Today, with the rapid rise of sustainable consumption concept, the combination of fashion and green will be a new way of product development that meets consumer demand. On July 4, as one of the important contents of the 2019 China Textile Innovation Conference & Design Forum, “the 4th Member’s Day of Fabrics China Pioneer Plants & Naia™ Cellulose Acetate Fiber Product Development Forum” were successfully held in Dalang Fashion Town, Shenzhen. With the theme of “Naia™ cellulose acetate fiber product development”, the forum discussed how to integrate sustainable development concept with fashion trends to enhance the product development level and market competitiveness of Naia™ and even the whole eco-textiles in accordance with the consumer awareness and market demand of eco-textiles.
The event was hosted by China Textile Information Center, China National Garment Association and China Textiles Development Center, co-organized by the construction and management center of Dalang Fashion Town, Longhua District, Shenzhen, and the secretariat of Fabrics China Pioneer Plants, and was also supported by Eastman (China) Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Eastman”). Li Binhong, director of China Textiles Development Center, Chen Baojian, chief engineer of China Textiles Development Center, Liang Changwei, sales president of Eastman Asia-Pacific Fiber Business Department and other industry leaders and experts, as well as more than 200 senior managers and product developers of enterprises participated in the forum. Chen Baojian, chief engineer of China Textiles Development Center, presided over the meeting.
In her welcome speech, Li Binhong, director of the China Textiles Development Center, stressed that innovation-driven science and technology industry, culture-led fashion industry and responsibility-oriented green industry are the new orientation of China’s textile industry, and also the China Textile Information Center/China Textiles Development Center (hereinafter referred to as the “Center”) has always followed the fundamentals of its work. Relying on the cooperative development system with the Fabrics China Pioneer Plants and China’s popular fabric enterprises as the core, the Center has established cross-enterprise, cross-domain and borderless Fabrics China Trend Forecast & Promotion Alliance, and Fabrics China Technology Innovation Alliance, thus forming an integrated innovation platform based on consumer lifestyle and industrial economic dynamics, market demand-oriented and driven by new materials, new technologies and new equipment, promote textile and apparel enterprises to integrate superior resources and coordinate development. Through professional basic research and efficient collaboration, the upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain will be promoted to jointly develop products with comprehensive competitive advantages in terms of quality, cost, style, function and delivery date. The reason why the Center chose Naia™ as the key promotion object in 2019 is that its fibers have three comprehensive characteristics of science and technology, green and fashion. Meanwhile, it has good silk-like effort, comfortable function and cost performance ratio, which is very suitable for the market consumption demand of eco-textiles. The textile industry in the future must be a comprehensive competition of science and technology, fashion and green. I hope that all enterprises will apply new technologies and new materials in the process of product development, paying attention to the specific needs of the consumer market and realizing the demand for consumption. For the development of oriented products, it is also necessary to bring more unique experiences to consumers through independent innovation.
In his speech, Liang Changwei, sales president of Eastman Asia-Pacific Fiber Business Department, said that the cooperation between Eastman and the Center was based on the rich achievements and experience of the Center in the field of industrial research and technological innovation, and also on the consensus of the Center and Eastman in the direction of sustainable development. The cooperation between the two sides has not only the commercial influence of fiber promotion, but also the practical significance of promoting the sustainable transformation of textile industry. Since its launch in Paris in January 2017, Naia™ has won the attention of major fashion groups around the world through exhibitions, forums and other industry activities. Many fashion brands have applied Naia™ products to the latest season of fashion series, representing the success of Naia™ fiber products into the fashion industry. Recently, Eastman reached a final acquisition agreement with Spain’s INACSA, we can see that Eastman attaches great importance to the textile fiber market. In the future, the development and promotion of Naia™ product will remain the focus of our work. We strive to extend the technology and products of Eastman Naia™ fiber to a larger consumer base. We believe that cooperation with the Center that has long been committed to promoting the development and transformation of the textile industry can not only promote the dissemination and application of textile technology and industry, but also conform to the role of social responsibility. I hope that all the outstanding business representatives present here will join hands with Eastman to explore more possibilities of Naia™ in the field of product development.
