From the Sector

Wolford is recognized for high quality Skin wear and is a favorite among fashion influencers. Wolford realizes that when it comes to luxury, consumers expect brands to be responsible. In response, Wolford understands sustainable luxury is a new brand ingredient and are dedicated to expanding their collections each season and infusing responsible materials.

This July at Interfiliere, gain a sneak peek into the launch of Wolford’s Aurora collection of leggings and pullovers that are Cradle to Cradle gold certified, first one in the world! The new styles created use premium stretch yarn belonging to the ROICA™ Eco-Smart family, the world’s first yarn awarded Cradle2Cradle Material Health Gold Level Certificate and Hohenstein Environment compatibility certification, which provides evidence of compliance and offers confidence as a responsible choice. In addition to premium stretch yarn from ROICA™ Eco-Smart family, the Aurora pieces are made using two other responsible fibers, Lenzing Modal® a cellulosic fiber derived from sustainable forestry, and infinito® by Lauffenmühle, a specially modified oil based biodegradable polymer.’

Instead of using new materials, Wolford’s new collection is developed to return the ingredients back to the cycle, they simply borrow them for the lifetime of the product, which supports responsible product ingredient sourcing. At the end of the Aurora collection product lifecycle, Wolford will return them to an industrial composting station to naturally breakdown without releasing harmful environmental substances. Wolford is committed to becoming part of the solution and activating change as they continue to explore responsible material innovations.

Be sure to attend Première Vision NY Smart Talk on July 17th, 2018 at 2:00p to meet to Wolford’s own Andreas Roehrich, Director, Product Develoment & Innovation to discuss technology and Wolford’s quest to become a responsible luxury brand.
 

This July at Interfilière, discover responsible innovation and well-being at the ROICA™ booth.

ROICA™ partners create innovative fabrics for the Modern Wardrobe. See, feel, imagine and learn why brands are choosing ROICA™, view the collection of superior functional fabrics that revolutionize the premium stretch market, thanks to advanced yarn solutions dedicated to specific needs of the contemporary consumer.

Spearheading the stretch market, ROICA™ elevates new standards for intelligent contemporary consumers. ROICA™ representatives will excite you as they demonstrate functionality, their advanced color technology system, and show you a fantastic range of stretch innovations from smart shapewear to soft compression that can enhance designs. Come visit the ROICA™ booth to learn about the ongoing commitment to responsible innovation and creativity. As you enter, you will experience 3 Modern Wardrobe concept zones that showcase:

1. ROICA™ Lifestyle – a beautiful selection of commercial lingerie, swimwear and nightwear items from leading brands that include ROICA™, embracing the ROICA™ Eco Smart family of yarns.

2. ROICA™ Innovation – an exciting area that shares our textile partners’ innovations to inspire endless possibilities. This area will showcase lingerie concept garments for brands that will spark ideas for AW 19/20.

3. ROICA™ Lab – the zone that navigates you toward the latest hi-tech Modern Wardrobe solutions. This zone hosts unmatched premium stretch performance designed to exceed contemporary business and consumer desires belonging to ROICA™ Eco-Smart family and ROICA™ Feel Good family .

ROICA™ Eco-Smart family, the world's first range of responsibly made premium stretch fibers creating ROICA™ smart yarns that offer sustainable solutions with prestigious certifications:

• Global Recycling Standard (GRS) Version 3.0 certified by Textile Exchange - ROICA™ Version 3.0 yarn constructed with more than 50% pre-consumer recycled content.
• Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold for product and ingredients - ROICA™ yarn evaluated throughout the supply chain for lower impacts on human and environmental health. Striving toward eliminating all toxic and unidentified chemicals for a safe continuous cycle. Hohenstein Environment Compatibility Certificate - ROICA™ proudly breaks down without releasing harmful substances.

