Canton Fair showcases new textile materials, technologies

China

Canton Fair showcases new textile materials, technologies

2025-05-03 17:44 Last Updated At：20:37

A wide variety of new fabrics and new technologies are on display at the ongoing 137th China Import and Export Fair in south China's Guangzhou City, reflecting the accelerated evolution in the country's textile industry.

Running from April 15 to May 5, the 137th China Import and Export Fair, popularly known as the Canton Fair, is divided into three themed phases -- "Advanced Manufacturing," "Quality Home Living," and the current phase, "Better Life," which opened on Thursday.

At the home textiles section of the fair, more than 1,600 exhibitors are showcasing their latest products and innovations at over 3,100 booths covering a total area of 65,700 square meters.

The new materials on display include optical variable yarns, soil-release fabric, wrinkle-resistant fabric, and anti-static fabric made of polyester cotton conductive yarn.

As for the new technologies, a shining example is a system integrating a fabric tester, a scanner, and a digital "library" that can store the information of more than 10,000 kinds of fabrics to help with garment design and production.

Equipped with 3D flexible simulation technology, the digital system allows designers to zoom in to see the texture of each yarn of a garment and conduct realistic simulation to see whether the garments fit.

It can shorten the garment sampling period from the previous 30 days to four or five days, greatly improving efficiency and reducing costs. Held twice a year, each edition of the Canton Fair sees brand new fabrics and new technologies, demonstrating the innovation vitality of Chinese textile companies.

Megawatt hydrogen turboprop engine completes maiden flight in central China

A 7.5-tonne unmanned cargo aircraft powered by AEP100, China's independently developed megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine, successfully completed its maiden flight on Saturday at an airport in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province.

This marks the world's first test flight of a megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine.

Experts from the Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) noted that the successful maiden flight highlights that China has now established a complete technological chain in hydrogen-fueled aviation engines, covering everything from core components to full engine integration. They added that this achievement lays the foundation for the industrial application of hydrogen energy in aviation.

As green hydrogen production costs fall, hydrogen aviation engines will show growing economic and energy security advantages, experts said. Hydrogen-fueled aero engine technology is expected to debut in low-altitude economy fields such as unmanned air freight and island logistics before gradually expanding to regional and mainline aircraft.

This technology will drive coordinated upgrades across industrial clusters, including upstream green hydrogen production, midstream storage, transportation and refueling infrastructure, and downstream high-end equipment and new materials. Ultimately, it will propel the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of China's aviation industry, experts added.