How Brands Capitalize on Smart Textiles to Create Eco-Friendly & Sustainable Products
Using technologies to create outstanding apparel such as with smart textiles is becoming mainstream. This is due to modern consumer behaviors that tend to look for additional properties in their clothing such as wellbeing, safety, and eco-friendliness. In the past few years, many apparel brands have begun to incorporate smart textile innovations into their product development. In this issue, we will take a closer look at the three brands that are embracing this technology and how they have advanced their businesses with their approaches.
MQDC and antiviral fabric QVIRA for woven furniture
MQDC or Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Co., Ltd., is a leading real estate developer who focuses on using innovations in their business and products to provide staff and residents with good health and sustainability. The company has collaborated with IK Craft Co., Ltd. to use QVIRA Antiviral Fabric technology in their furniture which has the ability to remove viruses and bacteria including fungi and odor up to 99%. Also, nanotechnology has enabled embedding QVIRA into the fabric to eliminate viruses immediately upon contact. This innovation has been applied to all residential projects and sales offices to enhance the quality of life that consumers are looking for.
Le Casino – a Thai shoe brand that creates eco-friendly shoes from PET bottles
Le Casino brand has abandoned using leather as the main material for fashion footwear due to a large amount of waste and wastewater from the tanning process. Instead, the brand has turned to fibers from PET plastic bottles as the main material for their eco-friendly shoes. The Waste To Wow collection uses polyester fibers from plastic bottles sourced from a plastic bottle recycling plant and manufactured with 3D knitting technology, resulting in shoes with high elasticity, moldability, comfortability and can be hand- or machine-washed. The collection’s eco-friendliness and other properties have driven online orders beyond expectation.
PANGAIA with apparel made from pineapple leaf fiber, leather from grapes, seaweed fiber and wildflowers
PANGAIA, a famous US-based fashion brand, has a unique approach in synergizing innovation and technology to create products such as shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, jackets, shoes, bags, hats, and many others that help alleviate the environmental impact from the fashion industry. The brand has been collaborating with various laboratories from around the world with an emphasis on designs that provide minimalist street looks, are colorful, and are comfortable to wear. In terms of textile innovations, various technologies have been applied, such as fabric from pineapple fiber, leather made from grapes, T-shirts made with seaweed fiber using C-FIBER technology and seaweed that the brand has cultivated, PPRMINT technology which has antibacterial properties to help keep clothes clean, FLWRDWN technology which produces jackets from wildflowers that provide similar properties as down jackets in terms of warmth, lightweight, and breathability, air ink technology that traps carbon or toxic fumes in the air, and carbon ink for screen-printed text and patterns on the fabric instead of chemicals. The variety of techniques used in their apparel production has enhanced the brand’s identity and popularity.
These days, every brand needs to understand modern consumer behaviors as well as possess the agility to adopt new technologies and develop interesting products that can connect their customer demands with their business goals. Let’s embellish your business to shine on the runway to success at Functional Textile at GFT 2022, which will feature leading providers and brands of the seven categories of functional textiles including Medical Wear, Antibacterial Clothing, Sportswear, Collagen Clothing, Recycled Textile, Non-Woven, and Uniform, so you can add precious value to your business.
Don't forget to check out new ideas, technology, and information on textile and garment in the next issue of GFT Blog or stay up-to-date on GFT 2022’s latest movements to help you weave your future success by following our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/gftpage.
Sources
• MQDC and antiviral fabric QVIRA for woven furniture
• Le Casino – a Thai shoe brand that creates eco-friendly shoes from PET bottles
• PANGAIA with apparel made from pineapple leaf fiber, leather from grapes, seaweed fiber and wildflowers
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