OEKO-TEX Pavilion at Intertextile Shanghai’s All About Sustainability to highlight new certification system

Particularly in China, sustainability is gaining in importance, with the government announcing recently that it will strive to promote clean industrial production, low-carbon development and energy conservation to ensure sustainable growth over the next five years. According to proposals released by the government in its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), traditional manufacturing will be steered along an environmentally friendly path, a low-carbon production system will be established and businesses will be encouraged to upgrade their technology. All this shows that sustainability has been and will continue to be one of the biggest topics in the global apparel textile industry.

Continuing to cater to the industry’s ever-growing demand for sustainability products and services, the All About Sustainability zone is returning to Intertextile Shanghai with a 10% increase in scale compared to the 2015 Autumn Edition. Located in hall 5.2, the zone includes the return of the OEKO-TEX Pavilion. Recently, OEKO-TEX launched a new certification system ‘Sustainable Textile Production (STeP)’ for brands, retail companies and manufacturers within the textile chain who want to communicate their path to more sustainable production conditions to the public in a transparent and credible manner. To highlight this new certification as well as its well-known ‘Made in Green by OEKO-TEX®’ textile label, a new concept area ‘Made in Green / STeP by OEKO-TEX® shop’ will be feature nine companies – Esquel, Jiedong Paris Thread, Shenghong Group, LOFTEX, Tianjin Tiange, Zhejiang Huafu, Lutai, Lufeng and CALIDA – introducing their sustainable manufacturing achievements. Moreover, 10 OEKO-TEX® certified companies from China, Hong Kong and Malaysia will exhibit a series of sustainable fabrics and accessories.

Wide range of sustainable products and services brought by top sustainable firms

Apart from this pavilion, the three main sections of All About Sustainability – Educational Zone, ecoBoutique and Forum Space – are also not to be missed. This year’s ecoBoutique will not only display eco-friendly outfits from Lenzing, Redress, Unifi and VCARE, but for the first time at the fair, Nature Purest Textile (Beijing) Co Ltd will showcase a series of naturally coloured organic cotton products to illustrate the full picture of the organic textile production chain. Given that organic textiles is one of the most prominent topics in the Chinese industry at present and Nature Purest is one of the leading proponents, their display is sure to attract much attention from buyers.

Nature Purest received GOTS certification from Beijing ECOCERT Certification Centre, one of the 24 sustainability related NGOs, certifiers and testing companies in the Educational Zone this edition. They are joined by other exhibitors from China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, Switzerland and the UK who will demonstrate a series of sustainable products, technologies, business services, tools and solutions. Beijing ECOCERT will introduce its certification services, such as GOTS, OCS, ECOCERT-ERTS (ECOCERT Ecological & Recycled Textiles Standard) and GB/T 19630 (China organic product standard).

Leading Swiss testing and certification company bluesign technologies ag will introduce various service systems tailored to different needs. These include bluesign® system, bluesign® bluefinder, bluesign® blueXpert, bluesign® blueguide, bluesign® assessments and bluesign® labels. Testing service provider Intertek will highlight its main services in China including textiles and footwear, garments and accessories, personal protection equipment (PPE), leather products and handbags inspections, as well as restricted substances testing services. What’s more, German technical services provider TÜV Rheinland will present its testing and quality control services for fibres and yarns, fabrics, garments, accessories and more, while their compatriot TÜV SÜD will highlight the company’s one-stop services including product quality testing, supply chain detection and international standards certification across the entire product life cycle of footwear, textiles and bags.

Besides promoting the company’s mission and services, SGS from Switzerland will also introduce their proprietary Hazardous Substance Control (HSC) training workshop for factory professionals. This workshop aims to help professionals to obtain the ability to implement chemical management systems, as well as develop better technology competency and transparency in the chemical management field.

Industry leaders will share sustainable business experiences at Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) panel discussion

Throughout the three-day fair, numerous seminars and panel discussions will be held to offer an interactive platform for sustainability experts to share their unique insights. Amongst these events is a panel discussion titled ‘Holistic Sustainability Performance Measurement: The Higg Index Driving Transparency & Continuous Improvement’, held on 11 October at the Forum Space area in All About Sustainability. This panel will be moderated by Mr Scott Miller, Business Development Director of SAC, and the two panellists – Mr Peter Bartsch, Lenzing AG’s Head of Global Sustainability, and Mr Peter Yang, Sustainability Supply Chain Manager of H&M – will share their perspectives on utilising SAC's Higg Index, as well as their best practices toward converting insights into sustainability improvements and business value.

Accessories Vision to feature the latest fashion accessories designs

Intertextile Shanghai’s Accessories Vision (formerly Accessories Hall) is seen by fashion accessories players as one of the key stages to present their products. This year, over 500 domestic and overseas exhibitors will gather in hall 4.1 to present their latest fashion and garment accessories. A number of accessories suppliers at the forefront of the industry can be found in the hall, including:

• Esp Enterprise Co Ltd: brings to market its multi-colour reversible sequin embroidery and digital printable transfers

• Global Link International Group: will feature the latest in hangtags and labels

• Preciosa International (HK) Ltd: will highlight new colours, like light sapphire opal, new shapes like leaves and new products for settings and pins

• Sun Mei Button Enterprise Co Ltd: will showcase its fast-selling pearl effect acrylic rhinestones in 36 different colours for garments, shoes and bags

• TYT Trend Hong Kong Ltd: will display its mid-range to high-end zippers

• Unimoda (Far East): will exhibit its natural and metal buttons made with Italian processing techniques
  

In addition, the Accessories Trend Forum will reveal a spectrum of up and coming fashion accessories under three themes: Enigmatic, Manifesto and Eccentric. Last but not least, a special showcase at the South Entrance is also devoted to innovative accessories suppliers to present their outstanding products.

Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition 2016 takes place from 11 – 13 October and will feature nearly 5,000 exhibitors from 29 countries & regions. It is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre.