China Textile Magazine

Beijing's warm summer air was filled with love on June 22, 2010. Cotton Council International China held a fashion wedding party against the breathtaking backdrop of the Purple Jade Villas, for the winning couple of the COTTON USATM online video competition. Surrounded by beautiful swans, exotic peacocks and young deer fawns, people were deeply moved by the themes of love and nature this pure cotton wedding embodied, all presented by fashion icon and proud COTTON USATM ambassador Miss Xu Xiyuan (Da S). Approximately 136 media and 70 guests including representatives from China's cotton industry and Beijing's ATO attended this event. 

The brutal competition in clothing industry leads to a phenomenon: rarely can a brand remain always flourishing. The competition of lady's wear is fiercer than others among the costume categories. People always have respect for forerunners and lucky person who have been active on the stage for the past years. V•GRASS is the outstanding brand which has won respect through the past 11 years. According to the latest statistics, in the market competition with ONLY, VERO MODA, Koti, Ochirly, Elegant Prosper, Marisfrolg, Ports, Giorzio and White-collar, etc ,V•GRASS ranks on the top 10 by right of the market  share of 10% in East China and Central-south China Region.

  The second ITMA Asia + CITME 2010 exhibition was held successfully in the city of Shanghai from June 22nd to 26th, with an impressive showcase of the latest textile machinery and solutions impressively.

  Leading knitted fabric manufacturer Pacific Textiles headquartered in Hong Kong saw its sales, revenue, profits and market share increased during the global economic downturn. How did they do it? Machinery played a role in the success formula as Vicky Sung found out in a recent interview with its chairman and executive director, Mr. WAN Wai Loi (Figure 1). 

  Morning-glow winkles at the dawn of recovery as the global economy is walking out of the dark recession, but dark clouds are thickening to threat a rain on such a sunny day of fair weather. Of course, many do not believe there are fine days in global trade climate. The on-going cry for yuan rise in value against U.S.dollar is thundering aloud to bring torrential rain on China? From "manipulation" to "misalignment", the word changes to be put in the composition for the same song?

  Première Vision China is the unique place of creativity. It is the opportunity for the major Chinese Fashion professionals to choose incomparable fabrics that will meet their needs and will make all the difference in their collections. Do not miss this exceptional moment of inspiration!

    The fourth Hong Kong Mode Lingerie, organized by Eurovet, the world's leading lingerie and beachwear trade show organizer and supported by the Hong Kong Intimate Apparel Industries' Association (HKIAIA), was held from March 30th to 31st at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This February, National Bureau of Statistics of China released its annual report on the 2009 National Economic and Social Development. Generally speaking, the national economic performance recovered and posed to the good direction and all social undertakings achieved new progress. In the following part, the article would give a brief summary on the main industrial indexes.

  Throughout the supply chain, there is interest in conserving resources and reducing the textile industry's environmental footprint. Every stage of a textile Product's life cycle has environmental impacts !a fro fiber production through manufacturing and retailing to laundering and disposal by consumers. Of particular concern is the use of water, energy, and chemicals (WEC) in textile processing !a an area where technological advances offer significant savings in resources and environmental benefits. In cotton textile processing, and therefore offer the greatest scope for reductions.

 

Interest in sustainable technologies

  Research by Cotton Incorporated indicates that while consumers have become more environmentally aware, their understanding of textile manufacturing and its effects on the environment is limited, as is their willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly textile products.

  According to Cotton Incorporated's 2010 Environment Survey, only 36% of consumers said they would be willing to pay extra for environmentally friendly clothing. Despite limits on consumer awareness and motivation, it is in the textile industry's interest to adopt practices to reduce the use of water, energy, and chemicals, especially in dyeing and inishing. Cotton Incorporated recently surveyed representatives of global mills, brands, and retailers about their motivations for adopting sustainable cotton technologies and practices.

  About two-thirds of these companies are currently implementing sustainable practices or technologies (61%) and/or working with supply chain partners that are implementing them (66%). When asked to identify the main reason for their interest in sustainability, the most common response was concern for the environment !a 42% said that it was better for the environment.

 

  Another 14% cited supply chain customer demand, and 11% said it would provide a competitive advantage; 16% said they were still exploring the potential beneits.

