It was just a matter of time that the fashion sector would embrace 3D printing technology as the way forward with textiles, samples, embellishments and accessories. The advancement in 3D printing and 3D scanning are set to usher in huge changes in the production process of the fashion and textile industry. These sectors have quickly noticed the advantages and fashion designers and textile manufacturers are on an experimental run. 3D printing technology has opened up endless possibilities hitherto unexplored by both, designers and textile manufacturers - different shapes and geometries that can generate amazing outfits and prints.

Sustainability is a driver

As consumer trends indicate their preference for sustainable clothing and accessories, the efficiency and wastage-saving features of 3D printing are winners. Whether it is creating prototypes and samples to bespoke haute couture, 3D printing technology cuts down on fabric wastage enormously. This is a badge fashion labels can proudly proclaim – from runway to store with minimum wastage. Look at it this way – water usage in the manufacturing of textiles and fabrics has become a worldwide debate, wasted fabric from creating outfits is another topic fashion brands are grappling with and emissions from textile plants is also on the hit list of unsustainable production processes as are dyes used as colorants that are chocking vast numbers of water bodies. Enter 3D printing and it seems poised to drive fashion and textile industries towards a greener methodology. Additionally, 3D printing technology has another clear advantage – speed to market with garment lines being printed within 24 hours and ready for shipping.

Designers’ dream

3D printing has enhanced the limitless possibilities in terms of not only designing patterns for textiles but also for garments. Fusion of legacy and contemporary design elements can be achieved in minutes and embellishments added to textiles in a matter of hours. This is a great advantage for creating unique rolls of fabrics and outfits, making the art of bespoke much less time consuming and drawing board nightmares.

Is 3D knitwear the most environment- friendly?

Whilst 3D printing does impact on wastage, can it be said to be truly environment-friendly? 3D printing mostly uses plastic and metal and therefore is not the best green solution. Moreover, plastic and metal are not flexible enough. 3D knitwear is something that may provide a better solution for not only the textile manufacturing sector but also for fashion designers. Researchers are looking into viable options as knitwear machines can produce a 3 dimensional garment in a single pass by uniting threads one after another. It eliminates the usage of plastic and metal filaments by staying on course with natural fibres.

From concept to commercial

The concept of 3D printing to revolutionise the manufacturing of textiles is still at a very inchoate stage with commercial mass production in the distant future. Many R&D wings of major companies such a Teflon, 3M and Dupont are working below the radar at the moment to find out cost-efficient and greener filaments that can actually live up to the sustainability element of 3D printing of textiles. One emerging process that has proven to be successful in this regard is the 3D panel printing on textiles. It well may be that collaborations between textile manufacturers and innovation companies will speed up the process for mass production soon.

Kelheim has partnered with TextileGenesis. Kelheim is a viscose specialty fiber manufacturer and offers a range of specialty viscose fibers allowing the specific properties of fabrics to be enhanced, generating added value in the textile chain.

The company, based in Germany, focuses on innovative high-quality fibers. These fibers are used in diverse applications as fashion, hygiene and medical products, specialty papers and in the nonwovens industry.Textile Genesis is an award-winning traceability platform that creates radical transparency from fiber-to-retail and ensures authenticity and provenance of sustainable textiles. TextileGenesis uses blockchain technology to track and verify the use of sustainable fibers all the way from fiber to garment. A digital fiber coin ensures transparency and reliability throughout the entire production line and beyond.


Wood-based fibers are an environmentally-friendly basis for sustainable textiles but consumers often don’t know what’s behind their garments. But they need to know it’s in their hands to minimize the ecological footprint of the textile industry. Transparency and traceability are the foundation that enables consumers to make informed decisions. The fashion and textile value chain is undergoing major transformation driven by sustainable materials, shifting consumer demand for sustainable products, and increasingly stringent regulations on transparency.

India’s textile exports fell by 31 per cent in September 2022. Apparel exports declined by 18 per cent in the same period. Cumulative exports of textiles and apparel decreased by 26 per cent.

