Preview in Seoul (PIS) 2022, the textile fashion representative exhibition, hosted by Korea Federation of Textile Industries (Chairman Sang-woon Lee) was held on August in Seoul. 311 domestic and foreign textile and fashion companies participated in this exhibition and presented global trending eco-friendly and new digital technologies and products. Which are sustainable innovation strategies for the textile and fashion industry.
Bio-based and biodegradable products in Preview in Seoul 2022
Among the eco-friendly textile, various new bio-based products and biodegradable materials were the most eye-catching. Hyosung TNC introduced for the first time in Korea, bio spandex ‘Creora Bio-based’ made by substituting coal-based material with corn extract for the first time in the world. They expanded the eco-friendly textile area to spandex following polyester and nylon.
NeoEnpla introduced DuPont’s ‘Sorona’ with main ingredient of corn sugar, and ‘Graphinus’, an eco-friendly, highly functional stretch yarn that fused with multifunctional graphene fiber extracted from graphite. Kyungbang Limited and Ajin International introduced for the first time in Korea natural stretch spun yarn blended with corn fiber to signal their entry into the spandex alternative market.
In addition, biodegradable materials such as biodegradable PLA yarn using corn and sugar cane extracts from CORESHTECH, bio-based membranes and nylon fabrics from Shin Han Industries, ONECHANG Materials, and Heyone Corporation, and Hanji leather from Hanwon Moolsan Corp gained much interests.
Fashion Show and Textile Exhibition, two in one
This year’s PIS has established itself as a textile fashion exhibition leading digital innovation through the hybrid fashion show held as the opening event, and the Digital Fashion Pavilion led by CLO Virtual Fashion and Adobe Korea and participated by Microsoft and Nvidia.
‘Next Gate Fashion Show’ is a fashion show that combines virtual and real clothing with products collaborated with 15 eco-friendly material companies and designers Hwan-sung Park (D-Antidote) and Chung-hoon Choi (DOUCAN) who pursue sustainable fashion and delivered clear concept to the public.
‘Digital Fashion Pavilion’ drew the greatest interest during the exhibition period. 14 companies including CLO Virtual Fashion, Adobe Korea, Microsoft, Nvidia, Pixelful, LF, Sejung, and F&F participated to provide a new experience by combining technologies such as 3D, virtual·augmented reality, and metaverse. This pavilion showed the future of a completely new textile and fashion industry.
During ‘PIS 2022’ where about 10,000 people visited for three days, buyers praised the solid exhibition composition, including new content that could not be seen in other exhibitions and seemed very satisfied to see new materials from participating companies who are leading the market.
Korea’s eco-friendly products caught our attention. We conducted in-depth consultations with knitwear and subsidiary material companies with innovative and outstanding technology.
Braunstein, concept & design manager for luxury brand Michael Kors
In addition, Victoria, team leader of Marc Jacobs’ fabric purchasing team, held a meeting with a jacquard fabric company to plan a product for next spring season and promised additional consultations in New York next month. Design director at premium sport brand ASRV, Casey, also consulted with companies focusing on outdoor windbreak, waterproof fabrics, and spandex woven fabrics with good elasticity.
In the aftermath of the ongoing US-China trade war, there is a trend to reduce dependence on Chinese raw materials. In the future, PIS will take the place of the Chinese exhibition as a platform that connects the global supply chain.
CEO of Messe Frankfurt Korea, Yong-joon Jin