Index El Foro Material World New York Cotton Fiber and Yarn Innovations [TC]² Activity Member Profile - Estmark Important Dates A Look Ahead

El Foro

Industry experts will join with representatives from well-known U.S. retailers and major apparel manufacturers throughout Central America to discuss challenges and opportunities associated with manufacturing and sourcing following the passage of CAFTA. To review the agenda for this two-day event, click here.

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Material World New York

From design to delivery, New York 's premier global fabric and sourcing event. In additional to fabric and sourcing resources, Material World New York will include the ASAP Global Sourcing Pavilion, a new home furnishings showcase, Fall/Winter 2006 trend forecasts, and a comprehensive seminar program. [TC]²'s Jud Early and Mike Fralix will present highlights from the Japan International Apparel Machinery Trade Show (JIAM), on Wednesday, September 28th, at 11:00 a.m.

For more information or to register, visit www.material-world.com

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Cotton Fiber and Yarn Innovations
By Dr. Kim Anderson, writer/reporter for [TC]²

Rugged retro, vintage and distressed looks; deep bright colors; a soft buttery hand; and a silky drape will be all the rage in 2006. Cotton yarn manufacturers have stepped up to the plate to help bring these fashion trends to fruition.

Tuscarora Yarns, Inc. has been spinning some of the most beautiful straightforward cotton yarns for years. Tuscarora is famous for their heather and mélange yarns. A mélange yarn is produced by blending 4-5 different colored fibers. As Peter Hegarty, President of Tuscarora, points out, the blending of multicolored fibers, creates “almost a space dyed effect but for cheaper.” The mélange yarn known as Excite, is shown below in a simple jersey construction. The intricacy of the yarn makes the fabric appear as if sprinkled with intricate combinations of tuck stitches. For added zest, slubs can be added.

Excite- Utilized in a Single Jersey Construction
Courtesy of Tuscarora Yarns, Inc

Often two different colored yarns are plied together to create a barber pole effect. Hegarty explains that a process known as mock twist can create a similar effect. To produce a mock twist yarn, two rovings are combined at the spinning frame. A mock twist yarn is less expensive to produce than a plied yarn. Tuscarora offers a variety of mock twist yarns in bold bright colors.

100% Cotton Fabric Using Mock Twist Yarns
Courtesy of Tuscarora Yarns, Inc.

Hegarty shared some of Tuscarora's other yarn developments: silky cotton/bamboo blends, cotton/silver blends and streaky striated vintage looks.

Since opening in 1998, Four Leaf Textiles has been known as a heather yarn spinner. Recently, Four Leaf has developed a 100% cotton heather yarn with a new twist. The new heather effect is created by blending regular cotton with treated cotton. Tom McCall, New Business Director, explains the treated cotton, “dyes deeper and quicker” than the untreated cotton and on an environmentally friendly note, can be dyed without using “any salt or soda ash.” The yarn also “dyes in half the time and at lower temperatures than regular cotton,” and “there is less unfixed dye stuff, therefore less dye going down the drain.” “Pro Tura” translates from Latin as “special cotton.”

In keeping with the trendy distressed look, striped patterns have been created with Pro Tura yarns. The depth of color depends on the amount of treated cotton in the yarn. Subtle shade gradations are achieved by using yarns consisting of varying amounts of treated cotton. You can find this fabric and similar ones throughout the Lands' End catalogue.

Weathered Stripes
Courtesy of Four Leaf Textiles

To put a new spin on “vintage” Four Leaf has incorporated ProTura yarns into classic knit constructions.

Bright Classic Knits
Courtesy of Four Leaf Textiles

Soft and slightly distressed lightweight woven fabrics have been developed for the shirting and sheeting markets.

Soft Distressed Wovens Constructed with Pro Tura Yarns
Courtesy of Four Leaf Textiles

Customers include Lands' End, Nike, Jockey, Polo and more. A major plug is that apparel companies no longer have to play the “guessing game.” McCall explains that dyeing is done in garment form, therefore, shirts can be pre-made and dyed once they know “…what colors are selling well.” Apparel companies can also practice “speed to replenish.” By having the shirts on-hand, they don't have to dip back into the supply chain to the yarn stage - scurrying around to get the yarn dyed and fabric knit, cut and sewn. In addition, companies can garment dye as few as 12 shirts, whereas yarn dyeing requires huge minimums.

 McCall says the philosophy at Four Leaf is “Look at every fabric category and figure out what can we do.” Four Leaf has developed cotton/Kevlar® yarns to produce rugged denim, recently picked up by a well known brand. By adding just 14% Kevlar® the fabric is “400% stronger!” Another development in the wings is treated cotton blended with rayon to produce fabrics with a soft buttery hand. Depending on the dye process, the fabric can be solid or have a heather effect. Four Leaf Textiles will soon be changing its name to Clovertex - take note if you want to keep abreast of more exciting innovations.

Switching gears to more technical innovations - Cotton Incorporated's research staff has introduced some impressive developments. A wrinkle-resistant durable press (DP) finish known as Tough Cotton™ “enables an all-cotton fabric to look good and last longer, while maintaining a smooth appearance after home laundering.”

