Fibre2Fashion November Issue'17 | Page 69

self-adhesive and cutting bar; and TPU waterproof membrane laminations. We use environment-friendly processing and pasting. The waterproof and moisture permeable membrane material is soft, waterproof and windproof and has breathable properties. Hence, the sweat produced by movement turns into water vapour and is rapidly excreted. We introduced Kornit Digital’s digital textile printing in March 2017 that enables us to provide even more innovative products to our customers. Kornit Allegro allows us to print on multiple fabrics, even in small quantity. The waterless technology allows us not to worry about the high water-discharge fee in Vietnam. What is the Unique Selling Point of your products? David Lin: For us, it is the cloth after printing, depending on the use of products with different materials in different categories. Our professional paste processing technology with our 20 years of shoe mesh experience combined with the clothing fit technology used in different high-end products is unique. What is the annual production capacity at your units? David Lin: The annual fabric output is 50 million yards, paste output is 30 million yards, and 200 million yards for printing. What is your R&D team like? How much is spent on R&D annually? David Lin: Currently we have 200 employees, out of which 20 are accountable to R&D. We are committed towards researching and developing diversified products and specialise in fabrics for footwear, industrial applications and garments. Our production base, which opened in 2017, occupies over 15,000 square metres, and is located in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam. The plant has both a production and an R&D centre. The new facility will not only provide existing lamination services, including TPU waterproof membranes, PU foam lamination, water glue and glue lamination, but will also offer the latest high-end digital printing service to provide high value-added products and services to customers. Which brands & retailers are you currently associated with? Eric Huang: Nike, Adidas, Wolverine, Columbia, ASICS, and VF Group are some brands we work with. Which are your major international markets? Do you plan to expand to any other regions in the near future? Eric Huang: The US, the UK, Germany, and Japan are our major markets. We plan to expand to brands in other European countries and in Vietnam. What kind of growth are you expecting in the next two fiscals? Eric Huang: Kornit’s technology brought the brand effect. Continuous fermentation is expected in two years of printing performance to achieve multiple growth. What are your future plans? Do you plan to expand your production capacity? Eric Huang: To cope with the innovative technology of future shoe uppers, the development of artificial and non-sewn trends is expected to continue. We hope to use a one-piece upper weaving machine and Kornit’s one-stop printing technology to reduce manpower, waste, energy and carbon footprint; and thereby reduce environmental pollution.