Wellman’s Sensifil (recycled polyester) gets allergy approval

Enquiries to have bedding and textile products asthma & allergy friendly COMPONENT APPROVED exceeded all expectations at Heimtextil Frankfurt 2011.

"Heimtextil was the first time we had spoken publicly about this new initiative to third-party test and validate component products as asthma & allergy friendly" says Fraser Hodgson, Chief Operations Officer at Allergy Standards Limited. "Companies and Retailers involved in every step of the supply chain were interested to provide a credible point of differentiation in the growing area of validated product claims".

The first polyester fibre in the world component approved as asthma & allergy friendly, Sensifil by Wellman International, was launched at Heimtextil. Demand for additional fibres being validated for Health Conscious consumers, along with fabric and thread components appears extremely high.

"We recognise that not all staff and team members would have been able to meet with Allergy Standards staff for a variety of reasons, but we are keen that all our customers and potential clients should benefit from the success of this new initiative".

Read more on Wellman’s Sensifil (recycled polyester) gets allergy approval @ Fibre2fashion

Big & small textile investors line up at Vibrant Gujarat Summit

The textile industry in Gujarat attracted investments from the big and the small at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit held in Gandhinagar – Gujarat. From textile biggies like SKumars Nationwide and Nagreeka Exports to even small investors like cotton ginners who aspire to climb up the cotton value chain, by investing in small spinning units.

The Gujarat textile sector attracted investments amounting to around Rs 252 billion. In all 139 MoUs were inked at the 2011 summit. All this in turn is expected to create employment opportunities for around 140,448 people. The major portions of the investments were made in the spinning sector, followed by technical textiles and rest was accounted for by textile parks, fabric processing and apparel sector.

Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to a few senior honchos from the textile and cotton ginning sector who had signed MoUs at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Among them was Mr Sunil Patwari, Managing Director – Nagreeka Exports. Nagreeka is one of the big ticket textile investors at the summit which is investing in excess of Rs 10 billion. Informing about its investments, Mr Patwari said, “We are setting up a 300,000 spindles spinning plant in North Gujarat at an investment of about Rs 12 billion and we are in the process of identifying and acquiring the land for the project”.

Giving details to fibre2fashion, Mr Anupam Dikshit – COO (Projects) at S Kumars Nationwide Ltd. said, “We are setting up a spinning and weaving plant to produce cotton, poly-viscose at Jhagadia near Bharuch, where we already have a cotton weaving plant at the same location in which we have invested around Rs 5 billion. The new investment envisaged is between Rs 4.5-5.0 billion and the plant will be up and running by end of 2011”.

Read more on Big & small textile investors line up at Vibrant Gujarat Summit @ Fibre2fashion

Fibre2fashion has unveiled new B2B Portal for Technical Textiles

Today’s dawn brings forth an exciting, spanking new, innovative and full of freshness B2B portal for the globally vibrant technical textiles sector. Fibre2fashion the worlds largest B2B textile, apparel and fashion website has unveiled www.technicaltextile.net which will introduce and provide an entire gamut of services to the initiated as well as the uninitiated into the fascinating world of technical textiles.

Technicaltextile.net would provide knowledge based information on a global perspective of an emerging sector, which is expected to dominate future trends and technologies in textiles. It will also deliver value-added global business services and in the process facilitate sourcing and marketing requirements.

A 24x7 platform, technicaltextile.net carries key information for suppliers, buyers, consultants, institutes and associations through news, articles, white papers, trade fairs & conferences happening around world. The portal would strive to disseminate quality and authentic information for the sustainable development of the technical textiles sector by providing information about key policy changes affecting domestic as well as international business.

Among the key services provided by the portal to the global technical textiles sector are -

• Sourcing help desk.

• A complete knowledge bank for the entire supply chain in technical textiles.

• Assistance in inking strategic alliances with companies.

• Connecting with Ministry of Textiles in India. .

• Branding & promotion solutions through online as well as print media in the target markets.

• In-house creation of product specific project reports.

• Online trade fairs.

• Strategic alliance with Textiles Intelligence to deliver key market reports for the industry.

Read more on Fibre2fashion has unveiled new B2B Portal for Technical Textiles @ Fibre2fashion

Kelli Ellis as official spokesperson for BedVoyage

BedVoyage, an eco-luxury collection of 100% bamboo bed sheets, duvet covers and towels has partnered with celebrity designer Kelli Ellis to be the official spokesperson for BedVoyage. She'll also be creating two new patterns: a classic diamond and an elegant stripe, which incorporate two new colors to the line.

Sharon Stuart, Founder and CEO of BedVoyage says, "We couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Kelli, she brings immense design experience to enhance the BedVoyage line and complete our bed ensemble. Kelli's fabulous personality, award winning talent, and her enthusiasm about our eco-friendly linens makes her the perfect fit for our team."

BedVoyage creates affordable luxury linens all made from 100% bamboo, a fabulous fabric for bedding as its naturally hypo-allergenic, moisture wicking, thermal regulating and odor resistant. An added benefit is that bamboo fabric looks and feels like silk, yet its machine washable and breathes much more than other natural fibers.

In the summer of 2009, BedVoyage launched its first product: a unique luxury travel sheet set with a patent-pending design. The sheet set was made to fit in the outside pocket of most luggage and accompany you on your travels so that you could rest easy knowing that you had luxurious and clean sheets for any accomodations. The sheet set made making the bed a snap, and quickly became a hit for home use as well. As the interest in bamboo linens grew BedVoyage increased its product line to include traditional linens, reversible duvet covers, travel size blankets and luxurious towels, all in beautiful colors with an embroidered logo.

