Fibres, Yarns & Fabrics

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.

Schoeller owned Eschler Textil will showcase its wide range of warp knitted products alongside new developments in areas such as medical, 3D and velcro textiles at this week’s Techtextil trade fair for technical textiles in Frankfurt.

Italian engineering plastics and synthetic yarn producer RadiciGroup will showcase its recent developments at the Techtextil 2013 leading event for technical fabrics and nonwovens in Frankfurt. The highlights of the presentation will be nylon yarn products such as Radilon PA6.10, a new nylon yarn with a smaller environmental footprint, achieved through the use of 64% renewable source polymer of biological origin, and Raditeck Fine, a range of fine-count, high-tenacity PA66 yarn that has been enhanced with new air-textured items. It will also feature Radyarn and Starlight Trace Micro Taggant polyester yarn with anti-counterfeiting, tracing capabilities, UV protection and sunscreening properties.

In a new exhibition series MAK Fashion Lab is initiating a comprehensive examination of intelligent fashion as it presents the innovative BLESS No45 Soundperfume sound technology. Introducing the features of the new concept, such as personalised sonic ambience, the exhibition will be focused on that area where art, design, science, and research intersect and overlap, with the topic of smart textiles opening the discussion. “With the MAK Fashion Lab, the MAK, home to one of the world’s most valuable and extensive museum collections of textiles and carpets, opens itself up to innovative, avant-garde worlds of fashion that are not only trendy and wearable, but also invested with the intention of presenting forward-looking design solutions,” explains Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, MAK director.

The Industrial Fabrics Foundation (IFF), an organisation dedicated to education and research in the specialty fabrics industry, is holding an Innovations Award at IFAI's Specialty Fabrics Expo 2013 in Orlando. This award honours companies who have put great ideas into action, creating new products or processes that push the specialty fabrics industry forward and offers an international exposure for the product or company.