Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics will be held from October 11 to 13, 2017. This edition will see sustainable fibers on display. Buyers will be offered sustainable products, solutions and resources. For example, Japanese firm Yagi will display recycolor cotton made from old clothing and scraps from garment factories, which are sorted by color and fed into stripping machines that break the fabric down into their original fibers. As these fibers are usually too short to spin, they are then mixed with virgin cotton and undergo a special spinning technique to create a yarn up to commercial standards.

Chinese company Newtech Textile will showcase Cool Trans transfer printing and dyeing technology, an eco-friendly alternative to digital inkjet printing. Compared to conventional printing technologies, Cool Trans reduces water and dye consumption by 40 per cent and 67 per cent while 92 per cent of water can be reused. It also reduces energy use by up to 65 per cent thanks to a cooler transfer temperature and features rates of 95 per cent for dye transfer and 95 per cent for dye-fixing. In addition to the environmental aspects of the technology, it also offers higher color yields and more delicate printing on the transfer paper or file than direct textile inkjet printing.