We consider some of the latest offerings from the technology sector, where companies are advancing the industry’s push towards sustainability and adapting machinery know-how to sanitisation.

For most companies around the world, the covid-19 pandemic has dealt a blow that has created great uncertainty but, despite the negative circumstances, there have been many demonstrations of resolve. For some of the big denim-focused technology companies, this has meant creating new solutions with current tools, or pushing further into digitalisation, as designers and mills adapt to new ways of working.

Tonello, Jeanologia and Yilmak rapidly adapted ozone (usually used to degrade colour) know-how to sanitisation, realising a clean garment could boost shoppers’ confidence. Tonello’s Sanicare is available in different sizes and capacities (for stores and factories) and uses ozone in a process typically lasting 20 minutes to kill a range of bacteria and viruses. Tests showed the process eliminates between 93% and 100% of bacteria and pathogens.

“We tried to reinvent ourselves and to think about how we could change consumers’ attitudes, to help them be confident to buy again,” Alice Tonello, Tonello’s R&D director, tells Inside Denim. “We also discovered from our research that consumers could also be concerned about others’ skin problems, so we wanted to create a safe environment for them. In addition to the Sanicare range, we also have an upgrade for washing machines to help our customers to sanitise garments and which can be added to an existing Tonello machine.”

Early in the pandemic, Spain’s Jeanologia was declared an essential business by the Spanish government and worked with universities and other technology and textile companies to disinfect around 15,000 masks a day for the healthcare sector. Its research and development staff then turned their attention to sanitisation with ozone more widely. By June it was ready with Sanibox, which has a 98% sanitisation level, and is certified by CSIC, the Spanish National Research Council. Founder Enrique Silla said: “Consumers will not buy again if they do not feel safe, so we must unite to protect workers and consumers by using sanitisation.”

In the same month, Jeanologia opened a hub in Hong Kong, which reinforces its “ambitious international expansion plan” and will allow it to better service clients in Asia. The site is like a “mini factory”, housing all its laser and eco technologies, including the new G2 Dynamic, an ozone treatment for fabric that also acts as a laser booster. Jordi Juani, director of the Asia division, says, “It is no longer enough to export, to achieve the revolution we want in the textile industry, we need to establish ourselves in those countries.”

Knowledge is power

Both companies are also placing emphasis on increasing the amount of data available to mills and their customers. Towards the end of last year, Tonello launched a wide-ranging concept which included a laser, an All-in-One system, data program Metro and a natural dye concept called Wake (see end of article). Industry observers have suggested one of the fallouts of the pandemic for the clothing industry will be a push towards digitalisation, and not just in terms of design. Data and interconnectivity will take more of a precedent as face-to-face meetings become more difficult.

Tonello’s Metro offers customers the ability to control systems remotely and provides figures on energy, water, steam and time, relaying it in terms of batches or for a single garment. “I believe this is very important because if you [manufacturers and brands] know what you are spending in terms of consumption, then you are able improve,” says Ms Tonello. “From the consumer side, they don’t realise some pairs of jeans take 100 litres of water to make, so it’s hard for them to understand the benefits [of reducing water, energy and chemicals consumption]. Maybe some marketing needs to be done to communicate it to consumers in the right way.”

Tonello invites brands and manufacturers to workshops at its R&D department in Italy, where they can view the machines and meet each other. Sustainability is linked in a large part to machinery, technology and investments and is an increasing focus for many. While the pandemic might put the brakes on investments in the short and perhaps into the medium term, the general trend looks set to continue. “The direct contact that we have with the brands increases year by year,” adds Ms Tonello. “They care today much more about how their garments are created and treated, compared with the past.”

Data boosts efficiency

The request for greater access to data was also behind B Smart, a recent development from Italian technology company Brongo. The centralisation data software allows customers to monitor the machines from any office, which ensures operational continuity and increases efficiency, and produces a report on each wash.

According to general manager Beatrice Brongo, being able to access data and the full costs of the washing cycle is another move towards transparency. “We produce washing machines that, for instance, use less water and include nebulisation systems, but to move towards sustainability we also need efficiency, and to improve efficiency you must measure and monitor the machines,” she says. “With this system, a manager can know the full cost of the washing cycle.”

She also believes the human factor is a vital part of sustainability; B Cloud is a new spraying system that applies chemicals on garments with zero discharge and B Safe is a filtering system that reduces risk from the air. “Anything you spray inside the machines will partially come outside through the chimney or any other open parts because of the air volume increasing,” she explains. “If you are spraying enzymes, hypochlorite or similar oxidising agents this is clearly a risk. B Safe’s filter systems clean the air during the spray process, preserving the health of the workers and the environment as well as optimising the process.” Brongo’s new products can also be added to existing machines.

Yarn forward

With so many denim mills currently working with hemp, machinery specialist Monforts suggests differentiation is key. It has assisted customers with trials at its Advanced Technology Centre in Germany and at their own mills. Hans Wroblowski, Monforts’ head of denim, says, “Given the environmental benefits of hemp, and the liberalisation of its cultivation in many parts of the world, the interest in it now comes as no surprise. We have the technologies and know-how to help our customers to fully maximise their hemp denims at all post-weaving stages of production.”

