From the Sector

Schoeller, the global textile solutions manufacturer dedicated to sustainability and innovation for more than 150 years, introduces its new PROEARTH™ collection of biodegradable textiles. The new collection, comprised of bluesign® approved fabrics with biodegradable polyester, will debut as part of its Schoeller FTC (SFTC) line, a joint venture between Schoeller Textil AG and the Taiwanese Formosa Taffeta Co. Ltd., at Premiere Vision Paris, September 17-19, Hall 6, Stand 6J18.

As the founding developer of the bluesign® system, the first activewear and leisurewear manufacturer to receive Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification, and one of the first companies to sign the UN’s Paris Agreement for climate change, Schoeller continues to be on the cutting edge of sustainable practices, bringing one of the first collections of biodegradable synthetic fabrics to the market. Its most recent development, PROEARTH was created to help offset the more than 16 million tons of textile waste produced in the US alone each year.

Jacket, pant and lining fabrics
The SFTC PROEARTH collection will launch with five, bluesign®-approved fabrics designed for lifestyle, fashion and outdoor categories. Made with virgin polyester that has been optimized for biodegradation and has tested to biodegrade at faster and better rates than competitive offerings, the initial PROEARTH articles available this fall include jacket, pant and lining material qualities with various colour options.

• Committed To Making a Better World

EUROBIKE, the world’s leading trade fair for the cycling industry, will include ROICA™ smart innovations into the race. Cycle retailers, brands and manufacturers will discover ROICA™ premium stretch that provides comfort and movement as it energizes.

Spearheading the premium stretch market, ROICA™ partners’ materials elevate new standards for high-tech performance that can enhance cycling products to compete responsibly. ROICA™ partners excite you as they show a fantastic range of stretch essentials for cycling clothing, gear, and apparel that offer solid performance perks.

Most importantly, visit ROICA™ partners at EUROBIKE to learn about their ongoing commitment to responsible innovation and creativity by experiencing their advanced responsible developments made with the ROICA Eco-SmartTM Family.

The ROICA Eco-Smart™ family offers two responsible made yarns with outstanding stretch performances that give free rein to designers’ creativity and guarantees the highest quality while complying to the most-cutting edge sustainable standards.

• The ROICA™ EF– GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified - is made with 58% of pre-consumer recycled content. GRS guarantees its sustainable mission with a certification by the influential Textile Exchange*, one of the most known and recognized global players in the market.
• The ROICA™ V550   Indeed, it proudly breaks down without releasing harmful substance under the testing environment according to Hohenstein Environmental Compatibility certification. Made and engineered by Asahi Kasei R&D team, and produced in ROICA™ German plant only, the yarn offers additional and relevant circular economy advantages linked to material health as proved by a Gold Level Material Health Certificate by the Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute for a safe and biological end of life cycle.

Witness ROICA™ partners as leaders in high-tech performance fabrics for the world of sports for riders that want to stand out. See, feel, imagine and learn why choosing ROICA™ is a winning decision. View the unbeatable collection of well-constructed fabric

• M.I.T.I. SpA (IT), Hall/Stand No. A7-215 partner with ROICA™ since the very beginning, develops and creates from more than 85 years, innovative stretch warp knitted fabrics for high performance sports.
• Payen – ESF (FR), Hall/Stand No. A7 / A7-219, committed to develop durable performant solutions chooses ROICA Resistance™ range of high-tech protection stretch functions.
• Piave Maitex (IT), Hall/Stand No. A7-123 presents AGAIN, the new smart and technically advanced line able to balance performances and sustainable features, formed of highly performing jerseys. Two premium sustainable ingredients have been involved for the creation of AGAIN: Global Recycled Standard (GRS) owned by Textile Exchange - premium stretch fiber ROICA™ EF and perPETual high quality sustainable polyester born from a cost-effective process that reverses engineer consumer waste PET bottles.
• SITIP SpA (IT), Hall/Stand No. A7-213 creates high-tech innovative sports fabrics that are made in Italy including BeHot fabric constructed with ROICA™, providing a new dimension to active performance.
• Sportwear Argentona S.A. (ES) Hall/Stand No. A7-322 based in Spain, these leaders in high-tech tech, optimal performance sports fabrics create specialized structures for all facets of sports including high comfort, elastic and performance.