During April 2022 to September 2022, Indian textile exports went down by 16 per cent while apparel shipment rose by 11 per cent. Cumulative exports of textiles and apparel during this period decreased by six per cent. The share of textiles and apparel in India’s total merchandise exports declined to seven per cent in September 2022 compared to ten per cent in September 2021. The share fell from nine per cent to seven per cent in April 2022 to September 2022. So India’s textile exports declined in September this year, even as the other textile-exporting countries continue to perform better than India.

Indian exporters are losing in the international textile market as the currencies of competing countries registered a deeper fall against the dollar compared to the Indian rupee.Indian exports are underperforming compared to the other countries. Indian exporters are unable to compete against other countries and are losing export orders as they are not able to offer competitive prices to their importers. The fall in the Indian rupee against the dollar is not really benefiting Indian exporters as currencies of other competing countries have fallen deeper.

Sustainable Apparel Coalition has appointed Lee Green as senior director, marketing and communications. Nadia York is chief of staff.

Lee will be responsible for overseeing all the communications and marketing activities to ensure SAC’s work is effectively communicated to all stakeholders and the organization continues to affirm its position as a critical partner for transforming the industry to positively impact people and the planet.

Lee has experience working with a member-based organization and has a compelling track record of delivering impactful communications strategies and events.Prior to joining SAC, he was the director of communications at The Consumer Goods Forum for ten years.

Nadia will work closely with the leadership team and the board of directors to provide strategic support and create synergy within the organization to ensure teams are working effectively and efficiently in support of the organizational objectives and priorities.Nadia has extensive experience in project management and translating strategic enterprise-wide projects and initiatives into action across departments.Before joining SAC, Nadia worked as the chief of staff for the UK ambassador in Paris. By combining their distinct backgrounds, expertise and experience, SAC hopes to grow and help accelerate its collective action efforts to enable positive social and environmental impact at scale.

E-P will be held in Italy, April 18 and 19, 2023.This is an event dedicated to the relationship between fashion and the digital world.

Among the topics on the agenda there will be, for instance, new strategies for personalizing and measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns in the light of new cookie policies; the potential of 3D for business operations; control of digital distribution in retail; social and hybrid commerce; new KPIs for stores; Web3 evolution: new business frontiers and brand protection between metaverse, NFT and blockchain; challenges and potential of the new tool for traceability,the European digital product passport,; recycling and durability;and designing sustainability. The event’s topics have been vetted by university professors, experts and senior executives from industry companies.

There will be a broadening of the topics addressed, both in the keynote speeches and in the scheduled round tables. Issues related to the protection of intellectual property of brands will be taken up. The sustainability debate will look both at the adoption of the digital product passport, by manufacturing companies and all supply chain actors, and at new challenges in extending the product life cycle. And there will be no shortage of reflections on customer experience and the digitization of retail models to meet new consumer needs.

Denim Première Vision will be held in Italy, November 23 and 24, 2022. For two days, it will host the international denim community and the fashion industry to broaden their business perspectives and discover new sources of creativity.

The show will present a selective offer from over 60 exhibitors, from 14 countries - including Italy, Japan, Spain, Turkey, Morocco, Bangladesh and Pakistan - to partner and support the development and creation of the spring/summer 2024 collections.In addition to the traditional presence of exhibitors, this edition will feature a new program of talks by key players and experts regarding industry challenges like, for instance, sustainability, digitization, production and more.

The edition will unveil spring/summer 2024 denim trends via selected fabrics, accessories and finished products, accompanied by photos and immersive videos. A section will present ten ready-to-wear and accessory brands that will preview their collections created in partnership with show exhibitors.Completing the program’s event will be workshops and special events, aimed to better understand the techniques behind working with denim.A cocktail organized at the closing of the first day will take place in partnership with global denim manufacturer Isko.

With this edition, Denim Premiere Vision will hit its 30th season along with its 16th birthday.

Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam have joined forces to fight chemical pollution.

