Break the boundary, nylon industry upstream and downstream linkage asked product innovation

As an important category of chemical fiber in China's textile field, nylon is continuing to innovate and change and large-scale design and research and development strong "break the circle", by constantly expanding science and technology and functional attributes, in the high-end market to seize the opportunity. From outdoor sportswear, swimsuits, casual wear to underwear, shirts, fashion women's wear, the innovative application of nylon has also shown more commercial value.

In recent years, the rapid expansion of nylon production capacity has led to the expansion of downstream new product development and subdivision application fields. Around health and comfort, personalized customization, low-carbon environmental protection, the proportion of high-end differentiated products in the downstream of the industrial chain continues to increase. How will the future nylon products go further? How do upstream and downstream enterprises innovate together? The winners of the "2023 China International Fabric Design Competition - Nylon Product Development and Application Award" gave the answer with their own practice.

Multiple innovative applications, collaboration breeds growth momentum

In the face of the growing new demand in the market and the changing new trend of the industry, improving the added value of conventional fiber, developing functional fiber products, and promoting industrialization and high-end applications are becoming the key to the nylon industry to build a new competitive advantage and win the development initiative. As a leader in the high-end nylon industry, Fujian Yongrong Jinjiang Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Yongrong Shares") has always been at the forefront of the industry in the field of research and development of high-performance nylon new materials. Fu Chongxian, deputy general manager of technology research and development of Yongrong Shares, said that the future development demand for nylon textiles will be diversified and personalized, and the pursuit of visual and perceptible effects to consumers, which requires various new technologies and new materials to be applied to the development of new nylon products.

"In the increasingly fierce market competition, the creation of explosive products requires a strong combination, from the yarn, organization, function and other aspects of innovation, to form a unique style of fabrics." Suzhou Jieda Fiber Technology Co., Ltd. said that the company focused on fashion fabric product development, production and sales, from the beginning of its inception, has been committed to creating differentiated products, focusing on technology iteration and quality upgrade. At present, the application range of nylon fiber is more and more extensive, and the product characteristics of high strength, high elasticity, wear-resistant, easy dyeing and so on are recognized and loved by the brand. Focusing on high-end functions and differentiated nylon product innovation, the company hopes to carry out more in-depth product development cooperation with Yongrong Shares.

Shaoxing Dry Yong Textile Co., LTD., which specializes in functional nylon digital printing fabrics, also has the same idea. "We value the innovation and practicality of the function of nylon from yarn to fabric." The person in charge of the example, the company developed the nylon Guochao Song Yun series of patterned down fabric using independently developed printing software and nano ink, successfully printed on the functional fabric ink, 3D three-dimensional and other effects, through the process innovation to meet the fashion needs of functional sports nylon fabric, making it into a popular product in the domestic middle-aged and elderly autumn and winter market in 2022. "We are very interested in Yongrong's 'three yarn' series products, Jinkang yarn, Jinsheng yarn and Jinyi yarn, and look forward to applying more new nylon products to fabrics and developing multi-component and multi-functional products."

Pursue green environmental protection, strengthen sustainable competitiveness

In recent years, with the continuous increase of people's attention to environmental issues, green consumption has quietly emerged and been internalized into a new trend of social life. Focusing on low-carbon development, Yongrong has continuously increased its investment in research and development, bringing green solutions such as liquid colored nylon, biodegradable nylon, pre-consumption/post-consumption recycled nylon, bio-based nylon and so on to the industry, and the fruitful innovation results have benefited downstream application enterprises.

The colored filaments widely used by Shandong Daiyin Textile Group Co., Ltd. come from Yongrong shares. "This kind of products we focus on the concept of environmental protection, the use of silk products can save the cost of dyeing for enterprises, while protecting the environment, the color fastness of the product is also better than the dyed fabric." The company's research and development personnel pointed out that the comfort of nylon raw materials is better, so it has great development potential, especially in the personal fabric, tight plastic fabric has a broad application space. In addition to colored filament, Daiyin Group also focuses on the application of nylon fabric in the development of military products and knitted suits, of which nylon has a significant improvement in the tearing strength of fabrics and anti-pilling performance.

Jingpai Warp Knitting Technology Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise integrating research and development, production and sales of middle and high grade warp knitting and weft knitting fabrics. According to the person in charge, the nylon products developed by the company have good skin affinity, soft and smooth, good wear resistance, and can be applied to T-shirt, pants, swimwear, riding, underwear and other terminal fields. Among them, the company mainly promotes carbon neutral and environmental protection products, extract raw materials from renewable plants (such as corn stalk, castor seeds, palm trees, etc.), and develop bio-based nylon fabrics such as PA56 and PA510, which are natural skin friendly, healthy and antibacterial, taking into account environmental protection characteristics and functionality, and obtain good feedback in the market. The person in charge of the company said that he hopes to cooperate with Yongrong shares to carry out one-to-one targeted research and development and break through the technical bottleneck of the industry.

Target market segments and explore new growth space

Nowadays, the textile and apparel consumer market is changing rapidly, and industry enterprises need to timely adjust and optimize product positioning and development strategies, build their own advantages and characteristics with solid research and development capabilities, seize the subdivision track, and run out of the "acceleration" in market development.

"From the perspective of fabric innovation and development, we value the huge market demand for nylon. As the leading enterprise of nylon filament in China, Yongrong Shares have a wide range of products and a very strong production capacity, which can fully meet our development needs." Wujiang Jinshengyuan Textile Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the research and development and production of nylon filament, nylon elastic yarn, high-strength N66 and other nylon fabrics. According to the person in charge, the company's characteristic products 7D and 10D ultra-fine nylon fabric by adjusting the yarn density, improve the fabric tearing and other physical indicators, to achieve both light and tough effect; The composite fabrics developed with cotton nylon and nylon 66 can not only meet the requirements of high strength, but also have comfort, and are popular in outdoor fields such as down jackets, ski jackets, and hardshell jackets. "We are preparing to launch differentiated nylon products to give fabrics more fashion color, to meet the more comprehensive and diversified needs of customers."

In the research and development of differentiated products, Fujian Yubang Textile Technology Co., Ltd. has also made a lot of exploration and practice, and achieved remarkable results. With the mission of "Green Your Life", Fujian Yubang has developed professional functional knitted fabric products including Health, Environment, Sports, Fitness and Comfort around the five series of health, environment, fitness and comfort. "Under the mind of happy consumption, consumers pay more attention to 'comfort', so the company in the development of nylon product fabrics in women's sports, underwear categories." The person in charge of the company said that Yongrong Shares have a full range of functional nylon products for customers to choose, application scenarios include sports, outdoor, underwear, swimwear and other fields. As a partner of Yongrong, in addition to the support of the full range of products, we also hope to carry out joint research and development with upstream fiber enterprises and downstream brands, so as to form a complete product supply chain and maximize the value of product development.

In the process of the textile industry moving toward the road of high-quality development of science and technology, fashion, and green, fiber innovation provides more possibilities for downstream applications, and cooperation throughout the industry chain adds to the overall competitiveness. The collaborative development of Fujian Yongrong Jinjiang Co., Ltd. and a number of fabric enterprises is a manifestation of win-win cooperation in the industrial chain, and it is believed that more enterprises will work together in the future to jointly promote the sustainable development of the industry and enterprises with comprehensive innovation in design, technology, products, applications, business models and other aspects.

(Information source: Chemical Fiber)