Supima set for March Market with new platform and vendor programs

Category: FIBRES

Country: United States

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March 9, 2023

New York – It’s beginning to look a lot like New York market and as one of the key brands that play a big role in things, Supima, is launching a new licensing platform, Supima AQRe that focuses on traceability and verification.

The premium cotton brand will also be represented at an increasing number of supplier showrooms around town, including a new Signature Series towel program from Trident.

“The Supima AQRe™ Project is the industry’s pioneering end-to-end traceability and responsibility platform,” according to Supima CEO Marc Lewkowitz, who added: “This moves the conversation beyond the term ’sustainability’ and into tangible, responsible sourcing of textiles.”

The new system, which goes live this month, grants use of the Supima branding through a real-time block chain system hosted by Textile Genesis, according to the company. The process starts  when a spinner has yarn that needs to be designated for a Supima product. FiberCoins” specific to the premium cotton are purchased on the Textile Genesis platform by the spinner and applied to the yarn in order for the Supima trademark to be granted and for the system to move the product to the next supply chain partner.

“The FiberCoin allows for a transparent digital footprint of the cotton through the entire supply chain,” said Lewkowitz.

Oritain will monitor the supply chains and the cost for the program will be all inclusive and applied to the raw cotton poundage. The new system, Supima added, will be the only way that a product can carry its trademark.

In addition to this new all-encompassing program, a number of individual vendors will be showing new product featuring Supima. For Trident, the large bed and bath mill, it’s part of its overall strategy for this season.

“Our theme this market is more of a ‘call to action’ than design theme or trend,” said Jeff Kambak, CEO of U.S. operations for the Indian-based company. “If I were to put a moniker on the movement it would be something like ‘fly high – fly fast.’

“As an organization we are just finishing up major expansions on both the sheet/bedding and bath/beach businesses. On the towel side we are adding significant jacquard and yarn dyeing capacity while on the bedding side, the recent addition of a pre-washing range, as well as more weaving/finishing production coupled with 200,000 more spindles, further positions Trident as the premier vertical supplier amongst our peer group.”

Leading off the Supima introductions, Kambak said, is Trident’s new “Signature Select” luxury bath towel collection, which will feature its Air Rich patented yarn system. “The towel feels phenomenally soft, and with Air Rich yarns it ‘starts soft – stays soft’,” he said.

On the sheeting side, Trident be showing a pre-washed 500-thread-count percale in Supima.

“Being vertical we can experiment with many variations in yarn sizes, enabling us to spin yarn fine enough to weave percale fabric in a 500 count.”

Kambak said 2023 looks to continue to be a challenge given the economy and consumer spending patterns, but he believes Trident is well positioned for the new year. “To increase our reach and speed to market we’re increasing the headcount in the US office, allowing us to divide up our businesses and deliver increased focus to our retail partners.

“I believe 2023 is going to belong to the innovators.”

With Supima’s new AQRe™ platform and product introductions from companies like Trident and others, it looks like there will be plenty of innovation to be seen this month in New York.

Courtesy: https://www.hometextilestoday.com/industry-news/supima-set-for-march-market-with-new-platform-and-vendor-programs/