From the Sector

A selected supply chain combined with big data model to shape a controlled eco-innovative change, for Bangladesh and the entire sector. The Kingpins Show Amsterdam (23-24 October 2019) is once again the chosen setting for GENESIS:M&J Group to present its highly innovative proposals and latest advancements in the world of garment manufacturing. The strategy behind the new approach of the Group’s leading facility is based on three main pillars: an accurate supply-chain selection, unique sustainable data control with START TO MEASURE™ system improved, and the development of safer work conditions and processes.

Confirming its prestigious partnerships with brands like Diesel, G-Star Raw, Jack & Jones, C&A and Celio, among many others, GENESIS brings on the stage of the world-renowned denim exhibition its vision to drive positive change in the sector. In the ever-changing denim and apparel scenario the company’s strategy aims at leading a forefront approach in major garment manufacturing, relying on high-quality standards and unprecedent technological innovation. The goal is not only to consolidate penetration in European markets, but also to provide an alternative model to fast-fashion standards.

"Fulfillment Hub” presentation will feature collaborations with major brands, thought leadership sessions
Kornit Digital (Nasdaq: KRNT), a worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, has announced the details of its presence at PRINTING United 2019, taking place in Dallas, Texas, October 23-25, 2019.

PRINTING United brings the North American public debut of Kornit’s Konnect software, a cloud software analytics platform that provides users a single comprehensive user interface to monitor and manage their productivity. This empowers customers to receive real-time data about their operations, prioritize, assess costs, troubleshoot, and set goals from the convenience of their laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Zur weltweit führenden Kunststoffmesse K 2019 in Düsseldorf zeigt die TITK-Gruppe noch bis 23. Oktober 2019 einen neuen Demonstrator. Das Gerät wurde gemeinsam mit dem Institut für Luft- und Kältetechnik (ILK) aus Dresden entwickelt, um die hervorragenden Eigenschaften von Wärmespeichermaterialien auf Basis von PCM (Phase Change Material) sichtbar zu machen.

Die thermoplastische Verarbeitbarkeit des PCM-Compounds ermöglicht die Herstellung von Halbzeugen in Form von Platten, Folien, Spritzgusskörpern sowie Verbundmaterialien. Mit diesen Eigenschaften sowie in Kombination mit weiteren Zuschlagstoffen (z.B. Graphit zur Erhöhung der Wärmeleitfähigkeit) kann das Thermomanagement für eine Vielzahl von technischen Anwendungen wie z.B. in der Elektrotechnik, in der Energietechnik, im Lebensmittel- und Pharmazietransport gesteuert werden.

There is currently frenzied activity and investment taking place to commercialise self-driving cars, involving both the established automotive manufacturers and the technology giants of Silicon Valley.

It is no exaggeration to say that this could completely reshape the landscape of the global automotive industry once again – even after the massive shifts that have occurred since the beginning of the 21st century, including the move towards electric vehicles.

Under this challenging scenario, a new publication from Textile Media Services – Automotive Textiles: Preparing for total transformation (5th edition) – provides the latest analysis of the fast-altering global automotive textiles industry.

• Bangladesh’s biggest denim expo takes place 5-6 November
• The show runs concurrently with the Sustainable Apparel Forum Bangladesh
• From 4-6 November, Bangladesh becomes the perfect meeting point for stakeholders in the global apparel industry

DHAKA - Responsibility is the theme of the 11th Bangladesh Denim Expo which takes place on 5th and 6th November at International Convention City in Bashundhara, Dhaka. The event, now firmly established as one of the world’s leading denim trade shows, runs alongside the Bangladesh Sustainable Apparel Forum.

Bangladesh Denim Expo

Around 100 exhibitors from 11 countries, including host Bangladesh, will participate in this year’s denim expo. Other participating countries are china, Japan, Italy, India, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey and Germany.

H&M Group is collaborating with Bangladesh Denim Expo for the forthcoming 11th edition of the event and a number of guest speakers will be present from the company, including Pierre Borjesson, head of sustainability, global production. Other guest speakers include Andrew Olah, the founder of Kingpins Denim show, Alice Tonello, R&D director with the Tonello Group, world renowned denim designer, Piero Turk and Jordi Juani, Asia regional director with Jeanologia.

Through a series of product displays, presentations, seminar sessions & panel discussions, the Expo will encourage healthy debate and interaction among exhibitors and visitors to champion a more responsible denim industry. One of these, of course, is sustainability and within this sits the issue of responsibility – an overriding theme of this year’s event. Denim manufacture faces huge challenges with regards its social and environmental responsibility, with production techniques having potentially far-reaching ramifications for the environment as well as people involved in the production process.

