The project ISKO I-SKOOLTM 6 showcased at the traditional Denim Seminar. The seminar was held from March 18-19, 2019 at the Creative RoomTM, ISKO’s style and design research hub in Castelfranco Veneto (TV), aimed at nurturing young talents. The two-day learning event focused on both technical and soft skills development, featuring practical sessions to transform designs into real garments. It also unveiled an exclusive partner line-up which included the Gold Partner Jeanologia; Silver Partners Reca Group, Riri Group and Lenzing Group and supporting Partners Everest Textile Technologies and The Tailor Pattern Support.

Isko’s partners shared their expertise through several activities presented to the young designers. The wide range of topics covered included all aspects of denim creation, including its history and production from field to final garment.

Cotton exports from Egypt increased 45.1 per cent during September-November 2018 over the corresponding period of the previous year. Consumption of cotton in the domestic market, however, fell 42.2 per cent year-on-year. This was due to suspension of manufacturing activities by some textile factories in the country.

Egypt will promote products made of Egyptian cotton. A clear map of textile industries in Egypt will be drawn up to help define priorities to lure foreign investments and maximize the value added of Egyptian cotton. A special unit will be formed to ensure the optimal use of the Egyptian cotton brand and to sign deals with international textile companies on that score under the agreement. Egypt is eager on upgrading the system of cotton cultivation and the textile industry to better meet the demands of the local market and enhance exports. Egyptian cotton fibers are considered by many to be the best because of their length, strength, and softness. Egyptian cotton is the preferred option for towels and bedding among American consumers. Egyptian cotton is also the name most people associate with quality and the cotton fiber they say they are prepared to pay a premium for. Egyptian cotton’s length, strength, firmness, color, trash count and maturity have all improved.

Bangladesh is top destination for business expansion by Japanese companies in the next one or two years. The country gets the top position among Asian and Oceania regions despite problems in quality control, deregulation and securing labor force. The main reason why Japanese firms are willing to expand their business in Bangladesh is low production cost. Bangladesh provides the lowest wage to manufacturing workers among 19 countries surveyed.

Next to Bangladesh, Japanese firms want expansion in India, Myanmar and in Vietnam in that order. For Bangladesh out of total export earnings from Japan in the last fiscal, 74.8 per cent was from readymade garment sector. And apparel exports to Japan have seen a 13.73 per cent rise. Meanwhile, Japan has shown a keen interest in hiring skilled labor from Bangladesh for its textile industry. Since the garment sector is growing fast in Bangladesh, foreign investors choose it as an investment destination. Ready workforce at a reasonable wage, duty-free market access to major export destination, preferential location in the heart of the Asia-Pacific region and policy support are catalysts attracting foreign investment in the textile and apparel industry.

"Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), under the awareness initiatives program organised the first Fashion Forecasting Seminar on March 25, 2019 at the Apparel House in Gurgaon. The seminar focused on the Spring & Summer 2020 & Autumn-Winter 2020-21 collections."

Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), under the awareness initiatives program organised the first Fashion Forecasting Seminar on March 25, 2019 at the Apparel House in Gurgaon. The seminar focused on the Spring & Summer 2020 & Autumn-Winter 2020-21 collections.

The seminars were organised in association with WGSN, the leading trend forecasting agency of the world. The speaker at the event was Mannino - Head of WGSN LIVE from WGSN London office. She provided insights on key commercial items, colors and trends for spring – summer 2020 and Textile Trends for AW 20/21.

She also covered the methods on which these trends are forecasted at WGSN along with they are dissected into macro trends. The Spring/summer 2020 season was divided into three broad themes namely Code Create, Empower Up, and Designing Emotion.

The Code Create theme fused science, nature and technology to showcase a womenswear range that embraces futuristic aesthetics grounded by a sense of practicality and reality. The collection featured colors rooted in nature such as clear waters, mint foam and rosewater alongwith rich, earthy reds that highlighted the continuing importance of transseasonal tones.

