From the Sector

Monforts textile technologist Jonas Beisel will outline the benefits of the company’s Econtrol® continuous dyeing process during the next free-to-attend VDMA Textile Machinery Webtalk which takes place on February 3rd 2022 at 13.00 (CET).

“Our customers are increasingly looking at shorter production runs and the more economical use of dyestuffs, as well as reducing water and energy consumption,” says Beisel. “We have gained many years of experience in the optimisation of dyeing processes through working with our customers, both at their own plants and in our Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

“Our Thermex universal hotflue for continuous dyeing, curing and thermosoling achieves unrivalled reliability even at high fabric speeds, for exceptional cost-effectiveness when dyeing both large and small batches of woven fabrics. The Econtrol® process for reactive dyestuffs now has an impressive number of references on the market, as a quick and economical one-pass pad-dry and wash off process. This is the ideal process for fast change technology and operational savings.”

Among key benefits are the saving of resources compared to conventional continuous dyeing methods, excellent reproducibility of pale to dark shades, from lab to bulk, and greater flexibility in production planning due to a resulting dry fabric that does not need an immediate wash off.

Econtrol® is a registered trademark of DyStar® Colours Distribution GmbH, Germany, and Bertram Seuthe of DyStar® will be providing recommendations for dyes and auxiliaries for the process during the VDMA event.

A third speaker, Guido Seiler of Fong’s Europe, will explain how Goller washing ranges help to significantly reduce the water that is conventionally wasted in the washing off process, through a combination of process and chemistry know-how and advanced technologies.

The collaboration between Tonello and denim designer Piero Turk gave birth to a sustainable denim collection, result of a combination of the latest responsible technologies, and created with the most eco-friendly fabrics selected by The Kingpins Show.

“When it comes to working on new developments, we always start from new ideas and the constant research that starts from a concept that becomes reality, by increasingly raising the bar of sustainability,” said Alice Tonello, R&D and Marketing Director of Tonello.

18 exclusive and contemporary denim pieces, result of the premium experience of Piero Turk, and Tonello with its new brand-new finishing process: The Laundry (R )Evolution.

This is a radically new conception thought to simplify and optimize the entire garment finishing process.

It involves only 2 technologies in the entire finishing cycle, reducing waste and optimizing resources: LaserBlaze, and The All-in-One-System. Finally we use Metro, our software that processes real data, in real time to check all laundry consumption, optimizing processing times and improving performance.

The All-in-One System performs all washing operations by integrating 4 sustainable technologies into a single machine: ECOfree 2, which uses ozone in both the water and air; NoStone® for authentic and pumice-free stone-wash effects; UP, for washing processes with at least 50% less water; Core, a nebulizing system improving performance and reducing water consumption.

As a result of The Laundry (R )Evolution, Tonello developed two innovative and patent-pending processes: OBleach and Wake.

OBleach is the new Tonello process, which, by using only ozone, “returns to the future” with an authentic, sustainable and cool Bleach. Without chemicals.
This is possible thanks to a combination of the technologies part of our All-In-One System.
In short, the real Bleach without Bleach has finally arrived. And this in the year of the total ban of permanganate too.

Wake is the first totally natural dyeing system that uses only plants and biodegradable vegetable waste like flowers, berries and roots, without harmful chemicals additives.

The capsule collection will be displayed at KINGPINS24 on October 27th during the seminar held by Alice Tonello and Piero Turk.

• Circularity at the centre

PG DENIM, the designer project by Paolo Gnutti, is ready for several important events scheduled for the autumn with ground-breaking interpretations and a new – increasingly green – business model. The occasion is its participation in the Blue Zone at Munich Fabric Start (Munich, 3-5 September 2019), a space which is increasingly often reserved for companies and projects with a high innovation rate in the world of denim.

PG DENIM at the German exhibition will be presenting important product innovations, but most notably new concepts developed for the S/S 2021 season. The focus here is on circularity, seen from a dual perspective: the product with the no longer traditional alternation of seasons, and a sustainabilityoriented approach.

Seasons meet

The new PG DENIM approach is geared towards overlapping seasonality, with less and less marked separations between projects dedicated to the spring-summer and fall-winter lines. The collections by PG DENIM can thus be increasingly defined as a “mix of products without seasonality”. Its focal points are innovation alongside the concept behind the initial idea, as opposed to just the season. This trend, explains Paolo Gnutti, CEO and R&D Head at PG DENIM, is also due to registering the fact that seasonality – in terms of environment and trends – is changing at an increasingly rapid pace. As a response to this situation, the choice has been made to design new collections starting from macro-trends and presenting fabrics for garments which are “easy to wear”, suitable for both warm and cold temperatures, in a true melting pot  of weights and sizes.