However, the industry and its supply chain are making impressive progress on these issues with Bangladesh – now the world’s largest producer of denim – leading the way in terms of addressing some of the sustainability challenges relating to denim production, including excessive use of water and chemicals. Mostafiz Uddin is the organiser of Bangladesh Denim Expo. Uddin has watched with interest the evolution of the denim industry, with each Expo marking continued and gradual progress being made by the more progressive players in the industry.

Uddin says: “The way that business and product development is conducted can have far reaching consequences on the environment, on the people that make the product and the product’s end use & life-span. “It is the duty of all stakeholders in the apparel industry to acknowledge this responsibility and to analyse our business practices, for the benefit of all.” Emphasising the theme of responsibility within Denim Expo is the fact that revenues from the expo support the running and presentation of the Sustainable Apparel Forum.

Sustainable Apparel Forum

The Sustainable Apparel Forum (SAF) is the biggest annual sustainable apparel event in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) along with Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) as co-organiser will jointly carry out the 2nd edition of the SAF on 5th Nov 2019.

This is the second edition of the Sustainable Apparel Forum, with the first-ever forum held in 2017 in Dhaka. The objective of this year’s forum is accelerating the momentum of sustainability in Bangladesh apparel industry.

The forum will see more than 50 speakers gathered from Bangladesh and overseas sharing expert opinions across five panel discussions covering current issues in the country’s apparel industry. These include human resources, transparency in business, water conservation, purchasing practices, sustainable chemical management, waste management, circular economy in textiles and climate change to name a few.

Additionally, the conference will host several knowledge building technical presentations from renowned organisations which will cover different issues relating to sustainability, including waste management, protection of the environment and better working conditions.

Speakers at the show include Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, Honourable State Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh, H. E. Benoit Préfonatine High Commissioner, High Commission of Canada, Bangladesh, and Dr. Rubana Huq President, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association, Sheikh Fazle Fahim, President, Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Pierre Börjesson, Head of Sustainability – Global Production, H&M Group, Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director, International Labor Organization, Peter McCallister, Executive Director, Ethical Trading Initiative and H.E. Winnie Estrup Petersen Ambassador, Embassy of Denmark, Bangladesh.

Prior to this year’s conference, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh and the Sweden Embassy in Bangladesh will also co-host two roundtable discussion in collaboration with BAE and in association with BGMEA on 4 November, 2019, while H&M, Better Work Bangladesh and C&A Foundation are partners in the event.
The conference will be followed by showcasing different innovative, sustainable & best work practices in RMG manufacturing factories in Bangladesh. Following the discussions, a series of recommendations will be made, and a Sustainability Roadmap for the Bangladesh apparel industry will be formulated.

This year’s SAF promises to be the biggest yet. Added by Mr Mostafiz Uddin in the recent press briefing for the event: “The title for this year’s Sustainable Apparel Forum is enabling sustainability through policy and leadership. The time for talking on sustainability issues is over. It is now time for actions. That’s why the focus of this year’s show is on practical, pragmatic actions the textile industry can adopt to improve its environmental footprint.”

Fortum, together with the sustainable fibre technology company Spinnova have today introduced the first prototype product born out of their joint development of using wheat straw in the production of highly sustainable textile fibre.

Fortum and Spinnova are showcasing the world’s first clothing made from agricultural waste, namely wheat straw, at the Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference in Vancouver, during 15-17 October. The showpieces include a knitted t-shirt, as well as a jacket and skirt made of a woven fabric on organic cotton warp.

The prototype material is unique also due to its extremely low environmental impact from raw material extraction, processing and manufacture, verified by life-cycle analysis (LCA).

“We are very excited to present this revolutionary textile. Today, wheat straw is mostly discarded or even burned in the fields. As it can now be used in numerous textile applications, this opens up huge possibilities globally. This cooperation is a tangible step towards Fortum’s strategy to build options for significant new businesses that improve resource efficiency and provide smart solutions for a cleaner world. We would like to invite more key industry players to join us in this journey,” says Heli Antila, VP, Biobased solutions at Fortum.

“We are all very proud of this amazing collaborative accomplishment! This was a very fast journey from the first trials to real, appealing fabric materials. This shows that wheat straw-based fibre is well on its way to being a drop-in product of the most sustainable kind,” says Spinnova’s CEO Janne Poranen.

