Fibres, Yarns & Fabrics

Leading Italian producer of thermal insulation for apparel and sleeping bags Thermore has introduced Thermore Aria, the latest line of avant-garde Thermore products. With the presentation of its new product range, Thermore revives its slogan ‘Search inside, discover Thermore’, seeing it as a pertinent and essential concept in an age when an outward appearance seems to be more important than the invisible yet important qualities of the product.

Tencel ePower, is Lenzing’s innovative sustainable solution for EDLC applications, and the Austrian company expects it to revolutionise the double-layer capacitor industry. The latest innovative Tencel solutions in the fields of energy storage, power and substrate density will be showcased at the fourth European Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) held in Strasbourg from 24-28 June 2013. Wolfgang Plasser, vice president and general manager Business Unit Nonwoven Fibres, said: “Lenzing is proud to announce a further innovative Tencel development. The technical segment is particularly important to us. Our innovation focus is on future-oriented technologies, and we are continually striving to expand our product portfolio in this direction.”

With its innovative agrotextile Ökolys, Beaulieu Technical Textiles has received the international Techtextil Innovation Award in the category ‘New Applications’ at the Award Ceremony of the Techtextil in Frankfurt last week. This award is an Innovation Prize from Techtextil trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens for outstanding developments in the range of new technical textiles.

The European Textile Services Association held a conference in Berlin, from 28-29 May, where it announced a launch of its new website. The event billed as an impulse generator and idea forum saw 115 industry leaders coming together for an intensive exchange of ideas. "The two-day ETSA member conference is by now a firm date in the calendar of leading providers of textile rental services and their suppliers. Quality lectures and interesting discussions time and again ensure fresh impetus for Europe's textile rental services industry that equips us for the future," summarises Christina Ritzer, the owner of Bardusch (Ettlingen) and chair of ETSA.

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.

Clariant, a leader in specialty chemicals, presents advanced solutions for technical textiles at Techtextil 2013, under a slogan ‘effects that perform and chemistry that cares’. The company will focus on three key areas – repellence & release, flame retardancy, and stability & resistance with the new solutions formulated to promote processes and products with improved environmental benefits for technical textiles.

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.

Advansa Thermocool Duoregulation technology is being featured in the professional shirts that will be given to each participant of the third Thermocool Dynafit Dachstein Triple race, with the aim of helping athletes to adapt to the changing thermal conditions during the race. The Dachstein Triple will take place in Schladming, Austria, on 8 June 2013. The race covering three athletic disciplines and the Alpine area is expected to feature top international athletes.