From the Sector

From March 15-16, 2023, the spring edition of PERFORMANCE DAYS kicked off on the fairgrounds of Messe München. With around 2,685 visitors, the event organizers were particularly pleased with numbers up on the previous winter fair. High attendances were also evident at the Expert Talks on both days, which provided information on the latest color and fabric trends, news on developments in sustainability and new technologies from fiber manufacturers. The focal points of the show were marked by the PERFORMANCE FORUM, which showcased the fabric highlights for the spring/summer 2025 season as well as the two PERFORMANCE AWARD and ECO PERFORMANCE AWARD winners.

After the kick-off event in Munich in March, the industry now looks forward to the follow-up fairs in Portland from April 4-5, 2023 and in Shanghai, April 10-11, 2023.

New concept starting October 2023: Premiere for highlighted focus on footwear
As part of the upcoming PERFORMANCE DAYS, which will once again take place at the Messe München exhibition center on October 4-5, 2023, the event organizers will no longer focus explicitly on sustainable functional textiles and accessories, but will also focus on the footwear market.

To support the integration of the footwear market into the trade fair events in Munich, Portland, New York and Shanghai, the organizers have brought on board two industry specialists, Nina Conrad and Rucky Zambrano.

Nina Conrad has been active as a sustainability consultant in the textile and leather industry for many years, specializing in traceable and local supply chains. Her core business is the production of leather and leather goods derived from animals raised on certified organic farms. She is also a founding partner of the Sustainable Leather Foundation and co-founder of the Fibershed subsiduary DACH.

Rucky Zambrano is a industrial designer and expert. When he got to know Vibram in 1992, he shifted his career to footwear for reasons of passion. For 13 years now, Zambrana and Vibram have been a driving force in the footwear market and made the leap from performance to fashion, as witnessed with the Merrell Chameleon, the Prada Luna Rossa boat shoe sole or the latest Vibram FiveFingers models. He is currently responsible for footwear for the Finnish children’s outdoor brand Reima.

Flat knitting solutions provider SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD. of Wakayama, Japan, together with its Brazilian representative BRASTEMA TECNOLOGIA TEXTIL LTDA., will participate in the FIMEC 2023 46th International Fair of Leather, Chemicals, Components, Machinery and Equipment for Footwear and Tanneries in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil next month.

Working off the recent trend in knitted shoe uppers in the athletic footwear market, SHIMA SEIKI proposes knitted fabrics to the general footwear market as an alternative to leather. To that end SHIMA SEIKI will be showcasing the latest applications of computerized flat knitting technology to demonstrate its contributions in this field.

As pioneer of WHOLEGARMENT® knitting technology whereby the knitted product can be produced in one entire piece on the machine without linking or sewing, the company is showing the MACH2XS WHOLEGARMENT® knitting machine for the first time at FIMEC. MACH2XS features 4 needle beds and SHIMA SEIKI's original SlideNeedle™, capable of producing high-quality fine gauge WHOLEGARMENT® products in all needles. Proposals include WHOLEGARMENT® sportswear as well as seam-free shoe uppers. For conventional shaped knitting of shoe uppers, the SVR123SP machine features a loop presser bed that permits inlay technique for producing hybrid fabrics with both knit and weave characteristics, suited to shoe upper applications that require form-fitting function, comfort, flexibility, breathability as well as strength and stiffness. SVR123SP furthermore features i-Plating inverse-plating capability for increased patterning capability, including the production of jacquard-like patterns in light-weight plain jersey stitch. Also on show will be the compact SVR093 machine with a short knitting width intended for knitting shoe uppers. Both SVR machines feature such SHIMA SEIKI innovations as DSCS® Digital Stitch Control System, spring-type moveable sinker system, stitch presser, yarn gripper and cutter, and takedown comb. Made-in-Japan quality, reliability, productivity, user-friendliness and cost-performance all combine to satisfy the high expectations of the world's shoe industry.

SHIMA SEIKI’s SDS®-ONE APEX4 3D design system will also be available for demonstrations in design and simulation suited to shoe production. Of particular interest is its ultra-realistic simulation capability that realizes Virtual Sampling. When countless variations must be evaluated before arriving at a final design, virtual product samples can be used to streamline the decision-making process by minimizing the enormous amount of time and cost normally associated with producing actual samples for each variation. The sustainability factor is also undeniable.