• Construction of a new air purification and sulfur recovery plant
• Further improvement of the exhaust emission values at the Lenzing site
• Important step in achieving the CO2 targets of the Lenzing Group

Lenzing – The Lenzing Group is a global leader in the climate-friendly and sustainable production of wood-based textile fibers. Lenzing announced its climate targets in August of this year. By 2030, the company aims to reduce its specific CO2 emissions per ton of manufactured pulp and fibers by 50 percent. By the year 2050, the Lenzing Group will no longer generate any net CO2 emissions.

Lenzing‘s Management Board has now resolved to invest EUR 40 mn to expand the production of the raw material sulfuric acid at the Lenzing site. This comprises an important milestone on the path towards climate neutrality. In the future, a new air purification and sulfur recovery plant will not only optimize the company’s self-sufficiency for this raw material and enhance process reliability but improve environmental protection within the context of a clear forward-looking strategy.

Improved exhaust emission performance

The new plant represents an important contribution towards implementing the sustainability strategy of the Lenzing Group, and also helps to ensure an even higher level of environmental compatibility of all production operations at the Lenzing site. The application of state-of-the-art technologies will further improve exhaust emission values. Furthermore, the new facility will help further reduce the use of fossil fuels by generating steam which will, in turn, be converted into electricity. In this way, it will also support the energy self-sufficiency of the company’s operations in Lenzing.

Improved CO2 scorecard

As a result, the production plant in Lenzing will reduce its annual CO2 emissions by 15,000 tons. This is an important step towards further advancing the company’s ambitious plans in the coming years and also strengthen Lenzing’s leadership role as a driver of ecologically sustainable industry. “On the basis of these investments, Lenzing is taking the next step in achieving its climate targets. At the same time, it will also reach a significantly higher level of autonomy with respect to a vital raw material”, states Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of Lenzing.

Swiss textile innovator HeiQ partners with Twinery to significantly reduce waste in their apparel production supply chain.

Apparel manufacturing is the second largest polluting industry in the world. While there are many solutions to this problem, Bodyline has taken the lead to focus on developing a low impact supply chain by reducing energy and waste across the entire value chain and develop No Waste Apparel – Truecycled.

Two steps in this supply chain lifecycle include improving the dyeing and finishing stages. To improve the dyeing stage by using less water and energy and save CO2 during the polyester dyeing process, Truecycled has implemented HeiQ Clean Tech for more efficient and ecological processing of textiles.

“Aiming to improve the everyday products of textiles by making them more functional, comfortable and sustainable, HeiQ is proud to partner with Bodyline on their Truecycled project”, says Carlo Centonze, Chief Executive Officer at HeiQ.

Archroma first announced its intention to join the ZDHC Foundation as a value chain affiliate on June 19, 2019. The company is proud to be joining nearly 30 leading brands working together to drive industry-wide change in responsible chemical management, and commits to working on this task in a collaborative and open manner.

The decision is in line with Archroma’s commitment to continuously challenging the status quo in the deep belief that it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable. Archroma develops innovations and system solutions developed in compliance with this commitment and aimed to help textile manufacturers with optimized productivity and/or value creation in their markets.

Archroma is supporting the ZDHC Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (ZDHC MRSL) and the related “pyramid” conformity system designed to eliminate duplicative approaches. This is the fundamental base to the success of ZDHC and all stakeholders of the textile value chain.

At FILTECH, eurolaser will demonstrate the advantages of a large-format laser system in the processing of filter material. The handling of the material from the roll is particularly comfortable with eurolaser's own conveyor system in combination with a feeding unit. At the FILTECH, eurolaser presents its L-3200 with a table size of 1,800 x 3,200 mm.

Large-format laser systems are ideal for cutting of filter material. The contactless process guarantees a constant cutting quality without tool wear. The table concept with extraction reduces dust and keeps the material in place at the same time. In addition, the thermal laser process ensures that when cutting synthetic textiles, the edges are sealed and thus protected from fraying. This makes subsequent processing much easier. The laser also allows fine details and filigree structures which cannot be produced by a knife.

Conveyor – for all materials from the roll
Especially for all materials from the roll, eurolaser offers several of its systems as conveyor versions. In these versions, the surface of the processing tables consists of a stainless steel rod mesh. They are equipped with an automatic unwinding unit as fabric feed. The unwinding speed adapts to the retraction of the conveyor and the decreasing roll diameter. For very large and heavy rolls there is also a driven unwinding unit. Integrated laser projection lines indicate the correct position so that the roll change is fast and error-free. The remaining length capture ensures that there is always enough material left on the roll for the respective job.

For even more flexibility, there is space for additional tools or marking modules next to the laser. The motion system comes from the Swiss world market leader for digital cutters ZÜND. The machines are equipped with the Laserscout software suite, which contains the right software packages tailored to the application.