Clothing & Footwear

EDANA and INDA, the leading international trade associations for the nonwovens and engineered fabrics industries based in Europe and North America, respectively, have announced that they will harmonize their mission and vision to advance the success of their member companies.

A fledgling company called Electroloom wants to enter the apparel market by 3-D printing basics, like T-shirts and sweaters. So far, Electroloom says, 3-D printed clothing has yet to produce truly wearable products - we've seen fashion-as-art, like Iris van Herpen’s creations, gimmicks, seen on the Victoria’s Secret runway, and plenty of jewellery and accessories.

Karl Mayer has announced that LIBA Maschinenfabrik GmbH, which it acquired recently, is to be renamed Karl Mayer Liba Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH.

As a result of the placement of a corporate bond in November 2013, Germany’s Sympatex Technologies GmbH is to substantially expand its latest Tection technical textiles division with the aim of consistently developing innovative technologies and products for industrial applications.

As the world’s leading nonwovens exhibition is drawing ever closer, the absorbent solutions provider, Technical Absorbents Limited (TAL) reports it is in full preparation for what it expects will be an extremely busy four exhibition days. INDEX will commence in Geneva on 8th April and the Super Absorbent Fibre (SAF) manufacturer will again have a presence at the event.

At the start of the year, the OEKO-TEX Association has, as usual, updated the valid test criteria and limit values for product certification in accordance with its OEKO-TEX Standard 100. The following new regulations have been provided with comment from OEKO-TEX and come into force on 1 April 2014 for all certifications, following a three-month transition period:

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, has announced the appointment of Joan Izzo as its new Director of Marketing. Izzo brings years of experience in marketing for international nonwovens and advanced material companies to the position.

Hyosung, the world’s largest producer of spandex, has announced a new brand campaign to promote its newest sub-brands for specialty products in the creora spandex range.

Newlife, a complete range of yarns certified 100% from recycled post-consumption PET bottles, produced by Saluzzo Yarns, will be featured in the Spring-Summer 2014 collection of Weekend Max Mara. The garments of Weekend Max Mara made in Newlife will be sold in 1500 stores of about 50 countries worldwide. First introduced at Expofil, leader exhibition in the yarns and fibres sector, in February of 2011, the Newlife polymer range is now used by over fifty associate companies to obtain textiles for many applications; fashion, outdoor clothing, sportswear and technical outfitting, underwear, workwear, medical and protective clothing, not to mention home furnishing, interior and outdoor design.

Unifi’s Repreve brand will return as the official recycling sponsor of ESPN’s X Games Aspen, which will take place from 23-26 January 2014. Repreve says it is helping make X Games Aspen ‘greener’ by turning more than 100,000 recycled plastic bottles into ESPN course signage and lanyards, as well as Repreve based merchandise such as shirts and beanies. Repreve is also launching a consumer driven #TurnItGreen campaign that will focus on education and engagement around recycling and Repreve.