Leading Industry Experts to Give Keynote Presentations at ITMA Forums on ‘Sustainable Textile Innovation’
07 April 2023: Two industry forums on nonwovens, and textiles and colourants will be reprised at ITMA 2023 which will be held in Milan this June. The ITMA Nonwovens Forum and ITMA Textile Colourants and Chemicals Forum will feature renowned experts who will offer insights into current challenges and share ideas on how the textile industry can achieve sustainability by leveraging innovative technologies.
Ernesto Maurer, President of CEMATEX, said “Challenges in the industrial environment also bring with them a wealth of innovation opportunities. The ITMA forums will bring together stakeholders across the entire value chain to review the issues of the day, dialogue, collaborate and ensure that we will have a sustainable future. ITMA 2023 offers a unique platform as it attracts all the textile industry players in one convenient place.”
ITMA Nonwovens Forum
The Nonwovens Forum will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Bryan Haynes, Technical Director for Global Nonwovens at Kimberly-Clark Corporation (United Kingdom). He will speak on the topic: Ready Now Nonwoven Solutions for the Global Plastics Crisis. In his presentation, he will provide insights into solutions that are commercially available, highlighting Kimberly-Clark’s sustainability journey.
According to Dr. Haynes, who has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the Single Use Plastics Directive was a wake-up call to the nonwoven industry. Hence, he would like to urge industry players to explore ‘Coopetition’ or cooperative competition as this will accelerate speed to market solutions.
Following the keynote, there will be two sessions with presentations by ITMA 2023 exhibitors. The forum will end with a panel discussion on the theme, Leveraging Sustainable Innovation and Digital Technology in the Nonwoven Industry.
The panel includes Dr. Haynes and programme committee members: Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi, Executive Director & Associate Dean of The Nonwovens Institute; Dr. Ing. Martin Dauner, Head of Competence Centre, Chemicals Fibres & Nonwovens of the Deutsche Institute für Textil (DITF); and Professor Stephen J. Russell, Professor of Textile Materials & Technology of Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour.
ITMA Textile Colourants and Chemicals Forum
Held since 2011, the Textile Colourants and Chemicals Forum will feature a joint keynote presentation by Prasad Pant, Director, South Asia, ZDHC Foundation and Ms. Sophie Mather, Co-Founder and Executive Director, The Microfibre Consortium (TMC).
The presentation, Textile Wastewater: Addressing Microfibre Loss during Manufacture, focuses on the impact of fibre shedding from clothing during manufacture and consumer use. Microfibres have been flagged as an environmental hazard and the presenters will share the key findings from the joint project by the two organisations on fibre fragmentation in wastewater.
Pant has a degree in Textile Chemistry and 30 years of experience in textile processing, dyes and auxiliaries manufacturing, and marketing and chemical management systems implementation; while Ms. Mather is a thought leader on sustainable innovation and brings innovative thinking and network to tackle the industry challenge of microfibre release within the clothing industry.
A highlight at the forum is the panel discussion, Unlocking the Decarbonisation Opportunity led by Fashion for Good (FFG). Moderated by Ms Jana van den Bergen, FFG Innovation Manager, the session will map the opportunities for impact reduction and dive into FFG’s D(R)YE Factory of the Future Project. The project brings together key players in the industry and several innovators in pretreatment and colouration to validate their technologies.
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