Seminars & Workshops

Seminar on new developments in denim finishing

On behalf of A Monforts Textilmaschinen Gmbh, A T E Marketing organised a one-day seminar on 'New Developments in Denim Finishing' recently in Ahmedabad.

The seminar was well attended by 60 delegates. Some of the leading participants were Soma Textiles, Ashima Denim, Arvind Denim, K G Denim, Fertichem etc. Mr W Kaphahn, MD, Marketing, Monforts, Mr Kurt Van Wersch, Head, Technology, Monforts and Mr Stillger, Area Sales Manager, Asia were distinguished speakers of the seminar. Dr Roy, leading textile consultant in India gave insights on denim industry worldwide and its progress from inception. He also highlighted on the future trends and developments in denim.

Mr P Baneerjee, executive director, Soma Textile spoke about Monforts denim finishing ranges in India. Both the speakers applauded the contribution made by A Monforts Co in area of technological developments & quality of machineries.

Mr Kaphahn briefly talked about history of Monforts, its inception and phases of its growth and success. He illuminated the audience on the achievements of Monforts in terms of technological innovations, developments and services. Mr Kurt Van Wersch gave a presentation on new developments in denim finishing done in traditional manner, cylinder dryer, stretching and drafting and shrinking. Instead of cylinder dryer, drafting and stretching device, Monforts introduced a concept of finishing lines followed by padder, half+50% of cylinder drying followed by Thermax Hot Flue and shrinker. In above configuration Thermax can help in controlled stretching and drafting of denim and also new areas of finishing and top dyeing, a new phenomenon, which can be done in one stage. He also discussed the E-control process for woven fabrics with help of Thermax Hot Flue to dye reactive dyes on cotton. He also explained how areas of application of Hot Flue can be extended to sulphur dyeing through E-Control process dyeing and MXL (multi cross-linking process) for woven fabrics..

Workshop on spacer fabrics

Innovative products are opening up new market opportunities. Spacer fabrics in particular, with their very specific characteristics, can offer a wide variety of potential end-uses; it is simply a question of getting to grips with the materials and letting the imagination run wild.

This is precisely what students specialising in Product Design at the Bauhaus University in Weimar did, when they cooperated with Karl Mayer on a joint project involving the development of new possibilities for using spacer fabrics in every area of daily life. The students were inspired by the aesthetic characteristics of the fabric, and by the possibility of being able to vary the density as a function of the elasticity. They exploited the cushioning effect and climate-controlling features, modified the surfaces, and experimented with different combinations of materials. They were assisted by their project leaders, Andre Reutter, a graduate designer, Heiko Bartels, a professor at the Bauhaus University, and by Michael Kieren of Karl mayer. The latter is a developer in the section specialising in textile applications, and he made the necessary materials available and provided important information, particularly on the processing characteristics of these textiles. The results of the students' development work were as varied as the properties of the textile materials themselves. They ranged from a clever, all-in-one concept for wrapping and carrying a baby, through mobile room dividers with variable lengths and sound-absorbing lighting systems for designing open-plan areas, to rescue equipment for injured mountain climbers. This 'mountain rescue angel' in particular has already been developed to the point where it is ready for launching in the market. Its functional characteristics are particularly impressive, and it has been submitted to Techtextil to be considered for the Innovation Prize.

All the ideas, design drafts and prototypes developed by the Bauhaus students were displayed on large frames for German manufacturers of spacer fabrics, yarn producers, research institutes and processors. They were invited to attend this unconventional trends show in Obertshausen by representatives of Karl Mayer's strategic section, 'Warp-knitted fabrics and special applications', with the aim of highlighting the theme of 'spacer fabrics' and bringing members of the sector together. The event was a complete success. After a brief history of the Bauhaus University, presented by Heiko Bartels, the 15 guests, who included managing directors, developers and scientists, were able to have long chats with each other while taking the opportunity to view the students' work. A central theme running through these conversations was how to make the market more aware of the many functional characteristics of spacer fabrics, for a reasonable cost outlay. This is difficult, be-cause prospective clients cannot feel the functional characteristics when they handle the textile for the first time, nor does the integrated textile reveal any of its functional properties at first glance. In fact, the entire product is so new that prospective users are bound to be anxious about handling it. The customer will not buy something that he does not recognise! The sector must therefore concentrate on ensuring that a client's first encounter with spacer fabrics is an unforgettable one. This involves drawing up product-specific, standard requirements, making recommendations for advising customers correctly, and exhibiting at trade fairs, together with constantly publishing articles in the trade press. On this point of discussion, the people attending the workshop indicated that they were prepared to cooperate and pool their resources in the medium term. "Direct joint marketing, or everyone turning up at the customer's plant, is obviously out of the question," said Jorg Bredemeyer, the head of the strategic section, "Warp-knitted fabrics and special applications", when summing-up the general feeling. "It is much more a question of exchanging information with each other and, above all, of finding problems which can be solved by using spacer fabrics. For many years, the most successful path to product innovation in the field of technical textiles has been to define the task and then find a solution which will lead to new applications," said Mr Bredemeyer, when speaking of his own experiences in this field.