Fibres, Yarns & Fabrics

Technical Absorbents Ltd (TAL) has announced the appointment of a new Product Development Executive at its UK based manufacturing facility. The latest recruitment by the Super Absorbent Fibre (SAF) manufacturer has been made possible as a result of the company’s programme of ongoing investment, which has been put in place to help it retain its market-leading position. 30-year old James Docherty joins TAL as it continues to push the boundaries of innovation and develo

Invista is to continue its Lycra Sport fabric global tour by showcasing its innovative and performance driven fabric program at the ISPO trade show in Munich, Germany from 7 – 10 February 2010. Following its successful and high profile launches at Salt Lake City’s Outdoor Retailer Show in July and Shanghai’s Intertextile Show in October 2009, Invista is introducing Lycra Sport fabric to a European audience.  With its presence at Europe’s largest sporting go

Swiss headquartered Sigvaris, a leader in graduated compression hosiery is pushing further into endurance sports markets with its Athletic Recovery sports compression socks for exercise-induced muscle soreness and post-practice recovery. The company will become the exclusive provider of graduated compression socks to Atlanta’s Southern Crescent Cycling Club. Sigvaris, through its Athletic Recovery line of socks, already has strategic partnerships in place w

Polartec and Unifi have announced a new partnership to introduce performance fabrics made with Unifi’s Repreve 100, which is made from 100% post-consumer waste from clear plastic water bottles. Polartec and Unifi’s collaborative efforts have grown Polartec's recycled product line from less than 1% of total production to over 30% in the past four years, dramatically reducing carbon emissions and energy consumption. The introduction

Bayer MaterialScience has developed a carpet which it says feels like a forest floor and based on polyurethane foams and a special textile fabric. The new floor covering´s viscoelastic properties not only offer a high level of comfort, but also reduce the strain on joints and limbs, Bayer says. The company says the development opens up potential applications for sports, the workplace and physiotherapy – at supermarket checkouts or in gyms, for instance – i

Unifi, Inc. is continuing its global growth strategy with the opening Unifi Central America, Ltda. DE C.V. (UCA). The company says that given the economic climate, brands and retailers continue to evaluate their global sourcing strategies in order to react more quickly to the constant changes in consumer demand. It says that the Central American region provides customers with an additional quick-turn, quick replenishment solution in this hemisphere.  With a bas

Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc. (NAT) has received an order from Hanesbrands Inc. to deliver approximately 10,000 lbs of its Crailar organic fibre the first quarter of 2010. "This first purchase order supplies Crailar fibre in a full-scale trial using our proposed manufacturing equipment supplier in Germany in January 2010. Thereafter, we will conduct another full scale blending trial on commercial scale spinning equipment at a Hanesbrands facility," sai

From the start of this year TenCate Geosynthetics will be concentrating on the market launch and sales of TenCate GeoDetect in North America. The geotextiles based monitoring system, which encompasses optical fibres, has already been used in Europe for a few years and the launch in North America will enable the company’s global marketing efforts in the field of geotechnology to be coordinated and the continued development of the system to be intensified. TenCate GeoD

One of the high points of the recent European Confederation of Flax & Hemp (CELC) 60th Congress in Strasbourg, was an awards presentation made by Georges Beylerian, President of Material ConneXion, to members of CELC who have been recognised for their creative and innovative use of flax and hemp. Material ConneXion founded in 1997 by Georges Beylerian claims to be the world’s first library resource of advanced and innovative materials and processes for th

According to a new report by Just-Style.com, developments in swimwear technology have revolutionised swimming and have created massive interest in what has traditionally been a low-tech sport. The report concludes that manufacturers of performance swimwear have been involved in a technological race to produce the world’s fastest swimsuit. The race, commonly referred to as ‘the bodysuit wars’, culminated in early 2009 with the development of swimsuits