Spotlight On The Montex Stenter At ITM At The Tüyap Fair And Congress Centre, Istanbul

A recent Montex line installation in Turkey.

MÖNCHENGLADBACH, Germany — April 7, 2022 — Monforts and its Turkish representative Neotek are looking forward to meeting customers old and new at the forthcoming ITM 22 international textile machinery show which is taking place from June 14-18 at the Tüyap Fair and Congress Centre in Istanbul, after a three-year break.

“We will be emphasizing the robustness and versatility of the Montex stenter for essential processes such as drying, stretching, heatsetting and coating at the Istanbul show,” said Monforts Area Sales Manager Thomas Päffgen. “The Montex has become the industry standard for the fabric finishing industry, providing a number of advantages in terms of production throughput and especially in energy efficiency and savings.”

“With energy prices rising steeply everywhere, features such as the MonforClean system, or the EcoBooster, in which waste heat from the drying process is used to pre-heat the drying air, are proving more invaluable than ever,” added Ahmet Kilic of Neotek. “Monforts can provide a range of further resource-saving and energy recovery options tailored to each individual line installation. We expect fruitful discussions on how we can meet the needs of our many mill partners during this key Istanbul event.”

With the TwinAir heating chamber system within a Montex tenter, top and bottom airflows can be regulated completely independently of each other, ensuring heat is only applied when and where it is required. The Optiscan balancing system ensures continuous automatic evaluation of the distance between the nozzles and the fabric for highly economical and contact-free drying. The resulting constant evaporation rate within the stenter ensures optimum energy utilization and also avoids markings on the fabric.

With the latest Montex tenters, overall energy savings of up to 40% can now be achieved compared to a conventional tenter with no heat recovery or energy optimization measures like high-quality chamber insulation.

The Montex tenter also benefits from full digital control, with the Qualitex 800 PLC control system providing ease of operation and rapid access to line and management data, including full operating cost overviews, as well as maintenance monitoring.

Advances in digital technology mean that there are also now significant gains to be made in the retrofitting of existing Monforts machines with the latest automatic drives and control systems, going far beyond the basic replacement of spare parts.

“We will be very happy to welcome you on our booth 1209B in hall 12 during ITM,” said Ahmet Kilic and Thomas Päffgen.

Posted: April 7, 2022

Source: A. Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG

Sustainability In The Making: Lenzing Group And Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto Collaborate To Bring Together Art, Know- How, Commitment And Innovation

LENZING, Austria — April 7, 2022 — A common ground of shared values and two, complementary approaches that enrich one another: this is the essence of the collaboration between Lenzing Group and Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, aimed at fostering a sustainably aware future.
While looking to place art in direct interaction with the different sectors of society, and especially with fashion and the different processes and dynamics of the textile value chain, Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto found a perfect match in Lenzing’s commitment to evolving business in an innovative and far-sighted way.

An Austria-based company that has focused on fibers for more than 80 years, Lenzing took to heart its ecological footprint long before the word sustainability was even coined, let alone applied as a concept. Its priority has been, from its very start, to produce fibers for many sectors (fashion, beauty care, cleaning, hygiene and home textiles) in a sustainable way. Each Lenzing product is made of cellulose from wood, a renewable natural resource, coming only from certified sustainable sources. An important characteristic of cellulose is its biodegradability and compostability: at the end of their life cycle, cellulosic fibers can re-enter the ecosystem and create a closed-loop production process, mirroring the circular concept of nature where water and chemicals are re-used over and over, and re-circulated within the system.

