Textile & Apparel Digitalization gets 4-dimensional View in First US Multi-event, Organized by WTiN

LEEDS, England, March 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — With just two months to go before the opening of a unique American conference series, textile and apparel industry professionals are promised their most detailed view ever of the sector’s advancing digitalization.

Top-ranking speakers have been lined up for the first Innovate Textile & Apparel Americas – comprising four distinct events over three days. Organized by World Textile Information Network (WTiN), ITA Americas is hosted by NC State University’s Wilson College of Textiles, in Raleigh, NC, from May 1-3, and its unique format will deliver deep insights into digital technologies, materials and business strategy.

Its elements are:

• Digital Textile Workshop, with lectures and demonstrations on the latest technologies in areas of digital archiving, CAD, color management, digital printing, and virtual prototyping.  Delivered in partnership with NC State University’s Wilson College of Textiles.
• The Textile 4.0 Conference, exploring emerging digital business models and introducing the latest application opportunities in smart factory development, including robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and virtual or augmented reality.
• Re:Think Materials, providing expert technical insights for product developers, including: market opportunities in connected textiles; conductive fiber and yarn; textiles for energy harvesting and storage; printed textile electronics; and the application possibilities of graphene and other ‘2D’ materials.
• Textile Business Futures, presented in conjunction with top textile and apparel industry consultants Gherzi and providing an intensive one-day introduction for C-level executives to learn about digital business strategy, risk management, return on investment, leadership and culture change.

Among the participating luminaries at The Textile 4.0 Conference, Stefan Weisenberger, SAP Senior Director for Mill Products, will explore how the Internet of Things (IoT) can act as an enabler for digital transformation of the textile and apparel sector.

At Re:Think Materials, Jason Cox, Director, Fiber Device Technology at Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) will focus on fabric platforms for fiber memory, data processing and computing; and the expanding smart textiles market scenario will be reviewed by Jerrold Wang, Research Analyst from Lux Research Inc.

At Textile Business Futures, AFFOA Chief Marketing Officer Eric Spackey will explore business growth strategy in the smart-textiles market. And PwC Director Ron Klein, together with colleague Juliane Stephan, Director – Digital Operations, at Strategy& (part of the PwC network) – will lead a workshop on smart factories.

The launch of Innovate Textile & Apparel Americas (https://itaamericas.wtin.com) follows a groundbreaking European event in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, last November. It is being organized in partnership with NC State University and Gherzi, while sponsors are Datacolor, Lirico Group, SPGPrints, SGIA and Inédit.

Other speakers include:

• Andres Alves, Co-founder, Tailored Industry
• Apurba Banerjee, Chief Scientist,  brrrº
• Raj Bhakta, Co -founder, Funxion
• Tony Chahine, CEO, Myant Inc
• Shane Cooper, President, DeFeet International
• Flint Davis, President, WeaveUp
• Timothy Fahey, Director and Strategic Advisor, ACI Materials
• Bill Grier, CEO, AM4U, Inc
• Fiona Haran, Editor – Technical Textiles, WTiN
• Danielle Hazen, Partner, LIRICO Group
• Frank Henderson, CEO, Henderson Automation
• Madison Maxey, CEO, Loomia
• Mutlu Chaouch Orozco, Lead Analyst – Industry Digitalisation, WTiN
• Kathy Phillips, VP of Design, Springs Creative
• Suuchi Ramesh, CEO, Suuchi Inc
• Mark Sawchak, Partner, Expand Systems
• Mark Scrutton, Director- Print Technology and Strategy, Adobe
• Karim Shafei, International Partner, Gherzi
• Paul Willerton, Chief Sales Officer, DeFeet
• Bruce Wright, Sales Manager, X-rite

WTiN managing director Mark Jarvis says: “We’re grateful to receive the support of so many experts in all aspects of digitalization, many of whom have experience of implementing their own digital strategies in textile and apparel scenarios. The industry is just taking its first steps down this road, which will bring about profound change in products, production processes and business relationships. Everyone needs to understand its opportunities and risks.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome WTiN to Raleigh and Wilson College of Textiles,” said Dr. Lisa Chapman, NC State University Faculty Scholar and digital technology and design expert. “State-of-the-art digital design tools can be used to improve the design workflow and bridge the communication gap between product development and the manufacturing process. WTiN’s partnership event with the Wilson College of Textiles will provide an educational forum on the use of emerging digital technologies, to more broadly share information and encourage the use of new digital design processes.”

About WTiN

World Textile Information Network (WTiN) provides specialist insight and data-driven intelligence to businesses in the Textile & Apparel value chain, enabling them to make better decisions faster and gain competitive advantage. Its primary focus is on the high growth markets of materials innovation, industry digitalization and technical textiles. WTiN products are subscription based, with most delivered digitally, leveraging the latest technology to maximize user discoverability. WTiN also: organizes focused B2B events held each year in Europe, the USA & Asia; delivers bespoke consulting projects; and publishes a range of journals and reports. https://www.wtin.com  

About NC State University’s Wilson College of Textiles

The NC State University Wilson College of Textiles is recognized as the global leader in textile education, research and service. NC State produces more textile graduates per year than any other university in the country, leading the way in textile and fashion design, product development, brand marketing, basic and applied science and engineering. The Wilson College of Textiles’ faculty and alumni foster research and new technologies that span the textile industry. Located on the award-winning Centennial Campus, the textile complex features more than 60 labs and studio spaces that provide opportunities for the development of innovative products and services, contributing to the economic, societal and intellectual prosperity of North Carolina and fueling worldwide economic development. Learn more information about the NC State Wilson College of Textiles.

Media contact:

Chinky Tyagi
ctyagi@wtin.com 
+44-113-360-9860

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SOURCE World Textile Information Network (WTIN)