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COVID-19 Update: INDA publishes Meltblown Nonwoven Markets: COVID-19 Impact Analysis
With the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading worldwide, International Fiber Journal is tracking stories relevant to the textile fiber industry. Facemasks, personal protective equipment, medical supplies and wipes are among the fiber-intensive technologies particularly relevant to the COVID-19 response effort. And as manufacturers of these technologies and others struggle to meet global demand in the face of the …
Mixed messages – the UK is at odds with the rest of Europe once again, this time over flushability
The further development of plastic-free and flushable products will be key themes at INDA’s World of Wipes (WOW) 2020, which will now be an all-virtual event Aug. 24-27. For my own presentation at the event, I provided the half-jokey title “London: Why do all the problems start in the pesky UK’s capital?” back in January. …
Rice and wood – building for the future on Japan’s natural resources and fiber legacy
Many of Japan’s major corporations began as fiber manufacturers, and their expansion has been decades long, typically involving diversification into other fields such as chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, real estate, etc. Asahi Kasei, Kuraray, Teijin, Toray Industries and Toyobo, for example, all emerged as manufacturers of viscose rayon in the 1920s and have remained …
The Fiber Year 2020 – Deceleration along the textile chain
The 20th anniversary issue of The Fiber Year shows deceleration along the textile chain from world supply to processing volumes and finally consumption at retail stage. The enhanced view illustrates different dynamics from global supply growing almost 3% to final end-use advancing 2%. Output of natural fibers fell 3%, while manmade cellulosic fibers continued to …
Fiber innovation follows its natural course
Fiber technology development is critical to the advancement of textile applications in the modern age for many reasons. The 20th-century ideal was to create mass production of plastic fibers that would last forever. By contrast, today’s fiber technology development places a premium on fibers that decay gracefully. The characteristics of the fiber and fabric structure …