From the Sector

• Expert Speakers Delivering Key Region Market Updates

Industry leaders will gain a compelling region-by-region view of the nonwovens industry from experts presenting the latest nonwovens trends in their areas of the world at IDEA®22, March 29-31 in Miami Beach.

Speakers with the latest knowledge will deliver important nonwoven market updates, demand forecasts and research findings on the industry in China, Asia, South America, North America and Europe.

The conference will explore how each region has responded to the pandemic challenges and supply chain issues with new innovations and solutions, providing IDEA®  attendees with vital insights for decision-making.

Program highlights include:

• Overview and Green Innovation Development of China’s Nonwovens Industry,  by Guimei Li, Vice President, China Nonwovens and Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA) on March 29
• South America – Land of Opportunity or Land of Turbulence? The Recent History and Trends That Are Shaping the South American Nonwovens Market, presented by Mariana Mynarski, Corporate Marketing Manager, Fitesa on March 29
• Asian Nonwovens Production and Market Update by Chan-Hyou Park, Chairman, Asia Nonwoven Fabrics Association (ANFA) on March 30
• Understanding the State of the North American Nonwovens Industry and a Market Gone Mad presented by Brad Kalil, INDA Director of Market Intelligence and Economic Insights on March 31
• An Overview of Key Issues Facing Nonwovens on Top of European Market Trends presented by Pierre Wiertz, General Manager, EDANA on March 31

IDEA® Award Presentations
Another conference highlight will be the presentation of the IDEA® 2022 Achievement Awards in partnership with Nonwovens Industry magazine, based on the results of online voting in six categories as well as the announcement of the first Sustainability Advancement Award on March 30.

IDEA® – the World’s Preeminent Event for the Nonwovens & Engineered Fabrics Industry – will feature several hundred exhibitors from a myriad of industry sectors and is expected to once again draw an audience of several thousand senior-level buyers and attendees from over 60 countries to the Miami Beach Convention Center. A welcome reception will be held to officially kick off the event on March 28.

IDEA®22 Essentials of Nonwovens Training Courses
Product developers, marketing managers, technical sales, support and other professionals can expand their industry-focused knowledge by attending the IDEA®22 Essentials of Nonwovens Training Courses.

This vital training program will provide an immersive dive into the latest nonwoven technologies, industry segments and more with courses on absorbent hygiene cores, making nonwovens, industrial wipes and consumer wipes.

A must-attend educational session on patent searching on March 31 will cover the latest major changes in patent searches on the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website that has been updated to enhance user experience. 

Shawmut Corporation hosted Deputy United States Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi at the company’s headquarters and state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in West Bridgewater, Mass., as part of the ambassador’s inaugural visit to textile manufacturing facilities in the New England area.

Ambassador Bianchi’s visit comes at a pivotal time for the U.S. textile supply chain, which produced $64 billion in output in 2020 and employed nearly 530,000 workers. Shawmut Corporation is part of the broader U.S. textile industry that has been at the forefront of a domestic production chain that has collectively manufactured over one billion personal protective equipment (PPE) items during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ambassador’s visit to Shawmut included a tour of the company’s manufacturing facility and a roundtable discussion highlighting the critical need for policies supporting a domestic supply chain and the innovative nature of the modern textile industry and its important contribution to the U.S. economy. Shawmut, a fourth-generation, family-run global advanced materials and textile manufacturer, is a global leader in automotive textile composites, innovative technical fabrics and custom laminating services, employing more than 700 employees worldwide with 10 global manufacturing plants and seven commercial offices. The company has also contributed greatly to U.S. PPE efforts, investing $20 million in a new state-of-the-art facility, which can produce up to 180 million NIOSH-approved N95 respirators and other PPE annually and created hundreds of new local jobs.

Ambassador Bianchi said, “Today’s tour of Shawmut’s manufacturing facilities and the roundtable discussion with textile industry executives was an invaluable opportunity for me to see innovative U.S. textile manufacturing first-hand, to learn more about the challenges that U.S. textile manufacturing faces, and to explore ways in which the Administration and industry can cooperate to support a worker-centric trade policy.”

During the visit, U.S. textile executives spanning the fiber, yarn, fabric, and finished product textile and apparel industries participated in a roundtable with the ambassador at which they discussed the innovative achievements and competitiveness of the domestic industry and outlined priority issues in Washington, such as the importance of Buy American and Berry Amendment government procurement policies, maintaining strong rules of origins in free trade agreements and the need to address larger systemic trade issues with China.

