2020 In Textiles

2020 was a year like no other in recent history of the world. For many industries, textiles included, the pandemic brought things to a screeching halt early in the year. But as things began to ease up a bit – at least in some parts of the world – and we were able to take a step back and a deep breath, stakeholders across the industry began taking stock of the textiles supply chain, whose weaknesses and fragility were laid bare by the pandemic.

Among other things, people were wondering why we have ships full of textile products constantly traversing the seas, and why we are still using the old “design, manufacture and hope-to-sell” model.

While there were many exciting developments in textiles during the year, including significant improvements in digital textile printing technologies, this focus on restructuring the supply chain is likely to have the most long-lasting effect on the industry. The pros and cons of the industry’s ability to make this move were recently discussed by WhatTheyThink contributor and textiles expert Debbie McKeegan, who made these suggestions:

• Let’s stop designing and manufacturing waste and switch to on-demand digital or hybrid production and reduce the industry’s carbon footprint further by manufacturing closer to the consumer.
• Let’s leverage software to control and communicate the design process and embed production data in a cloud-based platform where all suppliers have access to transparent information.
• Let’s get to know our suppliers better and shorten the supply chain and insist on the use of sustainable technologies. Traceability is equally important if we are to reduce greenwashing and validate the production process to deliver an eco-friendly product to the consumer.

From design through to all aspects of textile production, there is now a digital alternative...and a digital imperative. The innovations within our industry are many and varied, so let’s make the leap, take back control of our supply chain, and prepare for a new future using digital manufacturing. Let’s work hard to deliver a sustainable future together!

A New Future for Knitting

Another interesting development is the use of 3D knitting. This refers to a type of knitting machine that can create a sweater, for example, all in one piece rather than in several pieces that have to be assembled by “linkers.”

In the case of a sweater, the machine knits the tube that is the body, and the two tubes that are the sleeves, merging them together at the armholes and neck for finishing. There is little finishing work to be done when the piece comes off the knitting machine, making the process much more efficient and creating less waste.

One example of this is Evolution of St. Louis, a factory that has 30 Stoll 3D knitting machines installed, operated by 14 employees. These machines can also knit smaller items like masks with a filter pocket all in one pass. Tailored Industry in Brooklyn is another example of 3D knitting at work, and both Evolution St. Louis and Tailored Industry report that brands are expressing increased interest in this technology for at least some part of their knitted products.

3D Knitted Mask from Evolution St. Louis 

Living Textiles

Canadian researcher Roya Aghighi has invented a living, biodegradable fabric called Biogarmentry. It’s made from algae and can purify the air around it. The purification capabilities – as well as the depth of its green color – increases over time. While it will be several years before this is commercially available, the idea is to have consumers think of their garments as living things that need to be cared for and have a long life, thus reducing textile waste.

Proof-of-concept Biogarmentry fabric based on algae.

Pigment Inks

There have been significant developments and improvements in pigment inks. Why is this important? Because with pigment inks, you can print directly to a wide variety of synthetic and natural fibers. Some systems and inks require some pretreatment, but once the fabric is printed, it doesn’t have to go through further steps. Washing and steaming use water and consume energy as well as extend the production cycle time and manufacturing footprint. For ultra high-quality items, such as a designer silk scarf, brands may still prefer to use reactive inks, which do require steaming and washing, But if they print those digitally, there are still economic and environmental benefits when compared to conventional analog printing processes, especially for lower quantities or custom orders.

Wearables Continue to Evolve

When we started talking about wearables a few years ago, it primarily referred to products like a Fitbit or Apple Watch that could measure and report certain biometrics. This is an area that continues to evolve.

The ultimate goal of research being conducted at MIT in conjunction with Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) is focused on fiber computing. In this model, the computing capability is built right into the fiber so that the functionality is integrated into the fabric, rather than being a separate object. AFFOA has proven that a variety of non-polymeric functional materials can be integrated into fibers, enabling us to think about the functionality of fibers and fabrics in ways we couldn’t before.

CEO Alexander (Sasha) Stolyarov says that the functionality includes things like physiological monitoring of body temperature, heart rate, blood oxygen level, respiratory rate and more, as well as monitoring things like contaminants in the environment that might be harmful. Stolyarov sees a not-too-distant future when technologies will be able to add computation and algorithms that give you actionable data to the sensing and communications capabilities they have proven in the lab today. He explains, however, that one of the biggest barriers today is availability of a power source that is not bulky and uncomfortable.

Graphene: A Miracle Material

There is a significant amount of research being done with graphene, which could be one solution to the power source problem. In 2010, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester in the UK “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.”

In its press release, the committee stated: “Graphene is a thin flake of carbon, just one atom thick.…As a material it is completely new—not only the thinnest ever but also the strongest. As a conductor of electricity, it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat, it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again.”

An EU consortium has been established to further this research and has identified a number of application areas where graphene is applicable, including sensors, biomedical technologies, aeronautics and space, and, of course, wearables.

The EU Graphene Flagship Initiative site states, “There is a demand for unobtrusive, soft and light smart devices that could be worn un-noticed. Graphene and other 2-dimensional materials are, due to their inherent properties, extremely suitable for such devices. They offer an alternative material platform for the creation of low-cost and multifunctional wearable products with unique form factors. Prototypes of health tracking devices, environmental sensors, durable e-textiles and flexible power sources, to name a few, have been developed and demonstrated additional functionalities beyond the limits of the state-of-the-art.”

Graphene-Enabled fitness Band. Image sourced from the EU Graphene Flagship Initiative 

Double-Digit Growing in Digital Fabric Printing

We’ve been saying that for some time, and while the global percentage of digitally printed fabrics has increased from 2.8% about three years ago to its current level of 6.9%, according to WTIN, it’s still miniscule when compared to the overall volume of textile printing, as shown in the graph.

Digital and Analog Textile Printing. Source: Texintel, Smithers and Allied Markets

In another view, WTIN reports that digital textile printing solutions are broken down into two primary categories: those that replace or increase capacity and those that enable new businesses.

An example of the former would be the EFI Reggiani BOLT that can print at up to 90 meters per minute and have the ability to replace older analog technologies. An example of the latter might be the Mimaki TX300P-1800 MKII, which has a relatively small footprint and dual ink systems that can easily be switched to print direct-to-fabric or to heat transfer paper, making it easy and affordable for companies to enter this market.

Another aspect of digital fabric printing is direct-to-garment, and that market is growing rapidly as well. Kornit, for example, has several DTG printers, and Ricoh has just announced a new member of its DTG portfolio, the Ricoh Ri 2000, which has a small footprint, can produce something like 50 white shirts per hour, and sells for less than $25,000, with a projected payback in less than a year, depending on production volume.

For those looking into purchasing a digital textile printer, the list of potential suppliers is long: DGI, Durst, EFI, Epson, HP, Konica Minolta, Kornit, Mimaki, MS, Mutoh, Ricoh, SPG Prints – these are just a few! Selecting a digital fabric printer requires a full analysis of the goals you are trying to achieve, and then research into the various offerings to determine what fits best. This was easier when we could go to large trade shows, like PRINTING United in the States or ITMA in Europe. 

More to Come

While it’s not possible to cover every development in textiles during 2020 in this space, these are a few of what we think are the most important highlights. The bottom line for the industry is: How do we reduce the industry’s environmental footprint, make it more agile and keep technology and innovation moving forward at the same time?