• Iconic 200 Series fleece to be the first fabric made from this new process.

Polartec®, a Milliken & Company brand, announces Polartec® Shed Less Fleece, a new milestone in its industry-leading efforts to reduce textile fiber fragment shedding. Shed Less is a process that combines yarn construction, knitting, chemistry, and manufacturing to reduce home laundry fiber fragment shedding by an average of 85%. The first fabric to receive this new technology is the brand’s iconic Polartec® 200 Series Fleece, the modern version of the original PolarFleece® launched in 1981, and in 1993, the first performance fleece knit from yarn made from recycled plastic bottles.

The Shed Less process works by engineering the lofted fibers that give fleece its soft hand the ability to resist breaking and rubbing off during home laundering, cited as one contributing factor to the spread of fibers fragments (commonly referred to as microfibers). Polartec® Shed Less Fleece achieves this while maintaining all of the attributes that continue to make Polartec fleece a staple of midlayer collections - lightweight, breathable and warm.

The brand used the AATCC (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists) TM212-2021 test method for fiber fragment release during home laundering. This test was conducted with large sample sizes to account for variability. The testing concluded that Shed Less Fleece reduced fiber fragment shedding by an average of 85% compared to the baseline fabric.

“In 2016 we began looking into how we might test for fiber loss because there wasn’t a lot of research on the issue.” said Aimee LaValley, Polartec Textile Development, Dye and Chemistry Manager. “This led to new products like Polartec Power Air™, new manufacturing processes, as well as our participation in the TextileMission workgroup to study the issue on an interdisciplinary basis.”

TextileMission was a three year collaborative initiative of academia and industry to reduce the impact of textile microplastics funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Founding partners include The Association of the German Sporting Goods Industry, Hochschule Niederrhein - University of Applied Science; TU Dresden - Institute of Water Chemistry; Vaude Sport; WWF Germany; Adidas AG; Henkel AG; Miele & CIE; and Polartec, LLC.

Polartec® Shed Less Fleece will be initially launched in the United States and will be available to customers beginning March 1, 2023. The brand plans to apply the Shed Less process to many other industry-leading fabric platforms and manufacturing facilities around the world.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), an independent and impact-creating organization that brings together around half of the apparel industry to enable positive social and environmental impact at scale, announces its strategic partnership with the Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) for its fourth edition of the Sustainable Apparel Forum. The event aims to bring together stakeholders to discuss and exchange ideas on how to advance sustainability within the textile and apparel industry.

Taking place on March 15 and 16, 2023, this year’s Sustainable Apparel Forum will focus on five key subject areas of the apparel and textile supply chain: circular economy, climate impact & action, renewable energy & green funding, skill development and green job prospects & challenges. Delegates in attendance will include, garment manufacturers, brands and retailers, development partners, foreign missions and embassies in Bangladesh, impact creating organizations, apparel and textile associations, industry leaders, government officials, secretariats and ministers.

The first day of the forum will be geared towards roundtable discussions and workshop sessions on circularity, while day two, the main conference day of the event, will feature panel discussions, presentations & keynote speeches along with strategic guidelines from government officials and industry leaders.

Vidhura Rapanawe, Board Director, Andrew Martin, VP, Membership and Stakeholder Engagement, and Joyce Tsoi, Director of Collective Action Programs, along with other team members, will represent the SAC, including participation in a discussion on decarbonization and what it will take for the industry to achieve the necessary reduction of carbon emissions. The SAC will also actively participate and organize a special workshop for manufacturers as part of their continued stakeholder engagement efforts.

Kornit Digital LTD. (NASDAQ: KRNT) ("Kornit" or the "Company"), a market leader in sustainable, on-demand digital fashion and textile production technologies, announced its partnership with VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub, Zalando, and Unity – creating an "alliance of the willing" to transform the industry via "phygital" fashion with a circular approach.

Nine designers were challenged to create fashion capsules in eight weeks utilizing the latest technology innovations from the three alliance partners – combining digital product creation, web3-based design, digital printing, immersive circular design, 3D rendering and avatar development. All collections are on display exclusively at Berlin Fashion Week from Wednesday, January 18 to Friday, January 20 at Bikini Berlin.
 
