Seminar on measures for enforcement of REACH countermeasures
will be explained by lecturers from European Chemicals Bureau
held by Ciba on November 14 and 15 in Tokyo.

REACH is scheduled to become effective in 2007 in the EU. Many Japanese companies are now interested in what effect REACH would have on them. Ciba Specialty Chemicals are inviting lecturers from the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB), European Council on Chemical Industry Federation (CEFIC) and the EU's chemical industry, and will hold a seminar called "Preparation and countermeasures for enforcement of REACH, the EU's new regulations on chemicals," for two days on November 14(Tue.) and 15 (Wed.) at Tokyo Pharmaceutical Industry Health Insurance Society Hall (2-17-2, Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo). 100 seats, there is a charge for participation.

PV joins hands with Eurovet
as competition with Messe Frankfurt.

Premiere Vision(Paris)

Association Premiere Vision, the organizer of the textile exhibition "Premiere Vision," has entered discussions with two companies, Eurovet (France) which organizes and run international lingerie exhibitions and GL events (France), to acquire capital in a new company, Premiere Vision S.A., which the association will newly establish. Both companies are planning to take a minority stake during 2007.
With this Premiere Vision announcement they are considered to be aiming at becoming competitive with Italian textile joint fair "MilanoUnica" and textile exhibitions such as "Interstoff," "Intertextile," "Texworld" and "Yarn Expo" which are held worldwide by Messe Frankfurt　of Germany.

Intertextile Shanghai	MilanoUnica

Floods of imported textile products in Italy
from China and Romania.

A conspicuous number of smaller textile firms have gone out of business in the Italian textile industry because of floods of imported textile products. In fiscal 2005, China was the largest supplier of textile and apparel products in Italy and showed a year-on-year increase of 34.5%. Chinese products accounted for 19% of all imported textile products in Italy. Textile and apparel products from Romania are second only to those of China.

China’s non-hydrosulfite dyeing,
reviewing use of thiourea dioxide.

Considerations for switching from hydrosulfite, a reducing agent for dyeing, to other reducing agents are increasing in Europe and China.　 Using thiourea dioxide is one such example in China.

In Japan, some major dyeing firms are conducting the same sort of studies as well. There are many manufacturers in the Japanese textile chemical industry to put priority on studying new-type reducing agents which can harmonize dyeing with the environment.

Europe and the U.S. setting sight on non-hydrosulfite reducing agents,
other than thiourea dioxide.

New reducing agents other than thiourea dioxide have been lined up in Europe and the U.S. as prime candidates to replace hydrosulfite which is generally used as a reducing agent for ordinary dyeing. New inorganic chemical reducing agents have been put on the market in Europe and the U.S., but it is worth noting that they are exclusively sold to limited customers.

On the other hand, Rohm and Haas Co. (US) has already released the new VENHIT method. With this method, reduction clearing for polyester/urethane blends has been made possible in a neutral bath, free of caustic soda. 　Better fastness can be expected with this new VENHIT method than that of hydrosulfite powder.

More proposals for washing tests
at Komatsubara Iron Works in Wakayama.

An increasing number of different washing tests have been carried out for blended fabric with the Floating Vibro Washer installed in Komatsubara Iron Works by different Japanese dyeing firms since this summer. Komatsubara Iron Works said fiber materials brought for the test were mostly fabrics with special structures.

Floating Vibro Washer

Members of Nihon Senshoku Kako Dougyoukai visited to observe
supercritical dyeing machine (for testing) on September 26.

Members of Nihon Senshoku Kako Dougyoukai (The Japanese Dyeing and Finishing Industry Association) are visiting the Industrial Technology Center of Fukui Prefecture to see the supercritical dyeing machine (for testing) on September 26.

For those who are interested in signing up for membership, please mail Mr. Seiji Mitsuda at the office of Nihon Senshoku Kako Dougyoukai (E-mail: senkadogyo@hotmail.com).