texfash

As Expo Riva Schuh & Gardabags gears up for its 100th edition in January 2024, texfash.com talks to Roberto Pellegrini, President of the Riva del Garda Fierecongressi Spa, the trade fair’s organising company to learn about its focus on sustainability, innovation and more. Joining in are his colleagues Enrico Cietta, Matteo Pasca, William Wong, and Alberto Mattiello.

A cleantech biochemical start-up Nature Coatings has given the world perhaps its first carbon-negative black pigment — the BioBlack TX — sourced from FSC certified wood waste. texfash.com talks to the Founder-CEO Jane Palmer on her journey this far.

Charting a radical new standard that designs elimination of fabric waste, the Shelly Xu Design (SXD) technology uses machine-learning and AI to create patterns that use every scrap of fabric efficiently. Award-winning designer Shelly Xu tells texfash.com how she combines great design with “bleeding-edge” technology.

Pune-based deeptech startup KBCols Sciences dips into the rich biodiversity of India to tech-source microbes and cultures them in bioreactors to produce natural colours of choice, using agrowaste as feedstock. The final product—bio-colours free from microbes—are a universal drop-in-solution to dye fibres.

Inspired by the brilliance of nature to develop materials from living and regenerable things, a Brazil based fashtech startup is harnessing the power of seaweeds to shape the future of textiles. texfash.com talks to the Founder–CEO of Phycolabs Thamires Pontes to know more.

Quite famously known as the ‘Green City in the Sun’, Nairobi has a bunch of students from its leading university figuring out an “incredible alternative” on how to use agro-waste, specially from maize—the principal staple food of Kenya—and pineapple, connecting the farming community to fashion in a way that both people and the planet not only survive but thrive.

A leading manufacturer of specialty viscose fibres, Kelheim Fibres GmbH, has a portfolio of functional biodegradable viscose fibres for unique products. Marina Crnoja-Cosic, Director – New Business Development (Marketing & Communication) talks to texfash.com about the ongoing innovation, the route taken on sustainability and how the market for viscose is shaping up.

The VDMA or Verband Deutscher Maschinen-und Anlagenbau or the German Engineering Federation, representing more than 3,600 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies, employs around 3 million people in the EU-27 with more than 1.2 million in Germany alone. Focused on innovation, exports and SMEs, around 80% of the machinery sold in the EU comes from manufacturing plants in the domestic market. texfash.com in conversation with Dr Harald Weber, who has been the Managing Director of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association since January 2023.

Cradle to Cradle Certified is the leading multi-attribute standard used globally for more than a decade for designing and making products that enable a healthy, equitable and sustainable future, according to the world’s most advanced science-based measures. texfash.com in conversation with Nienke Steen, Global Lead—Apparel, Textile and Footwear, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.

The Bangladesh textiles industry before and after the Rana Plaza disaster is a different story. While earlier the focus was on capacity building of management teams on productivity, quality, and HR systems aimed at worker welfare, after the mishap the highlight was that the responsibility of making a factory safe does not rest with only the safety or compliance officer. Dr Rajesh Bheda, CEO and Managing Director, Rajesh Bheda Consulting, shares with texfash.com his observations.