In response to industry trends and market demand, the 17^th edition of the International Exhibition on Textile Industry, ShanghaiTex 2015, will focus on the latest application of knitting technology, bringing the new industry developments and market opportunities to the buyers.

The exhibition that is set to take place at the Shanghai New International Expo Center from 15-18 June 2015, will feature seven theme zones accounting for nine exhibition halls, with over 103,500 square meters of exhibition area.

The Knitting and Hosiery Machinery Zone gathers the leading enterprises from domestic and abroad, including Groz-Beckert, Karl Mayer, Santoni, Samsung Knitting Needle, and more.

Enhanced productivity of knitting industry

With the popularity of knitted sports shoes around the globe, various Chinese sportswear brands have developed and launched their own knitted sports shoes. From knitting machine to shoe upper machine, the market is at the forefront of a new technological revolution, with a focus on sustainability.

Carsten Czepull, Senior Vice President of Groz-Beckert, commented: “Apart from the recycled materials used in the production, the production process itself is also environmentally friendly and sustainable. The single forming process of knitted sports shoes is not only simpler, but also reduces the cutting wastes.”

Lightweight and eco-friendly

Knitted sport shoes are especially distinctive for their lightweight and eco-friendly properties.  They are manufactured primarily from recycled polyester, yet their knitted fabric technology is still breathable and connects stable and elastic sections almost seamlessly.

The method mainly involves jacquard and intarsia to ensure stability and elasticity by using different weaving methods. “At locations with especially high stability requirements, special melt yarns are sometimes used in order to achieve extremely lightweight, high breathability, perfect fit and sustainability,” added Carsten Czepull.

New direction of knitting

Shanghai Tex 2015 focuses on the applications of automated textile technology in different areas to help companies transform and upgrade.

Hong Qing Dian, Associate General Manager of China Taifan Industry Group, has analysed the future application trend of knitting technology on functional apparel and fabrics, underwear and automotive upholstery, offering his own perspective.

Sportswear

“Current sportswear only emphasizes on functionality, such as anti-bacterial, deodorant, anti-UV, moisture perspiration, etc, by adding certain agents to the fabrics. The sportswear fabrics will innovate and improve in terms of production technology in 2015, such as fabric weight reduction, flexibility enhancement and pattern diversification,” explained Hong Qing Dian.

“At technical level, single and double jersey knitting machine will gradually shift to higher thread count or double jacquard knitting machine. On chemical usage, it will be going green and the carcinogenicity and irritability of chemicals will be greatly taken into consideration.”

Lingerie

Hong Qing Dian believes that the current underwear market is developing rapidly along with the jacquard technology advancement, but the rapid increase in jacquard machine produces visual fatigue.

“In 2015, more effort would be put on the technological research of colour and care in underwear industry, such as reducing friction between skin and fabrics. The coordination between high density stitches and advanced jacquard machine will lead the industrial development.”

Automotive upholstery

Textiles account for more than 50% of materials used in automotive upholstery, in which knitted products account for more than 60%.

“Ruian has been using jacquard machine to produce automotive upholstery fabrics years ago, but there are still room for improvement on the production process,” said Hong Qing Dian.

“Most important are the life span and how to make the fabrics more dense and breathable. Meanwhile incorporating the composite technology and dyeing and finishing technology, the multiple and complex process will help to customize the fabrics.”

www.shanghaitexonline.com