MADRID — June 5, 2019 — Tukatech has expanded its global presence, opening a European headquarters in Madrid, Spain. Tukatech Europe is located in the heart of Madrid on Calle De San Bernardo, and led by José A. Jiménez, director – Europe; and Antonio González Quirós, director – Spain.
“I’m excited to expand Tukatech throughout Europe. There is no other solution provider in the industry offering this caliber of software, machinery, and support. Tukatech is now more accessible to European apparel companies who are interested in end-to-end fashion technology,” González Quirós said.
Tukatech Europe’s multi-lingual team consists of experts in the fields of fashion design, product development and garment manufacturing. The team will implement, install, support, and train with Tukatech systems within Spain and throughout Europe.
“The Tukatech European Headquarters team is a wealth of industry experience. José and Antonio understand our vision of providing powerful solutions and unlimited support,” said Chris Walia, COO, Tukatech.
“Antonio and Jose are seasoned apparel industry veterans. Each has decades of experience using and implementing a broad range of fashion CAD systems. They know the difference between these systems and what Tukatech offers. By establishing a European headquarters, we will better serve our current partners. We will also provide solutions to European companies who are seeking disruptive fashion technology,” said Ram Sareen, chairman and CEO, Tukatech.
Sareen continued: “Hundreds of European fashion companies have other CAD systems, yet pattern-makers are still working with paper. This is an opportunity for us to introduce true end-to-end solutions. We were the first to bring digital pattern-making to many countries. We will do the same for the apparel industry in Europe by providing valuable, user-friendly fashion technology in their native languages.”
OBERTSHAUSEN, Germany — June 5, 2019 — KARL MAYER is continuing along its path of digitization, and is focusing on expansion and globalization. From June 2019 onwards, KM.ON will be present in key markets with subsidiaries in China and Hong Kong.
This software startup offers a broad portfolio of digital solutions under the KM.ON brand. The company was set up in Frankfurt in 2017 as the KARL MAYER Digital Factory, and now operates under the uniform name of KM.ON GmbH.
In addition to Warp Knitting, Warp Preparation and Technical Textiles, KMO.ON is also one of KARL MAYER’s business units and has a corresponding focus. “With this international setup, we are following KARL MAYER’s strategy of being close to our customers. Our local presences enable us to focus our solutions for important sales regions even more specifically on the particular requirements of our customers there,” said Antonia Gottschalk, who heads KM.ON GmbH together with Maximilian Kürig.
Both managing directors expect that globalization will also provide impulses for the entire product portfolio. “The adaptation rate of software and digital solutions is enormous here. The heart of digitisation is beating strongly in China. With these new locations, we have our finger firmly on the pulse of a period of great change,” said Kürig.
TOKYO — June 5, 2019 — Toray Industries Inc. announced that using a proprietary composite spinning technology called NANODESIGN®, Toray Industries has created a new nylon textile, one that delivers high water repellency despite using a DWR treatment with a lower environmental cost.
The textile’s structure has microscopic slits running lengthwise on the yarn. Water repelling treatments fill these slits below the outside diameter of the yarn, also making the treatment more abrasion-resistant. This results in two benefits:
The construction enables the textile to use C6 water repellents, which are normally insufficient for outdoor sports; and
The textile provides more resistance to abrasion, which is a leading contributor to diminishing DWR performance.
Despite the slits, the textile has the strength and abrasion-resistance of other yarns and is processed the same way.
Fluorine-based water repellents used in the past do not easily decompose naturally because of its stable chemical structure. It also contains perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — also known as C8 — which could accumulate in the human body and remain in the natural environment. Recent years have witnessed increasing environmental consciousness and there are growing needs for materials using water repellents with low environmental burden such as C6 water repellents do not contain PFOA.
Toray plans to market the textile in fall 2020, as a material variation of the existing textile brands Airtastic®, ENTRANT® and Dermizax®. Leveraging the textile’s high water repellant properties, Toray will target the active outdoor sports and skiing markets, as well as athleisure.
In North America, Toray International America Inc. will provide the new textile.
SLINFOLD, England — June 5, 2019 — Mecmesin, a leading global manufacturer of force, materials and torque testing equipment, has appointed a new Materials Testing Product Manager.
