P.T. Toray Polytech to produce materials for diapers industry

Toray Industries Inc and Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc announced that the companies have decided to enter the high-performance polypropylene spunbond business in Indonesia. The companies plan to establish P.T. Toray Polytech Jakarta (TPJ) in the group’s site in Tangerang, Indonesia, in September this year and build a production facility with an annual capacity of approximately 20,000 tons. The new plant is expected to start full-scale operations in June 2013.

Demand for disposable baby diapers is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the ASEAN countries on the back of high economic growth and changes to lifestyle brought about by rising national incomes. Particularly in Indonesia, the market for disposable baby diapers is estimated to grow at a pace of 14% a year, increasing approximately from 1.9 billion diapers in 2010 to 3.7 billion diapers in 2015, prompting major hygiene product manufacturers to build new production facilities and expand existing facilities. These manufacturers have been looking to procure raw materials locally, and the demand for polypropylene spunbond is expected to reach approximately 84,000 tons a year in 2015 in the ASEAN region.

Toray Group’s polypropylene spunbond business boasts an annual production capacity of about 43,000 tons at TAK in Korea and 38,000 tons at Toray Polytech (Nantong) Co., Ltd. (TPN) in China, and the product is sold to a number of countries in the Asian market including Japan, Korea, China and ASEAN nations. The Group has decided to build an additional production facility with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons a year at TPN (to be operated from July 2012). The new facility in Indonesia will bring Toray Group’s total polypropylene spunbond production capacity to about 121,000 tons a year in 2013. This would further enable the Group to drive forward sales expansion in emerging markets such as the booming Chinese and ASEAN markets.

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ATC opens pillow manufacturing facility in Tifton

American Textile Company (ATC) officially marks the opening of its new Tifton, Ga. manufacturing facility with a grand opening celebration. As a major manufacturer of basic bedding, ATC chose Tifton as a manufacturing location to strategically service the Company's customers in the Southeast. The 218,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility will manufacture bed pillows, one of the key product categories for future product expansion by the Company. The opening of the Tifton facility finalizes ATC's nationwide pillow manufacturing strategy.

The facility will employ 65 people initially. "In a remarkably short time, the Company has completed facility renovations and brought manufacturing capabilities online. The efforts of these dedicated employees have enabled us to begin manufacturing pillows immediately," commented Mark Bachner, Senior Vice President of Operations for ATC.

"Today's grand opening symbolizes American Textile Company's commitment to providing quality service to our customers throughout the U.S. and Canada," said Lance Ruttenberg, President and Chief Operating Officer. "By manufacturing and shipping pillows from strategically planned locations throughout the country, we have reduced transportation costs for many of our customers and reduced delivery times."

American Textile Company is a leading supplier of quality mattress and pillow protectors, bed pillows and mattress pads that improve the quality of sleep.

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Textiles Intelligence - UK and Fibre2fashion - India enters into a Strategic Alliance

Robin Anson, Managing Director of Textiles Intelligence in the UK, and Dr PR Roy, Director of Fibre2Fashion in India, are proud to announce a strategic alliance between their organisations. The aim of the alliance is to provide the South Asian textile and apparel industry with research-based information to support their strategic planning. The alliance will take effect from April 2011.

Mr Anson and Dr Roy share the view that, with the current shift of the textile and clothing industry to Asia, it was logical for both organisations to join together in order to provide the necessary insight and strategy advice to assist the needs of emerging markets in South Asia. Dr Roy is excited to have Textiles Intelligence, a global knowledge leader in the field, as a partner of Fibre2Fashion.

Companies in South Asia will be able to gain access to research-based knowledge and information through two new printed publications, namely Textile and Apparel Outlook South Asia and Technical Textiles and Performance Apparel South Asia.

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Durst Phototechnik invests in Digital Textile Printing

Durst Phototechnik AG, the leading manufacturer of industrial digital printing equipment, is presenting its new Textile Business Unit at the FESPA trade show in Hamburg (May 24-27). This new division of the company, headed by Christoph Gamper, is working on the next generation of digital printing technologies for textiles.