For more than 70 years BRÜCKNER has been in the construction of drying and finishing lines for the textile and nonwovens industry. In the nonwovens sector, the company supplies worldwide thermofusion ovens, dryers, coating and heat-setting lines. On the IDEA 2022 trade fair in Miami, USA, BRÜCKNER presents together with its American representation FI-TECH new machine concepts and solutions for different applications in the mentioned fields.

The production of nonwovens always requires a bonding process after the nonwovens formation, where the loosely laid fibers are bonded to a resilient fiber composite. For this purpose, depending on the process, different ovens and dryers are used. BRÜCKNER supplies the necessary lines for all applications. The production program is completed by different impregnation and coating units as well as slitting and winding equipment. BRÜCKNER's customers produce geo nonwovens, filter media, hygiene and medical textiles or different fabrics for the automotive and transport industry

For the production of highloft nonwovens the double-belt thermofusion oven SUPRA-FLOW BX is used. This oven system operates according to the air-through principle and can be perfectly adapted to the product requirements in terms of flow speed, flow direction and temperature on a field-by-field basis.  
The SUPRA-FLOW BX can produce nonwovens up to a thickness of 280 mm and a basis weight of max. 8 kg/m². The available working widths vary between 2400 and 5200 mm at production speeds of up to 100 m/min.  
For geotextile projects, the POWER-FRAME stenter is usually used, which impresses with its uniformity in terms of temperature distribution as well as productivity. In addition, the fabric can be stretched in a targeted manner by transporting it in the stenter chain. This has a controlled influence on fabric width, fiber orientation and fabric shrinkage. Working widths of up to over 7 meters are not uncommon with geotextile finishing systems.

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas, representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber through finished sewn products, welcomes the appointment of Jennifer Knight as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles, Consumer Goods and Materials at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Knight will oversee the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), the Office of Materials Industries and the Office of Consumer Goods within the International Trade Administration’s Industry and Analysis unit.

Statement from NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas:
We applaud the Biden administration for appointing Jennifer Knight to serve as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles, Consumer Goods and Materials.
Jennifer’s extensive and successful career in U.S. textile manufacturing, as well as her experience in setting up international operations in regions such as Central America, is an enormous asset as she takes on this critical role.

As onshoring and nearshoring efforts gain momentum amidst the global supply chain crisis, Jennifer’s appointment could not have come at a more pivotal time. We couldn’t be more delighted with her appointment and strong familiarity with our sector and beyond.  Jennifer will be a strong advocate for American workers and industries, and we look forward to working with her on the U.S. textile industry’s top priorities in the months and years ahead.

A broad coalition of industry and labor groups has sent a letter to House and Senate leadership urging support for the Import Security and Fairness Act (included in the broader House America COMPETES Act), which aims to stop China from exploiting the de minimis threshold that allows imports valued under $800 to come into the United States without paying duties and taxes, bypassing U.S. Customs inspections and providing a backdoor to Chinese goods produced with forced labor.

The coalition sent the letter to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), urging the leaders to strongly support and prioritize the provision in the underlying China bill.

The letter was signed by the following organizations:

• AFL-CIO
• Alliance for American Manufacturing
• Coalition for a Prosperous America
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• Narrow Fabrics Institute
• National Council of Textile Organizations
• Service Employees International Union
• U.S. Footwear Manufacturers Association
• U.S. Industrial Fabrics Institute
• United Steelworkers
• Workers United/SEIU

See the full letter here.

Kornit Digital Ltd. announced that Portuguese textile specialist Blur has installed the Kornit Presto S with Softener solution for sustainable, single-step direct-to-fabric production of multiple fabrics in any quantity. The print services provider, which supports the production needs of high fashion brands has previously installed multiple Kornit Atlas and Avalanche systems for industrial-scale digital direct-to-garment (DTG) production on demand.

Using Kornit’s efficient, eco-conscious, proprietary technology and consumables, Blur provides rapid fulfillment of orders ranging from a single piece to mass production, with an average order of about 500 items. Since implementing the Kornit Presto S, the system has been in operation day and night, producing samples during normal business hours and fulfilling diverse incoming orders overnight.

