Our Intelligence channels offer market intelligence, technical reports and deep-dive analysis of key industry motivators, technologies, materials and impactors. WTiN Intelligence provides detailed analysis of important high-growth areas of the textile and apparel industry. WTiN’s expert team of analysts and network of researchers go beyond the what and the why to look at what might come next, what businesses need to contend with in an evolving global supply chain, and how they can take advantage of the opportunities on the horizon.
Industry insight, market information, and the connections you need to examine and evaluate market trends in the roll-to-roll digital textile printing sector.
By Joseph Link
Market and technical intelligence essential to the activewear and athleisure textile and clothing industries.
By Jessica Owen
By Cara Dudgeon
By Jessica Owen
By Jessica Owen
In-depth intelligence about textiles used in outdoor sportswear, footwear and equipment, as well as textile applications that require protection from external environments - such as workwear and PPE.
By Cara Dudgeon
By Adrian Wilson
By Jessica Owen
By Jessica Owen
In-depth intelligence on the materials, manufacturing technologies and application areas of smart textiles.
By Jessica Owen
By Victoria Nickerson
By Jessica Owen
By Lutz Walter
Providing investors and decision makers in the textile and apparel value chain with in-depth analysis and insight into the digitalisation of manufacturing processes and smart business models.
By Cara Dudgeon
By Otis Robinson
By Joseph Link
Our WTiNews channels take a look at global textile and apparel industry innovation, businesses, technology and markets, provided by WTiN’s in-house team of journalists. WTiNews is set apart from basic news content as it discerns the importance of changes and developments in the supply chain. WTiNews doesn’t only tell you ‘what’ has happened, it also covers impact, the bigger picture and the industry’s response to trends, events and more.
A viewpoint on both natural and manmade fibres and yarns, as seen through the eyes of manufacturers, growers, processors and spinners, with a mix of technical articles, analysis and product innovation news.
By John Scrimshaw
Analysis and manufacturing technology updates for the global fabric manufacturing industries and their supply-chain partners.
By Keith Nuthall
By Jessica Owen
News, analysis and technical information on the important realms of dyeing, finishing, printing (both screen and digital) and coating.
By Joseph Link
News, market insight, analysis and product development updates from the fast-growing markets in technical textiles, covering all applications and end uses.
By Jessica Owen
By Cara Dudgeon
By Cara Dudgeon
By Jessica Owen
Unrivalled coverage of the manufacture and uses of engineered polymer and fibre ‘non-textile’ products.
By Jessica Owen
By Cara Dudgeon
By Cara Dudgeon
Your instant window on the global raw materials prices, trade movements, resources and manufacturing costs that can affect the profitability of your textile products.
By Nitin Madkaikar
By Paul Deane
By Nitin Madkaikar
Digital Textile is the world’s only journal dedicated wholly to textile applications in the rapidly developing field of digital printing.
International Dyer & Finisher is the unrivalled world leader in the delivery of vital sector-specific information for textile dyers, finishers, printers and coaters.
Knitting International is uniquely placed to give a worldwide perspective to manufacturers and retailers in the ever-more globalised and diversified knitting industry.
Nonwovens Report International (NRI) keeps you up-to-date with the latest developments across the nonwovens market. With its team of technical and industry experts, NRI makes use of its close ties with associations, research institutes and market-leading businesses to bring you international reporting that covers areas all over the world.
Previously known as IoTex, the newly relaunched Textile 4.0 journal delivers vital insights into the burgeoning transformation of the textile and apparel value chain. It covers a spectrum of content, from technologies enabling the personalisation trend to supply chain transparency, the latest in fabric gripping robotics, smart clothing and much more.
Twist is read across the textile supply chain, from early stage processors to retailers, with its primary focus the provenance of fine natural fibres such as wool, cotton, silk, linen, cashmere and mohair, as well as rare and speciality fibres.
Founder of the centre, Professor Parik Goswami, gives Fiona Haran a guided tour of the new facility which supports the multidisciplinary development of high-performance textiles.
The technical textiles industry is set to receive a much-needed boost, thanks to the launch of a new research centre at the University of Huddersfield, UK.
The Technical Textile Research Centre (TTRC) will focus on high-performance technical textiles that are bespoke and high quality but produced speedily and efficiently so that they are competitively priced and respond to an increase in global demand. And to do this, the TTRC will pool knowledge from various sectors – primarily science – as, according to the centre’s founder, Professor Parik Goswami, “it’s difficult to see a real impactful innovation in technical textiles where chemistry didn’t play a part”.