The Empower Up! theme featured a palette of upbeat mid-tones. Having a nostalgic and sun-faded quality, these tones recalled the 1980s surf culture and cities by the sea, such as Miami, Sydney, Los Angeles and Cape Town.

The Designing Emotion theme explored the interplay between people and technology. This trend combined the industrial with the artisanal with its designs offering a sense of emotional and human connection. The color palette included lean and comforting mid-tones like Yellow and orange that work easily with each other.

These themes were presented on 3D mood boards developed by WGSN.

"Biofabrication is changing the way clothes are made with four companies leading the revolution. At the helm of is AMSilk which uses genetically engineered bacteria to get around that problem. The company recently launched its first product made with spider silk — a luxury watch strap. It is working on several other products using the spider silk fibers, including biodegradable sneakers for Adidas."

Biofabrication is changing the way clothes are made with four companies leading the revolution. At the helm of is AMSilk which uses genetically engineered bacteria to get around that problem. The company recently launched its first product made with spider silk — a luxury watch strap. It is working on several other products using the spider silk fibers, including biodegradable sneakers for Adidas.

Making sustainable fashion with algae

The chemicals used to make and dye fabrics often harm and kill thousands of workers. These chemicals can also leach to the skin of the wearer. To prevent this German-Israeli firm Algalife grows fibers and dyes using algae. The clothes made at Algalife are more sustainable in terms of pollution, land, water and energy use. They also nurture the skin of the wearer with the natural compounds produced by seaweed. Algalife aims to reach mass production by 2020, with the first products focused on home and sportswear. The company, in future, plans to customise the specific compounds produced by algae, such as proteins or vitamins.

Fungi to create custom clothes

Another company, NEFFA has created a fabric out of mycelia — the roots of mushrooms. The fungi are grown in discs stuck together to create custom clothes without seams. The company has already created several prototypes of dresses, jackets and purses created using this method.

Bacteria for dyeing clothes

To deal with the environmental impact the fashion industry makes in terms of water use and water pollution, UK firm Faber Futures is developing an alternative dyeing method through fermentation, using bacteria such as Streptomyces coelicolor. The company is developing colorfast dyes that don’t fade with time or washing. It also works with several brands to develop together the best strategies to incorporate this dyeing technology to their individual needs. The first of these products will be launched in the next couple of years.

A distant dream

However, there is still a long way to go before biofabrication replaces traditional fabric producing and dyeing methods. One of the big challenges is the process includes transforming prototype biological processes into industrial-scale production, which will be the key to make these products widely available and affordable.

Another challenge is determining the real impact that these new processes actually have on the environment. For this the company needs to look at sustainability in terms of the input. With the advancement of biofabrication, the fashion industry is poised to change radically. It will need to adjust to longer R&D cycles and slower consumption patterns. Although this will take time, biotechnology will definitely be the future of fashion.

Researchers at Carnage Mellon University have written an algorithm that can transform 3D designs into stitch-by-stitch instructions for industrial knitting equipment. The discovery can aid textile manufacturers in producing custom sizes and designs at affordable costs. The algorithm breaks down 3D meshes into step by step instructions for V-bed knitting machines. With the algorithm, garment manufacturers with proficient designing knowledge would be able to input 3D designs or meshes as instruction for the machine to knit. The feature will, therefore, allow manufacturers to work without the requirement of expert knowledge of computer programming. The technology could pioneer the industry towards a new market for custom sized and designed apparel.

Automation is not new to the industrial knitting equipment market or the textile industry. However, it has its limitations. Garment manufacturers can produce thousands of identical-looking knitted apparel in a day with the current machinery. But the current scenario overlooks the demand for custom-designed apparel which has been on the rise. Textile manufacturers, so far, have been unable to cater on the trend owing to the lack of expertise and equipment required to produce custom-design apparel.

The loop transfer technology incorporated in circular knitting machines allows for the seamless transfer of stitches thereby enabling manufacturers to produce structured designs and shaped fabrics.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) is now a shareholder in Levi Strauss. The animal rights organization has snapped up the minimum number of shares required to submit shareholder resolutions and secure speaking rights at annual meetings.

