February 2001 - Volume 16 I Number 1

Industry Leaders Urge Communication Along Entire Textile Chain

Freudenberg’s Norbert Dahlström.

With consumers spending less and less of their disposable income on clothing and more on just about everything

else from cars to cell phones, there is a greater need than ever for cooperation and communication along the entire textile chain.
This was the theme of a round-table discussion at November’s Avantex Symposium, held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
“Such cooperation should extend over the entire value-added chain in the future,” said Norbert Dahlström, outgoing chief of giant German nonwovens producer Freudenberg Group.
“If we do not recognize that all parts of the textile sector are linked by a common fate, and that this fate is solely in the hands of the consumer, then the industry in countries such as Germany is doomed.”

“However, as there is an increasing proportion of elderly people in Western countries, there is also a greater need for healthcare. And with the fear of becoming older, the market for cosmetics is growing. The textile industry can benefit from this.”
Mr. Dahlström explained that as proportional expenditure on apparel is declining, or at best stagnating, consumer prices are also being driven down. “Our industry has a very complex structure, from fiber producers through to making-up, with up to 15 different processes,” he noted. “Every element in the chain tends to work independently, with each suspicious of the other. Up to now there has been little interdisciplinary discussion.”
Mr. Dahlström, who retired from the Freudenberg board at the end of 2000, highlighted the need for partnerships and cooperation based on trust across the whole textile chain. “The industry has to create more emotion and more attraction for its products, but without compromising on quality. This involves research, industry and retail cooperation, and a focus on high-performance fibers and high-tech fabrics.”

Function Over Fashion
It’s clear that the European fiber, textile and clothing industries can not rely simply on fashionable design to survive. New fabric and garment technologies are now in demand, and European companies are seeing major prospects for high-tech textiles.
Opening the Avantex symposium, Messe Frankfurt Chief Executive Michael Peters said the textile industry faces a revolution. “The functionality of garments will become more important compared with fashion aspects, although both will work hand in glove in the future,” he said.
In his lecture on the reorientation of the textile industry, European Commissioner Erkke Liikanen pointed out that technical textiles now account for 25% of textile production in Europe. “There is a great need for closer links between all parts of the textile chain, and this will mean more networking,” he said.

Peter Wack, executive director, Acordis, Germany.

Klaus Brinkmann, managing director, F.W. Brinkmann Group, Germany.

Hans-Jürgen Hübner, CEO of Schoeller Textil AG, Sevelen, Switzerland.

Successful Debut

Under this scenario, Avantex, the international forum for high-tech apparel textiles and fashion engineering, made a successful debut. The event attracted more than 2000 symposium delegates and trade visitors, and included a busy, if small, exhibition area and packed lecture rooms, where 95 papers were delivered over the three days of the event
Avantex Project Manager Isa Hofmann said the event’s success is a positive signal for the reorganization of the European textile industry towards this specialist area. “A new industry culture is beckoning — one that requires network thinking rather than competitive thinking,” she said.

Dr. Hofmann said high-tech apparel textiles and fashion engineering would give impetus to the textile industry. “For Europe, the future lies not in ever-decreasing prices but in increasingly intelligent products and new problem-solving solutions. Avantex gives the textile industry a chance to set up new networks and to form interdisciplinary collaborations.”

Ulrich Huwe, until recently CEO of specialty polyester fiber producer Trevira GmbH & Co. KG (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), regarded the design of apparel textiles for functionality as a necessity. And for the development of high-tech products, he said it is imperative to foster cooperation over the entire textile chain. “We must break the ice and develop many more products together by including all stages,” he said.
Discussing strategies for European fiber producers, Peter Wack, executive director of Acordis, Wuppertal, Germany said the technical and medical sectors are now more interesting compared with the garment industry.
“Few new polymers have been developed lately because of high R&D and marketing costs,” Mr. Wack said. “Now, several financial investors, such as CVC Partners at Acordis and DB Investor at Trevira, are convinced they can make money with manmade fibers where added value is a focus.”

Industry Must ‘Work Backwards’
As end users now play the lead role, they should be the focus of the textile pipeline, he told delegates. “The retail trade, therefore, is critical. It should make the first statement and the entire industry should work backwards. Only then can we improve communications.”
Mr. Wack said the manmade fiber industry must be open-minded to innovation. Fiber producers were now looking at recycled products, biofibers for new applications and finer fibers with added value.
“But it is preferable for the dialogue to come from the end of the pipeline,” he emphasized. “The textile and clothing sector needs a development pull not a development push.”
Hans-Jürgen Hübner, CEO of Schoeller Textil AG, Sevelen, Switzerland agreed. “Whereas, in the past, innovations generally emerged from close cooperation with the fiber industry, today cooperation is expanding to include all levels from research to retail,” he said.
High-performance clothing is complex and requires an explanation, particularly to the consumer. “Each step in the production chain must be involved in close cooperation in order to guarantee functionality,” Mr. Hübner stressed. “Efficiency and significant innovations will be possible only through the consistent networking of research and know-how in general, and at all levels of the textile sector.”
Addressing the structural changes necessary within the textile sector, Mr. Hübner said that the retail trade plays a significant role as the direct link with consumers. It is imperative, he said, that salespeople at the retail level are properly educated in the performance and technical aspects of expensive high-tech garments.
“Milestones in textiles will be reached more quickly if all the players join together and work with other industries, organizations and even legislators, rather than each one pottering along on its own,” Mr. Hübner said. “This requires ‘mental’ innovation and flexibility of thought. The blinkered, demarcation thinking that is common throughout the textile and clothing sector must give way to a new, efficiency-led approach.”
Klaus Brinkmann, managing director of F.W. Brinkmann Gruppe, Herford, Germany admitted that the textile chain is characterized by individual entrepreneurs and traders. He also noted that much of the manufacturing capacity of the garment industry has been transferred to low-wage countries, but added that this takes time and a lot of investment to maintain product quality.

‘Affordable, Functional Fashion’
“Clothing needs to become more attractive for the consumer,” said Mr. Brinkmann. “We must think more about the product. In the past, the panacea has been fashion. Now, the dictates of fashion, especially for womenswear, are no longer in existence compared with 5-10 years ago.
“We need to provide more intelligence and technical features, and we need to say something that people can understand and is attractive,” said Mr. Brinkmann, adding that fashion, price and quality will still be important. “But function alone will not suffice in the future; we need to equip it with fashion. The key is functional fashion at an affordable price, with products that are accepted both in Europe and worldwide.”
Speaking for the retail trade, Edgar Rosenberger, managing director of Ipuri GmbH, Hamburg, Germany agreed that bridges must be created across the textile gulf. He also noted that mail order and more recently the internet, are now competing with shops.
“Inter-level cooperation represents a new chance for the retail trade, but we have to start new ways of doing things," he said. "We have to be innovative, both vertically and horizontally.”

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