From the Sector

Huntsman Textile Effects has released the latest addition to the third generation of its revolutionary AVITERA® SE polyreactive dye range with the introduction of AVITERA® ROSE SE for brilliant bluish-red shades. The innovative new dye significantly outperforms the available dyeing technologies for cellulosic fibers and blends, delivering substantial water and energy savings, exceptional overall fastness, and reduced costs.

AVITERA® ROSE SE slashes the water and energy required for production by up to 50% thanks to its unique low-temperature and high-speed wash-off technology. It further delivers excellent right-first-time performance, with outstanding compatibility, levelling properties, and on-tone build-up. The cost-effective formulation reduces recipe costs for medium-dark shades while both minimizing processing costs and eliminating reprocessing. It also increases mill output by up to 25% or more.

Using AVITERA® ROSE SE, brands can stand out with brilliant bluish-red textile products in a broader shade gamut. The dyes offer very good light fastness levels for classic bluish trichromatic element, with exceptional overall fastness performance. Products dyed with AVITERA® ROSE SE have the highest chlorine resistance, tailormade for stringent Japanese and US laundering requirements, and are suitable for use with Huntsman’s HIGH IQ® Lasting Color Eco color-retention program. With minimal chance of cross-staining, they are ideal for red-white striped cotton knit fabric.

AVITERA® ROSE SE is fully compliant with the most stringent industry and brand-specific restricted substance lists. It is bluesign® approved and is suitable for STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® certified textile products.

Launched by Huntsman Textile Effects in 2010, the first-generation AVITERA® SE dyes set the benchmark for sustainability in the textile industry. The second generation expanded the range’s color palette from the palest to the deepest and darkest shades. The third generation further enhances the economic sustainability of the AVITERA® range while delivering unrivalled environmental benefits, outstanding operational performance, and attractive textiles with exceptional overall fastness.

ISKO, a global, leading premium denim ingredient brand, announced its participation in The Jeans Redesign – a project, established by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative, to encourage and guide the denim industry to transform the way jeans are made and move towards a circular economy for fashion.

ISKO meets the requirements for participation set by The Jeans Redesign guidelines and has made a commitment that 85% of its entire fabric production will consist of recycled material content made from pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials. This production will be independently verified by Textile Exchange audit bodies.

This achievement is made possible using ISKO’s R-TWO™ technology which is created through a patented and exclusive yarn spinning technique that retains the unique properties and benefits found in ISKO’s statement fabrics. ISKO’s R-TWO™ is the embodiment of its Responsible Innovation™ mindset and aligns with the principles of a circular economy espoused by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – to ensure durability, material health, recyclability and traceability. R-TWO™ positions ISKO as a sustainability leader and enables it to exceed the project guidelines to create denim that is designed to be used more, made to be made again and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs.

A research report released today has revealed the innovative new ways retailers are using RFID technology in-store to improve profitability. Authored by Emeritus Professor Adrian Beck from the University of Leicester and the ECR Retail Loss Group and supported by Checkpoint Systems, Utilising RFID in Retailing: Insights on Innovationhighlights how companies are employing the technology for a broader range of purposes. It demonstrates the value the technology is bringing to their businesses and ultimately, the impact it is delivering to their bottom line. Crucially, it also shows thatmore retailers than ever are recognizing the benefits of RFID and driving uptake within their organisations. The report claims that as businesses are becoming more established in their use of RFID-generated data, they are gradually incorporating more usecases into their business-as-usual practices.

The report claims that as businesses are becoming more established in their use of RFID-generated data, they are gradually incorporating more usecases into their business-as-usual practices.

In particular, more and more retailers reported using RFID to streamline the audit process (as an alternative to infrequent organisational stock takes), which not only delivers considerable cost savings, but also provides more regular insights into the status of inventories. It also found that using RFID was having a significant impact on store processes. While RFID has always been key to inventory accuracy, some companies are now using this data to further improve business activities such as reducing phantom out of stocks, improving rapid stock search and find tasks and developing an efficient ship from store (SFS) capability.

Beyond the more traditional retail model, RFID was seen as a key facilitator in delivering omnichannel retailing by all those questioned. Without the inventory accuracy offered by RFID, few retailers believed they could reliably use their stores as fulfilment centres to output online orders. Indeed, one retailer admitted to only making RFID-enabled store stock available for this purpose. The use of RFID to improve online order accuracy is also becoming more commonplace, to reduce errors in the picking and packing process, therefore improving customer satisfaction. One retailer reported a 90% reduction in incorrect orders and customer complaints since introducing RFID into the process.