TENCEL™-branded fibers, dedicated to a variety of highly specialized applications, are a leading protagonist of the textile production chain, appreciated for their outstanding characteristics — softness, smoothness, luxurious shine and flow — and feature in many of the most sustainable collections in the world. A selection of pioneering technologies that cater for TENCEL branded fibers have therefore been under the spotlight throughout the collaboration with Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto:

  • TENCEL Lyocell fiber with REFIBRA™ technology, using cotton textile waste and wood pulp as the feedstock for cellulosic fibers, creating a circular solution;
  • TENCEL branded fibers with Indigo Color technology, infusing pigment into fibers directly during the spinning process;
  • TENCEL Luxe branded Lyocell filaments, providing superior aesthetics, performance and comfort to be the perfect partner of other noble fibers such as silk, cashmere or wool;
  • TENCEL branded Lyocell fibers, offering carbon-zero CarbonNeutral®-certified products by Natural Capital Partners;
  • TENCEL Modal fibers with Eco Clean technology, bringing totally chlorine-free-bleached TENCEL Modal fibers to the textile industry.

In their shared desire to advance a genuine sustainable agenda for fashion as a whole, these two realities started a common journey already in 2019, when Lenzing chose to partner in multiple initiatives promoted by Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, and in 2022 continues to embrace this cause through several touchpoints which have taken place in the past few months, for example the recent activations during FILO Milano, White Milano and the exciting collaboration with BMW (see below).

“From the very beginning we have immediately felt a strong connection with Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto as we completely agree on what the backbone of tomorrow’s fashion should be: sustainability. When this becomes intertwined with art, philosophy, innovation, business culture, it shows all its effectiveness with regards to the actual world and this is the only way to not only talk the talk, but really walk the walk, together with the talents and designers that will lead the change in the present and in the future”, said Carlo Covini, business development manager Italy & Switzerland for Textiles – Lenzing. “We cannot wait for the next initiatives that will see us together”.

“The Third Paradise is a myth that can be pursued if we set out with others along the road that forms before us when we combine different, or even conflicting (or supposedly so), disciplines, areas of expertise and even interests. When economics and ecology meet along this road, businesses are created that are good for the planet at the same time function as economic and productive enterprises. Lenzing is one of them, and walking together with them towards the Third Paradise is already part of the result we aspire to: opening up spaces for co-creation and continuous learning for the common good, for the good life” explained Paolo Naldini, director of Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto.

Some of the key projects resulted from the collaboration

CirculART

Bringing artistic research to question the different processes constituting the textile production chain, CirculART is meant to be the starting point of a new path aimed at finding a balance between business, society and nature. The artists taking part — Laura Harrington, Silvia Giovanardi, Juan Manuel Gomez, Emanuele Marullo for edition I, and Silvia Giovanardi, Ryts Monet, Giulia Pellegrini and Marcello Pipitone for edition II — created original works of art which are new design paradigms based on circular economy and ethics. These aim at inspiring not only the textile industry, but all the productive sectors, to realign their activities with the ultimate promise of doing business: to respond to humanity’s real needs. Various creations were made with fabrics enhanced by TENCEL™ fibers.

UNIDEE-University of Ideas and its Accademia

UNIDEE-University of Ideas is Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto’s program of artists’ residencies for art and social transformation. The program, founded by Michelangelo Pistoletto in 1999, is open to artists and professionals from all over the world who reside at Cittadellarte for a certain period of time. April 2019 saw the official birth of Cittadellarte’s Accademia UNIDEE, the only academy focused on the development of designers of change and social transformation through an educational offer that will eventually cover a whole cycle of academic studies. Lenzing takes part in this project becoming a unique source of research and training for the students, making its innovative TENCEL™ branded fibers available as one-of-a-kind case study.

Cittadellarte Fashion B.E.S.T.

Cittadellarte Fashion B.E.S.T. (Better, Ethical, Sustainable, Think-tank) is the operative workshop dedicated to sustainability in the fashion supply chain, from raw materials to design, from production to education (with the scientific advice of Tessile e Salute). The collective was formed drawing inspiration from the thought of Michelangelo Pistoletto, the visionary pioneer of current topics linked to the complex issue of sustainability, which art conveys to all sectors of the social fabric.

Fashion B.E.S.T. x YOOX: MOTHER EARTH collection

A limited edition capsule collection of T-shirts and sweatshirts presenting a unique printing inspiring to “Connect, Create, Unite”, made with TENCEL™ fibers with REFIBRA™ technology. Entirely produced in Italy, this was an exclusive project celebrating love for nature.

