Sunbury teams with Nanotex for new line, Polartec fills in the gaps, textile machinery shipments show some growth and Tintex and Bruckner innovate.
Nanotex aSure
Sunbury Textiles has introduced an indoor performance brand called Nanotex aSure that’s geared toward the residential furniture market. Nanotex, a fabric innovator providing nanotechnology-based textile enhancements to the apparel, home and commercial/residential interiors markets, will debut its aSure line at the ITMA Showtime trade fair opening June 4.
Nanotex aSure products will feature Nanotex Resists Spills performance technology, which provides a fluid barrier, causing many liquids to bead up and roll off the fabric, with technology that prevents clogging the fabric weave or compromising the look, feel or comfort of the material. Sunbury is the exclusive weaver for Nanotex aSure.
“Sunbury teamed up with Nanotex to develop this exclusive line of fabrics that showcases each company’s strengths of proven design and aesthetics with the expertise of finishing fabrics at the highest industry standards to provide a care-free solution for creating a beautiful living space,” said Hank Truslow Jr., chief executive officer of Sunbury Textile.
Nanotex aSure was specifically developed to include a host of constructions and decorative yarns in an array of colors, textures, patterns, stripes and statement designs.
“In recent years, Nanotex has expanded exponentially, especially in the area of apparel and bedding,” said Nanotex CEO Lance Keziah. “Also during that time, the joint technical teams at Sunbury and Nanotex worked together to bring this new performance textile, Nanotex aSure, created just for Sunbury, to the residential upholstery textile market. It provides consistent performance across multiple fiber types.”
Sunbury Textile Mills has been in business for more than 60 years and is an employee-owned company. The company weaves all its fabrics at its factory in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. The company recently moved into a new design studio in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.
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Polartec
Polartec is set to introduce Polartec Power Fill, a fill insulation that rounds out the company’s range of temperature-regulating performance fabrics.
Polartec Power Fill is a soft and pliable matrix of spun polyester yarns engineered with a proprietary hollow fiber construction that’s softer and more durable, forming thousands of air pockets that capture and contain body heat, while maintaining a resilient, equalized thermal layer between the colder air on the outside and the warmer temperatures on the inside.
A controlled melt process bonds the hollow fibers, increasing durability and drapability, eliminating the need for scrims or other stabilizers. This gives Power Fill high levels of warmth and design versatility for a wide range of styles and usage occasions. The polyester fiber’s inherent hydrophobic properties also work to ensure that Polartec Power Fill resists moisture absorption and dries quickly, while maintaining a high warmth to weight ratio.
Made with 80 percent post-consumer recycled content, Power Fill insulation technology provides greater warmth retention in colder conditions, without added weight or bulk, according to Polartec.
“Polartec created the category of active insulation with our industry leading range of Alpha temperature regulating product offerings, and now Power Fill continues with innovative fill solutions for the coldest conditions,” CEO Gary Smith said.
Polartec Power Fill will be made available to consumers this fall from Polartec customer Triple Aught Design.
International Textile Manufacturers Federation
Shipments of new textile machinery varied between segments in 2016.
Shipments of long-staple spindles and open-end rotors were up, while those of short-staple spindles were down. Shipments of draw-texturing spindles and circular-knitting machines decreased, while those of shuttle-less looms and electronic flat knitting machines increased.
Deliveries of new long-staple spindles and open-end rotors soared 111 percent and 66 percent, respectively in 2016 from 2015. The number of shipped short-staple spindles decreased 12 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year. The number of shipped draw-texturing spindles fell 14 percent and shipments for new circular knitting machines declined 3 percent year-on-year. In contrast, deliveries of electronic flat knitting machines jumped 99 percent in 2016. In the segment of finishing machines, the number of stenters increased 22 percent in 2016.
These are the main results of the 39th annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics from the International Textile Manufacturers Federation. The report covers six segments of textile machinery–spinning, draw-texturing, weaving, large circular knitting, flat knitting and finishing. The 2016 survey has been compiled in cooperation with more than 140 textile machinery manufacturers, representing a comprehensive measure of world production.
Tintex
Speaking of stenters, textile company Tintex has joined with system supplier and stenter producer Bruckner to achieve new effects with knitted fabric.
The heart of the line is a stenter with the patented Bruckner split-flow technology that are designed for a low tension fabric transport and sensitive fabric surface. Brucker is a Germany-based textile machinery manufacturer.
The stenter offers advantages in temperature uniformity in the treatment of synthetic fiber blends. The entry stand of the stenter integrates a newly developed special coating unit that allows applying of stable and instable foams and pastes through a screen application unit.
In this process, the upper draw roller is used as coating cylinder. This allows somewhat higher application weights for stable foam and pastes in case of more stable fabric.
The exit integrates a laminating/embossing calendar, offering also the possibility to provide an electrical shortwave infra-red radiator, a directly coated highly elastic knitted fabric with a shagreen by means of an embossing paper.
Based in Portugal, Tintex specializes in innovative coatings for fabrics and other materials. Test productions for the new fabric have begun.