Italy's Candiani wins top ITMA honour for custom jean micro factory

Candiani was nominated by ITMA 2023 exhibitor FKgroup for this year’s award. According to the FKgroup, the cutting machine designed specifically for this project and the idea behind the concept of the urban micro factory is to leverage sustainable, zero-waste production, Candiani said in a press release.

“Winning this award represents true recognition of the importance of research and development, as well as the investments and efforts required to make a positive change through better processes and products. Candiani won the award in 2019, and this additional recognition has become a sign of consistency towards our commitment to continuous, tangible improvements,” said Alberto Candiani, president of Candiani.

Candiani received the trophy from CEMATEX president Ernesto Maurer at a presentation ceremony on the opening day of ITMA 2023.

“CEMATEX launched the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award in 2015 to encourage and recognise the collaborative efforts of our exhibitors and their customers for the industry excellence category. Today, we are pleased to see another outstanding collaboration, and I would like to congratulate both Candiani and FKgroup for their innovative partnership. As the textile and fashion industry trends toward sustainability and circularity, we hope the award will inspire more innovative efforts that result in business success, as well as benefit both planet and people,” said Maurer.

The two other finalists of the Industry Excellence category are Denim Moda and Limonta.

Denim Moda was nominated by Jeanologia for the establishment of the Denim Moda Urban Factory. The urban factory in central Italy is equipped with Jeanologia garment finishing technologies as part of a full range of the latest equipment for the manufacturing of sustainable new denim and cotton products. Denim Moda provides its customers with the entire product realisation, starting from conception and design.

Limonta is recognised for the new Bio-FREED dyeing system. An Italian vertically-integrated textile group, Limonta collaborated with ITMA exhibitor, Navis TubeTex, and protein biochemicals company Modern Meadow on the development of the system. Through the elimination of several process steps found in conventional dyeing methods, the one-step continuous foam-based dyeing and coating process significantly reduces water consumption by 90 per cent and lowers energy consumption by 67 per cent.

The judges for the Industry Excellence Award comprised several esteemed figures in the apparel and textile sector such as Amina Razvi, chief executive officer, Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC). She was joined by Dirk Vantyghem, director general, The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (EURATEX); Ernesto Maurer, president, CEMATEX; and John Mowbray, founder and director, MCL News and Media

The ITMA 2023 Research & Innovation Award serves to encourage academic institutions to embark on research work that contributes to the future of the textile industry. 

The ITMA Research and Innovation (R&I) Excellence Award for Master’s students of institutions exhibiting in the Research and Innovation sector has been won by Philipp Benjamin Weigel for his thesis ‘Numerical Simulation of the Structural and Pull-out Behavior of Parametrically Generated Profiled Carbon Polymer Yarns’. He was nominated by TU Dresden, Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology (ITM). His thesis was supervised by Professor Chokri Cherif.

The first runner up is Eva Wingerath for her thesis ‘Life Cycle Assessment and Evaluation of Composite Pressure Vessel End-Of-Life Recycling’ and the second runner up is Maryam Sodagar for her thesis ‘Banana Fibre as a Sustainable and Renewable Resource for Reinforcement of Polylactic Acid. Both students were nominated by the ITA Institut fur Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University and supervised by Professor Thomas Gries.

The panel of judges comprised Lutz Walter, secretary general, European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing (ETP); professor Lieva Van Langenhove, general secretary, Association of Universities for Textiles (AUTEX); and Johannes Diebel, managing director, Forschungskuratorium Textil.

The ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award is a part of the series of activities promoting research and innovation at the exhibition. Other activities include the Innovative Xchange and the Innovation Video Showcase. A new initiative is the Start-Up Valley.

ITMA 2023 is currently being held at Fiera Milano Rho, Milan and will continue until June 14, 2023.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)