Collaboration with White Milano

Different editions of White Milano have been the opportunity to present a variety of installations carrying the message of Pistoletto’s Third Paradise, which is a reformulation of the mathematical symbol for infinity where the two opposite circles represent nature and artifice, the central one is the conjunction of the two and represents the womb of rebirth.

Then, on the occasion of the Spring-Summer 2022 edition of the Milan fashion week, the collective presented the capsule collection “ONE LOOK – a collection of uniqueness”, with shirts and trousers sets designed to convey different expressions of sustainability. Several types of fabrics have been used for the project, including textile innovations made with TENCEL™ fibers with REFIBRA™ technology.

On March 9, 2022, an exciting collaboration with BMW saw Cittadellarte Fashion B.E.S.T. and White playing an active role during the presentation of the electric BMW i4, with a catwalk showcasing a selection of garments realized by Fashion B.E.S.T. designers, including pieces enhanced by TENCELTM fibers.

Initiatives at FILO Milano

Across different editions of the FILO tradeshow, Cittadellarte Fashion B.E.S.T. set up a special installation: a suspended Third Paradise with yarns coming down for visitors to interact with, along with an exhibition of CirculART edition II including creations made with fabrics containing TENCEL™ fibers.

The talented designers who took part in the projects:

Fabrizio Consoli / Silvia Giovanardi / Tiziano Guardini / Edoardo Iannuzzi / Yekaterina Ivankova / Francesca Mitolo / Flavia la Rocca / Bav Tailor / Matteo Ward / Laura Harrington / Juan Manuel Gomez / Emanuele Marullo / Kidsofbrokenfuture / Juan Carlos Gordillo Arana / Laura Meijering / Ryts Monet / Giulia Pellegrini / Marcello Pipitone.

Posted: April 7, 2022

Source: Lenzing Group

Archroma Partners With University Of North Carolina Greensboro On Color Expert Education

Students of the Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies (CARS) of the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) with the Color Atlas by Archroma®. Photograph: UNCG

PRATTELN, Switzerland — April 7, 2022 — Archroma has announced the launch of a collaboration with the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) and its Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies (CARS) department, aiming to further the education of its students in the area of color management expertise.

As per the agreement, Archroma will donate its leading-edge industry color management tools for their design projects, gaining hands-on expertise that equips them for successful careers in the fashion and textiles industries.

The students will have access to a complete set of the ready-to-use color library developed by Archroma for cotton and polyester. The library, well known among fashion designers and stylists as the Color Atlas by Archroma®, which was launched in 2016 to provide off-the-shelf color inspiration that can be implemented in production with just a few clicks.

Today, the Color Atlas contains 4,320 colors applicable on cotton poplin, almost the double compared to similar tools available to textile and fashion specialists, and 1,440 colors on polyester.

Beside the physical Color Atlas library, the students in the CARS program will also have access to the full digital files for use in the industry-leading 3D fashion design and development software Browzwear VSticher.

The students will be able to use the Color Atlas books and the digital data as a color selection resources to use in a variety projects and assignments.

“Archroma is very proud to help grow a young generation of students who launch in their careers armed with hands-on experience on our innovative color management tools,” said Fred Gliddon, Dyeing Operations and sales manager at Archroma. “The Color Atlas by Archroma is not only a practical, actionable platform for efficient, time-saving color management, it is also a wonderful source of inspiration with more than 5,760 colors.”

Dr. Nancy Hodges, Head of the CARS Department at UNCG, added: “We are excited to use The Color Atlas platform by Archroma in the classroom to teach students about the importance of color management, and to inspire creativity and innovation through color. By working together with Archroma, CARS students are sure to be industry-ready when they graduate.”