Its latest innovation for denim is its CYD yarn dyeing system, based on its dyeing process for fabrics, Econtrol. Econtrol is a pad-dry process in which the reactive dyestuff is fixed to the cellulose fibres during drying. Its new Eco Bleach system is combined with the washing units and the fabric is then dyed immediately, resulting in considerable savings in wastewater and chemicals. The process is now being applied for yarn dyeing and it is possible to process short batches of between 5,000-10,000 metres of yarn to produce 200-300 metres of fabric in a single continuous process.

CYD also integrates new functions into the weaving preparation processes—spinning, direct beaming, warping and assembly beaming, followed by sizing and dyeing—to increase quality, flexibility, economic viability and productivity, according to the company. In its raw state, cotton has a light brownish/yellow tinge and bleaching is necessary to ensure its pure whiteness prior to dyeing. On conventional systems, this involves a separate process step, but with the CYD multi-colour yarn dyeing system it is now integrated into the Econtrol process for full dyeing pre-treatment.

Back to black

Another process that dyes the yarn is the water-free foam solution IndigoZero developed by Texas Tech University, machinery maker Gaston, consultancy Indigo Mill Designs and Spanish mill Tejidos Royo (see Inside Denim issue 1). Chris Aurich, Gaston’s general manager, tells us that dyeing yarns is not an easy task: “A warp sheet does not present a solid wall of fibres like a fabric does, there are loosely moving elements. Combined with the physical aspects of handling yarns continuously, there are many variables to be brought under control.”

Royo has now developed a way to dye yarns black. Dry Black reduces water usage by 99.1% (it cannot claim 100% due to the water that is used to rinse the dye through the machine at the end), reduces chemicals by 75% and energy by 65%, it says, and has recently been certified as an eco process by textiles research association AITEX.

Adding patterns

Italian machinery maker Aletti specialises in the leather tanning sector, but also creates specialised machinery for textiles and denim. Its latest pattern buffing machine allows for a range of designs, created by the selective abrasion of the surface of the product. The feed roller of the buffing machine is engraved, so that only the reliefs of the roller pull the product towards the abrasive paper.

“This is an eco-friendly finish because it is a mechanical action on the material with no heat and no chemicals involved,” company owner Marco Aletti tells us. “Denim is one of the most suitable products for this new finishing technology because it is easy to abrade, and it enhances the design effect. The design can be deep or just very light, simply by adjusting the buffing pressure. Production speed of the pattern buffing on denim is about 15 to 20m per minute, which is very fast.”

Connectivity increases

Over the past few months, the denim industry has found new ways to communicate and share ideas. Webinars have been well attended, trade shows have moved online and the speed of new digital solutions will only increase. Jeanologia says its new tool for designers, eDesigner, could speed time-to-market because it can go from design to sample and to approval within an hour, “because what you see on the screen is what you get on the jeans”.

“Designs and digital collection or 3D virtual reality are going to be key to recovery,” says marketing director Carmen Silla: “With tools like eDesigner we can make meaningful advances and totally change the way we create and produce jeans.”

Brands and retailers have also adapted rapidly. Diesel owner OTB has launched a digital showroom offering its spring-summer ’21 collections from all its brands, which it says was “born out of the necessity to face the current situation but has turned into a real opportunity”. Buyers are guided through remote buying sessions by vendors and products are digitalised with 360-degree images and videos and 2D close-ups. The digitalisation will also reduce sampling and travelling emissions, the group states. “I always thought that limits exist only in our minds and obstacles can turn into opportunities,” says group president Renzo Rosso. “Difficult times call for courage, alternative ways of thinking and creative ideas.”

Machinery and technology companies, like the rest of the industry, are demonstrating alternative ways of thinking and courage, working across the supply chain to find solutions to disruption and advance sustainability goals.

Waking up to the possibilities

Tonello’s Laundry (R)evolution involves two technologies: Laser and the All-in-One-System. The All-in-One System incorporates ECOfree 2, which uses ozone in the water and air; NoStone, pumice-free stone-wash effects developed by Tonello and Levi Strauss & Co; UP, for washing processes with at least 50% less water; and Core, a nebulising system that improves performance and reduces water consumption, according to the company. OBleach is another new process that enables “absolute respect for the fibres and the environment”, thanks to the result of a room-temperature process that uses ozone rather than bleach.

The company is also excited about Wake, a natural dyeing system that uses only plants and vegetable waste—such as flowers, berries and roots—which are left to dry and infuse. It has developed a Wake Lab, a small system that allows brands to demonstrate the dye process in shops, as well as the production-scale add-ons installable to existing Tonello machines. “Some natural dyes are created from powder but it’s a really long process and some chemicals are needed,” explains Ms Tonello. “Our concept is different; we use what is in the natural world, without any manipulation. Obviously, we have limitations—we only have seven colours—but we believe the project is really interesting.”

 Tonello’s Sanicare is used to sanitise clothes and can also clean a shop overnight.

 PHOTO: Tonello

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