"I am pleased to be the spokesperson for such an eco-friendly product. Bamboo is one of the world's most renewable resources and is grown without pesticides or fertilizers. When you hear the the words 'bamboo linens' you may think of scratchy, stiff fabric, yet it's so incredibly smooth that it rivals the highest thread count Pima cotton, and a full sheet set sells for under $200.00, that's an affordable luxury!" says Kelli Ellis.

Read more on Kelli Ellis as official spokesperson for BedVoyage @ Fibre2fashion

Worldwide textiles seek brand security

Applied DNA Sciences Inc, a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology and product authentication solutions, announced additional sales and continued growth in developing its global textile business. Expanding on its FiberTyping business, APDN is adding new customers and developing existing business, utilizing its proprietary SigNature DNA technologies for marking and authenticating genuine textile and apparel.

DNA Authenticating for Cotton Labels
Consumers rely on product labels to reflect the true content and authenticity of the product. This is especially true considering the cost increase of cotton. Recently, a report from the National Inflation Association announced that the cost of cotton has increased by 54% and this increase has been making its way to store shelves across the globe. Having a metric that can verify cotton quality and label compliance is a key benefit of FiberTyping. It should be of special utility to enable enforcement by FTC and US Customs, as well as retailers and brand owners to ensure compliance with textile labeling laws.

FiberTyping: Supply Chain Security
FiberTyping is a patent-pending genetic test that enables retailers, yarn manufacturers, and even cotton growers to verify whether the original cotton fiber was used to manufacture the cotton product. From raw fiber to yarn to greige fabric and ultimately, to finished fabrics, FiberTyping DNA testing can identify the exact cotton species (G.barbadense or G. hirsutum) in any cotton labeled product.

FiberTyping requests continue to be fulfilled for yarn manufacturers from India, Pakistan, China, and Supima, the promotional organization of the American Pima cotton growers. APDN is working within many textile sectors to add strong positioning in the overall supply chain. One large UK company, with over 700 retail outlets, has engaged APDN to test towels and bedding products to determine whether they contain 100% pima cotton, as labeled. This is but one example of how customers are using FiberTyping to better control their supply chain to ensure 100% accountability.

Read more on Worldwide textiles seek brand security @ Fibre2fashion

Organic cotton production up 15% despite recession in 2009-10

Bolstered by continued strong manufacturer demand even during the recessionary times, Organic Cotton continued its steady growth in 2009-2010, according to a the fifth annual Organic Farm and Fiber report by Textile Exchange (“the Exchange”), the leading global organic cotton and sustainable textiles non-profit organization formerly known as Organic Exchange.

According to the Exchange’s Organic Cotton Farm and Fiber Report, production of organic cotton rose 15 percent from 209,950 metric tons (MT) in 2008-09 to 241,276 MT (1.1 million bales) grown on 461,000 hectares (1.14 million acres) in 2009-2010. Organic cotton now represents 1.1 percent of global cotton production. Global organic cotton has witnessed a veritable explosion (539 percent increase) in production in the last five years since 2005-06, when only 37,000 MT were produced. The organization anticipates similar strong growth in this year.

With the addition of Tajikistan, organic cotton was grown by approximately 274,000 farmers in 23 countries in 2009-2010 versus 22 countries in 2008-09. India remained the top producing nation in 2009-10 for the third straight year, growing over 80 percent of the organic cotton produced globally and increasing its production of the fiber by 37 percent over 2009-2010. Syria moves from third into second place, and Turkey fell from second to third place. The remaining countries in descending order are: China, United States, Tanzania, Uganda, Peru, Egypt, Mali, Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Israel, Benin, Paraguay, Greece, Tajikistan, Senegal, Nicaragua, South Africa, Brazil, and Zambia.

Read more on Organic cotton production up 15% despite recession in 2009-10 @ Fibre2fashion

INDIGO surfs a wave of decoration

A sporty and relaxed ambiance inspired by summer 2012 marks the next session of the Indigo Fashion Edition, taking place from 8 - 10 February at the Parc d'Expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte.

As of 31 December 2010, with 154 studios from 14 countries registered, the number of exhibitors is up by nearly 3% over February 2010. Among them are 13 new studios: one German, one British, one Spanish, six French, one Irish, two Italian and one Japanese. At the same time Indigo has also registered an increase in stand surface of nearly 8%, a tangible sign demonstrating, on the one hand, the improved business of its regular exhibitors, and, on the other, the appeal of the Paris show to young talents.

Convinced of the importance of supporting the next generation of illustrators and designers, Indigo, as it does each February session, will open its doors to top international fashion universities and schools. There will be ten of them this year, coming from the United Kingdom (7), Austria (1), Denmark (1), and France (1). Their presence at Indigo allows the schools to showcase the creativity and know-how of their students, for whom this is often the first contact with the professional world. The participation of the winners of the Texprint competition at each September edition is the other component of Indigo's commitment to young and emerging talent.

This session, in line with the Pluriel Expert Trail dedicated to "Swimwear," Indigo is showcasing the approximately 30 studios which have made beachwear one of their specialities. They are proposing designs for a market whose development has been aided by segmented vacations and the extension of leisure time. The emergence of Cruise collections or pre-season collections - which no longer constitute a preview of summer trends but entirely separate collections - have lent a new élan to beachwear, once limited to the summer season.

Read more on INDIGO surfs a wave of decoration @ Fibre2fashion