They have launched a program to manage and reduce hazardous chemicals in their textiles industries. The program will provide technical support and tools for small and medium manufacturers to improve their knowledge and management of hazardous chemicals, guiding them to manage risks to workers, and eventually eliminate the worst chemicals from their production processes. Processing mills often lack the awareness and technical expertise needed to manage chemicals.

The five-year program will bring the four countries together to align public policy on the textile sector with international best practice, including on supply chain transparency, investment for chemical management and eco-innovation, and occupational health and safety, creating the enabling environment needed to phase out chemicals of concern.

Employing over ten million people, the four nations’ textile sectors account for nearly 15 per cent of global clothing exports. However, the economic benefits of the industry come at a cost. Wet processing factories, where materials are turned into fabrics through bleaching, printing, dyeing, finishing and laundering, typically use 0.58 kg of chemical inputs for every kg of fabric produced. These compounds leak into the environment at all phases of the textile lifecycle, from production to use, disposal and recycling.

Switzerland and Egypt have agreed on a textile machinery transaction. This will help Egypt modernize its textile industry while benefiting the Swiss textile machinery industry by broadening its export strategy plans.

The objective is to strengthen the already well-established industrial ties between Egypt and Switzerland and to initiate a major step toward the revival of the Egyptian textile manufacturing sector.Switzerland has made offers of assistance in the key area of financing capital imports. Switzerland is ready to support Egypt in its striving to re-connect with the worldwide textile community.

Swiss textile machinery producers enjoyed strong export sales to Egypt in the years up to 2013, but the country’s economic and political woes since then have seen shipments decline to only 20 per cent of previous levels.Textile production is a vital contributor to Egypt’s economy. But the sector’s performance and potential is being held back by financial constraints. Difficulties in accessing foreign exchange funds and the high costs associated with this have been a major obstacle to Egyptian companies seeking to renew their equipment and take up new technology.

Switzerland and Egypt share a history of fruitful collaboration in the textile sector, which dates back to the 19th century.

China’s garment and accessory exports during January 2022 to August 2022 grew by 11 per cent.

In the same period the country’s textile exports grew by ten per cent. The EU countries, the US, Japan and Asean countries are still the major destinations for China’s textile and apparel exports. Year-on-year growth of exports to Asean and Bangladesh increased more rapidly to reach 23 per cent and 36 per cent respectively.

The proportion of China’s textile and apparel exports to Europe, the US and Japan has moved down gradually. The proportion to the US, in particular, has declined rapidly since the US-China trade war. Although China’s textile and apparel still hold a dominant position in those countries, especially in Japan, yet parts of the share are being squeezed by Southeast and South Asia countries.

China is in the middle of an outward shift of its low-end textile and apparel industry, and this is expected to continue in the future. However, given the limited capacity and incomplete industrial chains, Southeast and South Asia countries are highly dependent on imports, particularly imports from China. From 2007 till now, the share of China's textile exports in the total textile and apparel exports has risen gradually from 32 per cent to 47 per cent, up 14 percentage points.

Bangladesh’s yearly exports of sweaters have grown 39 per cent. Sweaters hold a prominent position in Bangladesh’s apparel export dynamics and have seen a double-digit increase in product penetration out of the total garment exports of Bangladesh, which turned into a major sourcing hub for sweaters for international retailers and brands after work orders started shifting from China since Chinese manufacturers are no longer interested in making sweaters because of the complexities in the manufacturing process, higher cost of production and shortage of skilled workers. Europe is Bangladesh’s second biggest market for sweaters.

The continent is home to more than 60 per cent of garments exported from Bangladesh.But Europe has been plagued for months by extreme heat, drought and wildfires. August 2022 was particularly brutal. The European Union has also been hit by inflation. This is the highest inflation rate reported since 1997. Given the situation, sweater makers in Bangladesh have been impacted and have been receiving fewer orders. Clothing retailers and brands in Europe have started delaying the placing of fresh work orders from Bangladesh or have cut down on order volumes as sales have taken a massive hit. They are making delays in taking the delivery of products for which orders were placed between December and March, citing pile up of unsold stocks.