Textiles News

7 March 2008: Organic certification a rarity in New Zealand

The organic certification of AgResearch’s Textile Processing Plant has opened the door to the rapidly expanding and highly competitive world of commercial certified organic products.

The BioGro New Zealand certification is one of a handful of its kind nationwide. It enables textiles processed at AgResearch to be used in certified organic products such as baby garments produced by Auckland’s Tapestry Knitwear Ltd.

“Our products only get the organic seal of approval if the entire manufacturing process – from farm through processing to shelf – is certified organic,” says Tapestry Knitwear Ltd managing director Mike Langhorne.

"There’s a large demand for certified organic textile products and we see it as a rapidly growing market in the future. Tapestry sees itself as a key player in this area."

Textile Processing Plant operations manager John Lindsay says the organic certification is a great advantage for AgResearch.

“Our clients, both internal and external, are increasingly wanting to put a certified organic label on their products,” he says.

“We’re also keen to do everything we can to take care of the environment. This certification acknowledges that any additives we use will not cause harm to the environment, are easily dispersed into waste streams and are easily washed out of products.”

The certification covers the entire range of processes carried out at the Textile Processing Plant – from scouring through to the knitting and finishing of fabrics. It also takes into account the processing plant staff and their environment.

1 March 2007: AgResearch behind upholstery in Swedish cars

Wool upholstery created using AgResearch technology and New Zealand wool could soon be in the latest Swedish cars.

AgResearch scientists have been working with a group of New Zealand wool industry organisations and companies known as The Automotive Group (TAG). TAG includes Meat & Wool New Zealand, Textiles New Zealand, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), The New Zealand Merino Company Ltd, Interweave, Designer Textiles, Chargeurs, Wools of New Zealand and Woolyarns Ltd. It aims to develop fabrics to meet a wide variety of applications, including upholstery, that meet the stringent specifications of a prominent European car manufacturer.

Two of the specifications – abrasion-resistance and light-fastness – were particularly challenging, prompting the AgResearch team to investigate the possibility of meeting them with two new and unique technologies, says project manager Marg Dodds, of the Textile Science & Technology Section.

The team has developed a special dyeing technology that is four times faster than anything else commercially available, plus enables it to colour wool with dyes that meet all environmental regulations. The wool thereby passes the early testing in New Zealand in yarn form for all the required specification standards.

“To meet the abrasion-resistance challenge, the scientists have also developed a unique yarn-spinning system that uses a wool-rich fibre blend with excellent abrasion-resistant qualities,” she says.

AgResearch has just finished the second stage of trials that are being carried out with Borgstena - the company that makes the upholstery for the car manufacturer. Elite fabrics have been selected to go through to the next level of testing, with all testing carried out at AgResearch’s on-site, IANZ-accredited Textile & Material Testing Unit at Lincoln.

“We’ve just been given funding for further evaluation and testing and will move through the trials as quickly as possible,” says Marg, who expects the upholstery to be in cars within the next two years.

Textile Science & Technology Section Manager Dr Peter Ingham visited the car manufacturer last year to promote the initiative.

“They were very enthusiastic about wool’s advantages and the New Zealand wool environmental story but stressed that any fabric has to pass its stringent performance standards. The company is a leader in safety and environmental issues in the automotive industries,” he says.

“This is a huge opportunity for developing environmentally-superior materials supported by the New Zealand branding reputation of being one of the best environmentally-correct nations in the world.”