Sinterama, Indorama Ventures To Acquire Trevira

A consortium comprising Thailand-based polyester polymer and fiber manufacturer Indorama Ventures
PCL and Italy-based dyed polyester yarn manufacturer Sinterama S.p.A. has agreed to acquire
polyester fiber and filament manufacturer Trevira GmbH, Germany. The transaction is expected to
close in the first quarter of 2011.

Trevira, which was re-established in January 2010 in the wake of its insolvency in 2009, has
manufacturing sites in Germany and Poland and employs some 1,350 workers. The company will become
part of Indorama’s and Sinterama’s global network under a new joint venture company, but will
continue to operate as an independent company.

March/April 2011

Under Armour Launches Charged Cotton™ Collection

Under Armour Inc., Baltimore, has launched Under Armour® Charged Cotton™, a collection of men’s and
women’s shirts and shorts and women’s capri tights. The garments contain alternating hydrophilic
and hydrophobic cotton yarns that transport perspiration from the body, spreading moisture across
the fabric’s surface to speed evaporation. Under Armour reports the fabric dries five times faster
than conventional cotton and offers good stretch and recovery.

“This is truly one of the most exciting product releases in the history of Under Armour, as
Charged Cotton is the ultimate marriage of innovation and performance,” said Kevin Plank, founder
and CEO, Under Armour.

March/April 2011

CRAiLAR® Flax Fiber Production Set To Begin

Naturally Advanced Technologies (NAT), Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Canada, is set to provide
CRAiLAR® flax fiber to its development partners for processing into yarn and fabrics for downstream
applications. The company is processing the fiber in a facility in Kingstree, S.C., near 300 acres
of land used to cultivate fiber flax.

NAT recently completed spinning trials using Crailar flax fibers, and has teamed with
Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Hanesbrands Inc. to develop apparel products containing Crailar/ cotton
blends. NAT also has been conducting research in partnership with Hanesbrands and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service to grow various flax strains and assess
their viability for use in Crailar technology. Potential applications for Crailar flax fiber
include denim, workwear, knitwear and home furnishings.

“We are fortunate to have flax fiber harvested from previous seasons available in our
warehouse, which allows us to begin production immediately,” said Ken Barker, CEO, NAT. He added
that 200 acres of flax were planted in the Kingstree area in winter 2010-11, with harvesting set
for this spring.

March/April 2011

Alexium Introduces Cleanshell™ Treatment

Alexium Inc., Greer, S.C., is launching Cleanshell™, an advanced process for water- and
oil-repellent treatment of textiles. Based on Reactive Surface Treatment (RST) technology, which
uses microwave technology to apply the treatment rapidly and energy-efficiently, the process
involves encapsulation of a fabric’s fibers with a nanoscopic coating to protect the entire fabric.
Alexium reports Cleanshell offers superior repellency against gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, cooking
oils, acids, solvents, oxidizers and water, without affecting the fabric’s breathability, hand and
drape; and is durable but very lightweight.

Cleanshell may be applied to man-made-fiber fabrics including polyester, nylon,
ballistic-protection and flame-retardant aramids; natural-fiber fabrics including cashmere, cotton
and wool; as well as blends. Alexium will license the treatment to commercial partners as well as
use it on its own Cleanshell product lines.

March/April 2011

Zschimmer & Schwartz Unveils Lertisan HD 50

Zschimmer & Schwarz, Germany, a manufacturer of spin finishes and additives for fiber and
nonwovens applications, reports its Lertisan HD 50 additive for the manufacture of durable
hydrophilic nonwovens offers superior characteristics compared to products currently used for such
applications.

According to the company, advantages include a simplified emulsion preparation and improved
emulsion stability, simplified application, and superior durable hydrophilic properties. Product
development involved intensive R&D work, and Zschimmer & Schwarz held discussions with
nonwoven producers, industry organizations and consumer goods producers to evaluate the
requirements for a new product in this field. “The bottom line in all these discussions was that a
new product should ‘have it all,'” the company said.

“The focus for the team working on this development was to come up with a product that is of
course fully [Food and Drug Administration] compliant and has an unrivaled safety background as
well as a superior technical performance,” Zschimmer & Schwarz explained. “The work started
with laboratory scale formulations of the finish itself, followed by small scale applications to
fabrics. The next step after this initial phase was the application of the new finish using the
nonwoven treatment pilot line at Zschimmer & Schwarz Centre of Fiber excellence in Lahnstein,
Germany.”

March/April 2011

DAK Americas Acquires Eastman’s PET, PTA Business

DAK Americas LLC, Charlotte, has acquired Kingsport, Tenn.-based Eastman Chemical Co.’s
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) business and the related
Performance Polymers assets and technology.

The acquisition includes three plants in Columbia, S.C., with combined annual production
capacity of 1.275 million tons of PET and PTA, as well as the intellectual property for the
IntegRex™ PTA and PET technology and access to the business’s customer base. DAK Americas will
incorporate the plants into its PET and PTA business units. The company’s annual PET resin
production capacity will grow to more than 3.4 billion pounds.

March/April 2011

Shima Seiki Delivers 100,000th Machine

Flat knitting machinery producer Shima Seiki Manufacturing Ltd., Japan, recently shipped its
100,000th machine — a 7-gauge NSSG122-SV that is to be installed at a plant owned by a Hong
Kong-based knitter that has installed more than 3,000 Shima Seiki computerized knitting machines.