ROICA™ partners featuring ROICA™ Eco-Smart family include:
Giemme, Iluna Group S.p.A, Maglificio Ripa S.p.A, M.I.T.I. Spa, Penn Textile Solutions, Sofileta, Tessitura Colombo Antonio Tintex Textiles

ROICA™ Feel Good family, a brilliant range of advanced stretch fibers that deliver personal performance and measurable wellness. Thus, providing freshness and comfort metrics perfect for travel, sport, leisure and more. The family now offers a premium innovation:

• ROICA™ CF, an innovative yarn that neutralizes odors thanks to an active ingredient interlocked within the yarn. This durable stretch yarn offers a fantastic property to every wearer.

ROICA™ partners featuring ROICA™ CF include: Maglificio Ripa S.p.A., TINTEX Textiles.

ROICA™ also presents the following families through our textile partners’ innovations within the ROICA™ Innovation area:

• ROICA™ Color Perfect family - advanced color technology system that delivers a perfect color match finish with an undetectable matte look for the stretch materials.
• ROICA™ Contour family - high performance stretch yarn control that delivers a calibrated form optimizing power, softness and comfort.
• ROICA™ Resistance family - innovations linked to durability and functions to match particular applications including heat and chemical resistance in make and wear.

• Lectra – ESCP Europe ‘Fashion & Technology’ Chair round-table event hears panelists emphasize the need for fashion companies to embrace Industry 4.0.

Paris, February 27, 2018 – Lectra, the technological partner for companies using fabrics and leather, the French business school ESCP Europe and their joint ‘Fashion & Technology’ Chair explored the impact of Industry 4.0 on fashion’s value chain during a recent insightful round table discussion at ESCP Europe’s London campus.
For the participants Robert Diamond, Founder and CEO, Fernbrook Partners; Dan Hartley, Global Head of Digital Commerce, AllSaints; Laëtitia Hugé, Vice-President, Product Marketing, Lectra; Pierre Mercier, Senior Partner and Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group; and Evelthon Vassilou, CEO, Alison Hayes, there was consensus. Industry 4.0 represents unparalleled opportunities to take the fashion industry forward.

From brand to manufacturer, panelists from across the value chain emphasized the necessity for the industry to embrace the alliance between man and machines to leverage massive benefits, from quicker decision-making to cost-reduction.
Exploring the advantages of Industry 4.0 technology, Evelthon Vassilou commented: “Interpreting the data of what is, and isn’t, selling should help to speed up decisions. You can react very quickly across the entire supply chain, and either stop producing something unsuccessful or ramp up production if successful. Data and data analytics is not sufficient, to succeed this also requires a high degree of trust and integration between retailers and suppliers.”

“It’s about using technology to deliver continuous improvement in everyday business,” said Robert Diamond. “People are not good at making a large volume of repeatable decisions with many different data inputs”. Identifying where machines, and where people, bring value is an important part of embracing Industry 4.0. “If the business decision, or the outcome of the resolution tomorrow, is pretty much the same as what happened yesterday, then there is a chance for machine learning to help improve the situation.”
For Pierre Mercier, technology propelled by Industry 4.0 is disrupting former sources of competitive advantage, “forcing companies to rethink how they want to compete in their respective industries, and how to use data to compete differently. The common denominator in the fashion ecosystem is that everyone is facing the opportunity for a step change and need to figure out where to double down and accelerate their transformation.”

“Agility and flexibility are increasingly important for fashion players. Cutting-edge technology is supporting the fashion industry as it steps into the 4.0 era, ensuring businesses have the right solutions in their own ecosystems, to effectively harness the right data to make the right decisions,” stated Laëtitia Hugé.

At UK fashion brand AllSaints, valuable data harnessed from the net promoter score is paramount for their business. “We take customer feedback very seriously and we use it as a framework for our internal roadmap - from a tech and development point of view, through to design and fit, the customer is at the heart of everything we do,” stated Dan Hartley. In addition, he underlined that using technology across communications “will be huge going forward for AllSaints. From supply chain to store teams, we aim to use a cloud-based system that works within our own eco-system, complementing our agile model.”
The round table was moderated by the co-director of Lectra-ESCP Europe ‘Fashion and Technology’ Chair Valérie Moatti.
 

• Debut BCI Pavilion joined by Sateri and Birla Planet Pavilions to showcase eco-friendly products
• Six special display zones cater to latest industry trends

Green products continue to be sought after more and more by consumers nowadays, and textiles are no exception. In order to promote sustainable development throughout the industry, a number of yarn and fibre manufacturers have endeavoured to introduce green products into the early stages of textile production, and Yarn Expo, as the leading yarn and fibre business platform in Asia, serves as an ideal stage for these suppliers to gain exposure to buyers looking for such products.

Debut BCI Pavilion joined by Sateri and Birla Planet Pavilions to showcase eco-friendly products

Amongst a record number of exhibitors at this October’s Yarn Expo Autumn, the debut BCI Pavilion as well as the Sateri Pavilion and Birla Planet Pavilion that include eco-friendly products are certainly amongst the highlights this year. Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is a global organisation with more than 1,000 members including spinners, weavers and garment manufacturers throughout the entire cotton sector. It aims to promote sustainable cotton production, benefiting workers, customers and the environment as a whole. They will form the BCI Pavilion in Yarn Expo for the first time, with five spinners showcasing their cotton yarn manufactured with eco-friendly cotton.

Sateri is a well-known brand in China which specialises in viscose rayon. This natural and high-quality fibre is made from trees grown on renewable plantations. They are the largest producer of viscose fibre in China with three mills and an annual capacity of 550,000 tons, and also have Oeko-Tex certification. This October, nine other domestic exhibitors will form the Sateri Pavilion to demonstrate their comfortable textiles and skin-friendly hygiene products made from viscose fibre.

With over 50 years of experience in manufacturing cellulosic fibres, Birla Group strives to provide greener, purer and safer products to its customers. The Group has operated in China for three years now, and values Yarn Expo’s effectiveness in helping them to promote their brand and attract a wide range of buyers. “We managed to get connected with a number of downstream buyers at the fair. We have introduced our company and products to them that there is great chance for future cooperation.” said Mr Peter Dong, Senior Manager of Aditya Birla Group.   Coming back this year, the Birla Planet Pavilion will feature three of their highlighted fibres – Birla Viscose, Birla Modal and Birla Spunshades at the fair.

Six special display zones cater to latest industry trends

The textile industry in China is undergoing a structural change with keen competition, so domestic suppliers have to develop innovative and quality products to satisfy the ever-changing markets. To match the specific needs of various buyers, Yarn Expo has established six distinct display zones gathering the leading domestic companies, namely Colourful Chemical Zone, Natural Cotton Yarn Zone, Fancy Yarn Zone, Quality Wool Zone, Green Linen Zone and e-Commerce Zone.

Not only are a number of chemical fibre products with innovative, eco-friendly and health & comfort properties on offer from exhibitors, but visitors can also gain insights into product trends in these areas from the 2017/18 China Fibre Trend Area and Innovative Textile Material Forum, both of which feature in the Colourful Chemical Zone. The Natural Cotton Yarn Zone is another highlight of the three-day show, where exhibitors will showcase their natural cotton yarn and a range of functional products. Around 50 suppliers will also showcase their latest collections in the expanded Fancy Yarn Zone.
In response to the strong demand for fibre and yarn products in China and the Asian region, the coming autumn edition of Yarn Expo will double its exhibition space, and will accommodate around 500 global yarn suppliers from 13 countries and regions. Together with Yarn Expo Autumn 2017, three other textile trade fairs are held concurrently from 11 – 13 October in the same venue: Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition, PH Value and the China International Fashion Fair (CHIC).

Yarn Expo Autumn is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; The Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; China Cotton Textile Association; China Wool Textile Association; China Chemical Fiber Association; China Bast & Leaf Fibres Textiles Association; and China Textile Information Centre.