Mariano Dias, CEO at Blur, believes Kornit technology empowers his business to adapt quickly to the constantly evolving needs of his clients, which include both larger established brands seeking large quantities and ambitious designers seeking to build a brand with limited risk or investment. In many cases, they are fulfilling different types of designs for clients serving both Europe and North American markets.
“The quality is just outstanding, and some clients only want to print with Kornit technology”, said Dias. “We are extremely happy with Kornit’s collaboration, and our printers are working perfectly around the clock. Any textile printing company looking to move into fashion and work with famous brands will need both roll-to-roll and DTG capabilities. Our recommendation for success is to buy the Kornit Atlas and Kornit Presto printers.”

He added that Blur’s success with its current Kornit systems, as well as increased demand for sustainably-produced textiles, has the business considering the addition of a second Kornit Presto S to accommodate additional volumes.

“As with many of our customers, Blur was built around more traditional textile operations—in their case embroidery—before discovering the vast potential for growth and versatility offered by quick, efficient, digital production on demand,” said Chris Govier, Kornit Digital Europe, Middle East, and Africa President. “Whether you’re serving an internationally-known fashion house looking for more agile fulfillment and simpler supply chains, or the independent creator hoping to bring unique inspirations to life, Kornit’s product portfolio offers continuous opportunities to answer market needs, create new markets, and scale upwards under any conditions.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris announced significant multimillion-dollar investments by Parkdale Mills and six other companies today, as part of the Administration’s Call to Action to the private sector to promote economic opportunity in the region, as her office works to address the root causes of migration.

Vice President Harris, who is overseeing diplomatic efforts with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, announced several private sector commitments to strengthen economic opportunities in the Northern Triangle and made remarks at a White House roundtable, which included Anderson Warlick, Chairman and CEO of Parkdale Mills. The textile and apparel co-production chain is one of the most essential supply chains for employment and economic development in both the United States and the Northern Triangle region, currently supporting over 1 million jobs in the United States and the Central American region. The Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and its strong rules of origin are the primary reasons this co-production chain exists, which is seeing significant growth this year.

North Carolina-headquartered Parkdale Mills, one of the largest manufacturers of spun yarn and cotton consumer products in the world, will make a multimillion-dollar investment in a new yarn spinning facility in Honduras and make an additional substantial investment to support existing operations in Hillsville, Virginia. This investment will help customers shift 1 million pounds of yarn per week away from supply chains in Asia and China and enhance U.S. and CAFTA-DR co-production resilience and increase regional product offerings. Parkdale’s announced investment will create hundreds of jobs in Honduras and further support hundreds of employees in Parkdale’s Hillsville operations.  

Recently, administration officials from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and the Vice President’s office met with the U.S. textile industry to reaffirm the importance of rules of origin in nearshoring production chains, helping address labor and environmental challenges and mitigating supply chain risk.

“I would like to sincerely thank Vice President Harris for making this announcement and leading the effort with private industry to create more economic opportunities in northern Central America and the United States,” said Anderson Warlick, Chairman and CEO of Parkdale Mills. “Parkdale’s investments will support good paying jobs in the United States and in the Central American region and significantly increase our extensive product offering and capacity, including the production of sustainable specialty yarns.

Parkdale sees an enormous opportunity for brands and retailers to re-shore and nearshore production supply chains and double the size of U.S.-CAFTA-DR trade, because of the rules of origin in our trade agreement and a shift in sourcing by brands and retailers mitigating their supply chain sourcing risks.  We are excited about what this opportunity means for jobs in the U.S. and the region for this critical production chain and couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of this effort.  We look forward to working with the Vice President and her team on strengthening the textile and apparel production chains in the U.S. and region.”

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas, said, “This is an exciting and important announcement by Parkdale and Vice President Harris. Our industry has invested billions of dollars in the U.S. and in the region as a result of the investment-based rules of origin in the CAFTA-DR agreement, which ensures the job benefits of the agreement are reserved for the parties to the agreement.  Additional substantial announcements on further investment in textile and apparel production are expected soon.

As brands and retailers are seeking more environmentally sustainable, vertically integrated, transparent, and quick turnaround supply chains, our collective industries stand ready to work with companies that are seeking to mitigate sourcing strategies as Asian supply chains have faced enormous production constraints.  Further verticalization in the industry, like Parkdale’s announcement today, allows broader product diversification and grows jobs across the textile and apparel production chain.