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: Archroma

CORKonLINEN: Unique, Innovative And Compostable

BREST, France — April 7, 2022 — You all know about the planetary, animal and human problems that arise in the textile and leather goods industry. Today, leather is still dominant in these sectors. There certainly exists alternatives, however, 95 percent* of vegan products are made of PVC, polyurethane or a mixture.
All these materials have one thing in common: There is no way to recycle them, they then end up burned or in landfills.

The good news? By 2025, the vegan market will surpass the leather market*. Good news, but we can always do better to reduce our plastic consumption.

The solution to overcome these problems and this high demand? CORKonLINEN.

After more than a year and a half of research and development, RTFACT BRANDS offers you a new material: CORKonLINEN. A patented material, composed of only three elements: Portuguese cork, French linen and a water-based glue. 
A solution that breaks the codes and shakes up the world of textile.

CORKonLINEN is currently the only material with equivalent strength and technical properties than leather for the leather goods and textile sector, composed of 100-percent natural materials.

An innovative material for your bags, accessories or even shoes, which is the only one truly sustainable and responsible solution.

This material has been entirely designed in such a way that the impact on the environment is less: just like Portuguese cork, the linen, from the north of France, allows a totally natural culture, requiring no need of watering, pesticides or fertilizers.

RTFACT BRANDS has even thought about the end of life of the material, making it biodegradable and compostable,
 therefore offering a 100-percent green life. A true circular solution, truly sustainable and in compliance with the planet, animals and humans.

* synthetic leather market size, share & trendsanalaysis report

* vegan leather market, analysis report

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: RTFACT BRANDS

DITF: Replacement Of Toxic Chemicals In The Manufacture Of Tires And Conveyor Belts

Adhesion of polyamide 6,6 to rubber: without adhesion promoter (left) with RFL-Dip (center) with HMF-Dip (right). Photograph: DITF

DENKENDORF, Germany — April 7, 2022 — The quality of composite systems made of cords of high-strength fibers such as polyester, aramid or polyamide and matrix materials of rubber is largely determined by the adhesion properties of the fibers to the matrix. In the established manufacturing process, adhesion promoters made of resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) are used to improve the adhesion properties. Researchers at DITF are showing ways to replace the harmful formaldehyde with technically equivalent substances that are harmless to health.

In car tires, conveyor belts and V-belts, as well as in many applications in the manufacture of technical products, rubber materials are reinforced by cord. High-strength fibers made of polyester, polyamide or aramid are used. They provide the necessary strength and rigidity of the overall composite and counteract external forces. As a result, deformation, elongation and torsion of the material can be kept low.

However, these demands on the fiber composite material can only be met if there is sufficiently high adhesive strength between the fibers and the matrix (made of rubber or caoutchouc). Otherwise, delamination of the material composites, which are built up in alternating layers of fabric and rubber, is to be expected. Material failure would be the consequence.

Adhesion is increased by the use of adhesion promoters. Chemicals based on formaldehyde-resorcinol latex (RFL) have proven effective. They are applied to the fibers as so-called dips and ensure that their adhesion to the matrix of rubber is significantly improved. RFL is established as an adhesion promoter, but it has a significant drawback: since 2014, formaldehyde has been classified by the EU as demonstrably carcinogenic and mutagenic. The chemical industry is therefore urgently searching for alternatives that are harmless to health.

DITF have tackled the problem and developed a new, formaldehyde-free coating system. It is based on the substance hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which can be extracted from wood. HMF is formed during the thermal decomposition of carbohydrates. It is found in many heat-treated foods such as milk, coffee or fruit juices and is not considered to pose any health problems according to current scientific knowledge.

The HMF dips developed at the DITF are also promising from a technical point of view: In the case of yarns made of polyamide 6.6, a simple impregnation is sufficient to achieve the desired adhesion improvement. Yarns made of polyester or aramid require an additional prior plasma treatment or a sol-gel finish to achieve the necessary adhesion improvement. Application of the HMF dip is possible under the same conditions and with the same technology used for RFL dips. At this point, therefore, no additional investment is required to replace the adhesion promoter in production.