The challenge follows standing room only Kornit Fashion Week events across the globe, displaying how on-demand, digital production creates a fashion world of nearly endless creativity. Hosted at the Impact Hub Berlin, the VORN Academy Program offered creators access to a holistic technology toolset - including the advanced Kornit Presto MAX single-step solution for direct-to-fabric sustainable printing. Some of the prominent designers taking part include costume and fashion designer Alexis Mersmann, Judith Bondy, AR and NFT artist Ann-Britt Dittmar, Berlin-based director Tanja Bombach, Nina Jurcic, Olga Boncheva, digital artist, and fashion designer Schirin Negahbani, Johann Erhardt, and Israeli designer Idan Yoav.
 
"This collaboration across four industry leaders is so unique because the result is a sum so much greater than each of its individual parts. It's a true 'alliance of the willing' that opens doors to 'phygital' collections built at the intersection of digital fashion, 3D design, and on-demand production," said Omer Kulka, Chief Innovation Officer at Kornit Digital. "We're honored to team with VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub, Zalando, and Unity during Berlin Fashion Week to demonstrate what's possible as the physical and virtual fashion worlds come together."
 
"When we launched the Berlin Fashion Hub, our intent was to create a B2B environment to spark unmatched fashion and sustainability innovations. As Berlin is one of the world's most important fashion and textile centers, there is no better place to demonstrate economically succesful circularity in the fashion industry," said Professor Marte Hentschel, Co-Founder at VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub. "Together, we're changing fashion to drive sustainability and harness the creative power of both the physical and virtual. We're proud of what's been accomplished in conjunction with an incredible group of designers, creators, and partners."

The Munich Fabric Start Exhibitions GmbH announces the programme for the upcoming editions of MUNICH FABRIC START (24 to 26 January 2023) and BLUEZONE & KEYHOUSE (24 and 25 January 2023).
From 24 to 26 January 2023, visitors can expect a range of the latest trends, fabric, accessories and denim highlights from around 900 international exhibitors, an event programme with expert panels, keynotes and trend lectures, as well as numerous networking opportunities.

Economic Environment
Conflicts, inflation, recession, energy crisis, massive inequality, climate change - how companies can position themselves securely in a volatile market environment - this is deciphered by trend analyst David Shah in his key note "Self-Empowerment" and numerous industry experts, futurologists and leading fashion editors in the lecture series "The Status Quo of Fashion" by strategy and communication consultants Alex Vogt and Jana Kern.

Next to David Shah (View-Publications), the panel will include Siems Luckwaldt (CAPITAL and BUSINESS PUNK, RTL Germany), Shamin Vogel (WeAr Global Magazine), Ben Hanson (The Interline), Maria Cristina Pavarini (The SPIN OFF) and Carl Tillessen (DMI)

Digital Era
From digital colour apps, digital twins and virtual models to 3D simulation and virtual dressing rooms - the world of digital fashion will not only be discussed in numerous lectures in Munich, but also brought to life in the new Assyst Experience. Whether it's Carola Seybold, Head of Global Key Accounts at Pantone, Jan Hilger from Roland Berger, Arndt Johannes from Verce, Dr. Stefan Hauswiesner, CEO of Reactive Reality or the experts of the panel "Textilfabrik X.0 - New Marketing Buzz Words or One Step Ahead": everyone will be looking at virtual fashion from a different angle and providing insights into the latest state of the art. In her trend presentation "The weird & wonderful world of fashion cores" at BLUEZONE, Angela Velasquez (Rivet) sheds light on how viral TikTok trends are reshaping denim merchandising.

Sustainable Future
Digitisation and sustainability - the third major theme of the event programme - could not be more closely intertwined. Lisa Lang, Director of Policy & EU Affairs Orchestrator of EIT Climate KIC in an interview with Muchaneta ten Napel (Shape Innovate) kicks things off about the importance of a green transformation for the industry. Other topics in focus: Liv Simpliciano from Fashion Revolution gives an overview of where the world's biggest fashion brands and retailers stand in terms of transparency. Tricia Carey from Renewcell, David Shah (View-Publications), Lien van der Schueren and Guy Buyle (CISUTAC & HEREWEAR), Mateusz Wielopolski (Circulix) and Mario Malzacher (Circular.Fashion) critically discuss whether the circular economy is really the solution for everything or just a placebo. Circular ecosystems are also presented by Franziska von Becker from Hachmeister & Partner.