Looking to the future, one area where the benefits of RFID are starting to be tested is self-checkouts (SCO). While currently limited due to the need to have a 100% SKU tagging strategy in place, retailers are starting to recognize the benefits the technology could offer including increased speed of checkout, reduced likelihood of double scanning and thereby improved customer service. Another area where retailers also reported reaping the benefits of RFID was loss prevention. While none of those interviewed argued that reducing loss was the primary reason for investing in RFID, many acknowledged they were benefiting from it by using the technology to tackle refund frauds, enable dynamic loss product profiling, manage e-frauds and identify stolen products.

Combining expertise for more sustainable fashion
Ever wonder how much water was used to make your favorite cotton T-shirt? About 2,700 liters, or roughly three years of drinking water. What first comes to mind is probably the water that was essential to growing the cotton crop. Surprisingly, cotton is a drought-tolerant plant, and often less recognized is the strain that can be put on water resources to dye cotton textiles.

Progress is being made across the industry to lessen the strain on our precious water resources. Over the past several years, Dow collaborated with Cotton Incorporated to research and validate their product, ECOFAST™ Pure Sustainable Textile Treatment, that can help drastically reduce water and chemical use during the dyeing process. Major fashion brands are integrating it into their supply chain to dye more sustainably, without sacrificing color or quality.

Problem
Cotton dyeing is very resource-intensive and puts strain on local waterways. A large amount of water is used in the dyeing process – up to 5 trillion liters a year, or nearly enough to supply all of humanity with drinking water. Significant amounts of chemicals and dye are needed to get the desired colors consumers expect too. This is part of the reason textile mills account for 20% of industrial water pollution globally. Wastewater from the dyeing process can be polluting and require costly treatment and these challenges are found in regions that already face water scarcity.

Solution
Reforming processes in an industry as established as textiles is no easy feat. Collaboration across the sector is needed to bring about sustainable change. With that in mind, Cotton Incorporated approached Dow. They wanted help scaling a cotton technology to support more sustainable textile dyeing.Leveraging Cotton Incorporated’s industry expertise and Dow’s material science knowledge, they worked together to understand and validate the benefits of our patented ECOFAST™ Pure Sustainable Textile Treatment.

How can colors be more responsible?  
ECOFAST™ Pure is a pretreatment applied before the dyeing process to produce cationic cotton. This means the charge of cotton is permanently changed from negative to positive, so it acts like a magnet to attract negatively charged dye to the material. How does that benefit the textile mill? It significantly decreases the amount of water, chemicals, dye and energy needed to color cotton. A third party reviewed and validated life cycle assessment, available by request, helped further prove the benefits.

The machines are quick and reliable, with very little downtime, which is massively important to me as a business owner.”

Kornit Digital (Nasdaq: KRNT), a worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, announced United Kingdom-based Kitlocker has implemented two Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro systems for efficient, retail-quality production of branded and customized apparel on demand.

Kitlocker operates within several sectors of the sports and leisurewear market, providing team gear for schools, football clubs, and other sporting organizations, managing e-commerce platforms on behalf of those organizations. Enabling their customers to embellish popular styles on demand, in any quantity, drove them to explore available technologies for speed and versatility, particularly regarding polyester apparel, a cornerstone of sportswear. Kornit’s Poly Pro system is the only single-step digital direct-to-garment (DTG) technology developed specifically for imprinting polyester and poly-blend materials, extending the company’s patented process for waste-free production with durability, precise graphic detail, and the broadest colour gamut to popular sports and athleisure apparel.

“The Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro allows for far superior quality of finish for embellishment compared to traditional print techniques,” says Mike Kent, Co-Owner of Kitlocker. “When we were shopping around for alternatives, it was obvious the sort of single pass, and its ability to print on polyester, was certainly market-leading—there was no alternative that could do that. The machines are quick and reliable, with very little downtime, which is massively important to me as a business owner.”

According to Kent, the technology has enabled Kitlocker to approach new markets that had always been off-limits previously, driving incremental business and building out new product ranges. The process lent itself to simple integration with their workflow and online design tools, empowering customers to visualize their own pieces and receive finished gear, with superior retail quality and precise logo colour matching, in mere days.

“The system allows us bigger print areas, more colours, and more elaborate designs, and our customers to uniquely embellish their garments on a wide range of products from different brands with lots of different kinds of creative outputs,” adds Kent.

“Our systems help brands like Kitlocker sync supply with demand, eliminating waste and making them more reactive to customer needs,” says Chris Govier, KDEU Managing Director. “Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro extends the efficiency, sustainability, quality, and logistical benefits of digitization to the booming sports and athleisure apparel market. Being able to give their customers the widest assortment of gear, customized in any quantity, on demand, is a winning game plan for Kitlocker.”

