Process technologies, certified sustainability, and global competitiveness

THE ERA OF PERFORMANCE MATERIALS

The market for technical and sportswear fabrics for activewear and performance apparel is undergoing a profound transformation. The demands of international brands have become much more specific: performance must be measurable, durable over time, and supported by sustainable and verifiable processes.

For fabric producers and finishers, this changes everything. Process technology is no longer just a way to improve production - it has become a strategic element for building and maintaining relationships with major global brands.

THE NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR SPORTSWEAR FABRICS

In the world of sportswear and activewear, fabric quality is judged directly by the wearer. The most requested requirements from brands include concrete and verifiable performance:

Odor control must remain effective even after 30-50 washes. Drying must be rapid during and after physical activity. Elasticity must remain stable over time, without deformation or loss of shape. Hand feel must be soft without compromising fabric breathability.

These performances depend less and less on the yarn alone and more and more on how the fabric is treated during finishing: the way it is washed, handled, and dried makes all the difference.

REAL BREATHABILITY: THE LIMIT OF CHEMICAL TREATMENTS

The use of silicone softeners is still widespread in the industry because it immediately improves the fabric’s soft-touch. The problem emerges when these fabrics are used for sports: silicones form a film that closes the fabric’s micropores, reducing breathability by up to 40-60%.

For activewear destined for premium markets, this compromise is no longer acceptable. A fabric that doesn’t breathe during physical activity becomes suffocating, regardless of how soft it may feel to the initial touch.

AIRO®24: MECHANICAL SOFTENING FOR SPORTSWEAR FABRICS

AIRO®24 was developed specifically to address this need. The softening does not occur only through chemical products, but mainly through a mechanical process that combines two fundamental elements.

The first element is the transport of the fabric via air at very high speed inside the treatment channels. The second element is the controlled mechanical impact on specially designed stainless-steel grids, where the fabric releases kinetic energy, acquiring softness, body, and volume.

The result is the AIRO® Hand effect: a soft, voluminous, and highly breathable fabric. The softness is permanent because it is a mechanical characteristic of the fabric, not the result of a chemical coating that degrades with washing.

This represents a concrete advantage when presenting samples to international sports brands that test the breathability of the proposed materials.

DURABLE ANTIMICROBIAL TREATMENTS AND DEEP WASHING

Sports brands require antimicrobial treatments that maintain their effectiveness even after dozens of domestic washing cycles. This requires deep, uniform, and reproducible washing even on large production volumes, allowing for the application of antimicrobials in subsequent phases.

AQUARIA® is a continuous open-width washing system designed to obtain deep and uniform penetration of the process bath through the fabric. The system combines three elements: controlled mechanical action, variable residence times (thanks to an adjustable fabric accumulation from 20 up to 500 meters), and high-speed airflow that forces the bath through the fibers.

The combination of these three elements guarantees effective, uniform, and always repeatable treatments, a necessary condition for durable antimicrobial applications that must pass severe fastness tests.

PERMANENT ELASTICITY AND DIMENSIONAL STABILITY

Many activewear fabrics need to be relaxed to acquire elasticity and improve dimensional stability. This need arises from excessive tensions applied during fabric production, which stress the elastic fibers and modify the fabric structure.

Biancalani systems work on fabric in open width and under relaxation conditions, allowing it to move freely during treatments. This approach contributes to increasing the fabric’s elasticity and dimensional stability, fundamental characteristics for garments that must guarantee a constant level of comfort and performance.

C.L.I.M.A. CERTIFICATION: MEASURABLE AND VERIFIABLE SUSTAINABILITY

For producers working with international brands, sustainability is no longer a generic statement of intent. It has become a measurable, verifiable, and documentable requirement through objective data.

The C.L.I.M.A. certification, available for both AIRO®24 and AQUARIA®, allows measuring and certifying the actual water and energy consumption of the production process. These certified data can be used directly for international sports brand audits, ESG reporting, compliance with European regulations, and export to markets with rigorous environmental standards.

This is not a theoretical estimate, but real measurements carried out during production. When a brand requests sustainability data for a specific fabric, this data is already available, certified, and ready to be provided. This significantly reduces costs, risks, and complexity in the qualification processes for new customers.

ZERO WATER DISCHARGE PROCESSES

For some processes related to the production cycle of cotton and cellulosic fabrics, such as eco-bleaching (totally eco-sustainable bleaching, without the use of chlorine or caustic soda) and pre-dyeing enzymatic treatments, AQUARIA® allows working without any water discharge. The process water is completely reused within the cycle, eliminating the discharge of effluents for these specific treatments.

This not only reduces environmental impact but also simplifies the management of treatment plants and reduces operational costs related to wastewater disposal.

For other processes that require water replacement, the system is designed to minimize consumption through the extremely high intrinsic efficiency of the washing system, automatic level management, and countercurrent reuse between the different washing modules.

PROCESS TECHNOLOGY AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

In the technical and sportswear fabric sector, the difference between one supplier and another is no longer based only on labor costs or raw material prices. It is played on the ability to guarantee consistent quality, delivery reliability, and compliance with global environmental standards.

International brands select their fabric and garment suppliers not only based on price but also based on the ability to document processes, guarantee repeatability, and provide objective data on fabric performance and production sustainability.

Biancalani technologies are designed to accompany technical and sportswear fabric producers on a path of sustainable growth in the long term, providing the necessary tools to compete on quality and compliance as well as on price.

PREPARING TODAY TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE TOMORROW

The technical and sportswear fabric sector will continue to evolve. Demands for measurable performance, documented sustainability, and regulatory compliance will become increasingly stringent.

Investing today in adequate process technologies means protecting one’s business in the long term, building the foundations for lasting relationships with the most demanding international brands.

A targeted technical discussion can help identify the most suitable solutions for the specific needs of each production and each application.

Biancalani Textile Machinery
Improving quality since 1957