The lines for the previous season are thus reintroduced and restyled playing with weights and sizes, within a range where flock meets ultra-light fabric bases, or where vinyl is combined with typically summer weights which shift the fabric towards the world of “paper” with crispy touches, resulting in extraordinarily lightweight and strong items at the same time. Also the GARAGE DENIM has been upgraded with fluid and smoothed touched for garments which are easy to wear and have a strong personality.

Partnership with The Denim Window

The PG DENIM season is also enhanced by its partnership in The Denim Window project, which has resulted in a limited series of Creative Capsule Collections, derived from the idea of bringing together companies which had already worked or were working together, trying to highlight – through small capsule collections – the best of what had already been produced by traditional businesses. This has resulted  in three trailblazing capsules, two of which designed in partnership by PG DENIM and companies the likes of M&J Group, Cadica and Greenwear. Several copies of these collections have been made to travel the world, and – after the official presentation in July – they will have a special corner, The Denim Window, in the Bluezone at Munich Fabric Start.

The “Circular Programme” and the five “Rs” of sustainability

Also the PG DENIM approach to accountability in production processes has been enhanced by implementing the “Circular Programme”. As part of our corporate vision, Italian-style production is combined with compliance with what have become known as “the five Rs”, that is to say key concepts underlying the design and manufacturing model: Reduce (everything you are not using), Repair (everything you can), Reuse (anything available to you), Recycle (all that is left), Respect (everything around you).

This is the philosophy underlying each individual process at PG DENIM, and leading to new specific programmes which have been its business focus over the past few months:

1) Reducing the environmental impact during the fabric dyeing phase in reaction and sulphurbased processes, where the use of chemicals has been reduced by 40%, water consumption by 50% and CO2 emissions by 60%, which has also resulted in better penetration and a better result in the crocking process. This has led to producing 10 new articles which will be launched on the market.

2) Recycling all waste from processing and after use, creating a range of garments where cotton is actually obtained from regenerating these two kinds of waste. In this regard, PG DENIM for now is the only company on the market able to process with a percentage of recycled product exceeding 60% of the total, whereas the average for this kind of manufacturing is generally about 35%.

As regards regular production, on the other hand, PG DENIM follows stringent international standards, including Dtox, Reach and Gots in all its processing phases, also using BCI cottons and the Organic Cotton Standard for raw materials. Last but not least, it was recently awarded the GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certification.

Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, announces the appointment of Marcos Furrer to the post of President Brand & Performance Textile Specialties, and Innovation, based in Archroma's headquarters in Reinach, Switzerland.

Marcos Furrer will take over from Thomas Winkler who will retire at the end of March 2018 after more than 30 years in the textile industry, among which 12 years at the helm of the business.
Announcing the appointment, Archroma CEO Alexander Wessels said: “Marcos Furrer was rather an obvious choice when we started to look for a potential successor for Thomas Winkler. He has the right combination of strong textile expertise and leadership skills that we need to drive the business in line with Archroma’s ambitious growth strategy.”

A Swiss national with a 20 years career, Mr Furrer has earned a strong reputation as a well-rounded business manager with excellent leadership skills and a taste for delivering on targets.

Biography
A Chemical Engineer from the Ingenieurschule Beider Basel, Mr Furrer started his career with Clariant in Switzerland as Product Manager Sulphur Dyes, Textile Business, in 1997. He then grew in the organization as Head of Continuous Dyeing Cellulosic (1999 to 2001); Head of Business Unit (BU) Textile Dyes and Textile Chemicals in México (2001 to 2005); Global Head for the Product Group Cellulosic Dyes (2005 to 2007), Head of BU Textile Chemicals Latin America (2007 to 2009); Head of BU Textile Chemicals Americas (2009 to 2012); Head of Emulsions (January 2012 to June 2012); and Head of Marketing and Sales Plastic and Special Applications, BU Pigments (January 2013 to 2015).

His latest role as Head of Regional Business Line Europe, BU Pigments, Strategic Plastics, brought him back to Switzerland in January 2015, with the mission to implement the new BU Pigments regional structure in Europe.

Mr Furrer speaks 5 languages: English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and French.