The advantages already demonstrated are to be expanded. Replacing resorcinol in the dip formulation is the next research goal. This is because resorcinol also has a toxic effect on humans. In cooperation with industrial partners, the extent to which resorcinol can be replaced by lignin is currently being investigated. The special feature of the lignin used is that it is obtained from annual plants. Thus, in contrast to the frequently used wood lignin, it is chemically much more active and offers more potential for further processing into a technically advantageous adhesion promoter.

Both approaches to replacing chemicals in adhesion promoters with substances that are harmless to health carry the idea of sustainable management throughout: the new adhesion promoters made from HMF and lignin are based on natural raw materials. Solving the problem within a demanding, technical application while adhering to sustainability aspects reflects the commitments of research to societal requirements. For small and medium-sized industry, the research results provide the basis for innovations and thus a real advantage in international competition.

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: Deutsche Institute für Textil- und Faserforschung

Catalyst Fabric Solutions Installs Epson SureColor F10070 Printers

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — April 7, 2022 — As Catalyst Fabric Solutions decided to focus their business on home textiles due to the rapidly expanding market, they were in need of a printing solution to keep up with growing demand. This large web-to-print manufacturer of home textile solutions installed multiple Epson SureColor® F10070 dye-sublimation printers to increase productivity and fulfill print-on-demand orders. Catalyst Fabric Solutions offers customers over 10,000 custom home textile products such as tablecloths, placemats, bean bags, backpacks, lunch totes, pillows, and custom blankets that can be ordered through retailers or shipped directly to customers.

“The print on-demand business has tripled in the last four years, and it continues to grow at a great rate,” said Chuck Smith, owner, Catalyst Fabric Solutions. “We’ve seen business increase over the last two years and a lot of people are searching for internet on-demand businesses. We needed more technology; we needed more printers to keep up. The SureColor F10070 was everything we wanted.”

As business grew, Catalyst Fabric Solutions continued to experience an annual spike in sales during the fourth quarter, when customers prepare for the holiday season, leading to an increase in demand for photo products, including photo blankets, that are intensive print projects.

“The first of our SureColor F10070 printers were installed in December 2020 — in the middle of our busiest season,” said Jim King, operations manager, Catalyst Fabric Solutions. “Had they not been a plug-and-play set up, we would have had some real problems, as we were counting on their capacity to meet deadlines. However, they hooked into our network easily and we were able to begin printing immediately.”

“Because of the capacity on the SureColor F10070 printers, we were able to take all our blankets that we previously put through 30 other printers onto the new Epson printers. And they were printing them in less than a minute — about four times faster than our previous machines,” King said. “There’s nothing I haven’t put through this printer yet — it’s the workhorse right now for the plant.”

The Epson SureColor F10070 offers industrial reliability and round-the-clock productivity at a low total cost of ownership. The printer features four 4.7-inch PrecisionCore® printheads to deliver roll-to-roll performance at speeds up to 2,700 square feet per hour and consistently produces astounding-quality textiles, apparel and more, using vibrant UltraChrome® DS ink technology. It also offers an array of features to maximize efficiency and minimize downtime, including user-replaceable printheads and a low-cost, high-capacity replaceable ink pack system that holds up to 20 Liters of ink per color for longer print runs with less user intervention.

“As one of the largest and most advanced facilities of its kind, Catalyst Fabric Solutions runs an impressive operation,” said Tim Check, product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America Inc. “They are putting the SureColor F10070 to the ultimate test in their industrial facility and pushing a vast majority of their dye-sublimation projects onto the SureColor F10070 printers to best deliver results for clients.”

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: Epson

The 2022 Marcus Wallenberg Prize: Sustainable Concept For Wood-Based Textile Fibres

FALUN, Sweden — April 7, 2022 — The 2022 Marcus Wallenberg Prize is awarded to Professor Ilkka Kilpeläinen and Professor Herbert Sixta for the development and use of novel ionic liquids to process wood biomass into high-performance textile fibers.