• Organic Waste Systems and TÜV confirm fiber biodegradability also in fresh water
• All white LENZING™ Viscose, Modal and Lyocell fibers are now certified for all environments
• Global legislators aim at limiting plastic waste persisting in the environment for centuries
• EU Single-Use Plastics Directive partly regulates usage of plastic products
• Biodegradable materials such as wood-based fibers are the best alternative to single-use plastics

The Lenzing Group received confirmation of the full biodegradability of its fibers in fresh water by the independent research laboratory Organic Waste Systems (OWS). The new and existing international certifications conducted by OWS and issued by TÜV Austria verify that LENZING™ Viscose fibers, LENZING™ Modal fibers and LENZING™ Lyocell fibers are biodegradable in all natural and industrial environments: in the soil, compost as well as in fresh and in marine water.

The biodegradability of cellulosic products and the synthetic fiber polyester was tested in fresh water at OWS according to valid international standards, e.g. ISO 14851. At the end of the trial period, LENZING™ wood-based cellulosic fibers, cotton and paper pulp were shown to be fully biodegradable in fresh water in contrast to synthetic polyester fibers. The fact that synthetic materials are not biodegradable leads to major problems in wastewater treatment plants and potentially marine litter. In turn, this not only harms fish and birds living in and close to the oceans but also all marine organisms and us humans.

“The Lenzing Group operates a truly circular business model based on the renewable raw material wood to produce biodegradable fibers returning to nature after use. This complete cycle comprises the starting point of the core value of sustainability embedded in our company strategy sCore TEN and is the ‘raison d’etre’ of our company”, says Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group. “In living up to this positioning, we not only enhance the business of our suppliers, customers and partners along the value chain but also improve the state of the entire textile and nonwovens industries.”

Both the textile and nonwovens industries face huge challenges with respect to littering. If current trends continue, the oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050. Therefore, legislative bodies worldwide can no longer ignore the issue and have moved towards plastics legislation aimed at limiting the vast amount of waste. In response, European lawmakers issued the Single-Use Plastics Directive currently being transposed into national legislation in the EU member states.

Conventional wet wipes and hygiene products mostly contain plastic and were thus identified as one of the product categories to be singled out. Less polluting alternatives are generally encouraged by NGOs and legislators, e.g. products made of biodegradable wood-based cellulosic fibers. Plastic waste including microplastic can persist in the environment for centuries. In contrast, biodegradable materials are the best alternative to single-use plastics because they fully convert back to nature by definition and thus do not require recycling.

• For Soft Vibrant And Durable Pigment Prints

Reinach, Switzerland - Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, has recently launched at the ITMA exhibition its new Helizarin® LTC New liq, a formaldehyde-free* low temperature curing binder for pigment printing on all kinds of fibers.

Prints are increasingly popular in apparel and interior textiles, as they allow us to express ourselves through vibrant colors and patterns. Consumers are especially drawn to the soft touch of an elegantly printed fabric.

Creating soft and vibrant prints can however be challenging for textile manufacturers: Pigment printing is usually applied to the fabric with a binder that often contains formaldehyde, needs a high temperature for curing, and can make the fabric harsh to the touch.

That is why Archroma developed its new Helizarin® LTC New to allow textile manufacturers to address these challenges.

The innovation was developed in compliance with “The Archroma Way: safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”. The approach finds its origin in Archroma’s deep belief that it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable, economically and ecologically.

Helizarin® LTC New is a binder designed for low temperature curing or no curing. This allows to reduce the fixation temperature and time compared to conventional pigment printing processes. In addition, manufacturers will not experience the change of shades that sometimes occur with high temperature processes.

When using Helizarin® LTC New, textile manufacturers can therefore improve the productivity of their printing process and reduce their energy consumption.

Helizarin® LTC New is also a welcome solution for textile manufacturers who do not have curing equipment, since it offers similar to better fastness than commodity binders that have been treated through a full process, and excellent fastness on synthetic fibers such as polyester and polyamide.

When it comes to the final result on the fabric, Helizarin® LTC New allows the creation of soft and durable prints for premium quality articles.

The new product will be the core of Archroma's Cool Print, a complete formaldehyde-free* system that keeps printed textiles soft and durable, and the planet cooler.

The system, which combines Helizarin® LTC New with Luprintol® softening and fixing auxiliaries and Printofix® pigment preparations, allows manufacturers to realize potential savings of up to 30% in processing time, 45% in energy consumption and 44% CO2 emissions – compared to benchmark pigment printing.

