MILAN — Spring and summer collections shown by exhibitors at last month’s Filo yarn fair sought to marry the environmental movement with technological innovation.
Seventy-four exhibitors at the 28th edition of the fair, held here Oct. 24 to 25, offered a spate of technically savvy yarns, including enhanced eco-friendly yarns and a dying technique to tint polypropylene — previously considered by the industry impossible to dye. However, the buzz surrounding these latest innovations was overshadowed by the bleak economic outlook as the dollar weakened against the euro.
“There’s been price increases in raw materials like wool and silk and that, combined with the devaluing of the dollar and the yen, is causing the market to suffer,” said Stefano Botto Poala, of Botto Poala. “We’ve had to increase our yarn prices by 10 to 15 percent.”
Many spinners confirmed slowing sales for 2007.
“[Last year] was a brilliant season, but that will definitely not be confirmed in 2007 because too many factors are affecting the close of the season,” said Sergio Blotto, chief executive officer of Cotonificio Roberto Ferrari. The warm winter “left stores with large quantities of unsold goods as well as liquidity problems that have a negative effect upstream on the chain. In addition, the dollar is penalizing exports.”
Cotonificio Roberto Ferrari is expected to close 2007 in line with 2006’s turnover of 25 million euros, or $36.6 million at current exchange.
The economic climate seems to be shaking up the thinking of some of the decades-old, family-run Italian mills. Two Biella-based mills have joined to create Marchi & Fildi. The marriage between Filatura Marchi Giovanni and Fildi is considered a breakthrough in the Italian textile industry where, historically, company executives chose bankruptcy over alliances with competitors. It is hoped the union will allow the company to approach the global yarn market in a more flexible and aggressive way, said Massimo Marchi, president of Filatura Marchi Giovanni. Marchi & Fildi’s combined sales total 50 million euros, or $73.3 million, with annual production capacity of 11 million kilos of yarn. Executives said they expected the merger to produce rapid sales growth.
The economic outlook didn’t hold back the spinners’ creativity, which fueled many new yarns for the spring and summer.
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Interfil unveiled a spool-dyed polypropylene, an innovation the spinner said was the first of its kind. Polypropylene, a popular yarn used in sportswear garments, could only be dyed in vast quantities before it was spun. Interfil’s patented dying technique allows the yarn to be tinted after the spinning process.
“It’s innovative because before, customers were constricted to buying thousands of kilos of the yarn in basic colors,” said Stefania Corbella, export director of Interfil. “Now we are able to offer clients a real service of a rainbow of colors in smaller quantities.” Corbella also said the firm had recently opened a stock service division in Prato that promised same-day delivery to its clients.
Iafil showed linens and cottons that were dyed with sorbet hues in stripes before the spinning process. When woven into textiles the fabric exhibited a wash of pale color. Ales Rigamonti, product manager of Iafil, said the yarns had already received interest from high-end shirting fabric manufacturers.
Environmentally friendly yarns were a prominent feature of many mills’ offerings. While mills already touted organic cottons in their collections, many view summer as an opportunity to offer advanced developments in eco-friendly yarns. Iafil presented a wider offer of 17 colors for its organic cotton.
Rigamonti said yarn producers are at the tip of the iceberg of organic dyeing.
“Biological dyeing always produces a mélange-look yarn, but this type of mottled effect in everyday yarns is considered a defect,” Rigamonti said. “The challenge will be to create perfectly dyed organic yarns. On the other hand, it’s so expensive to dye like this, it will be difficult to make progress in such a niche market.”
Cotonificio Roberto Ferrari promoted its biological mélange cottons in 15 hues, which Blotto said had been certified organic from raw product to end yarn.
“There’s no shortage of biologically certified mélange cottons on the market, but the trend is toward counts that are increasingly finer with blends of different fibers with flamed and moiré finishes,” Blotto said.
At MarioBoselli Yarns, the focus was on natural-look, lab-born yarns. Several years ago, the mill developed a polyester yarn with a shantung silk look and feel for its home furnishing textile collection. Now it has carried the yarn into its clothing catalogue for summer.
“Before, we sold it as a curtain fabric, but it can just as easily be used in clothing. Clients are attracted to it because it’s washing machine friendly, and it has all the characteristics of silk except that it’s a lot cheaper,” said ceo Carlo Boselli. Many of the same customers had also bought a crepe viscose-nylon-blend yarn that was washable and had a soft hand feel.
Botto Poala showed a polished-looking navy silk crepe with a satin touch, that was spun with extremely high tauten. Another wool, silk and linen blend was also tightly twisted so as to not exhibit any of linen’s raw, fibrous qualities.