ALEXANDRIA, Va. — October 5, 2018 — Handcraft Linen Services, the Richmond, VA-based independent medical launderer, has been certified Clean Green, reflecting the company’s dedication to operational efficiency and sustainability. Linen, uniform and facility services companies receive this distinction by adhering to TRSA-designated water and energy use thresholds and deploying best management practices (BMPs) consistent with the ASTM International environmental laundering standard.

Handcraft Linen Services’ customers can be assured their reusable healthcare textiles are washed, dried and finished with processes that maximize sustainability and reduce greenhouse emissions. Clean Green certified operations demonstrate significant commitment to conservation and green operations through these BMPs:

• Recovering heat from drained hot water and heat dispersed from the process of warming water
• Recapturing drained water from rinses for reuse
• Using environmentally friendly detergents
• Removing solids and liquids from wastewater
• Solar energy and energy-efficient lighting
• Recycling programs
• Re-routing trucks to save vehicle fuel
• Spill prevention plans

The Clean Green certification is valid for three years at a time. TRSA inspects laundry facilities seeking certification and approves documentation of their water and energy use and BMP deployment through production reports they submit to auditors during the inspections. TRSA’s certification management protocol includes auditor training by the association’s inspection program administrator.

Clean Green aligns with the ASTM International standard, Guide for Sustainable Laundry Practices, which recognizes key criteria for the certification as universal indicators of maximum sustainability in commercial laundry work. ASTM’s review of TRSA BMPs verified these as the most effective and practical techniques for a laundry to achieve green objectives.

TRSA members prompted development of the standard, which was vetted in the sustainability subcommittee of the ASTM Committee on Textiles. Top technical experts, scientists and environmental professionals from outside the linen, uniform and facility services industry reviewed the BMPs. ASTM is the global leader in developing and delivering voluntary consensus standards unparalleled in building consumer confidence in product and service quality.

“I applaud Handcraft Linen Services for their sustainability efforts and maintaining the highest standards in their production and delivery operations,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Meeting all the criteria for certification is not easy, but the company is committed to industry-leading processes and technologies.”

Posted October 6, 2018

Source: TRSA

COLUMBUS, Ohio — October 3, 2018 — On Wednesday, October 3, 2018, the long-term IKEA supplier, Fluvitex, celebrated the grand opening of its first U.S.-based production facility. The factory will bring about 80 new jobs to the Columbus, Ohio area.

In the new 123,588 square-foot facility, Fluvitex will produce bedding textiles that include fiber-filled quilts, pillows and cushions — all for IKEA customers in North America and potentially also supplying IKEA’s coming South American expansion.

“We wanted to find more efficient textile production than what we had available. IKEA started collaboration about seven years ago in Spain with the machine supplier Masias and its subsidiary Fluvitex. Together we designed a new concept that increased the production efficiency by about 50 percent. Now we take this concept to the United States,” said Nora Zullo, purchasing and logistics area manager for Inter IKEA Group in the Americas Region.

The factory will produce about two-thirds of the quilts, cushions and pillows sold through IKEA stores and the Web in North America. The efficient production closer to the selling markets will also result in reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

“IKEA is constantly striving to offer our customers better, more sustainable products at lower prices. We can’t do this alone. Long-term partnerships with suppliers are essential to our business model, and this event today is a great example of such a partnership,” Zullo said.

To IKEA it is important to have suppliers who share the IKEA values.

“Fluvitex and IKEA share common values and business idea. For example we have been inspired to comply with, and go even beyond the IKEA Code of Conduct, IWAY,” said Lluís Masias, founder and CEO of Fluvitex.

The new facility will provide about 80 new jobs for the residents of the Columbus area.

Located in central Ohio, the Columbus Region offers excellent logistics opportunities for supplying the total U.S. market.

Posted October 5, 2018

Source: Ikea AB

HONG KONG — October 5, 2018 — Taking place in September for the first time, the earlier date of the 2018 Autumn Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics was well received by both exhibitors and buyers. Strong business results and visitor flow, following on from recent editions, once again proved the fair’s leading position in the industry as an effective sourcing platform. In total, around 78,000 trade buyers1 from some 110 countries and regions visited the fair, (2017: 77,883, 102 countries and regions), sourcing from 4,480 exhibitors from 33 countries and regions (2017: 4,538, 32 countries and regions).

Wendy Wen, senior general manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd., commented at the conclusion of the fair: “The diversity and internationality of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics once again came to the fore, as exhibitors and buyers were widely satisfied in meeting their participation objectives. This was aided by the earlier date which more closely aligned the fair with the industry’s earlier autumn / winter sourcing season, and was appreciated by both exhibitors and buyers. There were many exhibitor success stories this edition throughout all the fair’s product categories, while those focusing either on meeting their existing customers or new buyers were able to find their targets. Those focused on China reported the continued strength of this market, while exhibitors targeting international markets were pleased with the buyer diversity and international brands in attendance. For buyers, the unrivalled range of quality products covering the entire apparel fabrics and accessories industry stood out the most for many of them.”