Helizarin® LTC New, as well as the Cool Print system, is formaldehyde free* and registered under REACH. It can be used in line with the ZDHC & bluesign® requirements, is compliant with the Oeko-Tex Std 100 Class 1 standard for baby wear, and with the MRSL of the most major brands.

“Helizarin® LTC New was developed by Archroma’s R&D team together with experts at our Global Competence Center for Printing, based in Barcelona, Spain”, says Joaquin Femat, Head of Business Development for Printing, Brand & Performance Textile Specialties, at Archroma. “As The Archroma Way is based on Safe, Efficient and Enhanced as its three pillars, we designed an innovation that offers our customers a balanced combination of resource optimization, safe handling, and controlled effluent. Because it’s our nature!”
 

Reinach, Switzerland  - Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, recently launched at the ITMA exhibition its new Foron® SP-WF, a range of high wet-fast disperse dyes for sportswear and active wear applications.

The Foron® SP-WF dyes are especially suited for the coloration of polyester fibers and microfibers, and polyester/elastane blends, in exhaustion application.
The Foron® SP-WF dyes were developed in compliance with “The Archroma Way: safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”. The approach finds its origin in Archroma’s deep belief that it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable, economically and ecologically.

The new product is at the core of Archroma's Fast Sport, a coloration system for polyester knitted sportswear, providing the best fastness in the shortest possible time with a reduced environmental footprint.
The Foron® SP-WF range which includes primary and ternary color grades has been developed to fulfil the high color wet fastness and performance requirements of sportswear manufacturers and brands.
Moreover, the core ternary color grades enable deep shades at lower dyeing temperatures on sensitive polyester/elastane fabrics without causing excessive fiber damage, saving energy resources and meeting the high fastness demand of leading brand companies.

When using Foron® SP-WF dyes as part of the Fast Sport system, manufacturers can in many cases have the potential to significantly reduce their consumption of time, energy, chemical, and water, as well as their CO2 emissions.

“We see a growing demand for apparel in the sportswear and active wear segment, reinforced with the now installed athleisure trend,” says Mark Dohmen, Head of Archroma’s Competence Center Automotive and Synthetic Dyes. “Consumers want deep color that stays put on the fiber and brands are defining their requirements accordingly. With our Foron® SP-WF, we can offer to manufacturers of sportswear textiles a solution that combines high levels of wet fastness with high productivity and low resource consumption. Because it’s our nature!”

Oerlikon’s new eAFK Evo texturing machine, which was unveiled to selected clients at the ITMA trade fair in Barcelona, has proven to be a breakthrough in the manufacture of yarns. This is evidenced by leading global yarn producer, Unifi Manufacturing, Inc., who placed a significant order for these revolutionary machines yesterday, the first day of the trade fair.

Unifi collaborated with Oerlikon to develop a specially-designed eAFK Evo pilot machine that has been operating for the last eight months, using it to manufacture various Unifiber virgin and REPREVE®-branded recycled polyester and polyamide yarns. Unifi has obtained exclusive rights in the Americas to their unique design, which enables the new machine to operate at considerably higher texturing speeds, delivers consistently high-quality yarn across a broad range of products, and enables new, innovative performance yarns.

wear2wear is an innovative industrial partnership dedicated to high-quality and sustainable clothing. Five expert partners in Europe have come together to cover the entire recycling loop. On cutting-edge production systems, textile fibres from used clothing will be turned into functional fabrics. Schoeller Textil AG is supplying a wholistic textile portfolio for the workwear area. At Schoeller Textil, the recyclable, functional fabrics from the wear2wear concept belong to the Inspire fabric group. These are high-quality protective workwear fabrics made of 100 percent polyester, which offer the greatest clothing comfort and often feel just like cotton. They are also compliant with the stringent requirements of the bluesign® system.

The sustainable wear2wear concept is synonymous with high-quality, responsible clothing. In European operations, textile fibres from used garments are used to produce new functional fabrics. Depending upon the area of intended use, they also meet strict waterproofing, breathability, protection and comfort requirements. To ensure that the raw material cycle comes full circle, these textiles can be recycled again when they reach the end of their service life. As a result, there is no waste, and they go on to produce new garments. As the wear-2-wear partner companies guarantee that – from the quality of the raw materials to the guaranteed recycling end process – these are 100 percent recyclable, functional fabrics made of recycled textile fibres. Water- and dirt-repelling technologies based on renewable raw materials, along with the most advanced membrane technology, will ensure that the textiles are manufactured and impregnated entirely without the use of PFC in the future too.