ISKO™, a leading denim ingredient brand, has applied its Responsible Innovation™ approach to create a collection with environmental and social responsibility at its heart. Incorporating clever technologies, a myriad of finishes and colors and state-of-the-art production techniques – ISKO works beyond compliance to ensure the highest standards have been met for its latest collection. Style, comfort and new advancements will inspire everyone from passionate denimheads to those on a quest for a comfortable look and feel – from the most laidback setting to the most extravagant occasions.

The collection uses ISKO R-TWO™ fabrics, made of a blend of reused and/or recycled resources. Certified to Textile Exchange environmental credentials, R-TWO ensures full traceability of reused and recycled content, maximizing impact at scale.

Collection 2022 Vol.1 includes four lifestyles, featuring comfort, style, color options and surprising new editions. These are meant to provide inspiration, highlighting and enhancing the properties and benefits of ISKO’s innovations according to specific moods and vibes.

• Partnership offers customers access to full-scale garment design, manufacturing and packaging

Ascend Performance Materials has announced a commercial agreement with The S Group, a globally recognized provider of apparel design, development and manufacturing. The alliance will focus on commercialization of Acteev Protect™ antimicrobial yarns, fibers and fabrics, offering customers full-scale supply chain service from garment design to delivery.

The agreement pairs Ascend's world-class manufacturing operations with The S Group’s track record of success in the wholesale and direct-to-consumer apparel industry. “Our customers will now benefit from a revolutionary antimicrobial material combined with end-to-end support to guide a product from ideation to actualization,” said Lu Zhang, vice president of Acteev.

The S Group offers complete supply chain management for apparel brands, including product development, manufacturing, logistics, quality assurance, packaging and order fulfillment. The company lists some of the world’s most recognized brands among its partners, including Lululemon, New Balance and Mack Weldon. Athleisure, performance, scrubs, and seamless products such as intimates, leggings, active wear, socks and gaiters will be available.

Gary Peck, CEO of The S Group, says his team is excited about the commercial potential of Acteev, especially given the new reality of global health concerns. “Garment design has primarily focused on functionality, sustainability and comfort,” said Peck. “The past year has made us all aware that safety can be a valuable feature of fabrics as well, and Acteev checks all those boxes.”

Acteev is Ascend’s patent-pending technology that embeds zinc ions in a polymer to create fibers with long-lasting antimicrobial properties. The result is a fabric that destroys odor-causing bacteria and fungi. Acteev technology is available in a wide range of textiles featuring the flexibility, softness and durability of nylon 6,6.

Recent testing on knit fabric completed at the University of Cambridge has demonstrated that Acteev technology deactivates the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, with 99.9% efficacy on contact1. Ascend is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other governmental agencies to obtain the appropriate regulatory clearances to make specific claims regarding the technology’s antiviral properties.

• The stunning niLuu collection by former professional volleyball player Nilufer Bracco features smart Bemberg™ fabrics by Ipeker
• Wonderful kimonos for women and men, sleep and face masks are the key pieces of the PETA certified and cruelty-free collection, 100% Bemberg™ and vegan

Former professional volleyball player Nilufer Bracco recently launched niLuu, a PETA approved cruelty-free loungewear brand using 100% Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei that combines the iconic elegance of traditional silk with a socially and environmentally ethical production process.

Bemberg™ is a fiber made from the smart-tech transformation of cotton linters bio-utility materials that are converted through a traceable and transparent closed loop process; the Bemberg™ Ipeker Textile  fabric’s uniqueness comes from the exceptional quality characteristics achieved in design. The end result is a luxurious fabric so soft and smooth that it is almost like a second skin, breathes like cotton, drapes beautifully like silk, and reflects the cultural tradition of luxury textiles from founder Nilufer Bracco’s native country, Turkey. The first collection released by Miami based niLuu features premium quality kimono robes, sleep masks, face masks, and pillowcases that are available in a variety of deep and vibrant colors, and with a soft-brushed finish typical of premium sand-washed silk.

