Textiles

The textiles-apparel-fashion world is in a flux, and it needs to figure out a number of things. First, it needs be truly sustainable in that processes of production to those of disposal stay circular. And then, it needs to brace up for a change—one that is already under way in ways that few understand fully as yet. But that is only the beginning of the problem—for, all sustainability endeavours will need to be in sync with Industry 4.0, or Textiles 4.0 as many in industry would want to refer to...

A hundred thousand visitors is a big number for a trade show, especially when most of them were ones making a frantic beeline to attend the event as business visitors. That's how big the last ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 at Shanghai, China was. The latest edition of the bi-annual five-day event that gets under way on October 15 at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in China's biggest city and commercial hub is expected to relegate those numbers to the history books. It is, to bluntly state...

The Clean Fibre Initiative was created by Earth Alive Clean Technologies to support fibre crop growers in North America, Africa, and Latin America. What was the reason for focusing on these three regions, and leaving out Asia? Earth Alive currently has operations in North America, Africa and Latin America and our established business network in these regions facilitated the development of the Clean Fibre Initiative. Our company intends to expand into the Asian market, bringing the Clean Fibre...

In the fashion industry, they warn you, every new day brings in a new set of problems /challenges. Some of these are new in nature, others are newly-discovered, so to speak. One of the latest, arguably the biggest of them all, is one that of microfibre contamination. The subject had been known for a while, but it is only now that the magnitude of the issue has become a topic of debate and, yes, a major concern. The textiles-apparel-fashion industry has had the dubious honour of being the biggest...

That one form of energy can be transformed into another is a fundamental law of nature, nay physics. So, when someone says that kinetic energy can be converted into electricity, that would raise no eyebrows. But when someone claims to have developed a fabric which does precisely that, many in the textiles industry would be snapped into rapt attention. Such a fabric has indeed been developed by researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Researchers Anja Lund and...

It’s tricky—many would even say fallacious—trying to club together all the five states and one union territory in what is referred to as South India. For geopolitical purposes, maybe one can, and one often does too. But presenting an overview of the textiles industry of South India is fraught to be specious. So, let’s say this is only one way of presenting the voices of industry from a geographical region that otherwise would get drowned in the din and clamour of the Indian textiles industry...

A year-and-half after demonetisation and twelve months after the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST), it is a nebulous state of affairs in the bustling textiles hub of Surat. Precise and reliable numbers are hard to come by, but those that are being bandied around are bleary indicators in themselves. All that one is left to go by are estimates (some random, some well-calculated), and these estimates vary widely depending on who one is talking to. In many ways, it resembles a conflict...

There are—few would contest—many aspects of the textiles-apparel-fashion business where technology holds sway. Still fewer would disagree it is the printing one that is decidedly the most colourful of them all. And when it becomes a question of what’s the latest in printing, the FESPA Global Expo is the one to visit for updating oneself on the trendiest in technologies and machineries. The annual congregation where manufacturers and suppliers from the world of print engage with those from the...

What, according to you, has been the growth story of the FESPA Global Print Expo since it was organised for the first time? On that count, could you also share some numbers in terms of participants, visitors, etc? Roz Guarnori: FESPA has certainly come a long way since the launch of its first exhibition in Paris in 1963. Originally formed as an exhibition for European screen printers, by 1973 the event started to grow its audience outside Europe, welcoming visitors from further afield including...

Is digital textile printing defining the industry today? Be it 'yes' or 'no', could you explain your assessment? Why is it so? Kamal Kulshreshth: No, the textiles industry is too huge to be defined by digital printing. Printing is only one way of adding value to fabric. Besides printing, fabrics are dyed, jacquard patterned, dobby patterned or imparted special finishes to add value. Even within the printed variety, less than 5 per cent of the total printed fabric production is digital, but...