Eco-friendly fabrics to find pride of place at Texworld

An increasing number of buyers are asking for these ranges of green products even if organic and eco-friendly products are 15-25% more expensive than conventional fabrics. The major retail chains, to mention just C&A, H&M and Inditex, are the prime customers.

Texworld has highlighted and expanded this range for a long time. At the next show, eco-friendly fabrics will once again be showcased in the visitors’ guide and the Eco Itinerary. The exhibition can be proud of its offer of high-quality ranges thanks to the top specialists for:

• organic cotton: Chemitex (Belgium), Isil Tekstil and Larmatex (Turkey), Sapphire Textile Mills (Pakistan),Vardhman Fabrics (India) or else the new exhibitor ElHesn Textile (Egypt) ….

• Organic linen: Northern Linen (the Netherlands),Shenzen Boyang Linen (China)…

• Recycled polyester: Sy Vina (Vietnam), Toray Sakai weaving & Dyeing (China)…

• Cellulosic fabrics: Birla (India), Bordo Tekstil (Turkey), Great Duksan (South Korea), Lenzing (Austria), Mozartex (China)…

• cupro: Chikuma (Hong Kong), The Core and Shinjtex (South Korea)...

Organic cotton, a natural cellulose fabric, was long the material most in demand by buyers. Forecasts for European market suggest a difficult period lays ahead for the sector. Elcin YUKSEL, sales director at Larmatex (Turkey), which has been attending Texworld since the firm was established in 2008, emphasizes: “We have offered organic cotton fabrics, representing 5% of our sales, since the time our factory was set up.

Demand is dropping, year on year, as a result of the price which is 30% much higher than conventional cotton. The added value from organics is not yet a major criterion when firms are deciding to buy. We can hope that the market will pick up if firms and the key players in particular, adopt organic cotton for its qualities.”Organic cotton would flourish if brands really committed themselves, since according to Textile Intelligence in its latest report on organic cotton: more than 81% of companies expect to include more organic cotton in their collections".

Recycled cotton is increasingly valued and around a dozen major weavers, mainly from Pakistan are offering it at Texworld. Faced with difficulties in the supply and the price of organic cotton, there are many firms who have opted man-made cellulosic fabrics, which constitute an interesting alternative in terms of prices and quality.100% or blended Tencel ranks foremost among the fabrics that are most in demand: it is produced with cellulose fiber with a smaller environmental footprint since less water is needed to manufacture it than for cotton.