Kingpins was back in Amsterdam last week, bringing together industry
professionals to discuss the latest trends, innovations and technologies in the denim
scene.
The two-day event, running between 23 and 24 October at the former
gasworks complex Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam, was a bustling scene of
blue, with brands, buyers and denim mills attending in large numbers.
Though whispers of uncertainty surrounding current issues such as the
US-China trade war and Brexit uncertainty made their rounds across the fair
floor, attendees were generally upbeat. Here are FashionUnited’s favourite
innovations spotted at the event:
Tejidos Royo unveils One Million Liters initiative
Spanisih fabric manufacturer Tejidos Royo announced Wednesday that since
implementing DryIndigo technology this year it has saved more than 1
million litres of water used in denim dyeing.
Originally announced in 2018, Tejidos Royo’s dyeing process removes
water by using a foam that dyes the yarn. It also reduces energy
consumption by 65 percent during manufacture, uses 89 percent less chemical
products, and completely eliminates wastewater discharge. According to
UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), producing a
single pair of jeans with conventional dyeing methods uses the same amount
of water that the average person could drink over seven years.
Tejidos Royo contributed the economic contribution from the first
million litres saved to UNICEF for its water and sanitation programmes, and
is now challenging other companies to make similar commitments through the
launch of the One Million Liters campaign.
José Rafael Royo, member of the company’s board said: “In the textile
industry, we need to rework our processes to become a much more sustainable
industry. DryIndigo is a major milestone in this area, and we hope that it
inspires to make our industry a much more responsible one towards our
surroundings.
“We are facing the sustainable denim revolution and, with One Million
Liters, we want everyone to take part in it so that, together, we can meet
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals before 2030.”
Rudolf laser primer technology
Rudolf Hub 1922, the fashion division of Rudolf Group, showcased its new
laser primer technology at Kingpins. While local abrasion has long been
used on denim to create texture – with brushing, sandblasting, chemical
spray, and scraping – laser burning has taken a central role in the
process.
Rudolf Laser Primer is a foam primer that is added onto fabrics before
they are laser-treated, resulting in a less expensive and more
environmentally friendly process due to the reduction in chemicals and
sprays used. “It’s a breakthrough innovation,” said Alberto De Conti, head
of Rudolf Fashion, at Kingpins. “Lasers have been around for a while – they
have been instrumental in pushing forward this industry. From our
perspective what was important was to look at the tool and see how we can
improve it.”
Candiani Resolve
Candiani’s newest fabric Resolve is made of organic cotton and
customized Roica premium degradable stretch yarn developed by Asahi Kasei.
It is the third fabric to join the Italian company’s family of sustainable
‘Re’ fabrics, along with Refibra, and Relast.
Owner of the company, Alberto Candiani, said: “This year, we were
looking into better polymers and smarter ingredients because the real
problem is landfill. The elastic is synthetic and if you dispose of the
garment in the landfill, synthetic will be a toxic element staying in the
soil forever. Together with Roica, which is our partner, when it comes to
innovation in stretch denim, we decided to look at their developments.
Years ago, they came up with V550, which is an elastic made of a different
polymer that doesn’t release any toxic.”
Moving forward, Candiani said he plans for most of the company’s
production done with normal elastomer to be replaced by V550. “Next year we
will come up with a final stage of this evolution with an elastomer which
will finally aim for biodegradability and full compostability,” he said.
“So there is a lot going on, step by step.”
M&J Start to Measure system and water reduction initiatives
Genesis:M&J Group presented its multi-measurement system Start to Measure
which allows unique insights to each customer Genesis facility’s machinery and
chemicals consumption. The new system means every customer can request a detail
report on water, gas, steam, electricity and chemicals consumption to encourage
more transparency and traceability across the supply chain. The system also generates
a unique QR Code, directly linked to the single machine where a product was produced.
The company also adopted a new washing process that allows to recycle the 50
percent of treated effluent from water waste treatment plants (WWTP /ETP). The
Genesis facility is able to recycle the treated effluent directly in the garment
washing process, reducing freshwater requirements by 50 percent, according to the
company.
Garmon smart foam treatment
Garmon collaborated with Itaclab and Mactec to launch its smart foam
system at Kingpins which the company said saves up to 80 percent of water
and reduces energy requirement as all treatments are performed at room
temperature. The process is also reportedly up to 3 times faster to load
chemicals in the washing machine compared to nebulization systems.
Photo credit: FashionUnited
