Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

The 28th Taipei Innovation Textile Application Show (TITAS) concluded successfully at Taiwan's Nangang Exhibition Center on October 17, 2024. This year’s event featured exhibitors from 11 countries, showcasing key innovations across the textile value chain as the industry strives toward net-zero carbon emissions.

Taiwan's textile industry is recognized as a global leader in functional and eco-friendly textiles, with stakeholders committed to continuous innovation. TITAS serves as Asia’s key sourcing platform for textiles and clothing, and participation continues to grow. Over the three-day exhibition, approximately 31,500 visitors explored nearly 1,000 booths from 385 exhibitors, generating an estimated US$51 million in future business opportunities, according to the Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF).

This season's focus was on high-quality green textiles, with a special sustainable landmark area featuring an artistic sailboat installation. This area showcased collaborations among fiber manufacturers, textile factories, and apparel producers, highlighting clothing recycling and the development of a complete circular economy within the textiles sector.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

Resilient into to the new business year: From 14 to 17 January, already 2,900 exhibitors from 60 countries will present current trends, the latest collections, innovative materials and textile solutions at Heimtextil. High-calibre highlights await visitors: For the first time, the Milan-based design platform Alcova will curate the Heimtextil Trends 25/26. In addition, the worldwide renowned designer and architect Patricia Urquiola brings textile design to life in the exclusive installation ‘among-us’. The DecoTeam and the adjacent Design Lounge provide attractive offers and top brands for interior design. Carpets & Rugs, the home of the international carpet industry, grows by further hall levels. With its strong range and new formats, Heimtextil is once again proving itself to be a constant and reliable partner for the global textile industry.

Connected by textiles: under this motto, Heimtextil will unite the global textile industry at the exhibition grounds in Frankfurt from 14 to 17 January. The world's largest and most international trade fair for home and contract textiles and textile design provides a bundled market overview on 16 hall levels: from fibres and yarns to unassembled materials, to the finished end product. ‘Despite the challenging market situation, Heimtextil is a strong and reliable platform for the global sector and offers retailers, industry and the contract business solutions for sustainable business success. For 2025, we expand our product range for specific target groups, create important synergies and look forward to welcoming numerous new exhibitors and returnees. We also launch two partnerships: for the first time, the Milan-based design platform Alcova will curate the Heimtextil Trends 25/26, and star designer and architect Patricia Urquiola will create a unique installation. Heimtextil 2025 makes textile interior design more visible than ever before’, says Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

Zalando, a leading European online platform for fashion and lifestyle, has partnered with YouGov to understand emotions connected to purchasing fashion online and offline and how their experiences impact consumers' shopping habits. The online survey included 14,609 adults from across the United Kingdom and Europe.

Once considered an essential part of the shopping experience, the research shows a growing dissatisfaction with changing rooms, poor size guides, and frequent returns. Respondents report experiencing emotions such as insecurity (19%), frustration (19%), and disappointment (16%) when trying on clothes in-store, with cisgender women (49%) and transgender women (57%) selecting at least one of these negative emotions.

To uncover these evolving consumer needs, emotions connected to purchasing fashion and their impact on consumers' shopping habits, Zalando has conducted extensive research in partnership with YouGov Analysis Institute. This research supports the development of Zalando’s size and fit solutions, such as the Virtual Fitting Room, where customers can try different sizes of an item on a 3D avatar that represents their bodies, and the Body Measurement tool, which offers size recommendations based on unique body measurements. These tools provide a personalised, stress-free shopping experience that addresses fit and comfort, empowering shoppers to feel confident in the clothes they wear. This technological advancement not only reduces the anxiety of finding the right size but also promotes a positive and satisfying shopping experience.

Following various pilots and tests, Zalando introduces its ‘Virtual Fitting Room’ and Body Measurement tool, transforming the shopping experience and supporting Zalando-stocked brands. Using human insights, Zalando’s innovations are helping redefine the shopping landscape, making it more inclusive, accurate, and enjoyable.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

A Cornell research group led by Juan Hinestroza, the Rebecca Q Morgan ’60 professor of fibre science and apparel design in the College of Human Ecology (CHE), has developed the low-temperature technique for synthesis of superhydrophobic, or waterproof, coatings. This new technique could create waterproof coatings for clothes out of discarded textiles – far safer for humans and the environment than current coatings, which are typically made with harsh chemicals and carcinogens.

This research is an extension of work published in 2023 demonstrating that old clothing could be chemically broken down to reuse polyester compounds to create MOF particles with potential applications in fire resistance, anti-bacterial properties, or wrinkle resistance. The new work is taking this proof of concept and applying it in a direct way, as per the studt

The researchers exposed discarded fabrics to an alkaline depolymerisation process to produce disodium terephthalate, a known linker for synthesis of UiO-66, a popular MOF. They conducted experiments using different amounts of ethanol, and found that with a small amount of ethanol, UiO-66 assembled on top of a polyester and spandex substrate, exhibited superhydrophobic behaviour.

“We must find alternatives to fluorinated finishes, also known as ‘forever chemicals,’” Uyar said. “This study demonstrates how we can achieve functional finishes, including water-repellent and self-cleaning properties, by upcycling textile waste instead of relying on ‘forever chemicals.’”

This research utilised the Cornell Center for Materials Research Shared Facilities, which are supported by the National Science Foundation. Other support came from the Fulbright US student Programme, which is sponsored by the US Department of State and the Korean-American Educational Commission.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

Spring’s doubling of international visitor numbers was followed by another strong rise at the recent Autumn Edition, with overseas participants at both declaring the fair back in business. Following that success, the organisers have announced that the next Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition will take place from 11 – 13 March 2025. Highlights at the upcoming Spring Edition include the Intertextile Directions Trend Forum for Spring / Summer 2026, the return of Econogy Hub and the Digital Solutions Zone, as well as an expansive fringe programme that will amplify the themes apparent across the fairground.

Returning to the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the upcoming show will focus on several pillars: fashionable fabrics and accessories, functional fashion, sustainability, digital transformation, as well as industry trends and design. 
The fair’s Digital Solutions Zone is also set to return, with offerings ranging from design systems and software to AI-powered fabric search, AI pattern generation, and 3D visualisation tools. Other key zones will include Accessories Vision, Beyond Denim, Digital Printing Zone, Functional Lab, Premium Wool Zone, SalonEurope, and Verve for Design.

Key features and figures pointing to fair’s global importance. The Spring and Autumn Editions in 2024 both welcomed increases in overseas participation – strong indications of the fair’s and industry’s resilience post-pandemic. Participants along the value chain welcomed the change as a return to business-as-usual for the trade fair, with many signalling their intent to join the Spring Edition in 2025.