Designed to not only feel and look amazing but the entire niLuu collection is sustainable, biodegradable and 100% vegan.  Ipeker Textile, one of the major Bemberg™ fabric producers in Europe, proudly holds the title as the first vegan fabric producer in the world, receiving Vegan V-Label certificate on around 150 different products that adhere to the guidelines of the European Vegetarian Label, most of them developed with Bemberg™ yarn.

niLuu’s innovative Bemberg™ collection is hypoallergenic, antistatic, easy to care for, and it is also known to have several benefits for the skin. The breathability of the fabric helps to maintain body temperature; excellent moisture control means the fabric doesn’t dry out the skin or hair in the ways that cotton would and minimal friction against the skin means it is also known to have anti-aging benefits.  Speaking of niLuu’s high-quality Bemberg™ fabric, Founder, Nilufer Bracco adds, “Our innovative Bemberg™ vegan silk delivers the best of both worlds. Not only does our luxury fabric feel amazing when you use it, but you can also feel good knowing that it caused minimum harm to the planet when it was produced and that it will leave only the slightest trace when it reaches the end of its lifecycle.”

The luxury textiles brand has also shown its commitment to responsible practices, by partnering with 1% for the Planet pledging to donate 1% of their annual revenue to environmental organizations that work hard to protect our planet.

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, today announced that the 4,320 color references of its Color Atlas library have been selected by Shima Seiki and integrated into their ‘SDS-ONE APEX’ series of software for the design, planning and virtual sampling of textile and apparel.

Shima Seiki is a leading provider of digitally optimized solutions for the fashion industry, who combines its on-demand ‘WHOLEGARMENT’ knitting machine with realistic virtual sampling. Based on actual yarn data, fabric simulations generated on the SDS-ONE APEX-series are unparalleled in quality and realism. Design and simulation are available for knits and various other textile applications, and smooth transition to machine programming is possible for quick and accurate design-to-manufacture interface.

That is where the Color Atlas by Archroma® will considerably benefit to the users of Shima Seiki’s solutions.

The Color Atlas 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.

The Color Atlas continues to evolve in line with Archroma’s commitment to sustainability through innovation. The company describes it as “The Archroma Way to a sustainable world: safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”. All color references available in the Color Atlas have been formulated with products that comply with leading international eco-standards, and can be selected based on the desired sustainability profile.

Today, the Color Atlas contains 4,320 colors applicable on cotton poplin, almost the double compared to similar tools available to textile and fashion specialists. Technical support is available to designer, manufacturers, as well as brands and retailers, through Archroma’s global offices - for every single color from its selection to its implementation in production. Engineered color standards empowered by NFC technology are also available for all colors and reproducible in production.

With this new collaboration, the users of the SDS-ONE APEX design software of Shima Seiki will have at their disposal 4320 colors that they can visualize, evaluate and implement, in a considerably accelerated process from the first creative idea to the production to the final outlet, whether online or in brick-and-mortar shops.

“Accurate color evaluation and communication are very important issues for design work”, explains Hideya Ohtani, General Manager, Graphic System Development Division, at Shima Seiki. “We have high expectations for Archroma's Color Atlas to help our APEX series users develop their products in an even more smooth and accurate manner.“

“We are proud to bring our Color Atlas library to the users of Shima Seiki’s extremely advanced design software,” says Chris Hipps, Head of Co lor Management Services, at the Archroma Brand Studio. “Designers and users of the software will have at their disposal not only color options they never had before but also colors that they can trust will be implementable right away. That’s what we strive to do at Archroma: create a new way of working: safe, efficient and enhanced. It’s our nature!”

• A new partnership is born in the name of responsible innovation, relationships and a new twist in the fashion system

C.L.A.S.S., the international hub for responsible innovation founded by Giusy Bettoni, and SFASHION NET, the portal dedicated to micro critical fashion companies created by Guya Manzoni and Marina Savarese, join forces to give active support to micro enterprises and bring a wave of fresh air in the fashion system.

When you speak the same language and are moved by the same values, it is easy to meet on a common path. You can decide to walk alone, or to continue together in the same direction. This is what has happened since the meeting of C.L.A.S.S. and SFASHION NET, two realities, the first consolidated over time and the second recently born, which speak of responsible innovation, beauty, design, tradition, ethics and smart communication.

And who have decided to combine skills and ideas in the name of a revolutionary vision of fashion.

Micro companies and independent designers, the daily bread of SFASHION NET, will become the final addressees of a series of specialized services and courses developed by C.L.A.S.S. and will benefit from special conditions for finding materials in small quantities available on the Smart Source and ad hoc consultancy. All this to support the growth of these brands that have always moved on the wave of sustainability and ethical production, but often encountering many problems.

Online activities will alternate with offline meetings, because relationship is what makes the difference, even in the world of fashion.

“The spirit and values of the new generation of designers are what makes us optimistic about tomorrow’s fashion system. For this reason, together with SFASHION NET “every year” we will choose 1 or 2 creatives that are more in line with our common values and we will promote them at 360°, on all our channels and with a targeted communication activity starting from the collections that will be presented in February”.