Sustainability today covers everything, especially in textiles, where the supply chain is quite complicated and long. There is a plethora of certifications, but these alone will not effect change. In 1988, the first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, was applied to packs of Mexican coffee sold in Dutch supermarkets. At the time, using a product label to say something about standards in a supply chain was revolutionary, but today it is routine. The Ecolabel Index currently lists 463 certifications in 199 countries, according to a ‘The Guardian’ Report.

HGH India 2016, fifth annual edition of the trade show for home textiles, home décor, gifts & houseware, received an overwhelming response from the trade and industry. About 25,000 trade visitors, primarily retailers from 422 cities and towns covering all states of India attended this trade show in Mumbai to source home products for their business and discover upcoming home fashion trends for 2016-17. Over 450 leading Indian and International brands and manufacturers from 30 countries unveiled their innovations and new collections at HGH India 2016.

The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, known as TEXPROCIL, has been the international face of cotton textiles from India facilitating exports worldwide. The Council connects international buyers with appropriate suppliers and facilitates interaction that enables them to source their specific needs. Siddhartha Rajagopal, Executive Director, Texprocil, provides some wish-list for the industry and the Government in boosting cotton consumption in India.

SPGPrints has launched its new range of NEBULA Acid HD (High Density) inks at Febratex 2016 (Hall 1, Stand 18), recently at Parque Vila Germanica, Blumenau, Santa Caterina, Brazil. The exhibition also marked the first showing in the Americas of the JAVELIN digital inkjet printer for companies printing up to two million metres of textiles annually.

Thanks to the charitable GoodTextiles Foundation most recently founded by Dibella, socially and ecologically engaged hotel guests and entrepreneurs can become involved in sustainable projects within the textiles value added chain. Use of the donations collected during the first initiative, the ‘GoodCotton Fund’, means that the living conditions of ecologically operating small cotton farmers will be improved. Dibella has been engaged for years now in sustainably produced hotel textiles.

With EvoTape, the process for manufacturing tapes has literally been revolutionised, and depending on the configuration, the systems output can be increased by up to three-fold, writes Jens Weinhold of Oerlikon.

The technology used for manufacturing tapes has remained the same for many years now. Although minor optimisations have been achieved with regards to the production speed, there have been no quantum leaps in the technology. For this reason, there has been very little replacement investment over the years.

The sharp rise of over 35 per cent in domestic cotton prices since May 2016 will squeeze ginners and spinners profitability by over 15 per cent, says India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra). Ind-Ra expects prices to remain elevated around the current levels of Rs 120 per kg to Rs 127 per kg till the end of the cotton crop year of September 2016. The spike in cotton prices will adversely impact the profitability of pure cotton ginners and spinners due to their inability to pass on this steep increase to their customers, at once, due to decreasing cotton demand and increased competitiveness of manmade fibre.

ColorJet Group, the largest manufacturer of digital inkjet printers in India, which participated in the Knit Show held recently at Tirupur in Tamil Nadu introduced its direct to fabric digital printing machines using water based pigment inks aimed at green digital printing. ColorJet showcased samples printed on its best-selling direct to fabric digital printing machines; the METRO and VASTRAJET, which use the groundbreaking and environmentally friendly, water based pigment inks.

Compressed air is the most inefficient utility available to the industries, wasting as much as 80 per cent of the compressor’s input energy in various forms of loss. A compressor’s energy costs exceed its capital cost just within a few months of operation and hence if the facility’s compressed air system is not monitored closely it can lead to substantial losses. True to the famous saying, “If you can’t measure, you can’t improve”, proper measurement of compressed air generation, distribution and end uses can open up a box of opportunities for improvements and energy savings.