Fruit of TEXON’s Italian research division, ProWeave™ is an innovative, patented, weaving technology, which opens up an infinite number of functional and design possibilities suitable for fabrics for shoes, apparel, fashion and luxury goods
With the launch on the market of ProWeave™, presented during the latest edition of Lineapelle, Texon aims at revolutionizing the concept of upper in jacquard fabrics through a ground-breaking material that gives free reins to designers’ imagination. “Customization is the main demand we register from our customers – says Roberto Rosettani, Texon Italia sales manager – and ProWeave™, supplied as an upper to be sheared and assembled or as an all-over fabric, fully meets this need because the result is an innovative upper, whose areas are differentiated by elasticity and thickness.” The development of the material stems from the studies carried out by Texon Italia in the field of safety footwear, which represents the evolution of the group’s activity historically linked to the production of cellulosic materials for insoles. The results of these studies, however, apply to all macro areas of the shoe: industrial, casual, sporty and luxury. “In each of these 4 sectors there are different needs and we satisfy them with our ability to be versatile and to thoroughly follow our customers, including the luxury brands with which we currently developing several projects,” explains Rosettani. The demand for tailoring solutions comes in particular from international shoe brands, which are looking for a bespoke item, different from the competitors’, as well as for increasingly sustainable materials. The ProWeave™ solution fully fits into this category, as it’s meant to be made with recycled yarns. ProWeave™ is designed to support Texon’s sustainability goals, as the company aims to become a zero-waste corporate by 2025: producing fabric uppers with localized features means less energy consumption for manufacturers and recycled yarns can also be included to build recyclable structures for circular projects.
Texon Italia was born as the Italian branch of the American multinational Texon International for the sole national distribution of cellulosic components made in Germany. Since 1983 it has been operating with its own production plant in the Marche region, in the city of Ripatransone, from which it supplies customers who have gradually moved the manufacturing from Europe to the rest of the world. The Montemurlo (Prato) plant dedicated to the development of technical fabrics for high-performance footwear was afterwards added. “We are starting to be satisfied with this niche, and the Treviso Sportsystem district is the reference point of it. We started from scratch, this year the business carried out in the Prato-based plant should reach 2 million in revenues. This is the area in which we foresee the greatest developments in the future” underlines Rosettani. The Texon Group aims to close the current year sales at 130-135 million dollars, out of which 16-17 million euros should derive from the subsidiary Texon Italia, recovering from 13 million registered in 2020, in view to come back to pre-Covid levels. Approximately 85% of Texon Italia’s turnover depends on components, where it operates as a manufacturer and distributor of anti-perforation textile foils (reference point for accident prevention) and cellulosic materials for toecaps, counters and insoles. The remaining 15% is instead linked to the production of textile uppers.
Roberto Rosettani, Texon Italia