Revolutionary fibres and new techniques replace traditional sewing industry
Textile industry: intelligent clothes and innovative fibres are a part of
everyday life of the future
by Sanna Kangasniemi
In Finnish textile industry, no less than 3.5 billion marks out of the total of
8 billion is spent on technical fibres and special textiles.
Traditional textile and clothes industry are losing money but new special fields are gaining more and more of it.
- "For companies, the potential for growth within these fields is enormous," says Pertti Nousiainen, professor of Fibre Material Technology at the Tampere University of Technology.
On Thursday and Friday, the faculty which Nousiainen works for organises a seminar called "Fibres and textiles for the future." The seminar commemorates the professorship in sewing industry which was founded exactly 90 years to the day.
As a term, 'sewing industry' sounds irretrievably outdated to those attending the seminar - intelligent textiles, innovative polyester or corn fibres echo in the auditorium.
The field of textile industry is developing rapidly, which also manifests itself in research funding.
Over fifty per cent of the funding which the Faculty of Fibre Materials Science receives comes from outside sources.
- "We closely follow the main trends, such as fibres which new technology makes possible and environmentally-friendly textiles," Nousiainen says.
Apart from novelties, globalisation is one of the major issues in the seminar.
- "Internationalization has affected textile industry for a long time."
- "Of course there are two sides to every story. On the one hand, some jobs will disappear in Finland, which is a bad thing. On the other, a large number of them will be created elsewhere."
Leisure time clothing first to utilize novelties
The chairman of the board of L-Fashion Group, Pekka Luhtanen, claims that the greatest change in his 40-year career has been internationalization.
New trade possibilities have encouraged clothing companies to expand their business around the world.
- "L-Fashion Group manufactures clothes in four countries. Through our business network, we have clothes made in twenty countries. Far East is the most important area."
In the textile seminar Luhtanen lectures on the future of leisure time clothing.
- "It remains to be seen what professors think about a businessman," he smiles.
Leisure-time wear and sports equipments first utilize new fibres and ideas.
- "What matters most with these clothes is how comfortable they are to use, not how much they cost. For example, what kind of clothes men use on formal occasions changes extremely slowly."
Luhtanen hopes that the seminar will sketch some of the common trends in textile manufacturing.
- "The nature of science is, of course, very different from that of business. But it is worthwhile to be up-to-date with in what way the trends are developing," he adds.
The control of labour through overalls
You cannot blame Hank Hardy Unruh, the representative of the WTO, for dressing in a conforming or boring manner. The man appeared in the seminar clad in tight golden overalls.
He spends lots of time talking about his remarkable outfit.
- "The outfit represents the most efficient way of controlling the labour force. Through the suit the manager receives impulses according to how business is doing."
- "If there are no problems in production, the suit transmits pleasurable feelings and vica versa," Unruh says.
- "The manager can also be in contact with his employees, who carry tiny receivers. This is management at its most efficient."
The technology needed for this revolutionary-sounding idea exists today.
The provocative outfit ensures that the audience will remember Unruh's message but he says that the idea is no fantasy which will never come true.
- "Everything in the suit will become reality, at some point."