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A Dutch company, Feyecon, has developed a process to strip colors from dyed polyester textiles using super-critical CO2. This has the potential to accelerate closed-loop textile recycling by greatly improving the quality of recycled raw material inputs. Research is underway to see if this technique can be used to remove textile finishes and other auxiliary chemicals from fabrics.
Feyecon, a partner in joint venture company DyeCoo, which produces CO2 textile dyeing machines, says it’s the only company to consider dye removal from polyester textile waste using its own pressurised fluid technology. Given the early commercial success of DyeCoo technology, which is currently being used to dye textiles without the use of water for brands such as Nike and Adidas, Fayecon decided to experiment with reversing this technique to bleach dyed polyester textiles.
The removed dyes are then dissolved in the CO2, thus avoiding the use of organic solvents or other caustic chemicals to decolorise fabrics. The decolorisation step will also dry the synthetic textile fiber polymer, which will help to limit degradation during recycling. The company is also investigating whether this technology can be applied to remove finishing chemicals and auxiliaries from fabrics. Feyecon claims the dye can be recycled.
www.feyecon.com/
Global production of digitally printed textiles is growing at an annual rate of 25 per cent and at present, digitally printed textiles account for just 2 per cent of total printed textile production worldwide. It is expected to account for 5 per cent share by 2017. According to a report by Textile Intelligence, digital textile printing offers greater freedom of creativity and flexibility in design and is more cost efficient for short print runs, providing scope of expansion for the digital textile-printing industry.
While the production of digitally printed textiles is currently weighted heavily towards developing countries, however, there is likely to be an increase in production in Europe in the future. The increase in production in European countries will be driven by the fact that some European textile companies are planning to shift digital printing to Europe to satisfy local tastes, facilitate quick response manufacturing, release a greater number of collections each year and serve the fast fashion market better.
There are opportunities for expansion in the luxury apparel segment as digital textile printing enables retailers of luxury apparel to produce small quantities of high quality, limited edition pieces cost efficiently. Further scope for expansion lies in the area of mass customisation, whereby a consumer is able to personalise a product by choosing a design on a dedicated web page in a retailer's online store for subsequent production by a digital textile printer.
The Textile Institute World Conference, TIWC 2014, will take place from November 2 to 6, China. TIWC 2014 is a platform that gathers researchers, academics and the industries related to the areas of textiles, clothing and footwear. The conference is organised every one and a half years by the Textile Institute in various locations around the world such as Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, England and Malaysia.
The conference aims to provide a significant platform for industry and researchers around the world to meet, discuss, share and disseminate findings for future collaborations. It will specifically focus on textile innovation from fiber to fashion in both research and industrial applications.
The Textile Institute is the only international organisation for textiles, clothing and footwear industries. It was founded in 1910. Members consist of individuals and corporate members in up to 80 countries. Membership covers all sectors and all disciplines in textiles, clothing and footwear.
Developments in textile materials, equipment and processes have extensively impacted the textile industry worldwide. Innovations from fiber to fashion in textiles not only provide opportunities for development of traditional textiles but also expand the industry into non-conventional markets such as technical textiles and composites with value-added elements.
www.tiworldconference.org/info/1015/1003.htm
A two-day exhibition of Indian textiles was held in Ethiopia last week (August 13 and 14). It was organized by the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Association along with the Indian embassy and the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Promotion Council. About 20 Indian textile companies took part and exhibited a wide range of products including shirts, suits, fabrics, yarns and embroidery products.
The aim was to strengthen bilateral trade, particularly in man-made textiles. India’s synthetic and rayon textiles industry is currently worth $600 million and exports to more than 140 countries. India's total synthetic and rayon output is around 21 million sq. mt.
India is investing billions of dollars in Ethiopia. Trade and investment relationship between the two countries has shown significant progress. From 1992 to 2012, a total of 365 Indian firms took investment licenses for different projects in Ethiopia. The total trade turnover was $1.3 billion between the two countries in 2013. There are 140 textile factories in Ethiopia, seven of these are Indian companies. India’s 2013 export of textile and clothing products was $40 billion, which the country plans to double to $80 billion by 2020.
India may replace China as the world's largest cotton producer in the next marketing year. The country is expected to produce 39.62 million bales in 2014-15 compared with 40.05 million bales in the current year. In contrast the Chinese crop would be lower in 2014-15 as it has started focusing more on food crops while crop coverage in India could hit a record if the weather remains favorable.
A bumper harvest in India for a second straight year will further pressure global cotton futures, which have already dropped 24 per cent so far this year, as global year-ending stocks are estimated to rise for a fifth straight season. However, Indian cotton exports could drop in 2014-15 as its biggest buyer China is offloading its own inventory and cutting down on purchases from overseas.
Global trade could decline 12 per cent in 2014-15, as Chinese imports could come down by 26 per cent. India is the second largest producer of cotton in the world after China accounting for about 18 per cent of world cotton production. It has the largest area under cotton cultivation in the world ranging between 12.2 million hectares and constituting about 25 per cent of the world area under cotton cultivation. The yield per hectare is, however, the lowest against the world average. Over the last two years it has shown potential to reach world average levels in the near future.