The race of the new sustainable materials of the future will be opened by Kirsi Terho from Infinited Fiber, Kuben Edwards from Onezero8, Marianne Uddman from Trustrace and Simon Angel, Sustainable Innovations Curator of MUNICH FABRIC START in a panel discussion with Muchaneta ten Napel (Shape Innovate). New products for a sustainable future in the denim industry will be discussed at BLUEZONE.
Another highlight: In cooperation with the Transformers Foundation, an expert panel will also be held at BLUEZONE on both days of the trade show.

Trends Spring.Summer 2024
Gerd Müller-Thomkins, Carl Tillessen and Niels Holger Wien from the Deutsches Mode Institut (DMI) see a "vibe shift" - a turning point. They will analyse what this means for fashion in their trend presentation on Wednesday. The Women's Fashion Trends SS 24 with the must haves of the season will be analysed by Karin Schmitz from the Trend Forecast Institute Peclers Paris - from the glamorous appearance in everyday life, to the play with gender identity, to simplicity combined with functionality and mobility.

From February 8th to 11th, 2023, the third edition of IFCO, Istanbul Fashion Connection will take place in the Istanbul Exhibition Center.

The fair with over 600 exhibitors in 9 halls gives an overview of the new collections in the areas of womenswear, menswear, kidswear, denim, shoes, leather & furs. Separate platforms at IFCO are LinExpo for lingerie and hosiery and FashionIST with a wide range of wedding dresses, evening wear and suits. IFCO Sourcing, a new area at IFCO, offers the opportunity to find numerous companies for sourcing capacities.

Also new is the partnership with Igedo Exhibitions, Düsseldorf, which is responsible for the EUROPEAN SELECTION area at IFCO. International fashion labels present themselves at the fair as part of this participation.

More than 25,000 visitors from over 100 nations from all sales channels, from department stores and boutiques to online platforms from Eastern Europe, the Central Asian markets and the Arabian Gulf region, alongside buyers from Türkiye are expected at the show.

The declared goal of the organizers is to offer a "one-stop shopping solution" with IFCO that shows the creativity of the Turkish fashion scene, enables access to new sales markets and at the same time establishes the connection to potential production partners for supply chain optimization. The competitive advantages of production in Türkiye are evident:
short delivery times, high production quality, young and well-trained employees, the possibility of small minimum order quantities, a vertical textile and clothing industry that allows "one-stop shopping".

The manufacturing sector is an important sector for the industry, with over 80% of companies in Türkiye engaged in this sector. Türkiye has the fastest economic growth among the G20 after Saudi Arabia at 7.6% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, according to the Turkish Statistics Authority. Export is one of the most important pillars of growth.

The trade fair concept is being supported by the government with several programs. These include the cooperation with IMA, Istanbul ModaAkademisi, which regularly produces design talents becoming an integral part of the international fashion scene. IMA was founded in 2007 by ITKIB / IHKIB with the help of the IPA I program ((IPA: Instrument for Pre Accession Funds, provided by the EU for the EU candidate countries). Young design talents are brought to the stage at IFCO in cooperation with the ‘’Koza Young Fashion Designers Contest’’.

First insights, first new materials and trend highlights: On 29 and 30 November 2022, the European premium fabric sector will meet for an important exchange with international producers at VIEW in Munich to find out about the first colour and material trends for spring/summer 2024 at the earliest possible time. A selected range of around 300 pre-collections will be on show at the MVG Museum. This means that VIEW will once again be strong and business-relevant this season.

The past VIEW Premium Selection in June 2022 was a great success. Completely booked out and more international than ever, the Preview Textile Show of Munich Fabric Start Exhibitions GmbH was an important contact point for the buying and design teams of companies such as Akris, Baldessarini, Bogner, Calvin Klein, Cinque, Comma, Drykorn, Escada, Hugo Boss, Lala Berlin, Lagerfeld, Laurél, MAC, Marc Cain, Marc O'Polo, Riani, Schumacher or Strellson. The trend towards an increasingly international range continues in November. Numerous buyers, designers and product managers from European ready-to-wear manufacturers are expected in Munich the week after next, looking for new material innovations and trends at VIEW and the parallel ISPO.

