CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, has announced that six finalists have been shortlisted from some 30 entries for its first ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award. Three of the finalists are vying for the ITMA Industry Excellence Award while the remaining three are competing for the ITMA Research & Innovation (R&I) Excellence Award.

CEMATEX has launched ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award as part of its ongoing efforts to encourage and recognise outstanding industry members and post-graduate students for their contributions to the sustainable development of the global textile and garment industry.

“We thank ITMA 2015 exhibitors for supporting this award, said Charles Beauduin, who sits on the Industry Excellence Award judging panel and is also President of CEMATEX. “What differentiates this award from other industry recognition is that we celebrate the successful collaboration between technology providers and industry users, which ultimately benefits consumers.”

Industry Excellence Award

The Award recognises textile and garment manufacturers who have leveraged on technological innovations to advance business sustainability that benefit people, planet and profit. After much deliberation, the judges have picked the following three finalists who have worked closely with ITMA 2015 exhibitors to introduce innovative solutions to their production process or products:

Berto Industria Tessile (Italy), a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of denim products, was quick to recognise the economic and ecological advantages of the Matex Eco Applicator range by ITMA exhibitor Monforts. The company was the pioneer in adopting Monforts’ technology, which enabled them to significantly reduce the amount of liquid needed in finishing denim fabrics, leading to energy savings and a huge reduction in waste water produced.

Gebrüder Otto (Germany), one of the leading yarn manufacturers in Europe, implemented Mayer & Cie.’s spinitsystems to produce single jersey fabric using up to 35% less energy compared to the conventional process. As a spinning mill, Gebrüder Otto produces the roving bobbins, which are processed on the Spinit machines.

Levi Strauss & Co. (USA), one of the largest brand name apparel companies and a global leader in jeanswear, has started preliminary development work in its Plock facility in Poland using the NoStone garment washing technology. Tonello's NoStone technology provides Levi Strauss & Co. an important first step to solving an industry challenge to make denim finishing more sustainable, cost-effective and efficient.

R&I Excellence Award – Masters

The three finalists for the award are:

• Jan Vincent Jordan, Institut Für Textiltechnik, RWTH Aachen University, with a Master's thesis: Development & Assembly of a Test Bench for the Analysis of Magnetic Weft Insertion
• Jenifer Schneidereit, Hochschule Niederrhein, who developed a Master's thesis: Sustainable Water Use in Textile Wet Processing: Development of a List of Improvement Measures for a Self-Assessment Tool for Factories
• Moniruddoza Ashir, Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology, TU Dresden, with a Master's thesis: Development of Hybrid Woven Structures for Lightweight Applications

ITMA 2015

The winners of the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award will be announced at the ITMA 2015 Gala Dinner held at the La Pelota in Milan on 12 November. The winner of the Industry Excellence Award will receive a cash prize of EUR 10,000 and a trophy, among other rewards. A cash prize of EUR 4,000 will be given to the winner of the R&I Excellence Award.

ITMA 2015 will be held at the Fiera Milano Rho from 12-19 November 2015. It showcases end-to-end solutions for the entire textile and garment making chain. To-date, over 1,500 exhibitors from 47 economies have signed up to take part in the exhibition.

www.itma.com