Coating, Laminating, Bonding

Around 40,000 visitors from 113 countries attended Techtextil and Texprocess trade fair duo last week to find out about the latest innovations and trends. A total of 1,652 exhibitors from 56 nations presented their latest products and innovations. “Techtextil and Texprocess have once again set new records,” said Detlef Braun, member of the executive board of Messe Frankfurt, commenting on the results of the textile trade-fair double. “With an increase of 15% compared to the previous events, the two leading trade fairs confirmed the worldwide significance of technical textiles and textile-processing machinery”, he added. The events focusing on technical textiles combined various aspects of the industry from light to very heavy materials – from functional garments, via car seats and safety belts, to aircraft interiors.

The garment making-up industry has always been the labour-intensive ‘bottleneck’ of the conventional textile chain, despite attempts such as the Leapfrog EU7 project to streamline and automate all of its processes into a single-line system.

Belgium based leader in low pressure plasma technology Europlasma launched a new range of nanocoatings under the Nanofics 110 brand name. Referring to nanoscaled functionalization into the core of complex shaped materials and products, Nanofics is Europlasma’s patented and patent pending nanocoating technology platform, first applied on industrial scale in 1998.

Performance Days functional fabrics fair that will be held in Munich from 19-21 November is expected to repeat its last edition’s success, as the recent May exhibition attracted a record number of visitors and participants. Focusing mainly on active sports and workwear, Performance Forum provides exhibitors with a platform to present functional fabrics, membranes and coatings, laminates, padding and lining materials, treatments and additions, such as yarns, prints, tapes and zippers.

When Cornell University fashion design students were assigned to create open-jacketed suits from fashion fabrics, the added challenge was to use Sonobond’s SeamMaster High Profile ultrasonic ‘sewing machine’ to develop original fabrics for the blouses or tops beneath.

In the run in to Techtextil, the leading trade fair for technical textiles and industrial nonwovens, organisers Messe Frankfurt have published the following article on the spread of nanotechnology in technical textiles. The article shows how nanotechnology is being used in a growing number of applications from clothing, through construction to regenerative medicine. Techtextil takes place in Frankfurt from 11-13 June.

Well known industry consultant David Rigby (formerly David Rigby Associates) is now providing personal advisory and consulting services to business owners, CEOs and senior managers in technical textiles and industrial nonwovens, with the aim of helping them create more profitable and sustainable futures for their businesses.

This video was made by Robert Newton a TV documentary producer whose family were in textiles in North Carolina for generations. Newton got the idea for the documentary after he found himself constantly correcting people who said that the textiles industry in NC state was dead. It’s a full blown TV documentary which lasts 30 minutes but its well worth watching.

The overall response from the exhibitors and visitors at the latest edition of Techtextil North America was confirmation that they were pleased with the show and venue, organisers say. The tenth edition of Techtextil North America took place from 19-21 March at the Hilton Anaheim in Anaheim, California.

In this two part feature, Debra Cobb takes a look at a new high-tech wave of interactive functional yarns and fabrics which are designed to deliver a whole range of benefits to wearers.