Carl Bramley has been appointed to the role, which has been created as a result of the development of Mecmesin’ s new range of OmniTest materials testers and cutting-edge VectorPro MT materials testing software.
After spending 12 years in the RAF as an Avionics Engineer Carl moved into industry where he worked for Lloyd Instruments for 19 years in various roles. Starting as a service engineer, he was promoted to technical support manager and moved to the USA to support the American distributor network. Bramley returned to the United Kingdom in the role of export sales manager, with responsibility for managing Lloyd’s Asian distribution network.
Bramley has also worked for Shimadzu and most recently as senior sales manager for the Micro-Measurements Group, a manufacturer of foil strain gauges and instruments, with responsibility for the management of their distribution network plus a team of sales engineers.
“The opportunity to work for Mecmesin, to help develop the move into the Material Testing market is an exciting one,” Bramley said. “The product mix with Force Testing will give us a competitive edge, offering a complete solution, with scope to expand into interesting applications in the future. I look forward to working with everyone.”
The Managing Director of Mecmesin John Page said: “As a company we took the decision to expand our ‘product’ testing roots and develop a range of ‘material testing’ products, based around what we feel is the most intuitive software package on the market VectorPro MT. After a period of development and test Mecmesin is now ready to launch these products into this new and exciting market. The recruitment of Carl as product manager for MT products has been the final piece of this jigsaw bringing as he does so much knowledge and experience of the Materials Testing market gained over many years in the industry.”
He added: “A key part of Carl’s role will be to develop Mecmesin’ s existing sales infrastructure to sell and support MT products setting the company up for ongoing future expansion into this new market.”
Alfredo Di Palma, Cluster Top Central America, Sealand
TW Special Report
The changing apparel and textile industry landscape, fast fashion, e-commerce, more direct to consumer brands, sustainability, new technology, and omnichannel distribution are requiring fresh ideas, as well as greater flexibility, agility, and speed to market than ever before.
Let’s look at how a fictitious U.S. apparel company, eCottonjeans, an eco-friendly start-up with its headquarters in Atlanta, established its production and logistics network in order to compete in this changing landscape, meet compelling brand goals and exceed customer expectations.
With a vision to be a leading ecofriendly jeans producer, one that’s good for the planet and good for people, eCottonjeans began by aligning with a producer of a breathable, natural organic cotton fiber located near Savannah, Ga. Proximity to the Port of Savannah, a major sea gateway, would enable the company to seamlessly ship to its future textile mill. Having secured the gateway and the ecoquality product, the jeans producer now would need to find the production resources, infrastructure, and logistics support to meet the launch of its new business.
Central America Sourcing
eCottonjeans reviewed many sourcing opportunities and found that near-sourcing from Central America would be most beneficial as all aspects of quality and production operations could be met, and it would support its speed to market strategy. The company would be able to deliver finished goods to consumers in the United States at a fast pace and shorten its lead times. In addition, near-sourcing would reduce its supply chain carbon footprint since less transportation results in fewer emissions for a more environmentally friendly choice.
Integrated Logistics
ECottonJeans could select Sealand, an intra-Americas regional ocean carrier and Maersk company, to streamline its container logistics and benefit from the company’s local experience and footprint. Alfredo Di Palma, cluster top Central America at Sealand, said: “Over the last two years, we’ve seen the apparel/textile industry in Central America grow approximately 2 percent across the region. We would be a natural partner for a company like eCottonjeans with local country offices throughout Latin America and the U.S. and a team of knowledgeable Sealanders on the ground that know the local markets to skillfully assist companies in navigating their end-to-end, integrated logistics service needs.”
U.S. Gateway Coverage
By sourcing finished goods from Central America and now working with Sealand, eCottonjeans would be able to expand its reach to key consumer markets throughout the U.S via gateways on the U.S. East, Gulf and West Coasts. Sealand is the only ocean carrier that offers consistent direct, weekly coverage to all three U.S. coasts.
In recent years, there’s been a need for greater distribution diversity for U.S.-Central American apparel and textile supply chains. Traditionally much of the apparel and textile goods moved between the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, but with changes in consumer expectations, the need to reach consumers quickly has increased demand for services to all coasts. This comprehensive range of services also provides service alternatives in case weather, or geopolitical conditions arise that impact supply chains. Further supporting the need to reach consumers quickly, apparel companies are expanding their distribution center network to achieve broader coverage throughout the region to accommodate speed-to-market. Direct services expedite the movement of freight to these locations.
End-To-End Value Chain
The full sourcing and supply chain network for the ecofriendly jean start-up was in play. From the United States, quality organic cotton fiber would be shipped from the Port of Savannah on Sealand’s SAE service, a five-day transit to Puerto Cortes in Honduras on the east coast of Central America. The jean fabric would be woven and dyed at a textile mill on the west coast of Nicaragua, requiring an intermodal trucking leg.
Sealand would coordinate this land-side container move assisting with infrastructure challenges that could slow a supply chain down if not handled effectively, such as customs house brokerage and cross border shipping. At the request of the jeans importer, Sealand could institute its SkyAngel GPS tracking service to ensure a reliable, secure flow of goods on land.
Di Palma commented: “SkyAngel is mounted on trucks and chassis carrying the container. It provides full visibility to the shipment in transit so the location of the container can be determined at any point of the intermodal leg and it is a fully customizable system based on the customers’ needs. With SkyAngel, Sealand has maintained a theft level under 1 percent. Whether it’s ocean transport or landside, we establish routings that optimize transit times and bypass any infrastructure challenges that can disrupt supply chains.”
Integrated logistics management helps apparel customers, like eCottonjeans, with its production flow demands and management of its sourcing to aid its business success and ability to deliver a great experience to customers. Timely delivery of shipments and knowledgeable, local transportation and distribution support is critical to importers’ and exporters’ logistics and distribution needs.
Editor’s Note: Sealand – A Maersk Company is a regional container logistics company that combines passionate local teams and agile-thinking with an unrivalled global network powered by the larger Maersk family. Sealand moves customers’ cargo quickly and efficiently across the Americas, Asia, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Through the close connection to Maersk it ensures customers the benefits of industry-leading logistics expertise and cutting-edge technology. A.P. Moller Maersk operates in 130 countries, employs roughly 76,000 people and works to connect and simplify its customers’ supply chains.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — June 4, 2019 — Today, Milliken & Company — a global innovation company with more than a century of performance and protective textile, specialty chemical and floor covering expertise — announces the acquisition of Andover Healthcare, a manufacturer of cohesive bandages and compression systems spanning healthcare, animal health and sports medicine markets. Joining Milliken Healthcare Products LLC, Milliken & Company’s dedicated healthcare business, the acquisition strategically aligns two respected brands in patient care, bringing streamlined, comprehensive and innovative solutions to healthcare providers.
Milliken and Andover Healthcare share a commitment to making a positive impact on the world with high quality, innovative and patient-driven products.
“Andover Healthcare is a natural fit for Milliken. We are equally committed to improving the patient healing experience through innovative solutions, and our shared focus on ethics and integrity unites us culturally,” commented Halsey Cook, Milliken & Company president and CEO. “Our combined expertise and common drive to create innovative solutions invite us to set the bar for comprehensive patient care that helps create a healthier future.”
Headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H., family-owned Andover Healthcare has been manufacturing healthcare solutions since 1976. The company is responsible for many notable developments in healthcare products, including a latex-free bandage and cohesive bandages with controlled compression. Its portfolio complements Milliken Healthcare’s offering of award-winning Active Fluid Management dressings for wound and burn care.
“Joining Milliken is the right progression for Andover Healthcare to usher in its next level of growth,” shared Andover Healthcare founder and CEO Tom Murphy. “We look forward to serving our customers at a greater capacity with the research, design and manufacturing capabilities as well as trusted brand recognition that Milliken brings.”
CAMBRIDGE, England — June 4, 2019 — A technology collaboration between SPGPrints and Xaar will be showcased to a select group of visitors at ITMA 2019. The invitation-only event on the SPGPrints stand (H3-B203) will focus on a technical demonstration of the latest innovations in single pass dye-sublimation printing, giving guests a sneak preview of the new Xaar 5601 printhead together with the waterborne sublimation inks that SPGPrints created specifically for this printhead.
