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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 …
Student Spotlight: Turning textile waste into thermal and acoustic insulation
Shafiq Islam developed a strong interest in textiles pursuing his undergraduate and master’s degrees in textile engineering in Bangladesh, while also working in the textile research and development sector. As an undergraduate, Shafiq’s main interest was technical textiles, nonwovens, and composites, and this is also the focus of his Ph.D. research at the University of …
Sustainability should still be more than just a buzzword
Not so long ago, sustainability was the buzzword in the fiber industry with several companies announcing progress in terms of recycling or using bio-based alternatives. The hope is that the coronavirus crisis will provide the catalyst for developing more sustainable supply chains going forward. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced fashion retailers to drastically reduce costs …
COVID-19 supply & demand
As we consider how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the nonwovens industry, it is important to start with an understanding of the numerous nomenclature issues associated with nonwovens. The majority of the nonwoven material in demand as a result of the pandemic is spunlaid. The primary method for categorizing nonwoven capacity and production is …