Techtextil to Focus on High-Tech Fabrics

The Techtextil North America international trade fair, to take place March 28-30 in Atlanta, will feature hundreds of technical textile exhibits and an educational symposium program.

Exhibitors will include high-tech fabric and nonwoven producers from the United States and around the world. There will be national pavilions featuring exhibitor groups from Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, China and other countries.

A concurrent symposium will feature at least 75 presentations, starting with a keynote address, Navigating the New Global Economy, by Greg Rogowski of Performance Fibers.

Other sessions will cover the National Textile Centers latest research, emerging technology and developments in high-performance fibers. There will be several presentations on nanotechnology, including one entitled Nanotechnology: Products and Applications, by Dr. Fred Cook of Georgia Tech. Cook also is on the board of the American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists (AATCC), an industry partner of Techtextil North America.

For more information: www.techtextil.com

DAK Raises Polyester Prices

DAK Americas LLC has raised the price of polyester staple fiber by 4 cents per pound in response to its own rising costs for energy, transportation and raw materials. The firm attributed the inflating costs to supply chain disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The increase, which started with January shipments, will affect polyester staple fiber that DAK Americas supplies for products in the apparel and home furnishings markets, among others.

The company has dropped surcharges it was levying as a result of hurricane damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

For more information: www.dakamericas.com

Allen Named CEO at Milliken

G. Ashley Allen, the president and COO of Milliken & Co. since 2002, added the responsibility of CEO this past December. Roger Milliken, the companys long-time CEO, will continue to serve as chairman of the board of the Spartanburg, SC-based firm, which was founded in 1865 and manufactures a variety of synthetic fabrics for apparel and other end uses.

Allen joined Milliken as a research chemist in 1969 after receiving a doctoral degree in organic chemistry from Cornell. He completed Harvards advanced management program in 1992. Before assuming the president and COO post, Allen was president of Milliken Research Corp. and the firms Chemical & Industrial Specialties Division.

For more information: www.milliken.com

New Trim Resource Building Up Online

An online trim resource is being developed at www.thetrimsource.com.

The site is designed to provide trim buyers with a way to browse the offerings of thousands of global trim suppliers, without limiting them to shopping from a library of paper catalogs. Users can request quotes and receive bids from trim vendors via the site. There is a $100 annual registration fee for buyers.

The online resource gives trim suppliers an alternate way to showcase their products, beyond paper catalogs and their own web sites. Trim vendors can register to participate for one year on www.thetrimsource.com for $300, and do not pay commissions on their sales. Orders are sent directly to participating trim suppliers and are not processed by www.thetrimsource.com.

The site has been developed by Scott Oldham, who has a background in apparel-specific software, as well as in retail, having worked in buying, product development and IT roles at Macys, Federated and a national jewelry chain.

Oldham said he expects approximately 5,000 U.S.-based trim suppliers to join the site, and another 5,000 internationally. He said the site will feature vendors of all types of trims, including threads and yarns.

The company, based in Wayne, NJ, projects that more than 10,000 trim buyers will register as users as of this summer.

For more information: www.thetrimsource.com

AATCC Releases Technical Manual

The 2006 AATCC Technical Manual, containing 115 test methods and eight evaluation procedures, is available in both print and CD-ROM formats from the American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists.

The manual includes updated methods for qualitative and quantitative fiber analysis, for the water repellency spray test and for the test of the appearance of fabrics after repeated home laundering.

For more information: www.aatcc.org

DuPont, Omniflex Jointly Sell Active Layer Film

DuPont Engineering Polymers and Omniflex announced late last year that they would join forces in selling DuPont Active Layer material for use in performance apparel and other applications.

Omniflex is a producer of non-lubricated barrier, waterproof and breathable films. It will help DuPont sell its DuPont Active Layer fabric to market segments that are using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and coated polyurethane, such as outdoor gear and footwear brands.

DuPont Active Layer manages water vapor through a liquid-impenetrable, yet breathable, layer of film. The products properties make it ideal for use in parkas, gloves, hiking boots, fishing gear and surgical gowns, DuPont reported.

For more information: www.dupont.com or www.omniflexfilms.com

Eider Introduces New Materials

Technical outerwear brand Eider has developed some new fabrics that will debut in mountain gear for the winter 2006/07 season.

The Richmond, VT-based firm is launching the Defender UltraLight Stretch laminate, a three-layer fabric with twice the level of breathability as its previous generation of Defender. Also in laminates, Eider will be making products with the new Gore-Tex XCR Varuna Stretch three-layer fabric.

In conjunction with Malden Mills, Eider is bringing to market Thermal Pro HighLoft Biomimicry, a new generation of fleece fabrics, inspired by Arctic animal fur.

Eider also will be combining different fabrics within the same garment in order to embody the properties of multiple fabrics in one material. These hybrid fabric technologies will include combinations of Gore-Texs three-layer material with either Gore-Tex Paclite or Eiders Powershield as well as a partnering of Eiders Defender with Biomimicry and Powerstretch softshell fabrics.

In other innovations for winter 06/07, Eider is focusing on body mapping of fabrics for thermal optimization. It is using a new generation of softshell fabrics to increase ventilation in areas where the body needs to breathe more and dry faster and to add insulation in areas where the body needs more warmth and body heat retention.

For more information: www.eider.com

Innovative Apparel Offers Stained Imaging

Innovative Apparel has developed a line of stained image apparel. The company uses a gentle weathering technique to place images on garments ranging from T-shirts to polos, henleys, fleece products and tank tops.

The firms stained imaging technique, which can be applied all over or in bands, gives the finished product a soft feel and distressed look similar to that achieved with stone washing, tie dyeing or vat pigment dyeing.

Innovative Apparel will be exhibiting at the Imprinted Sportswear Show, which runs May 11-13 in Atlantic City, NJ, and at Material World from April 4-6 in Miami.

For more information: www.stainimaging.com

Avery Dennison Adds to Tag-free Portfolio

Avery Dennison Retail Information Services (RIS) has forged an agreement with Mexico-based Subli Impresos Murr S.A. (SIMSA) that broadens Avery Dennison RIS heat transfer technology for tag-free labeling applications.

SIMSA is a developer of heat transfer technology that yields images, text, barcodes and security characters for apparel and footwear tag-free labels. SIMSA president Rodolpho Murra said his firm was looking for a company with a global presence to distribute its technology to apparel and retail customers.

For more information: www.ris.averydennison.com