The compact NSSG122-SV has a 48-inch knitting width and an ultra-compact double-system
carriage. The machine features the R2CARRIAGE® Rapid Response Carriage system; WideGauge® knitting
capability, which enables knitting of a wide range of gauges; and Shima Seiki’s DSCS® Digital
Stitch Control System, a standard feature that ensures production quality and consistency,
according to Shima Seiki.

March/April 2011

ATME-I® To Continue With Techtextil North America In Atlanta

Messe Frankfurt USA, Atlanta-based organizer of Techtextil North America, and the American Textile
Machinery Association (ATMA®), Falls Church, Va.-based sponsor of the American Textile Machinery
Exhibition – International® (ATME-I®) have agreed that ATME-I will be included with Techtextil
North America’s East Coast edition in Atlanta in even-numbered years beginning in 2012. The two
shows first colocated in Atlanta in 2010.

ATME-I — which will present textile machinery and equipment, products and services targeted
to the overall textile and apparel industry — traces its origins to the International Cotton
Machinery Exposition, which debuted in Atlanta in 1881. Other textile machinery expos followed,
organized primarily by New England-based manufacturers. ATMA, which was founded in 1933, became
involved with the expo and moved it to Greenville, where it was held at the Palmetto Expo Center
from 1969 through 2004, traditionally as a quadrennial event. Recognized as the largest textile
machinery exposition in the Western Hemisphere, the show moved back to Atlanta for its 2006 edition
and has been held biennially at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) since then.

Techtextil North America has been held biennially in even-numbered years in Atlanta since
2000, and in 2009 added a West Coast edition to be held in alternate years. Techtextil moved its
location to the GWCC in May 2010 to colocate with ATME-I and SPESA Expo — organized by Raleigh,
N.C.-based Sewn Products Equipment & Suppliers of the Americas (SPESA) — as part of Textile and
Sewn Products Industry Week. The exposition includes a trade show and symposium and presents the
full vertical spectrum of the technical textile/nonwovens sector of the textile industry.Techtextil
North America 2012, including ATME-I, will colocate with Messe Frankfurt’s inaugural Texprocess
Americas expo incorporating SPESA Expo and presenting machinery; plant, processing and information
technology systems; and services for the textile and textile product making-up sector.



March/April 2011

Guilford/NNG JV To Produce Automotive Textiles

Guilford Performance Textiles Inc., Wilmington, N.C., and NNG, a subsidiary of automotive interior
manufacturer YanFeng Inc., China, have formed Anhui Guilford Automotive Interiors Co. Ltd., a joint
venture (JV) to manufacture textile seating products for Chinese automotive manufacturers including
Chery Automobile, JAC Motors, Shanghai Volkswagen and others.

 

“China’s automotive industry is experiencing explosive growth,” said Shannon White, CEO,
Guilford Performance Textiles. “With this joint venture, Guilford is now ideally located to offer
our fabrics and engineered products to Chinese manufacturers. Following a comprehensive review of
expansion opportunities in China, we are pleased to have found an extraordinary business partner in
NNG that we expect will offer long-term growth opportunities in China. This is the first step in
what we anticipate will become a significant expansion into the Asian market for Guilford.”

March/April 2011

CAFTA-DR Partners Agree To Fix Technical Flaws In Agreement

The Dominican Republic-Central America-United States (CAFTA-DR) Free Trade Commission has approved
several changes to CAFTA-DR rules of origin that are expected to benefit the Western Hemisphere
textile/apparel supply chain. The changes include, among others, a correction to the definition of
sewing thread that adds single multifilament yarns used as sewing thread to the category — a move
supported by both the National Textile Association (NTA) and the American Manufacturing Trade
Action Coalition (AMTAC) — and an increase in cumulation limits that the commission says will
“encourage greater integration of regional production through limited reciprocal duty-free access
with Mexico and Canada to be used in Central American and Dominican Republic apparel.”

“Today’s fix is a job-creating win-win for U.S. sewing thread producers and their DR-CAFTA
counterparts,” said Auggie Tantillo, executive director, AMTAC. “With the closing of this
unintended loophole, we believe that U.S. thread producers can begin to recapture market share in
the important DR-CAFTA market, leading to more jobs.”Under the original agreement, regionally
produced sewing thread must be used for all products, including apparel and home furnishings, that
would qualify for duty-free treatment. However, under the original definition of sewing thread,
single multifilament yarns used as sewing thread are not included in that requirement, allowing
such yarns to be sourced from thread suppliers from outside the CAFTA-DR region.

The U.S. Trade Representative reports that in 2010, U.S. textile and apparel exports to the
CAFTA-DR region rose by 25 percent, surpassing export growth to the world of 19 percent, and
represented $3 billion or 16 percent of total U.S. textile and apparel exports. The region ranks
third, after Mexico and Canada, in export market size for U.S. textile and apparel products. U.S.
textile and apparel imports from the CAFTA-DR region totaled $7 billion in 2010, a 14-percent
increase over 2009. The region ranks second after China as a textiles and apparel supplier to the
United States.

March/April 2011

1...2,1032,1042,105...2,625Page 2,104 of 2,625

Sponsors

Breaking News

Load more

Digital Issue

2026 Quarterly Issue Number I

View Latest Digital Issue

FEATURED ARTICLES

© Copyright 2017 Textile Industries Media Group, LLC.