During the winter of 2008¨C09, Cotton Incorporated conducted in-depth interviews with more than 40 global cotton textile processing companies that account for over 75% of global textile processing. These companies manufacture a wide range of woven, knit, denim, and yarn products and have implemented changes in their processes, dyes and chemicals, equipment, and control systems that significantly reduce requirements for water, energy, and chemicals. In this issue, we highlight two proven commercial technologies that survey respondents identified as having a potentially high impact on WEC reduction: one is the high-ixation reactive dyeing with reduced salt, and the other is the low-liquor-ratio jet dyeing machines.

 

High-fixation reactive dyeing, reduced salt

  Reactive dyes contain a reactive group that forms a chemical bond with cotton iber under alkaline conditions. Reactive dyes give bright, fast colors, and account for over 70% of the dyes used for cotton. However, large quantities of salt are needed to cause the dye to move from the dye bath to the fiber, and the exhaustion and fixation rates for reactive dyes (the percentage of the dye that moves from the dye bath onto the iber and the percentage that bonds permanently to the iber) are relatively low. For conventional reactive dyes, the ixation rate is often less than 80%, resulting in waste of dye, and removing the unixed dye requires extensive rinsing and washing with heated water.

Dye suppliers are now offering improved dyes that enable much higher exhaustion and ixation rates while requiring less than half the salt needed with standard reactive dyes. These high-fixation dyes usually incorporate two different reactive groups within the molecular structure of the dye. Much progress has been made in commercializing higher-ixation reactive dyes for dyeing yarns, wovens, knits, and garments. Some mills have been able to boost their average ixation rates from below 70% to over 85%, and ixation rates of over 90% have been reported. However, these higher-value dyes often are more expensive than conventional dyes. Also, because these dyes have higher affinity for fiber than do conventional dyes, they can be more dificult to apply uniformly, and more water may be required for removal of unixed dye.

 

  As mills gain experience with these new dyes and develop confidence that they deliver savings in WEC reduction and mill cost, their use should increase signiicantly.

 

Low-liquor-ratio jet dyeing machines

  High-ixation reactive dyes most often are used with conventional equipment, but their benefits in WEC reduction are magniied when they are used in low-liquor-ratio (LLR) jet dyeing machines. Jet dyeing machines are based on the principle of accelerating water through a nozzle to transport fabrics through the machine. They are designed to operate efficiently and at high quality with a very low ratio of water to material. Jet dyeing machines have been used commercially for 40 years; however, technological advances have reduced water requirements, and machines of newer designs operate at a liquor ratio of less than 8:1.

  These machines usually use low-friction Teflon internal coatings and advanced spray systems to speed rinsing. !°Ultra low liquor ratio!± jet dyein machines operate at a liquor ratio of less than 6:1 and almost always depend on forced airlow to convey the fabric through the machine.LLR jet dyeing is widely used in high volume for piece-dyed knits, as well as some wovens, depending on fabric weight. Compared with conventional machines, LLR machines usually enable reduced cycle times and increased productivity, while requiring less than half as much water. Some plants achieve four batches in 24 hours (depending on depth of shade) and average water consumption of less than 50 liters per kilogram of knit fabric. Plants using machines with the newest airflow technology report processing with liquor ratios of less than 4:1. One factor limiting implementation is the high cost of the new machines, which favors use at new facilities rather than as replacements for older machines.

 

Toward a sustainable future

  Advances in making dyeing technology more environmentally friendly have not been limited to improvements in dyestuffs and equipment. In addition, the plants that are the most advanced in reducing WEC pursue a combination of options including high-eficiency management practices, process control, special processes, and treatment and recycling of wastewater. Each plant adopts options compatible with its particular product offerings, economic circumstances, environmental regulations, and supply-chain requirements.

  Achieving these WEC reductions has required plants to learn and adapt to new processes and practices and to implement creative means for ensuring acceptable economic returns.

  The cotton textile industry can reduce its WEC environmental footprint at least 50% by employing technologies currently used in modern plants (as described in Cotton Incorporated's recent A World of Ideas: publication Technologies for Sustainable Cotton ). Cooperation Textile Manufacturing throughout the supply chain from iber to inished product is critical to encouraging and supporting these efforts.

 

Source form China Textile Magazine

 

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After the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen, environmental protection and low-carbon have been brought into spotlight. Due to the climate change, people have focused on how to do the green thing. We should live and produce in a low-carbon style. How to do this? You should pay much more attention to materials that were used in the production.