In the thematic sharing, Zhang Li, the marketing manager of Eastman Asia, took “Introduction of Eastman Naia™ cellulose acetate fiber and trend analysis of AW20/21 Naia™ color fabrics” as the theme, first introduced the general situation of Eastman and the production process and performance advantages of Naia™ cellulose acetate fiber. Then, summarized the “Naia™ product development promotion” activities jointly carried out by Eastman and the Alliance in May. She also shared Eastman’s analysis of the fabric style and color of the French PV exhibition in September 2019.
Han Junxia, technical manager of science and technology information department of China Textile Information Center, focused on “Naia™ cellulose acetate fiber product development direction analysis”, based on the performance characteristics of Naia™ cellulose acetate fiber, combined with the latest research results of textile fabric fashion trend of China Textile Information Center, refined the overall product development of Naia™ cellulose acetate fiber, and in the form of product development mind map and product development example, the specific development direction of product development is carried out, which provides enterprises with more practical reference value of product development direction.
Zhao Huizhou, founder and chief designer of Eachway Fashion Group, mainly discussed the application trend of environmental fibers in garment market. In her speech, she first explained the demand for sustainable development of branded apparel design and corporate social responsibility, and then starting from the market demand, Naia™ cellulose acetate fiber has bio-based, degradable environmental characteristics and skin-friendly, comfortable, excellent silk-like effect and other style characteristics, which are highly in line with the current consumer demand. Finally, the successful practice of Naia™ in various types of garment design and production is demonstrated.
Hua Wei, director of the Second Branch of Wujiang Xinmin High Fiber Co., Ltd., pays more attention to the fabric design in the development of Naia™ products. Focusing on “The development and production of Naia™ woven products”, he has shared that the weaving experience of regenerated cellulose filament products accumulated by Xinmin over a long period of time, the full use of the superior properties of Naia™ cellulose acetate fibers, and experience in designing and developing shuttle weaving products scientifically and reasonably.
Jin Ze, deputy chief engineer of Transfar Chemicals, mainly elaborated on “Naia™ fabric dyeing and printing scheme and difficult analysis”. He started from the basic performance of Naia™ fabric, and optimized the auxiliaries and dyes in the dyeing and printing process by analyzing the dyeing and printing process, and then propose solutions for the difficult problems of Naia™ fabrics in the dyeing and printing production process, especially the experience in optimizing dye formulations and equipment parameters, which is very practical and instructive for the company’s product development.
It is understood that on May 9, 2019, the Center’s technical promotion team and Eastman’s marketing, sales and technical service representatives formed the Naia™ fiber product development technology innovation alliance working group, from product development, brand docking, raw material sales and The textile dyeing and finishing technology service, they guide the alliance companies in product development. From May 9th to 24th, the alliance working group visited 18 textile dyeing and printing enterprises in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shandong provinces to discuss the product development of Naia™ fiber. During the visit, the technical backbone of the alliance company and the alliance working group conducted in-depth exchanges on the key points and difficulties of Naia™ fiber in the processes of spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing, and at the same time, through exchanges, they have a clearer understanding of the advantages of Naia™ fiber in terms of environmental protection and functionality, have learned about the fabric requirements of Naia™ fiber at home and abroad, and have further clarified the direction of future product development. Alliance companies have a high degree of recognition for this efficient one-stop technical service of the alliance working group.
The forum is not only a stage report on the work of the alliance, but also hopes that more companies can understand Naia™, and enrich our eco-textile products with eco-friendly fibers represented by Naia™. The forum specially invited industry experts from design, production to brand application, and carried out professional and very in-depth application analysis on every aspect of Naia™ product development. The sharing of the speakers was very suitable for enterprise product development. In fact, the discussion and interaction on the spot received enthusiastic response from the representatives of the company. In the discussion of the representatives of the company, the forum was successfully concluded.