The centre is therefore housed in the university’s School of Applied Sciences, with machinery installation expected to be completed in around two months’ time. “We have all the chemistry labs, all the biology labs; we can do, say for example, antimicrobial testing in-house, which plays a big role in medical textile product development,” says Goswami. “Plus, we have a pharmaceutical department, so we can do wound dressings, drug delivery and so on. This is one of the few textile facilities that is located in a scientific school, so we want to make that element an integral part of our research.”
This centre is also linked to the university’s Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention – a platform that conducts collaborative research and teaching in the management of acute and chronic non-healing wounds. “The whole point of this particular centre is, if you look at the academic scholars involved, they not only come from textiles, there are people from engineering, artificial intelligence, supply chain management, computational chemistry etc,” says Goswami.
This multidisciplinary approach is something we’re seeing across the entire textiles industry, particularly in the emerging field of smart textiles which relies heavily on collaboration to strengthen knowledge and innovation. This, says Goswami, is just one area that could benefit from the intellectual property (IP) model associated with the research undertaken by the TTRC, to support commercialisation. “Smart textiles is a very good example,” he says. “We’re still at a stage where we’re uncertain of the definition of smart textiles. I think it will evolve, particularly as textiles that are currently perceived as inactive can be active, as there are so many finishing agents. Some textile finishes, for example, can easily be defined as smart. However, in order to go to the conventional method of smart textiles [electronics], we are actually going outside the boundaries of this university and collaborating with other people who specialise in flexible electronics. We will do the research to bridge the gap. We aspire to do that research and we are progressing in that direction.”
To support these efforts, the TTRC has received funding as part of the Future Fashion Factory – a £5.4m programme supporting collaborative R&D in the UK’s fashion design and textile industry.
Yorkshire mills, bespoke tailors and fashion brands are among the companies set to benefit from over £645,000 of investment in new, industry-led research and development (R&D) following the first funding call.
The Future Fashion Factory is part of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, an initiative led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Programme is led by the University of Leeds in partnership with the University of Huddersfield and Royal College of Art.
Goswami reveals that there are also plans to bid for further funding via the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy – an initiative spearheaded by former Prime Minister Theresa May which promises to bolster Britain’s “world-leading” industries to shape a stronger and fairer economy.
“There are so many aspects of that which can be solved with technical textiles,” says Goswami. “Some will be on their own, but many will be collaborative clusters between universities.”
He continues: “If you look at the Future Fashion Factory, the essence of it is to help companies in the Leeds City Region to be competitive globally. This is an opportunity now as universities are willing to collaborate with each other. Ultimately it comes down to the people. There are people who want to collaborate and who can think outside the university boundaries. It is very important as we are here to provide a service and to do fundamental research, but in a way that helps our industry and related industries as well – particularly the chemical industry. Leeds City Region has one of the biggest chemical industries in the country. It has a huge cluster. One of my objectives is to bring these two industries [textiles and chemicals] together.”
The R&D developed across the Future Fashion Factory research themes will also feed into industrial apprenticeship programmes, and the TTRC will deliver the next generation of industry apprenticeships. “We’re working closely with the Textiles Centre of Excellence,” says Goswami. “Part of this centre will be a new MSc degree course, Product Innovation in Textiles. This will cover the regulatory and governance aspect of health, among other topics.”
He adds: “My aspiration is to not only make it a fundamental or applied research programme but also a holistic centre. When industry approaches us, we’re not only talking about research for research sake, we’re giving them the policy support that they need. The SMEs really need that, as well as things such as freedom of operation.”
Goswami joined the University of Huddersfield in September 2017, having previously held the position of director of Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds’ School of Design. “The journey towards technical textiles started from there,” he says.
Some other big research areas, says Goswami, are composites, plasma, chemistry of nonwovens and – a personal favourite of his – cellulose chemistry and carbohydrate chemistry. “That will be a big side of it, especially regarding single-use plastics. This can be spun out into a lot of different industries.”
The second thing, he says, is to create a ‘multidisciplinary interface’, where people can approach the centre with a problem. “I want to be the first line of contact. Even for start-ups and SMEs, we want to give more holistic support by trying to understand policies and the IP landscape.”
This, he concludes, will help put Huddersfield’s technical textile research on the map. “We have to increase the footprint of textiles in this region. We have to shout about it – it is not a legacy industry, it is an industry that is growing and could grow beyond comprehension.”
To learn more about the University of Huddersfield’s Technical Textiles Research Centre, visit https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/isiaip/ourcentres/technical-textiles/
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