On the international exhibitors side this edition, strong growth was registered in the Functional Lab with the number of exhibitors increasing by 92%, while participation in Premium Wool Zone grew by 30%. In Accessories Vision, the number of overseas exhibitors increased by 25%. Meanwhile, nearly all of the fair’s Group Pavilions, from the likes of Hyosung, INVISTA, DuPont and OEKO-TEX, were larger this edition, while new pavilions from Birla, ECOCERT + GOTS, the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Korea Outdoor & Sports Industry Association expanded the sourcing options for buyers. While there was much business interaction occurring in these areas, many buyers also found the time to gain inspiration for the next season in the fair’s many trend areas for A/W 19-20, including the Intertextile Directions Trend Forum, four Chinese trend forums, as well as trend areas in the Japan, Taiwan and Korea Pavilions. Adding more inspiration to the fringe programme this edition was the new video display ‘FutureCast: The State of the Consumer’. Developed by The Doneger Group, this presentation helped the apparel industry to gain a wider perspective of the consumer market by delving into the main sociocultural and innovation developments taking place today and their repercussions on business, design, creative and marketing opportunities.

Exhibitor feedback

SalonEurope: “This is our first time exhibiting here, and both we and our knitting partners have met a lot of potential customers,” said James Tang, marketing manager, Südwolle Group, China. “We target both brands and end-users, and the fair does attract quality Chinese fashion brands as well as garment knitters and weavers. Our products are quite expensive, so we target the high-end market, and many visitors are from this sector. Victoria’s Secret saw our product in the Trend Forum and came to our booth. We’ve also had buyers from Icebreaker and other luxury brands visit us. Chinese buyers are looking for innovation from overseas brands, so we do attract more attention being an international company.”

Japan Pavilion: “The China market pays more attention to the quality and functionality of products nowadays, which provides great potential for us,” said Norihisa Fujiwara, Section manager, Textile & Apparel Business Dept, Teijin Frontier Co Ltd., Japan. “Dickies used our SOLOTEX® fibre last season in China and had great success with it, so we see a lot of potential in this market. We have seen so many buyers in this fair, including textile producers and wholesalers, but also brands such as H&M, Lacrosse and Fila, and Chinese brands like Youngor, Li-Ning, Bosideng and Nanshan Group.”

Premium Wool Zone: “We are satisfied with the result this time,” said William Halstead, sales director, Taylor & Lodge, UK. “We always meet new contacts at this fair, and the number of buyers in the Premium Wool Zone this time has increased. It’s important we are in this zone because of the growing made-to-measure business in China. The zone is very established in this market, and many people know this is where to find high-quality wool. In Intertextile, although our main focus is on China, we’ve also seen customers from Singapore, India and the US.”

Functional Lab: “We exhibit here to promote our brand to Chinese consumers and brands, and Intertextile Shanghai gives us a lot of exposure in the market,” said Yong Hwan Shin, marketing manager, Taekwang Industry Co. Ltd., Korea. “In addition to many Chinese buyers, we’ve also met a lot of international visitors from the US, Europe, India and Bangladesh. The visitor flow has been excellent so far, and we’ve already distributed around 4,500 brochures to interested buyers.”

“Our target here is the Chinese market, in particular high-end brands, and the buyer quality at Intertextile is very good,” said Anchuan Tang, design promotion manager, Esquel Ent. Ltd., Hong Kong. “Septwolves and other well-known domestic brands have visited our booth, while we have also met some high-quality customers with stores on Alibaba, Tmall and Yanxuan. Online shopping is a big trend in China, and the number of e-commerce apparel brands is growing very fast. In addition to these new contacts, we can also meet many of our existing customers here.”

All About Sustainability: “This edition we moved to the All About Sustainability area, and because of this we have met more high-quality customers who are interested in our sustainable products,” said Leon Xu, sales manager, Hemp Fortex Industries (Rushan) Ltd., China. “Environmental protection is a big trend in China now, and Intertextile is a good platform for us to meet domestic buyers, while we can also meet some of our overseas customers here. This is a first-class business platform, where we can not only meet our existing customers, but also discover new ones.”

Verve for Design: “Yesterday (day one) was super busy, and today is fairly busy as well,” said Kyle Naughtrip, vice president, Operation and Sales, Nikki Martinkovic, USA. “Many people have checked out our prints and returned with their boss to purchase them. I can say we have had a good show. I think the Chinese market values the US trends and designs. They are willing to pay a higher price for prints from the studios that are here.”

Accessories Vision: “As one of the largest textile exhibitions in the world, we can not only meet many of our existing customers here, but also find new potential customers,” said Sean Pan, Sales Manager, 3M Intl. Trading (SHA) Co. Ltd., China. “The number of people in our booth at any one time is always high. Moreover, the quality of customers here is generally good, which, when it comes to doing business, is a unique feature of Intertextile when compared to similar exhibitions.”

Buyer impressions

“This exhibition represents the whole textile industry, we can find everything we need!” said Markus Göldi, general manager, Global Trend GmbH, Switzerland. “Nowhere else in the world can you find this, only here in China. One place, three days, you can find everything you need, including fabrics, trims and all the accessories, and you can find new suppliers to work with.”

“I found this fair amazingly well laid out, and it has everything we are looking for,” said Kuldeep Raswant, Golden Unicorn (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong. “We are able to do 90% of the sourcing we need to here. Intertextile also gives us insights into what are the new things coming out. It is a great experience to be here.”

“We are looking for high-quality raw material suppliers, and the quality of the exhibitors this edition is very good,” said Zhen Wang, Product Engineering manager, Textile Dyeing (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., China. “Our customers are brands such as Nike, adidas, New Balance, Columbia Sportswear, Decathlon, Li-Ning and Anta, so Intertextile Shanghai is an important platform for us to find quality products which can meet the needs of our clients.”

Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd.; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre.

1 Including buyers from the concurrent CHIC and PH Value fairs who visited Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics

Posted October 5, 2018

Source: Messe Frankfurt