The image below shows the impressive results. A fabric treated with the standard DP finish, T-1 is compared to two fabrics, T-2 and T-3. Different blends of new and improved resins have been applied to T-2 and T-3. The improvement in abrasion resistance is quite apparent.

Courtesy of Cotton Incorporated

Cotton Incorporated has also introduced a new technology that delivers exceptional wicking performance while maintaining the look, feel and comfort of cotton. Using the technology, both Phillips Van Heusen's Izod Retail division and Champion are launching new clothing lines.

Cotton fibers enjoyed a lengthy and regal reign until synthetic fibers began to flood the market in the early 1940's. Synthetic fibers became well known for their strength, wrinkle resistance and excellent wash and light fastness. Cotton began to experience a fluctuating popularity. However, innovative cotton yarn manufacturers and research facilities are tapping into some remarkable innovations to produce some incredible yarns.

Acknowledgements

Peter Hegarty, President, Tuscarora Yarns, Inc.
Tom McCall, New Business Director, Four Leaf Textiles LLC
David Miller, Vice President Marketing, Four Leaf Textiles LLC
Robin Merlo, Director Public Relations, Cotton Incorporated
Kristie Phillips, Textile Chemistry Research, Cotton Incorporated

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[TC]² Activity
Las Vegas Fashion Week - MAGIC
By Jim Lovejoy, Director Industry Programs, [TC]²

From August 29 to September 1, Las Vegas hosted eleven apparel and accessory shows in seven hotels in Las Vegas. By far, the largest and most well known is the MAGIC show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The other ten shows demonstrate the breath of this industry:

One person cannot hope to walk all these shows in one week, so my focus was on ASAP and MAGIC. ASAP consisted of several hundred full package exhibitors from Mexico, Africa and Asia, as well as a series of seminars on sourcing challenges, brand protection, corporate responsibility, and creating a full value supply chain. The keynote session was a panel from CITA and U.S. Department of Commerce officials on protecting and expanding the U.S. textile and apparel industry. It was expertly moderated by Mike Fralix, President of [TC]². More information at www.asapshow.com.

At the Las Vegas Convention Center where MAGIC is held twice a year, there were six markets. MAGIC, of course, is the long-standing men's show. WWDMAGIC is for women's apparel, MAGIC Kids for children's apparel, the Sourcing Zone for contractors, and Fabric at MAGIC for textiles. Unless you are focused on a particular market, MAGIC can be overwhelming. Most memorable for me was the Streetwear section in the Men's Market. The area was probably the size of three football fields with an unbelievable range of products and new styles. More information at www.magiconline.com .

The Fabric Sourcing section was almost all Chinese textile companies. Since they all had the same booth format, it was hard to tell which of the 100+ were mills and which were agents. There was a Services area with about 25 software, logistics, packaging, and consulting companies. An apparel contractors area had about 800 booths from 80 countries with a wide variety of apparel.

The Sourcing Zone at MAGIC offered a series of seminars and workshops on sourcing, social accountability, logistics, security, quality assurance and finding reliable off shore sources. Sourcing 101, a series of basic sourcing lessons was standing room only.

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Member Profile - Estmark

Estmark: Delivering Accuracy

Estmark™ is not only the newest in tools garment costing, it's a company that recently saw its software tool launch into the product development world with true success. This new software tool is designed to accurately and quickly generate estimates of production fabric yield. Not only was the industry ready and open for such a tool, it's been highly praised for lending a needed hand to supply chain difficulties.

Representing nine years of development by 39-year industry consultant and veteran Robert Broadhead, this application has been beta tested at Gap, Koret, and Koramsa. Estmark is targeted to full-package contractors in need of determining more accurate fabric costs, as well as retailers and brands worldwide. Evaluating fabric costs for programs purchased has become essential. In doing so, the program takes into account factors such as end-loss, spreading overlap, the effect of fabric damage and shrinkage and variations in size ratios.

With the capability of estimating to within 1% the actual production consumption of fabrics for a specific style of production, Estmark™ enables both the buyer and seller of apparel and other sewn products to develop a mutually beneficial partnership. Both parties gain visibility into the factors driving this most critical cost sheet item. The knowledge ultimately provides the best overall supply chain costs and settles costing disputes based on changes in sizing, fabric quality, or other factors.

Estmark stands by these promised deliverables and has a proven track record for reliability in garment costing. Fabric accounts for 25-70 percent of the cost of making a garment, so controlling and negotiating fabric consumption has significant impact on the bottom line. With its fact-based recalculation format for any yield adjustment, Estmark™ has become a product solution for many retailers, manufacturers, import brokers and contractors. Robert Broadhead also points out the importance of the relationship with [TC]².“ Since Mike Fralix and I met in San Francisco ten years ago, [TC]² has been a source of new ideas and inspiration to me.  Estmark software is available for demonstration at the Cary office and I look forward to giving a seminar there, as well, on material utilization and fabric costing in the future." 

For more information, please visit www.estmark.com.

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Important Dates

September

October

For detailed information about industry events, visit www.techexchange.com

Thanks to the techexchange site sponsors Apparel Magazine, Gerber Technology, Intentia, Lectra and Methods Workshop.

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A Look Ahead

El Foro
Material World

View previous editions of this newsletter

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