Five partner companies  
The five European partner companies in the wear2wear cooperation cover the entire recycling loop. Heinrich Glaeser Nachfolger GmbH is a German fibre and yarn producer and the “recycler” in the loop. Märkischen Faser GmbH (D) is the “upcycler” and fibre manufacturer. Carl Weiske GmbH & Co. KG (D) develops the polymers, fibres, yarns, chemical additives and textile systems, and TWD Fibres GmbH (D), a fully-integrated filament yarn producer, covers the entire range of polyester and polyamide 6.6 continuous filament yarns. Schoeller Textil AG, the innovative Swiss company, is responsible for textile production and manufactures sustainable high-tech fabrics with maximum clothing comfort. The matching climate-neutral and similarly 100 percent recyclable PTFE and PFC-free membrane, as well as recycled outer materials and linings, are supplied by Sympatex Technologies (D), the ecological alternative among the textile function specialists. DutchSpirit is a Dutch company which has been dedicated to environment-friendly clothing since 2010. Its mission is to significantly increase the awareness for sustainable clothing and offer recyclable clothing in the workwear segment. DutchSpirit is the initiator for the development of the Inspire products from Schoeller Textil and provided the inspiration for the wear2wear concept. Further garment-making partners who now also belong to the cooperative group include: Anchor Workwear BV (NL), Hüsler Berufskleider AG (CH), Groenendijk Bedrijfskleding BV (NL), Bedrijfskledingdiscounter BV (NL) and Rifka'S (NL).

At ITMA 2019 in Barcelona from June 20-26 FONG’S Europe, a member of CHTC FONG’S International Group, will be providing details of its new THEN Supratec LTM hydraulic long-tube dyeing machine.

This machine is distinguished by the ability to vary the angle of the Then Flexkier for either dry (jet) or wet (overflow) mode dyeing, in order to optimise the dye liquor ratio – from 1:15 down to 1:4 – depending on the materials being dyed.

This translates into considerable savings in auxiliaries, water and energy.

The Supratec LTM is suitable for the treatment of both woven and knitted fabrics ranging from the most sensitive articles to heavyweight materials within the weight range of 25 g/lm to 380 g/lm, and operates at very low tension due to the extremely low lifting height between the variable nozzle and the plaited fabric.

“Existing Supratec machines on the market are providing excellent performance for a wide range of delicate synthetic fabrics, from polyester to polyamide with high content of elastane,” says FONG’S Europe Director of Sales and Marketing Richard Fander. “Heat-setting can often can be avoided, which improves the handle of the material and saves costs and the lengthwise-elongation of the fabric being treated is lower than on winch-driven machines.”

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.

• New game-changing Kornit NeoPoly Technology with industry-first innovation for industrial polyester printing that prevents dye migration.
• New Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro system unveiled at events during April, commercially available immediately.

Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ: KRNT), a global market leader in digital textile printing innovation, unveiled the game-changing Kornit NeoPoly Technology, which is the industry’s first digital, industrial process for high-quality printing on polyester.

Polyester is the second largest category in the overall T-shirt market, it is key in the sport segment, and is growing in the athleisure and functional apparel segments. Currently polyester is printed predominantly by analog solutions, which creates major technological, cost and sustainability challenges.  

The new ground-breaking Kornit NeoPoly Technology addresses these challenges with a new process and ink set implemented in the renowned Kornit NeoPigmentTM process. Kornit’s new process handles polyester applications without compromising on design, run size, substrate or labor.

The breakthrough technological innovation is achieved by an innovative ink set and a physical and chemical process specifically developed for low temperature curing, and polyester enhancing functionalities developed to maintain fabric characteristics and provide superior fastness. This unique process prevents dye migration on polyester.  The inks are Oeko-Tex and Eco-Passport certified and do not contain PVCs or other toxic ingredients.

The first system equipped with the Kornit NeoPoly Technology is the new Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro, a member of Kornit’s world-class reliable, highly productive industrial platform. The single-step Poly Pro is the perfect system for the industry, enabling easy and cost effective short-runs and on-demand printing on polyester garments.