The dye-sublimation transfer printing process on polyester and other synthetic fabrics enables textile printing companies to print more efficiently with less ink while producing higher levels of color density for maximum impact. In addition, the Xaar 5601 sets new standards in digital textile printing thanks to Xaar’s unique technologies — AcuDrp Technology and TF Technology ink recirculation — which ensure outstanding color uniformity and repeatability as well as exceptional print quality.
LURATE CACCIVIO, Italy — June 3, 2019 — Innovation and environmental sustainability in digital textile printing will be central to Aleph’s showcase at ITMA 2019. An Italian manufacturer of sublimation and direct-to-fabric inkjet printers for the textile and visual communication industries, headquartered in the textile district of Como, Aleph will unveil a range of brand-new scanning printing systems aimed at enhancing and integrating its flagship series, LaForte. Designed as a fashion boutique, the company’s booth (Hall H3, Stand B131) will host the latest cutting-edge technologies developed by Aleph and a wealth of textile applications, including textiles printed with modern and trendy patterns and designs, aiming to demonstrate how advanced digital printing technologies are transforming the high-end fashion, fast fashion, sportswear and athleisure, home textile industries.
Three pioneering models from LaForte series will be on display at ITMA 2019: brand-new, top-of-the-line LaForte 600 Fabric, LaForte 200 Fabric and recently launched, dye-sublimation entry-level printer, LaForte 100. “We are excited to be at ITMA 2019 and will use the show to highlight the company’s evolution over the last four years. Not only have we boosted our range of high-performing digital print solutions – which also reflects in the theme and size of our booth – but we have also experienced a continuous corporate growth, up to 50%, following the joint venture with Italian private equity firm, Wise sgr”, comments Alessandro Manes, CEO at Aleph. “Since the official launch of LaForte project, back in 2015, our R&D team has been working hard to improve and consolidate the series. We decided to keep our focus on developing the digital print scanning technology, which can now deliver high volumes, top printed quality and lower production costs, while we consider single pass print technology still at an early stage of its evolution. Furthermore, we have also focused on boosting our workflow software, enhancing our pigment inks and creating complete lines for printing on fabrics, through both the development of proprietary pre and post-press systems and strategic partnerships.”
LaForte series, ranging from entry-level to flagship models
Debuting worldwide at ITMA 2019, LaForte 600 Fabric is an industrial inkjet direct-to-textile printer designed to deliver high-volume manufacturing of extremely high-quality printed textiles. Enabling a print speed from 600 up to 1000 sqm/hour at a print resolution up to 1200 dpi, LaForte 600 Fabric almost reaches the same productivity as single-pass inkjet presses but featuring scanning technology. Aleph’s printer features a compact design, which facilitates its integration into various production environments, and a waterless process that reduces the consumption of water and energy, resulting in drastically lowered production costs and environmental impact.
At ITMA, Aleph will exhibit a complete production line, featuring: a fabric feeding system that supports jumbo reels (up to 1 m roll diameter and 1.000 kg roll weight), LaForte 600 Fabric (equipped with 48 printheads), a proprietary drying system and a exit plater including optional winding unit. Both the feeding system and the plater are from Italian company Bianco Group, partnering with Aleph.
Aleph will also use ITMA 2019 to showcase its flagship solutions addressing different textile market segments. These include:
LaForte 200 Fabric, a direct-to-fabric inkjet printer featuring a compact design and a patented rotary belt. The printer is designed to address mid to high print volume production (up to 400 sqm/h with 3400 mm print width in one pass and up to 300 sqm/h with 1800 mm print width in one pass). At the show in Barcelona, Aleph will showcase a LaForte 200 Fabric model equipped with 8 dual-module printheads (dual channel, two colours per head) and with pigment inks, and will run live demonstrations of direct printing onto wide ranges of fibres.
LaForte 100 Paper is a versatile inkjet printing system. A water-based dye-sublimation entry-level solution with production speed up to 200 sqm/h, LaForte 100 features 4 to 8 printheads (a 4-printhead model will be displayed at ITMA) and is equipped with a patented rotary belt with vacuum system, which enables to print on paper with grammage starting from 10 gsm. Offering robustness and stability in production, LaForte 100 is designed to deliver high-quality print and addresses those large format printing companies aiming to diversify their product portfolio and to explore new market segments. The printer is suitable for the fast fashion and sportswear market segments, as well as the out of home and soft signage industries.