We are thrilled with today’s announcement because it is a win-win for American and Central American workers and our environment and a huge opportunity to further recalibrate supply chains out of China and Asia. This valuable co-production chain between the U.S. and the CAFTA-DR region accounts for $12 billion in two-way trade and billions of dollars of investment. Significant growth is occurring in our sector and is expected to continue as supply chains continue to recalibrate.  We are delighted about this today’s announcement and appreciate the Administration’s strong support.”

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas issued a statement welcoming the Biden administration’s launch of new database and waiver process for government contract solicitations made under the Buy American Act.

You can read the statement here.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas issued a statement following President Biden’s remarks on the global supply chain crisis and stressed the importance of investing onshoring and nearshoring:

"We appreciate President Biden’s call to ensure we are building more resilient and reliable supply chains and to invest in our manufacturing industries here at home, in his address earlier today.

There is a reason we got into this mess and there is a reason we have a global supply chain crisis. Years of offshoring production in a race to the bottom –exacerbated by predatory trade practices that have undermined so many manufacturing industries--has led to a tipping point. In fact, it was not too long ago that nurses in New York City and beyond were wearing garbage bags as gowns as our overreliance on Chinese production chains exposed severe fragilities in keeping our health care workers safe during the height of the pandemic.

China’s virtually unlimited and unrealistic pricing power coupled with its subsidies and lack of enforceable environmental standards strips benefits and undermines policy objectives, and leaves us in an untenable situation of overreliance on a foreign supply chain for critical products and raw materials. This must change.

We must hold China accountable for predatory trade practices that have offshored our industries and our jobs. We must onshore and nearshore more textile and apparel production chains out of Asia to the U.S. and also to Western Hemisphere trade partners. This has a multitude of benefits to ensure more reliability in production and also has remarkable job benefits to U.S. manufacturers and our allied trading partners who adhere to higher labor and environmental standards. Further, it will help address the migration crisis and grow better paying jobs.

Now is the time to we need to unlock long-term commitments to source product from the USA and from our Hemispheric partners.  If we moved another 10 percent of global production to the U.S. and the Hemisphere, imagine the benefits that could be achieved.  Ensuring further verticalization and investment in all aspects of the industry, from raw materials to finished products, is good for the American economy and workers in the U.S. and in the region.

Our industry stands ready to help and provide the solutions to onshore and nearshore these production chains that benefit manufacturing workers, the U.S. economy, our Western Hemisphere allies, and consumers.   Further, onshoring and nearshoring these critical production chains has remarkable benefits for the environment and addresses the growing, systemic and alarming issues associated with climate change.  

It is critical that supply chains mitigate risks so that we are never in this situation again.  We appreciate President Biden recognizing the value of onshoring these critical production chains and stand ready to work with the administration in these efforts."

Milliken & Company and American & Efird (A&E) hosted United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai in two separate visits to the companies’ state-of-the-art textile manufacturing facilities, marking an unprecedented visit to the heart of the U.S. textile industry in the Carolinas by the nation’s top trade chief.

Ambassador Tai’s visit comes at a pivotal time for the U.S. textile supply chain, which produced $64 billion in output in 2020 and employed nearly 530,000 workers. The industry has been at the forefront of a domestic production chain manufacturing over a billion personal protective equipment (PPE) items during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ambassador’s visit to Milliken included a tour of the company’s Magnolia plant in Blacksburg, S.C., and a roundtable discussion highlighting the important role women contribute to textiles, the critical need for policies supporting a domestic supply chain, and the significant impact of the sector to the U.S. economy. Milliken is one of the largest textile companies in the U.S., employing more than 6,000 associates domestically and an additional 1,350 associates globally. Milliken’s Textile Business alone employs 2,500 people across eight counties in South Carolina and is the fourth largest manufacturing employer in the Upstate.

On the second leg of her trip, Ambassador Tai visited American & Efird’s manufacturing facility in Mount Holly, N.C. American & Efird operates as part of Elevate Textiles and its global portfolio of advanced products and distinguished textile brands, including A&E, Burlington, Cone Denim, Gütermann and Safety Components, and representing more than 500 years of textile manufacturing knowledge.

During the visit, U.S. textile executives spanning the fiber, yarn, fabric, and finished product textile and apparel industry participated in a roundtable with the Ambassador at which they discussed the competitiveness of the domestic industry, outlined priority issues in Washington, such as the importance of the Western Hemisphere co-production chain and ways to jointly support domestic supply chains through Buy American and Berry Amendment policies that help onshore production, spur investment, maintain the safety and security of our armed forces and generate new jobs.