China's Yarn Expo Autumn addresses thriving sustainability demands

The event’s New Fibre New World – Textile Materials Innovation Forum covered specific topics including ‘Green & Sustainable Fibre’ and ‘Domestic Lyocell Fibre’, shedding light on the importance of raw materials and how domestic brands are catching up with the high requirements on environmental protection and social responsibility, fair organiser Messe Frankfurt said in a press release.

“We are glad that Yarn Expo Autumn provided valuable face-to-face communication opportunities for the fibre and yarn industry during this challenging period. With national policies that promote a greener and more sustainable textile industry, exhibitors showcased their recycled, value-added and carbon-neutral products at the fair to help visitors achieve new business goals. Among the visitors, genuine buyers accounted for a high proportion and we saw increasing demand in both domestic and overseas products. Yarn Expo was one of the most popular halls of all the fairs taking place this October since fibres and yarns make up the start of the textile supply chain,” said Wendy Wen, senior general manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd.

Meanwhile, the fair’s online business matching platform, E-Source, will be accessible till November. This will continue to support international exhibitors and buyers in addressing sourcing needs with Yarn Expo’s diverse range of sustainable as well as functional products on offer, the release added.

“At present, there is still a gap between domestic cotton and US cotton, as high-end companies have high requirements for dyeing and bleaching – areas that domestic cotton cannot fully achieve. China’s latest Five-Year Plan also boosted the demand for high quality and sustainable products which help us promote our US cotton. There is a high level of inquiry for organic imports as well as the product origin and sustainable aspects,” said an exhibitor Shaoping Li, senior manager, China supply chain, marketing – yarn and home textiles, Cotton Council International, US.

“This is our second time participating at Yarn Expo as we reached out to more customers and promote our phase-change materials and microcapsule series products. The fair attracted a lot of quality visitors, especially domestic visitors. Many of them reflected that they have been using imported products of higher cost, longer delivery time and there is a certain gap between the price and performance of these products and what consumers are demanding. Therefore we see an opportunity for our domestic products, which also have a wide range of applications,” said another exhibitor Patrick Xu, sales manager, Shanghai Xinya New Material Technology Co Ltd, China.

“For manufacturers like us who are engaged in new materials and functional products, participating at Yarn Expo is very helpful since we can have in-depth communication with exhibitors onsite. Yarn Expo can be regarded as the most important platform in terms of industry professionalism. I basically achieved my expectations and goals in the first half day of the fair,” said a buyer Rongqing Huang, deputy general manager, Jiangsu Jiangshanhong Chemical Fiber Co Ltd, China.

“Through this product launch, we would like to share our recent achievements in Qianxi spandex research and development, which the audience is very interested in. Downstream players in the supply chain, such as fabric suppliers, are eager for new environmentally-friendly and healthy products by raw material manufacturers that are more in line with national policies. At Yarn Expo, the visitor quality keeps getting higher while exhibitors are becoming more professional. This will make Yarn Expo the biggest, highly-functional and also the best trade fair in this field in the future,” said one of the fringe programme participants Luping Sun, brand director, marketing department, Huafon Group Co Ltd, China.

Yarn Expo Autumn was held concurrently with Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition, PH Value and CHIC. The expo was organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT. The Spring Editions of these fairs will take place from 9 – 11 March 2022, while the Autumn Editions will be held in August 2022.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)