What You Don't Know Is Chinese Fabric "Black Technology".

"How nice it is to have a stain proof waterproof T-shirt," many people would think about when they were splashed by coffee in the tea room.

Ma Daixia (Mary Ma) will tell you that this sci-fi idea may not be so far away from reality. The Textile Library, which was founded by her, is currently in the software exhibition of Beijing's Ying Ke Center. "Dear world," it tries to give more imagination to cloth by crossing with the imaging device. Besides, people can also pick up a pair of small white shoes that are not dirty in rainy days.

"This exhibition is breaking through the limitless application of cloth." Ma Daixia, the curator of the world and the founder of the fabric library, described the exhibition. She has been searching for a more appropriate way to enable the public to perceive the endless charm and unlimited possibilities of cloth through more scientific, experiential and artistic forms.

Ma Daixia has been in the industry for 21 years. She once worked as a fabric supplier for Prada, Nike and Burberry. In 2015, she founded the library with no books and cloth in the suburbs of Hangzhou. She collaborated with hundreds of Chinese original designers, initially trying to make Chinese materials and Chinese design known.

This time, she wanted people to see the "black technology" strength of Chinese materials. "Dear world," from the PCCW center, there are seven big spaces: "cut", "fold", "wash", "paint", "touch", "weaving" and "dyed", and connect them in different cloth language. After having tasted the cut city image, the visitors climbed through the stacked software Gallery, stacked up with cloth, and climbed from an early morning subway filled with inflatable soft device into a space made of more than 400 pure white image cards. Behind each card, there was a unique cloth.

One of them is the interactive photosensitive cloth card. The spectators can carry the special flashlight on these frames. The cloth on the picture frame uses photosensitive technology to make the cloth discolourable under the irradiation of ultraviolet radiation, and it will return to white after tens of seconds. The exhibition bench also concealed "black science and technology". When the chair touches more than 31 degrees C, the contact will show a completely different color, leaving a clear shape. After cooling, it can gradually restore the original shape and color. This is also a fun match between fabric library and home brand.

High tech fabrics break the recognition of ordinary consumption. The rapid change of contemporary consumer demand has made traditional materials begin to change. Using technology to make fabrics interesting, providing people-oriented functions, or having sustainable value is the joy of people like Ma Daixia.

Mature Chinese fabric suppliers

"China has achieved a certain level of fabric innovation in the past 20 years. Mature technology, rich and varied. Ma Daixia thinks so.

This has become an indisputable fact in the industry. China international textile fabrics and Accessories Expo is currently the world's largest exhibition of garment fabrics and accessories. Many Chinese and foreign fabric suppliers have chosen to publish new materials developed here. In the autumn and Winter Fair, which opened in September 2018, nearly 4400 exhibitors appeared in the world. The huge supplier group has promoted the development of innovative fabrics. As the material development center and fabric supplier's fabric library, more than 4000 innovative fabrics have been displayed in its library.

The graphene, known as "black gold", has been developed by many fabric suppliers for its high strength, ultra-thin and ultra light characteristics. Kunshan Huayang new material Limited by Share Ltd blended graphene nano powder into polyurethane material, and prepared graphene PU transfer film with a thickness of 0.12 to 0.15mm, and then combined with the fabric. The composite fabric has the functions of heat storage, heat absorption, heat absorption, far-infrared emission, waterproof, moisture permeability, antibacterial and bacteriostatic. Shanghai Sheng Yi Cheng Textile Co., Ltd. has applied the graphene heating yarn to develop a series of physiotherapy protective clothing and clothing products, of which four products have won the national patent.

The fabric of carbon nanofibers, which is highly valued for weaving, is also popular. The research center has implanted nano carbon components in the spinning process, with the unique spinning and dyeing process, so that the fabric has the function of thermal storage and insulation. Sun Jianyou, general manager of the company, said: "the market of this product is more than imaginative, and it sells more than one million meters in a single season."

Others are lucky stars of night running family - night reflective fabrics, "Mommy no longer compelled me to wear woolen pants" quick heat fabric, fleece, single cloth and so on. For ordinary consumers, though often instilled in the advertisement of graphene mask, few people can understand the real function and value.

The materials that originally serve people with special functions like professional athletes are slowly being transformed into functional products that can be seen in outdoor public facilities such as outdoor sports, underwear, and so on. But how to make them into a simple T-shirt to control costs is not a simple matter.

Commercialization of functional fabrics

In 2015, the domestic independent sports brand Particle Fever particle fanaticism (hereinafter referred to as Particle Fever) announced the completion of nearly 100 million B round of financing last month. Previously, the particle craze has been invested by Feng Shui capital, share investment, neighboring star ventures and PreAngel.

The popularity of Particle Fever is partly due to the brand's use of new fabrics and new processes. Particle Fever co founder and CEO person nine Jin to BoF introduced that at present the brand has Particle Mints, Particle Sensa and other fabrics of different texture, function, characteristics of several kinds of fabrics, some can reach the level of second dry, some can lifelong deodorization, or have a very high affinity. But the application of sophisticated technology has higher requirements for the supply chain. Nine kilograms of people believe that the commercialization of sports materials in China and the world has advantages over other fields: "but still faces the question of how to reduce costs to obtain better material problems."