As a first step, Peta will attempt to persuade Levi’s to drop leather patches made from cow skin and use vegan leather. Cow skin has at least three times the negative environmental impact that using most vegan leather does. Cows killed for leather often endure extreme crowding, electroshock prodding, frequent beatings and castration and tail-docking without pain relief. Animal agriculture, under which the leather industry falls, is responsible for 14 per cent to 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand vegan leather typically comprises petroleum-based synthetics such as polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane.

Levi’s says even though less than 10 per cent of the raw materials in its supply chain is from sources other than cotton, and a small fraction of that percentage is leather, the company strives to source all materials responsibly and that it ensures whenever materials derived from animals are used in its products, their health and welfare are protected, in line with international animal welfare standards.

To optimise yarn clearing further, Loepfe, a leading manufacturer of sensors and monitoring equipment for yarn spinning and fabric weaving processes, has developed the new adjustment tool P-Matrix for its YarnMaster Zenit+, which increases the clearing efficiency substantially. Extensive tests in a spinning mill in India showed impressive results.

The YarnMaster Zenit+ combines different sensor principles in one single device. This enables the customer to effectively control yarn quality. The P-sensor used for the synthetic foreign matter detection is based on the triboelectric effect. The sensor is sensitive to different materials, and is therefore, able to distinguish between cotton and synthetic foreign matter, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyamide (nylon) etc.

The unique sensor principle in combination with the new P-Matrix improves the synthetic foreign fiber clearing substantially. The P-Matrix facilitates the perfect adjustment of the clearing. The result is not only an effective clearing of synthetic contaminations, but at the same time an optimised overall production efficiency with less waste.”

The US has a free trade agreement with Morocco. Five classes of woven garments imported into the US can be made with fabrics sourced from outside of Morocco or the US and still be eligible for preferential treatment. These garments include women’s or girls’ cotton corduroy skirts and polyester corduroy manmade fiber blouses, shirts and blouses; women’s trousers of synthetic bi-stretch fabric containing certain percentages of polyester, rayon and spandex, and women’s trousers of woven herringbone fabric containing certain amounts of viscose rayon, polyester, cotton, wool, nylon and spandex.

Morocco had petitioned for these classifications of goods to be exempt from the yarn-forward rule on behalf of a domestic supplier because they were not commercially available in the US. There were other fabrics that Morocco also requested a waiving of the yarn-forward rule but the exemptions were not granted. Qualification of apparel for duty-free entry into the US requires adherence to a yarn forward rule, which limits the benefits that can be obtained from sourcing in Morocco.

Duties on 95 per cent of bilateral trade in industrial and consumer goods have been eliminated upon entry into force, with duties on other such goods to be phased out in stages in the next ten years.

Kornit Digital will hold a series of events, in New York from April 3 to 4, in Germany April 11 to 12 and Hong Kong, April 15 to 17, 2019. Textile printers, garment decorators, Kornit users, prospective customers and anyone who is curious about latest trends and technology in digital textile printing can gain exclusive market insights, best practices and inspirational thoughts.

Visitors to Kornit Discover will also have the opportunity to get hands-on demonstrations on Kornit’s latest innovations in polyester printing. Based on the company’s signature Neo Pigment Process, the Avalanche direct-to-garment printing system was developed to overcome the limitations and challenges of polyester printing. It allows a wide application variety with no compromises on productivity, design or cost. In particular, it solves the challenge of dye migration. Kornit will also preview an all-new roll-to-roll printing system in the Germany and Hong Kong events and perform live demos of the Kornit Atlas which has been launched in January and is the most cost-efficient direct-to-garment printing system for imprinting hundreds of thousands of garments per year.

Kornit Digital develops, manufactures and markets industrial digital printing technologies for the garment, apparel and textile industries. Kornit delivers complete solutions, including digital printing systems, inks, consumables, software and after-sales support.