Jeffrey F Hsu
Chief Innovation & Marketing Officer NTX
NTX Cooltrans system is not only scalable, but also modular
As a world leading textile innovation and solutions company, NTX creates revolutionary textile solutions through continuous research and innovation that are ecologically and economically sustainable. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, NTX Chief Innovation & Marketing Officer Jeffrey F Hsu discusses NTX Cooltrans technology for waterless dyeing.
What is waterless dyeing? Is there absolutely no use of water while dyeing yarn/fabric using this method?
Waterless dyeing refers to a variety of processes which may differ in implementation but have very similar results to conventional dyeing. Specifically, the use of water is cut dramatically, by up to 90 per cent in the case of NTX Cooltrans. The quantity of chemicals and the energy requirements are also drastically reduced.
NTX’s Cooltrans coloration range has been selected for Fashion for Good’s Accelerator Programme. Can you tell us more about this?
Just at the onset of the pandemic, NTX was selected by not only Fashion for Good in their Batch 7 Accelerator programme but also by The Mills Fabrica for NTX Cooltrans waterless colouration. Both incubators facilitated us to not just step through the gangway with brand houses, so to speak, but also and perhaps more importantly, interface with other fresh idea start-ups within their ecosystem. The shared spirit and exchange of fresh ideas with different entrepreneurs and start-ups has been invaluable. It is worth mentioning that both incubators continue to provide NTX with invaluable support for the shared goal of a more sustainable future – so, more to come.
NTX has also put forward its product to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to get an MSI score within the Higg’s Index. What is the result?
We knew going in beforehand that we would be far better than conventional colouration systems, in particular in areas related to bulk dyeing and finishing; and we hoped that the end MSI score would be at least comparable to that of other print systems such as sublimation or digital. Yet the outcome far succeeded our expectations, wherein not only was NTX Cooltrans better than conventional dyeing and finishing, it scored the most minimal impact to the environment of any colouration system including other waterless technologies – with scores of 6 for polyester and 5 for nylon.
What percent of dyeing in the global textile industry is currently done using waterless dyeing technologies? How soon are the rest likely to opt for such a technology?
Just a mere fraction of dyeing is currently achieved by waterless dyeing. There are of course several hurdles to this, chief among them being that the technologies themselves have been very limited with regards to what sorts of material are suitable for waterless dyeing implementation. A dye house is not going to invest in a technology solution that is only capable of one singular material specification type, as it limits their customer offering. A second very important hurdle to overcome deals with the fact that while many sustainable technologies have promised the moon, in practice they turned out to be unscalable or unable to even lift off the launch pad. This has caused brand houses to grow very weary of “sustainable” colouration technologies.
With regards to how fast full adoption of waterless dyeing takes place, all we can say is that our technology has already overcome the above-mentioned hurdles and is ready for full scale implementation. Today’s NTX Cooltrans is agnostic to the type of input materials whether they are natural, man-made or synthetic fibres/filaments, knit or woven. With the singular exception of polyolefins, all are qualified for the waterless dyeing process. Furthermore, the technology itself was built to be scalable, and can deliver output regardless of whether it is just one or two pieces for designer samples or full-scale production reaching millions of metres.
NTX has full confidence in the technology, and we put our money where our mouth is by sharing the investment risk with our partners from day one, including putting into place a fully trained technical team into the operations to assure quality from start to finish. This substantially cuts down onboarding times as well as provides our brand customers with the expected qualities of deliverables.
How about the dyes and chemicals needed for waterless dyeing? Are they the usual ones or need to have some special properties?
NTX Cooltrans uses the exact same types of dyes and chemicals as any other conventional colouration. We use disperse dye for polyester, acid dye for nylon, reactive dye for cellulosics, and so on. Where we differ is a much higher purity specification needed for the dyes, which are then used to create our proprietary NTX Cooltrans Ink.
Can NTX Cooltrans dyeing technology be applied to all kinds of woven and knitted materials? Why/Why not?
It can be applied to both and even to stretch knits and wovens. These days, brand houses look to simplify their material usages so as to create product offerings with the maximum sustainability profile. Hence, we follow this roadmap and focus on those homogenous materials to let our customers gain the maximum benefit.
You have commercially rolled out NTX Cooltrans technology. How economical and affordable is it compared to other existing similar technologies?
At NTX we believe that sustainability is meaningless unless there is scalability and economics to support it. The bottom line is that the average end consumer must be able to afford the final product. NTX Cooltrans is second to none with regards to scalability and economics.
What is so unique about NTX waterless dyeing solution?
Everything. From our proprietary NTX Cooltrans Ink chemistry to our proprietary NTX Cooltrans equipment. The accuracy with which NTX Cooltrans is capable of precisely affixing the colour into the substrate is orders of magnitude greater than any other system that we know of.
Rather than relying on a probability of dye uptake while trying to maintain a steady state of the system, NTX Cooltrans is able to precisely deliver the exact dosage into the substrate so that there is nearly zero excess chemistry – thus dramatically reducing wastage of energy, chemicals, and materials.
Is Adidas your first customer for this technology? Who are your next customers?
Sustainability is something that builds upon itself, the more converts we secure, the more we want to participate in becoming responsible stewards of Mother Earth. With their firm commitments to sustainability and announcement of “Own the Game” strategy from Adidas, the synergy of working with us was quite natural.
Despite the agnostic nature of NTX Cooltrans, there are some key sweet spots where brand houses are able to benefit the most from utilising the technology. Team sports, lightweight down-proof wovens, are just a few. We remain very cognizant of the fact that we are a start-up company, and so it’s always important to never bite off more than what we can chew and stay focused on high quality deliverables.
What is the process for preparation of material for colouration, that is subsequently used in Cooltrans? Is it also an environmentally friendly process?
As of today, we use conventional processes of pre-treatment. However, we are also in the process of launching an NTX Cooltrans optimised pre-treatment process which will allow us to even further reduce energy and resource consumption throughout the entirety of material processing including the application of functional chemistries such as moisture wicking and dry times.
NTX has joint ventures in China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. What factors do you see while entering into a JV agreement with a company?
Joint ventures are not much different from a marriage – there’s no magic formula that can be one size fits all. It’s the fastest means to grow the company (family), but it’s also the most difficult when things don’t work out as expected.
The key is to always attentively listen to each other, truthfully express the good together with the bad. Having similar or complementary values is also paramount as it serves as a basis for the kind of future we want to build together, and the sincere commitment that we’re not going to just pack up and leave when the going gets tough.
You are currently based in the ASEAN region, with research in Shanghai. Any plans to expand to other countries/regions?
NTX Cooltrans system is not only scalable, but also modular, i.e., in principle we could set up nearly anywhere on earth where there are skilled knowledgeable users for this state-of-the-art hardware and software system. ASEAN region has the critical mass of users and infrastructure and thus the path of least resistance. Initially we relied on direct relations and insight into which companies would serve as the best match.
Published on: 22/03/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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