Prominent were a number of stretch fabrics, all with creora elastane - including Hyosung's creora highclo chlorine resistant elastane.

creora highclo is engineered from the high power family of creora products to provide higher modulus and is said to be excellent for compression and shaping, and will retain its power 30% longer after exposure to chlorine to provide lasting fit.

Microsense

First up from SITIP was Microsense. Microsense is said to offer soft sensual feel next to the body with quick dry comfort for luxurious lingerie that enhances the body.  In swimwear Microsense with super chlorine resistant creora highclo elastane is said to offer the additional benefit of long lasting fit and shape retention.

Aqua Zero

Also on show was the Bologna based knitter's Aqua Zero technology, a unique, proprietary technology that aims to create low-wetting fabrics.

"When combined with super chlorine resistant creora highclo elastane, it is for the pinnacle swimwear athlete who is looking for a level of performance that has never been achievable and who treats his/her apparel as equipment for success," Sitip said at the show.

The company's Eclipse is described as a fabric which ‘has cool touch slickness with higher opacity for additional modesty in white bike wear'. For active wear, Eclipse is said to offer UV protection, outstanding printability, and long lasting fit with creora elastane 2DRY Sitip's 2Dry for technical underwear also created interest at ISPO.

"2DRY is enduring freshness with quick dry, moisture transport for all day long carefree comfort in technical underwear to give consumers a level of confidence that will both look good and feel good," Sitip said.

Eco knits

Sitip also showed a new range of eco knits. According to the Italian company, Native/Ecoknit fabrics are produced with only recycled polyester or polyamide improving environmental sustainability by reducing the consumption of natural resources and non-renewable energy dependence.

SITIP manufactures fabrics for personal care, technical, automotive, sports and beachwear applications. As well as substrates for synthetic leathers it also produces laminated fabrics, stretch fabrics and ribbons for technical applications. Its vertical warp knitting division incorporates spinning, knitting and dyeing and finishing and can finish as much as 1.2 million kg per month of warp knitted fabrics. The company's four warp knitting production units in Bergamo and Nylon Knitting company in Malta have a combined knitting capacity of 1.6 million kg per month.

The Bergamo sites house 143 warp knitting machines and the Maltese site, 126 machines. Although best known for its warp knitted fabrics, SITIP also has the capacity to produce approximately 100,000 kg of circular knitted fabrics per month. SITIP also has brushing, shearing and fabric polishing facilities and a flame lamination facility which is used to bond foam to fabric substrates.