It’s that time of year when the who’s who of the sporting world gathers once again for ISPO, the foremost international trade fair for the sports and outdoor industries, taking place in Munich from 28 to 30 November 2023. Industry experts will come together to explore the innovations created by more than 1,600 exhibitors, developments which will shape future trends in the sporting world.
The TexClubTec Technical Textiles Section of the Sistema Moda Italia event will be in Hall A1, Booth 334-4, and will feature a range of companies, including Sitip: the Italian company will be showcasing its product lines and technologies created specifically for technical sportswear applications. For this edition of ISPO, and building on the proven track record it already has in the cycling world, Sitip is adding more disciplines to its arsenal, sports for which its fabrics are ideal for producing technical garments delivering high technical quality and optimum performance. In fact, the company will be exhibiting complete garments produced using its fabrics for running, golf, horse riding and the outdoors: activities for which it’s essential that the fabrics are capable of creating clothing that delivers long-lasting comfort and protection, including in variable weather conditions.
The company’s focus is on creating outdoor apparel produced with fabrics whose characteristics and technologies are capable of delivering the most essential qualities, those which are an absolute must for the athlete. First and foremost are the fabrics from the BLIZZARD Thermal Comfort line: thermal warp-knitted fabrics, internally lined with ultra-soft microfibre and featuring a bi-stretch structure. The lining’s elevated thickness provides effective insulation, ensuring optimal thermal comfort for the athlete. Included within this range is Thermobike – a fabric that’s presented on the stand in a men’s sweatshirt – it’s made with materials that guarantee a push and pull effect, and is ideal for winter urbanwear and activewear clothing. Excellent breathability, resistance to pilling and easy maintenance complete this product’s feature set.
The fabrics from the COSMOPOLITAN Fashion-Tech line are perfect for ensuring garments satisfy any design specifications whilst simultaneously guaranteeing optimum performance. These fashion-tech products combine maximum performance and quality design, with their bi-stretch characteristics, excellent opacity, UV protection (UPF 50+), breathability, extreme comfort and easy care.
The star of this line is Cosmopolitan Citylife: a warp-knitted, bi-stretch fabric widely used for urbanwear, and is ideal for what we call “techno sartorial” garments, presented at ISPO in a pair of men’s golf trousers.
Cosmopolitan Citylife, in a laminated version developed by the company’s R&D department, is also presented in a model of women’s horse riding jodhpurs: the result of the lamination is a robust fabric that offers excellent elasticity and breathability (PA 86%, EA 14%).
All these fabrics are part of the Microsense Soft Performance family, making them pleasant to the touch and super-comfortable on the skin, and since they’re also part of the Eclipse Sun Protection family they also provides maximum UV protection (UPF 50+) and no-see-through. Sitip’s technical expertise and capacity for innovation has, over the years, led to the implementation of numerous technologies across its entire fabric production process. Technologies certified by international standards such as bluesign and OEKO-TEX, capable of providing fabrics that deliver the very best in terms of performance and quality, whilst simultaneously not being harmful to the environment or to people’s health.
These include the AQUAZERO ECO fluorine-free water repellent technology, an industrial process that renders the fabric water repellent in a way that’s environmentally friendly and fluorine-free, most notably employed in the production of the NATIVE Sustainable Textiles line, which includes fabrics made using recycled yarns and chemicals with a low environmental impact, and which enable the consumption of natural resources to be kept to a minimum.
Furthermore, Sitip maintains a dual focus: on the one hand its fabrics must meet the required levels in terms of quality and technical excellence in order to guarantee the best possible performance, and on the other hand its fabrics also need to be aesthetically pleasing, with colour cards that are fully in line with the latest seasonal trends, an aspect that even the world of technical sportswear isn’t immune from.
Featuring at ISPO are the colours of Native Blizzard: a fabric from the NATIVE Sustainable Textiles line produced using pre-consumer recycled yarn (PA Recycled 55%, PA 31%, EA Recycled 8%, EA 6%). It’s a warp-knitted fabric designed for both activewear and urbanwear pieces. Bi-stretch, offers effective insulation, and therefore ensures optimal thermal comfort for the athlete. It’s bluesign, OEKO-TEX and GRS certified.
The company will also be present on the ROICA stand at ISPO: indeed, Sitip supplied fabrics produced using the ROICA™ V550 sustainable premium stretch fibre (from the ROICA Ecosmart™ family of sustainable premium stretch fibres) to Bioracer who used them to produce the cycling kit for Team INEOS Grenadiers. These Sitip fabrics are part of the BLIZZARD Thermal Comfort line: thermal warp-knitted fabrics, internally lined with ultra-soft microfibre and featuring a bi-stretch structure. The end result is a garment that provides excellent breathability, maximum comfort and easy care. The fabric is treated with AQUAZERO ECO fluorine-free water repellent technology (Sitip’s industrial process that renders the fabric water repellent in a way that’s environmentally friendly and doesn’t use fluorine), it’s therefore resistant to frequent washing and drying whilst maintaining its excellent breathability and remaining super-comfortable on the skin.
