the printing belt without slipping and can pass through quickly. The smooth reverse side also ensures that the paper does not stick to the adhesive-belt and that it slides away without leaving any residue on the belt. These special properties protect the glue-belt and save work steps such as cleaning or corrections during production. With grammages of 45 and 55 g/m², Transjet Drive also offers weight advantages. Here is another reason why this new product is attractive to customers: every ton of Transjet Drive gives you more printable paper area compared to heavier grammages.

On the surface, the paper is specially coated, so that the ink dries quickly and the final result on the textiles appears very colour-intensive. Thanks to fast drying, the webs can be rolled up again immediately after printing. Because of these properties, Transjet Drive is used especially for fashion and home textiles such as scarves, bed linen and curtains. The 55 g/m² version is also suitable for soft signage.

March 2019: For decades, Schoeller Textil has been meticulous in observing its responsibility to humans and the environment. Developed and produced in Switzerland under the most stringent conditions, the high-tech textiles and textile technologies encompass a spirit of innovative and outstanding quality. With a focus on sustainability, the groundbreaking, ecological portfolio includes, among other things, genuine upcycled products with ECONYL®-Garn, 100 % recycled, recyclable wear2wear woven and knitted fabrics or bio technologies based on sustainable raw materials.

High-quality textiles have a long service life and can remain in use for longer. The fabric properties are further improved by smart textile technologies such as water- and dirt-repelling functions. This helps preserve the environment and cuts down on the use of resources. In its manufacturing, Schoeller Textil AG always considers the ecological compatibility of its products. Therefore, since 2001, production at the Swiss site has always complied with the stringent guidelines of the bluesign® system. By conviction, Schoeller devotes itself to sustainable climate protection and takes part in the Energy Agency of the Swiss Private Sector programme to actively reduce carbon emissions and optimise energy efficiency.

TINTEX is this year recipient of the unique and prestigious annual recognition from The “Instituto de Apoio às Pequenas e Médias Empresas e à Inovação” (IAPMEI). TINTEX has been selected in recognition of its pioneering, Naturally Advanced global leadership, and the company’s superior and responsible fabric making for a fashion system that is driven by investments, transparency and fully traceable innovation.

TINTEX is pleased to open its doors as the Naturally Advanced centre of excellence in the latest IAPMEI OPEN DAY for textile leaders, protagonists, media and customers to experience, understand and enjoy the unique achievements TINTEX offers to the contemporary Portuguese textiles industry .
“We selected TINTEX to underline the importance of taking advantage of digitization and modernization at different levels in the textile industry being stunned by their commitment, shedding light on our territory’s most advanced and responsible processes and skills” José Marques dos Santos, president of IAPMEI.

In a fast moving globalized market, all companies must be able to adapt quickly and using innovation, creativity, and responsibility can help deliver successes. And here TINTEX can network between Technological Centers, Universities, and Knowledge Centers, as a strategic business and holistic imperative. And so sharing the Naturally Advanced strategy of TINTEX as a driver for change, IAPMEI recognizes this TINTEX OPEN DAY as a demonstration of practical market potential, and has partnered with CENTI  (Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials the Institute for New Technologies) and CITEVE (an institution of national and international reference for the promotion of Innovation and Technological Development) as a way to guarantee this success.
 
Being able to drive material innovation, and to promote a new generation of sustainable values to contemporary fashion, active, sports and lingerie markets through responsible supply chains can be transformative for our future fashion systems, and TINTEX is proud to be selected as part of the Make Fashion Circular initiative by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, helping  to better activate these changes across the fashion industry for all to enjoy.

• essenscia Innovation Award is Belgium’s most prestigious prize for industrial innovation
• UltraBond is a cost-effective solution for fully recyclable, latex-free, sustainable carpets
• Significant reductions in ecological footprint and cost for carpet manufacturers

Beaulieu Fibres International, Europe’s largest producer of polyolefin fibres, was nominated for the 2019 essenscia Innovation Award for its recently introduced UltraBond fibre.

The biannual award is the most prestigious prize for industrial innovation in Belgium. Created by essenscia, the Belgian Federation for Chemistry and Life Sciences industries, it aims to promote innovations in the Belgian industry and encourages companies to invest even more in innovative and sustainable products and applications. During the evaluation of the nominated innovation projects, the jury assesses their link with chemistry, life sciences and materials, their contribution to sustainable development, their intellectual property management strategy as well as their added value for the economy.

Formally introduced in early 2019, UltraBond is a patented polyolefin bonding staple fibre that eliminates the need for latex or other chemical binders to bond nonwovens. It enables carpet manufacturers to create 100% PP needlepunch carpets that meet the same performance requirements as traditional constructions, while also reducing end-of-life environmental impact.

UltraBond helps manufacturers make a significant contribution to the circular economy through the production of 100% recyclable carpets. In addition to making recycled PP available for the plastics production chain and reduced waste generation, their total lack of water use and reduced energy use result in significant environmental advantages and financial savings. There is also a reduction in the VOC level of the carpet. This all leads to a significant reduction in a needlepunch carpet’s ecological footprint to the tune of a 35% reduction in CO2 emissions during the full production process.