International exhibitor portfolio with many new names
Material influences from Europe to Asia bring a highly exciting mix for the trend research of the new collections. Exhibitors from Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain and Turkey are among the participants.

The newcomers and returnees include, in addition to others:
AGNSTR / ALA CAMPOLMI / BAIRD MC NUTT / BELL & THUNDER / CB STILE / COLORA / EKOTEN / FABRIC LAB / GUARISCO / JECA LIMITED / KING BUTTON / LANIFICIO CAVERNI / LIMONATA EAST / M.T.T. MANIFATTURA / MANTERO / MILIOR / MTP PIEROZZI / PADROCASAS / PIZVAL / RIBBONTEX / SITIP / TEKSTINA SINCE 1828 / TEXMODA / VIVOLO und WAY.

The philosophy guiding Officina39's innovation and development ranges fluidly between exploration of color, denim heritage and artistic expression, but has sustainability and the search for environmentally friendly chemical solutions for the fashion industry as its cornerstones. This is the core vision that accompanied the Italian company, when presenting its latest technologies and collaborations at Denimsandjeans in Tokyo from November 1-2.

Denim & Art
Juan Manuel Gomez, Officina39 Creative Leader, represents the company’s multidisciplinary approach and combines artistic expression with a thorough technical experience. His explorations were drawn on the Denim Art Wall at the fair. Furthermore, in the interactive seminar “Art & Denim As A Process Of Repetition” he explained that there is a constant act of repetition as automatic drawing or pictorial act in the processes of the textile industry.

The SS24 collection
The Multicolor Denim Dreaming collection is a combination of several Officina39’s sustainable key technologies:

• Nebudye D: a wide range of fresh colors to obtain a unique dyeing effect in nebulization/fog system machinery and can be discharged in a creative way with Oz-One Powder, an advanced product to give garments a bleached yet eco-friendly treatment, and Remover IND/J-N, Officina39’s solution to replace the use of Potassium Permanganate (PP) on denim and obtain a worn and distressed vintage look.
• Novantic series: a combination of selected dyestuffs with a special mordanting agent suitable to obtain surface dyeing to provide vintage or old look effects.
• Recycrom™: a patented dyestuffs range obtained through a cutting-edge upcycling process that involves textile fibers from used clothing and manufacturing waste for dyeing and printing applications. Its sustainable and revolutionary powders assure a whole universe of denim effects: from classic authentic vintage to acid wash look (Eco Marble), from printed effect (Indigo Replica) to worn and distressed vintage look (Recycrom™ Dirty).
• Just One Step Process: an innovation that saves time, energy, space and of course water, by combining several phases of the Aqualess Mission at the same time: a raw garment enters the machine and a garment with a basic vintage effect comes out ready to be dried, already treated, bleached and softened.
• Remover Activator: a technology that in combination with PP replacement products creates in one step general bleaching, localized corrosion and highlights effects on jeans.

Iluna Group is back at MarediModa (November 8-10), the international fair dedicated to fabrics and accessories for the beachwear, underwear and athleisure sectors, to present its latest innovations, with a focus on a new beachwear sets able to combine aesthetic research and environmental responsibility.

In terms of aesthetic innovation, exploration continues with matchy pareos and allovers, double laces with colorful charmeuses and multicolour laces enriched with iridescent effects (Lurex). A novelty of this season is the new double face printing on polyamide with a high sea fastness and iridescent effects on GRS-certified tulle.

The GRS certified Green Label collection uses Renycle® and Q-NOVA®, both GRS-certified pre-consumer recycled polyamide yarns in addition to the recycled stretch ROICA™ EF by Asahi Kasei.

The BIOLINE embraces the circular economy and presents proposals containing Amni Soul Eco® and ROICA™ V550. Moreover, the continuous path through the new dimension of responsibility continues in several directions: experiments with 16 different natural dyestuffs; and continued investment in technologies that can ensure significant savings in water and energy consumption, including GREENDROP, the new GOTS-certified digital pigment printing system.