The future demand for textile fibers is growing due to global population growth. Production of cotton, the predominantly used cellulose fiber for textiles, is not expected to keep up with the demand. Therefore, man-made cellulose fibers would be an excellent complement for cotton as these fibers have similar properties.

The main processes to produce man-made cellulose textile fibers are the viscose process, where cellulose is solubilized using alkali and carbon disulphide and the lyocell process, where N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) is used to dissolve cellulose. The viscose process has, however, become environmentally controversial due to the use of toxic carbon disulphide as the main reagent. The lyocell process on the other hand is hampered by the instability of the NMMO.

These challenges have led to extensive research on different solvent systems for cellulose to produce regenerated cellulose fibers. Ionic liquids have gained interest as green alternatives for organic solvents in different processes. Ionic liquids are salts that can be melted below 100°C and have unique properties including low vapor pressure, high thermal stability, and high dissolving capability of different organic and inorganic substances.

Man-made cellulose fibers from wood with high technical quality have been developed by two research teams in Finland, at the University of Helsinki and at the Aalto University. In this concept, the design and use of novel superbase ionic liquids to process wood pulp into high-performance textile fibers was developed and currently tested for scaling-up. The team led by Prof. Kilpeläinen at the University of Helsinki developed superbase ionic liquid solvents for dissolution of wood biomass e.g. bleached or unbleached pulp or recycled cellulose pulp. Prof. Sixta and his team, at the Aalto University, developed the ionic liquid-based fiber shaping process based on dry-jet wet spinning.

“This unique collaboration has resulted in novel sustainable concept of textile fiber production from wood. The innovation is expected to result in a large range of new product and business opportunities for the forest industry”, says Johanna Buchert, chairperson of the Marcus Wallenberg Prize Selection Committee.

The Marcus Wallenberg Prize 2022 will be presented by HM the King of Sweden to Professor Ilkka Kilpeläinen and Professor Herbert Sixta at a ceremony in Stockholm in October this year.

Key facts about the Prize winners

Professor Ilkka Kilpeläinen, was born in 1963 in Finland. He received his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1993 at the University of Helsinki. In 1995 he was appointed docent degree in organic chemistry at the University of Helsinki and in 2003 in structural chemistry at the University of Oulu in Finland. Kilpeläinen was professor in chemistry at the University of Oulu, Finland, during the period between 2001 and 2003. Since 2003 he has been professor of organic chemistry at the University of Helsinki. Kilpeläinen is also Chairman of the board for Liuotin Group Oy, a development spin-off dedicated to scale-up ionic liquid production.

Professor Herbert Sixta, was born in 1954 in Austria. He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Innsbruck in 1982 and Habilitation at Graz University of Technology in 1995 in Wood, Pulp and Fiber technology. He has been professor at the Aalto University since 2007 and was the head of the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems. Sixta has had a long industrial career at Lenzing AG Austria, focused on the development of industrial regenerated cellulose fibres and their processing.

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: Marcus Wallenberg Foundation

EFI Reggiani Celebrates 75 Years Of Innovative Solutions For The Textile World

BERGAMO, Italy — April 7, 2022 — Last June, EFI™ Reggiani celebrated 75 years of heritage, innovation and glamour in the textile world. As part of its anniversary celebration, the textile technology innovator is revealing the imminent launch of three new, state-of-the-art digital textile printers.

With three quarters of a century of innovation, research and technological excellence, EFI Reggiani has become the trusted partner for integrated, scalable solutions for the entire textile process — from yarn treatment to fabric printing and finishing. EFI Reggiani has always had its customers in the forefront, enabling their business’ success and growth.

“Textile has been in our DNA since the beginning,” said EFI Reggiani Senior Vice President and General Manager Adele Genoni. “We are always moving to the next level, thinking ahead and developing high-tech, quality and reliable products as well as new textile industry solutions and processes. We are proud of achieving this 75 years of innovation milestone.