The global dyestuff (black color) market for textile fibers is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 8 per cent from 2014 to 2020. Black dyestuff is used to color a wide range of textile fibers such as polyester fibers, nylon fibers, acrylic fibers and olefin fibers. Polyester fiber is the most widely used variety of textile fiber. Hence, it is the largest product segment of the global black dyestuff market for textile fibers, accounting for over 56 per cent of the total market volume in 2013.
A broad range of textiles produced from these black colored fibers is utilized in end-user industries such as home textiles, apparels, protective clothing, automotive textiles and agricultural textiles.
Asia Pacific dominated this market, accounting for over 55 per cent of the total market volume in 2013. Rising demand for apparels, home textiles, automotive and agricultural textiles is expected to drive the market for textile fibers in Asia Pacific in the next few years.
Gradual recovery of the economy in North America and Europe is anticipated to positively impact the dyestuff market for textile fibers in the next few years. Key players operating in the market include Huntsman, Clariant, Sumitomo, DuPont and Kemira.
Techtextil 2015, the international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens, will be held in Frankfurt from May 4 to 7, 2015. The fair will be held over four days instead of the usual three. Most exhibitors are from functional apparel textiles.
South Korea, a growing market with a great export potential, will be represented by a joint stand for the first time. Belgium, China, France, India, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the US have also confirmed participation. England may have a pavilion. Thirteen countries had joint stands at Techtextil 2013. The same four days will also see the Texprocess exhibition. This is an international trade fair for processing textile and flexible materials.
The world economy is building on technical textiles. Sales of non-woven products and technical textiles were positive in the first half of 2014. The European Union had a four per cent increase in production of technical and industrial textiles from January to May 2014 compared to the same period last year. The US textile industry reported a growth of five per cent in 2013 in sales of technical textiles. China continues to expect a double-digit rate of growth in terms of sales and the production of technical textiles because domestic demand for automobiles, medical supplies and infrastructure is rising steadily. Thanks to the buoyant export market, the Indian textile industry is also doing extremely well.
While Indian companies already export two percent of their raw garment and textile materials to Vietnam annually, and they seek to increase their market share to 25 per cent over the next few years. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has said that the two-way trade turnover in the garment sector has witnessed robust growth in recent years especially, after the signing of a Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN and India in 2010. In 2013, Vietnam imported $419 million worth of textile materials from India, up 36 percent compared to 2012′s figure.
Vietnam Customs statistics show that in the first seven months of 2014, India exported cotton, fibre, and fabric to Vietnam, earning $224 million, $39.2 million and $30.96 million respectively. India’s export turnover of garment, leather, and footwear accessories to Vietnam also garnered $58 million.
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council of India (TEXPROCIL) sent 20 companies to Vietnam in February 2014 to explore the market and seek partnerships. In August, 12 Indian garment companies also arrived in HCM City for an exchange program to facilitate business connectivity between the two countries.
www.moit.gov.vn
PTT (poly trimethylene terephthalate) is an advanced polymer that can be spun into fibers. The fibers and yarns have a unique combination of properties including stretch and recovery, softness, bulk, and easy dye. Fabrics produced from PTT fibers and yarns clean easily and have superior durability.
PTT unifies the main and best characteristics of nylon and polyester for many applications. As compared to other synthetic fibers, PTT is softer, easy dye, keeps vivid colors longer, loses shape easily and just as easily goes back to its original shape. It’s also dirt-resistant and easier to clean and dry. The new generation polyester series elastic fiber PTT, because of its easy processing, excellent elasticity and dyeing, is estimated to make inroads into part of the conventional nylon and PET market.
At one time PTT couldn’t be mass produced. In recent years, though, with rapid development in production technology, PTT fiber manufacture and development has made giant strides and has found its way into commercial production.
Major PTT raw material suppliers in the world are DuPont and Shell. DuPont adopts an environment-friendly biochemical synthetic technology while Shell does it by chemical synthesis. Recently China has developed a bio-based PTT fiber production technology chain.
Shandong has introduced a denim dyeing technology, a combination of denim paints and dyes dyeing technology. It integrates paint staining technology with the existing indigo and sulphur dyeing. The project uses pigment dyeing techniques that enriches the denim fabric staining method, overcomes the shortcomings of traditional single color dyeing, reduces the discharge of sewage water during dyeing and washing and achieves energy saving, emission reduction as well as clean production. The group has also developed anti-bacterial textiles.
The Shandong D&Y Group ranks among the top 20 textile enterprises in China. It’s equipped with 5,00,000 spindles, 10,000 air spinning, 2,000 looms, 3,500 sets of sewing equipment. It employs over 10,000 people and annually produces 80,000 tons of cotton yarn, 20 million meters of denim, five million meters of wool and five million pieces of clothing. The group owns the textile company Daiyin, the Sino-US joint venture denim weaving company Jin Kate, and the apparel company Renault. D&Y exports yarn, cloth, woolen clothing products to Japan, Korea, southeast Asia, the United States, and the European Union.
By 2020, the Daiyin group hopes to own 3,00,000 spindles and produce 50 million meters of woven garments, sales revenue in excess of 50 billion yuan, and profits of 500 million yuan.
www.daiyin.com/English/article.asp?articleid=1