Another highlight at Aleph’s boutique at ITMA will be the showcase of high-quality printed fabrics and textiles. The brand-new advanced pigment inks and direct disperse dyes developed by Aleph don’t require pre and post treatments – enabling a significant reduction in water consumption – and guarantee durability and colour vibrancy thanks to an innovative binder with ultra-clinging-to-the-fibre capability. In addition, Aleph has recently developed new pre and post treatment solutions that help further enhance the solidity and colour vibrancy also on special fibres.
“ITMA 2019 represents a fantastic opportunity to showcase our cutting-edge technologies in digital textile printing to a global audience. The show in Barcelona will also make an ideal platform to demonstrate how Aleph has succeeded in establishing itself as a leading player in different digital textile printing market segments”, Manes continues. “Aleph is growing fast and internationally, currently counting on an installed base of about 60 LaForte units worldwide. Also, our customers are satisfied with the production performances and the quality of our printers and with the aftersales service that we provide. All in all, we strongly believe that Aleph is set to mark yet another significant landmark in the company evolution at ITMA 2019.”
PLANO, Texas — June 4, 2019 — J. C. Penney Co. Inc. today announced that Victor Ejarque Lopez — a highly esteemed executive with 25 years of experience in merchandising, product, supply chain and operations — has been named senior vice president, general merchandise manager for women’s apparel, reporting to Michelle Wlazlo, chief merchandising officer. He will join the company June 10. In this role, he will be responsible for overseeing and developing all of the company’s women’s apparel merchandising strategies and programs to create a compelling shopping experience for customers.
“I am delighted to welcome Victor to our team. His appointment fills a vital component of our merchandising leadership team, and we are eager to leverage his broad expertise in women’s apparel as we curate and develop sought-after brands and assortments to make JCPenney a preferred shopping destination for our customers,” said Wlazlo. “He will be an integral part of our senior leadership team as we create an inspirational experience for our customers at every touchpoint.”
Ejarque Lopez joins JCPenney from Guess Inc., where he served as vice president and general merchandise manager of global operations, overseeing the company’s merchandising, buying, planning, allocation, supply chain and logistics. He worked globally to significantly reduce choice counts, implement markdown efficiencies, improve store replenishment, and meaningfully reduce sourcing production time.
Prior to Guess, Ejarque Lopez was vice president and general merchandise manager of women’s apparel and accessories for Kmart, part of Sears Holdings. He managed a portfolio of 10 brands, improved gross margin significantly and increased speed to market while defining the product and merchandising strategy.
Ejarque Lopez also spent 13 years with Stradivarius, an international women’s and men’s clothing fashion brand from Spain with over 1,000 shops in 60 countries. Stradivarius is owned by Inditex, the largest fashion group in the world, and also the parent company of Zara. While at Stradivarius he served in several top leadership roles including head of buying, head of commercial department and allocation, and head of sourcing and supply chain for Asia. Ejarque Lopez began his career at Polo and Co., where he spent 10 years as a business and production manager.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — June 4, 2019 — Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc., a developer of spider silk based fibers, announced today that, in recognition of the magnitude of multiple recent achievements, Dr. Trevor Kane has been promoted to the position of chief scientist.
His successes in creating new transgenics in the lab, and expanding our intellectual property portfolio with several new provisional patent applications, mark a significant milestone and advancement in Kraig Labs mission to produce and commercialize eco-friendly materials that exceed the performance and strength of native spider silk.
“These new powerful transgenics, recently created by Dr. Kane’s team, were designed for broad commercial appeal. Dr. Kane has certainly earned his promotion with the successful development of this new architecture. This next generation technology, developed in our labs, has the potential to radically advance gains in material performance, above and beyond anything we’ve previously produced,” said CEO and Founder, Kim Thompson.
“I would like congratulate and commend Dr. Kane and our entire R&D team for their success in developing these breakthrough technologies,” said COO Jon Rice.
These new transgenics incorporate several technologies covered by the company’s recent provisional patent applications and set the stage for new commercial applications.