The Durst Textile Team, based at the company's development facility in Kufstein, Austria, has been entrusted with the task of designing the high-performance textile machine and coordinating Durst's proprietary Quadro printhead technology with the relevant textile specifications. In parallel with this, specialists at the Research Center in Lienz, Austria, are testing high-grade inks for textile printing based on dispersion, reactive and acid inks. The aim of this project, entitled Kappa, is to have a powerful digital textile printer – with a printing speed well in excess of 500 m2/hr and with excellent printing quality – ready for presentation at the ITMA 2011 trade show in Barcelona.

As Christoph Gamper, Segment Manager Textile at Durst Phototechnik AG, explains: "With the Kappa project, we will be moving digital textile technology a significant step forward. Although Digital Textile has made a name for itself in the fields of design sampling and soft signage, it still plays a comparatively minor role in the global textile supply chain.

The benefits of digital printing technology are well known right across the market but, lacking effective solutions, Digital Textile is simply not perceived as a genuine alternative to or as a supplement to traditional finishing processes. Particularly with the European textile sector in mind, Digital Textile offers the opportunity of responding swiftly to customers' changing requirements and achieving diversification and an edge over the Asian-based mass producers. We are confident that a new era for textile printing will be ushered in at ITMA 2011."

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Arvind - Birla Cellulose team up for ‘Excel Denim’

Arvind Ltd, the textile major has inked an exclusive deal with Birla Cellulose, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group, to produce the world’s smoothest denim fabric for women. The deal marks the diversification of the textile giant into the women’s wear segment.

Arvind would produce the fabric, ‘Excel Denim’ at its Ahmedabad-based plant, housing an annual capacity of 120 million metres of denim fabric.

Whereas, Birla Cellulose would engage itself in the R&D for creation of the fibre out of the super refined wood pulp, Arvind would be involved in production and selling the fabric in the local as well as foreign markets.

Mr Aamir Akhtar, CEO - Arvind Denims said that, he views the association as a major development which would boost the business of both the companies. Arvind is diversifying to make headway into the value-added women’s wear segment with launch of a distinct product and Excel Denim, greatly supports the firm’s plans, he added.

Leading denim jeans retailers including Diesel, Levi’s, Energie, Pepe and Tommy Hilfiger count themselves among the clientele of Arvind, the world’s leading denim Manufacturer.

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Huntsman introduces fluorescent disperse dye series

The TERASIL FF disperse range from Huntsman Textile Effects sheds the right light on problems associated with the need for visibility in certain situations with “luminous” solutions to achieve durable high visibility performance on PES fabrics and its blends.

Within this range, Huntsman Textile Effects offers three special fluorescent dyes (TERASIL Flavine 10GFF, Red GFF and Red 3BFF) that are specific for personal protective equipment (PPE) and work wear, as well as combined with TERASIL brilliant disperse dyes, to achieve luminous fashion shades for high visibility sports and leisure wear.

Three select TERASIL FF fluorescent dyestuffs designed for PPE and work wear fulfil the main European and American safety requirements (EN 471, ANSI/ISEA 107-2010), and, in combination with select TERASIL brilliant disperse dyes achieve luminous fashion shades for high visibility sports and leisure wear according to norm EN 1150.

The TERASIL FF range is only available as high quality disperse dyes that give dyers and consumers the freedom of wide color choice, with the security that the fluorescent brilliance does not fade thanks to high wash and light fastness.

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BARBIERI electronic will surprise at FESPA Digital 2011

BARBIERI electronic for the forthcoming FESPA digital 2011 in Hamburg, Germany from the May 24-27, 2011 has something very special to show. Visitors of Barbieri booth (hall A1, booth C30) will be the first ones to see the market launch of their brand-new measuring device.

Besides the Spectro LFP and Spectro Swing, BARBIERI electronic will present their new model of spectrophotometers which is specially designed for a wide range of Large Format Printing applications.

BARBIERI electronic is known for his high quality, most accurate measuring devices specially tailored to the needs of print professionals. The Spectro LFP is the de facto measuring standard for the large format, flatbed and industrial printing. The Spectro Swing is the device for all aqueous and solvent printers.

BARBIERI electronic also in future sticks to his principles by offering special solutions for special needs. Following this philosophy at FESPA Digital 2011 a novelty will be presented which many professional printers and printing related professionals were waiting for since long time.

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