“We are also pleased to be a part of the success of so many global textile manufacturers and apparel brands over the past seven decades and into the future,” she added. “We have very close relationships with our customers, and the collaboration we have together allow us to develop groundbreaking new technologies. The three new printers we are launching this year speak to the legacy and expertise for solutions that have made our technologies a benchmark of productivity and quality ever since the creation of the first Reggiani textile printer in 1946.”

Transforming the textile industry with innovation

Always striving to be at the cutting edge of technology, EFI Reggiani delivers world-class products offering boosted uptime and reliability, high performance throughput, unparalleled printing uniformity, and accuracy — all while helping customers increase the sustainability of their textile manufacturing activities.

From the creation of its first traditional printer to its latest technological innovations, EFI Reggiani’s tradition and dedication to its products have contributed to the global transformation of the textile market. EFI Reggiani solutions are used in high-quality, highly productive operations in all of the world’s major textile manufacturing centres. New EFI Reggiani innovations also help facilitate the spread and localisation of industrial textile manufacturing closer to end users in new geographic markets.

75 years of history and excellence

Reggiani Tessile — which was one of the largest fabric manufacturing companies in Italy — created the company to meet its needs in machinery development. Then known as Reggiani Macchine, the company grew tremendously over five decades thanks to continuous product innovation and close customer relationships.

Reggiani Macchine started a new chapter in the early 2000s with the introduction of digital printing technology to their product range. Then, in 2015, Reggiani Macchine joined the Electronics For Imaging family. Since then, the company, based in Bergamo, Italy, has accelerated its mission in driving the transformation of analogue to digital imaging in the textile segment. EFI Reggiani’s product portfolio has continued to expand, ranging from rotary and flatbed printing machines to scanning/multi-pass digital printers to the world’s fastest digital textile printer — the award-winning EFI Reggiani BOLT single-pass inkjet printer launched in 2018. The company has also substantially advanced its ink offerings, becoming a recognised leader as one of the only manufacturers of a full range of inks used in industrial textile manufacturing.

Driving customer success for the future

Today, EFI Reggiani’s leadership in innovation is the result of extensive research targeted at improving productivity and quality, optimising the textile manufacturing process, and reducing energy use, water consumption and overall environmental impact.

While the COVID pandemic made 2020 a difficult year for all involved in textile printing, EFI Reggiani took the opportunity to further strengthen its research and development activities — all to ensure that its customers have the right solutions as the market recovers.

Genoni believes productivity is key to any solution that will help customers recover and thrive post-pandemic, and one of the company’s new launches will specifically target a noticeable gap in the market.

“We want to help support our customers in their digital transformation,” she said. “One of our three new printers is going to target the industrial high-speed segment of the multi-pass textile printing sector. The new printer will not only be the fastest multi-pass printer that EFI Reggiani has ever developed, but we are also expecting it to be the fastest of its kind in the market.”

In the growing industrial, entry-level segment of the market, EFI Reggiani is strengthening its multi-pass offering by introducing two new scanning machines, which will help facilitate customers’ needs to manufacture closer to the end consumer. The pair of scanning printers EFI Reggiani is bringing to market in 2021 will enable new customers to take their first steps in industrial textile digital printing. The new printers will not only be easy to use, but, as with all of the company’s solutions, they will also give customers access to the best technology platforms and innovation for digital industrial printing with EFI Reggiani’s renowned quality and reliability.

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: EFI™ Reggiani

Durst Group And Four Pees Agree Partnership For Integration Of Durst Software & Solutions Products

BRIXEN, Italy — April 7, 2022 — Durst Group, manufacturer of advanced digital printing and production technologies, has selected Four Pees as a key integration partner for the Durst Software & Solutions division. In this position, Four Pees will assist Durst to implement its Pixel to Output strategy and integrate its software solutions such as Durst Workflow or Durst Smart Shop at its clients.