Particle Fever particle craze surfing, sun protection clothes and tights. Picture source: brand offers

To a certain extent, it also inhibits the hi-tech cloth from going out of the storeroom and stepping into the daily life of people. Nowadays, the sensory stimulation of high-tech fabrics is more than practical value.

The cloth library pays more attention to making money rather than buying and selling. At the exhibition, the fabric library launched a new project, Textile+. At the end of the exhibition, Ma Daixia inserted a new material experience center Textile+ space, which sells fabric products from its R & D center. She said that products are not guided by sales: "we design these products from everyone's needs from head to toe, from hat to necklace to T-shirts, hoping to see cool" black technology "with cost-effective, and take it easily. As Ma Daixia said, you can buy the product of "black technology" with the fast selling brand price. 399, 299 or even 199 bring home a stain proof waterproof T-shirt or an arbitrary folded handbag. This is the last time that the fabric library has been landed in business. But Ma Daixia wants to get closer to using the retail way to get closer to the masses so that they can perceive the unlimited possibilities of cloth and develop the commercial possibility of "Textile+ any".

According to the data of the 2019-2024 year China functional fabric industry development and investment trend forecast analysis report, the annual sales volume of functional textiles in the global market reaches US $50 billion, and the market demand for Chinese textiles is around 50 billion. China's sales of functional textiles will grow by about 4% annually. The application of these fabrics can not replace traditional cloth, but when it fills the market gap, it also slowly approaches consumers.

Choco Concert, a domestic independent designer shoe shoe that has never tried hi-tech fabrics, has also demonstrated anti pollution white shoes in Textile+ space. As a small independent designer brand with a smaller volume, Tian Chengxu, co-founder and designer, sees the positive feedback of consumption, hoping to continue to try new materials: "the prospect of commercialization of new materials is very broad, but we will do what we can and choose new materials that can be operated for trial, manufacture and production."

These successful examples share a common feature, which is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, and is more easily welcomed by consumers. More consumers still stay in the "beauty" is the first element, technology and functionality secondly.

In terms of time cost, nine kilograms of people also revealed: "the choice of developing fabrics is mainly based on functional requirements and design directions, in line with the avant-garde concepts and functions that every quarter brand wants to develop ahead of time. The development difficulty will be quite different, averaging 6 months to 1 years. The cycle of design and manufacture of antifouling white shoes is also beyond Tian Chengxu's imagination.

　　 Is high-tech sustainable fabric a gimmick?

Fashion pollution is becoming more and more serious, and the fashion industry is facing great challenges. Both fast selling giant H&M or luxury goods representative Louis Vuitton responded quickly. In 2009, the Copenhagen fashion summit, known as the "fashion Davos forum", was held for the first time. The main decision-makers and opinion leaders of the global fashion industry were invited to focus on fashion related environmental, social and moral issues. The Chinese clothing group, Erdos and Jiangnan cloth dress, were also discussed as guests and other brands.

Whether sustainable fashion is a marketing gimmick in the new era has become the biggest doubt of people. Perhaps technology can dispel people's misgivings.

This month, the UK's sustainable fashion brand Stella McCartney and Adidas launched a limited edition sportswear, which is made from refined cotton and liquefied converted cotton. The new technology called NuCycl is developed by Evrnu, a technology start-ups. It is also the first product to commercially produce the technology. Stacy Flynn, co-founder and chief executive of Evrnu, said that NuCycl technology is essentially converting old clothes into new high quality raw materials and making new clothes, which is an attempt to solve the increasingly serious problem of fashion pollution.

China, the first country in garment production, needs to prove itself in this field.

When Chinese designer Zhang Na founded the clothing brand Fake Natoo in 2008, he began to try his clothes recycling project in 2011 and gradually hatched a new brand clothing bank. RPET's new fabric, which is proud of the reinventing clothing bank, has been developed by high technology. It has been reclaimed from recycled plastic bottles and fishing nets and reconstituted bank has become one of China's few brands with sustainable fashion circulation system. Last September, Jiangnan cloth group also introduced the principle of sustainable fashion design, production and marketing, using the principle of circular economy and strictly carrying out the new brand REVERB by JNBY in accordance with international standards.

According to the data released by the international cotton association, 62% of China's middle class, or 140 million people, are willing to buy more eco-friendly and environmentally-friendly clothes at the same price. At the China international textile fabrics and Accessories Expo, the group of European and American brands supplying recycled fabrics said that they have received orders from Chinese brands, which is a noteworthy positive change.

Nine pounds of people think that sustainable materials and functional fabrics can be taken into account. But the two materials need technology power to be more attractive. Maybe in the future, not afraid of dirty T-shirts can replace all the clothes in your wardrobe, and will not bring harm to the earth.