Organised jointly by European Apparel and Textile Confederation (EURATEX) and Turkey Textile Industry Employers Union (TTSIS), the Convention on Future of Technical Textiles took place in Istanbul Ritz-Carlton Hotel with the participation of local and foreign visitors. Held in 16th November, the convention hosted many experts including leading textile and apparel manufacturers and users of Turkey and EU, authorities of ministries, exporters associations, academicians and representatives of public sector.
In the convention where special presentations and speeches were made, the opening speeches were delivered by President of TTSİS Halit Narin and President of Euratex Alberto Paccanelli. The topic of the first session was “Current Situation of Global Technical Textiles Market/Trends. Under this title, Klaus Huneke, CEO of Heimbach GmbH explained the R&D policies and incentives of EU. The second speech of the session was delivered by Managing Partner of Gherzi Guiseppe Gherzi on Today’s Technical Textile Markets and Analyses, the last speech of the first session was made by Thomas Stegmaier, The Head of Research Department of Denkendolf Institute on Technologies in the field of Technical Textile and the Practice Areas.
The topics of other sessions which hosted important sector representatives and experts included “Outlook on EU Technology Policies and Technical Textiles /Horizon 2020, EU Textile Technology Platform, R&D Incentives and Turkish Technical Textiles, Charbon fiber Shaping the Future, Nonwoven in Technical Textile Applications, Protective Dresses and Industrial Applications for Defence Industry, Innovative Solutions for Rubber Reinforcement Sector, Properties of Medical Textiles and Final Users, New Technical Fabrics for Future Houses, Natural Fibers and Technical Textiles.
Use Rate of Technical Textiles Increased to around 40 %
Speaking in the convention where opinions that the importance of textile in human life will increase drew attention, the local and foreign sector representatives emphasized that technical textile, whose share in the sector reached to 40 %, would be used more commonly in the sectors of aviation, health and energy. Making the opening speech at the beginning of the event, Alberto Paccanelli pointed out to the fact that technical textile has recorded an important improvement recently and technology and R&D activities increased in this respect.
Stating that technical textiles are now preferred in daily life against metal products due to environmental, medical and economic reasons, Paccanelli continued his speech by saying: “The use of textile products is increasing in the fields such as construction, medicine, transportation and energy. Functionality, flexibility, cost effectiveness and sustainability are among the most important reasons of this increase. Technical textiles expand their use in these fields. Technology related to the technical textiles develops, innovative news shape the course of the sector. Today, the use rate of technical textile increased to around 40 % and these products are largely used in the wind turbines in the energy sector and in planes in the aviation sector.
We Should not Refrain from Competition and Partnership
Delivering the second opening speech of the convention, Halit Narin, the Chairman of Board of Directors of TTSIS, emphasized that they will support successful projects in textile. Stressing that technical textiles sector is promising, Narin reminded that all kinds of cooperations are of great importance for the development of the sector. Narin concluded his speech by saying that: “We support all kinds of technological and scientific activities in this field. We promise financing for our students and academicians studying on this issue. ‘Work, Produce, Find, Explore; Costs are covered by us’.We should not refrain from competition and partnerships in this sector. We should create a more comprehensive and stronger textile world without fearing from competition between governments and borders. We will contribute to the establishment of a more peaceful commonwealth. We are temporary and the textile world we would leave behind will be permanent.”.
Successful Students were Awarded in the Competition
In the convention, the prizes of winners of the “Innovation Competition” which was held by TTSIS to turn innovative, different and original projetcs conducted in the Turkish Universities concerning the textile sector into innovative products or to support the available developed products found the owners. In the competition, the team led by Prof.Dr.Özcan Özdemir from Uludağ University came first with their “Design and Manufacturing of Prototype Flocking Machine and Flock Yarn Production Project” which is manufactured only by 2 countries in Europe. The second winner became the “Project on the Use of Ozone Gas instead of Reductive Washing in Post-Dyeing Cleaning of Polyester” of Prof.Dr.Hüseyin Aksel Eren from Uludağ University. While Zebrepel Project – Production of Fly-Repellent Biomimetric Textile Surface with Inspiration from Zebra Leather of Çağlar Sivri from Süleyman Demirel University ranked third, the “Three-Dimensional Reed Project” of Ozanhan Kayaoğlu from Marmara University was awarded the honorable mention.