Durst Group founded the Durst Software & Solutions division in 2019 with a team of over 60 people to provide intelligent and straightforward software solutions to streamline the complete print process. They consist of Durst LIFT ERP, a cloud-based ERP/MIS system, Durst Smart Shop, a comprehensive premium e-commerce solution for customizable print products, and Durst Workflow, a high-end solution for fully automated management of prepress and production tasks. The solutions are tailored for digital printing and offer a 360-degree approach for optimizing printing processes in a mixed-vendor production environment.

Michael Deflorian, business unit manager at Durst Software & Solutions, said: “Durst is known for quality, both in hardware and now with Durst Software & Solutions in the area of print automation software. We wanted to serve our customers even better in consultancy and integration and make our product portfolio easily accessible. We started looking for an experienced integration partner in Europe, and Four Pees quickly appeared on our radar. They have their finger on the pulse of the global printing industry and a proven track record in delivering complex automation projects. When we started talking to each other, we found that we were very complementary to each other in the way we work.”

Tom Peire, CEO at Four Pees, said: “For nearly fifteen years now, we have helped automate print-process around the world at big and small companies. With an increased focus on integration services and an expanded team, this new partnership with the Durst Software & Solutions division is the next step in our growth story. Its vision from pixel to output perfectly aligns with our vision of implementing automation from A to Z. We look forward to working with the different regional Durst teams to help printing companies get the best out of their print production.”

To dive deeper into this, Four Pees will be organizing a Four Pees Café on their new partnership and Durst’s 360 approach to print automation on 05/05/2022. Go to:  https://www.fourpees.com/en/events/2022/05/four-pees-cafe-durst-introduction to register for this webinar.

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: Durst Group

NRF: U.S. Ports Seeing Brief Slowdown From Last Year But Imports Remain High

WASHINGTON — April 7, 2022 — The nation’s major retail container ports have begun to catch up with the backlog of cargo seen over the past several months, but could experience another surge this summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“As we entered 2022, the biggest question was when the supply chain would return to normal,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “Unfortunately, we still don’t have a definitive answer. Congestion at West Coast ports has eased, but congestion at some East Coast ports is growing. Ports aren’t as overwhelmed as they were a year ago, but they are still significantly busy moving near-record volumes of cargo.”

U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.11 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units — one 20-foot container or its equivalent — in February, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was down 2.3 percent from January but up 13 percent year-over-year.

Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said volumes remained high in February despite factories in parts of Asia closing for the Lunar New Year holiday because U.S. ports were able to handle cargo from ships already waiting for a berth.

“With West Coast ports still congested, there were still plenty of containers to be unloaded,” Hackett said. Similarly, the current near-shutdown of Shanghai because of COVID-19 precautions means fewer ships are leaving China and “the wait on that side of the Pacific will help reduce the pressure of vessel arrivals at Los Angeles-area terminals.” An influx of vessel arrivals following the resumption of normal operations in China could result in renewed congestion at U.S. ports, however.

Ports have not yet reported March numbers, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.27 million TEU, unchanged from the same month last year. April is forecast at 2.13 million TEU, down 1.1 percent from last year, and May at 2.21 million TEU, down 5.3 percent year-over-year. Increases are expected to resume in June, which is forecast at 2.26 million TEU, up 5.2 percent year-over-year. July is forecast at 2.32 million TEU, up 5.6 percent, and August at 2.35 million TEU, a 3.3 percent year-over-year increase that would set a new record for the number of containers imported in a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. The current record is 2.33 million TEU in May 2021.

The first six months of 2022 are expected to total 13.1 million TEU, up 2.5 percent year-over-year. Imports for all of 2021 totaled 25.8 million TEU, a 17.4 percent increase over 2020’s previous annual record of 22 million TEU.

How to build a stronger and more sustainable supply chain will be addressed as retailers, industry experts and technology innovators meet at the NRF Supply Chain 360 conference in Cleveland in June.

Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by Hackett Associates, provides historical data and forecasts for the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast. The report is free to NRF retail members, and subscription information is available at NRF.com/PortTracker

Posted: April 7, 2021

Source: The National Retail Federation (NRF)

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