Strong turnout for Performance Days
The functional fabric show held in Munich last week brought together some 560 exhibitors and 3,366 visitors, slightly down from the 4,500 last October, which may be due in part to a public transport strike held on the same two days.
The show now holds a Day 0 workshop that focuses on building a more sustainable industry. Its theme this season was “Can we turn the tap off”. “There is a strong sense that change is not only necessary, but already in motion and that we move forward together,” commented Bowie Miles, textile consultant, who curated the event.
Education and networking remain a key draw for the show, including extensive expert talks delving into the event’s focus topic, “Textile-to-textile – the role of collectors & sorters.” Sportstextile’s technical editor Sophie Bramel moderated a discussion between REO-ECO, from China, NewRetex, from Denmark, and FibR-e, a new T2T recycling facility recently set up by Kipas in Turkey. All three companies have developed industrial scale solutions to streamline circularity.
REO-ECO took home this edition’s Eco Performance Award for BioCulus, an enzymatic recycling process for polyester textiles. Toray International Europe picked up the Performance Award for an ultra-lightweight chemically recycled nylon ripstop. The jury selected Wu Luen Knitting’s NeoWarp warp-knit technology as the recipient of the Innovation Award. This development expands natural wool applications in performance clothing. Südwolle Group’s new Algawool won the Wool Award. The concept combines wool with an alginate fibre derived from seaweed.
Looking ahead, Performance Days will be participating in the next edition of the Future Fabric Expo, to be held in Brussels at the same time as the second edition of the Textiles Recycling Expo, on June 24 and 25.
