Key Points:
- Increased activity in wipes with many new converters showing me-too products and the established converters broadening their ranges.
- Biodegradability appears to be a growing marketing angle with several ranges using the Novamont Mater-Bi films.
- 100% cotton products, especially organic cotton are more in evidence in premium wipes and tissues.
- Flushability claims are more frequent, but no signs of a real breakthrough.
A and A and A ( Germany)
introduced a cleaning sponge in the shape of an arrow,
the arrowhead being good for cleaning into corners. http://www.ana-aqualine.de/index_en.html
Amirose ( UK)
had facial “cool cucumber” and “vitamin C orange”
circular nonwoven pads printed and fragranced to resemble the fruit slices, in
10-pack resealable sachets. They also had a full-face self-heating green tea
mask which “In just 60 seconds opens the pores and acts deeply, eliminating
impurities. The green tea helps absorb the sebum.” Similar technology was
available as sunburn-relief pads, headache-relief, sports-injury swelling
reducers. They also had conventional wet-wipes, impregnated dry “daily facials”
and soap impregnated dry hand-cleaners for use after public toilet use. They
were also promoting tubs of pre-wetted SAP gel as “Happy Plants” moisturisers
for plants: “maintains plants in perfect health for 30 days without watering or
fertilising”. (This won this years PLMA 1 st award in the non-food category.) http://www.amirose.com/fr_home.html
Bosmat ( Israel)
had flushable moist toilet tissues for kids, and
flushable toilet cleaning wipes* on display. The latter were too large for
“flushable by size” and were said to use a dispersible binder. http://www.bosmat.com/household.htm
Cardificio Italiano Spa ( Italy)
showed a range of 100% biodegradable femcare using
Novamont’s Mater-Bi for the film backsheet and perforated film topsheet around a
preformed core. Gesuino Ogliari (MD) admitted this was not commercial and said I
should email to get further information. http://www.cardificioitaliano.it/inglese/
DIVA International Srl ( Italy)
had received the best new product award at the 2003 show
for their “Daily Comfort” microwavable bathing towels for institutional use* and
this year had introduced a retail-brand version*, “Daily Hygiene”, currently
going into Italian supermarkets with expansions into Germany and France next.
Unlike the USA’s market-leading product from Sage, the heavy wipe weight was not
achieved by needling but by lamination of what looked like 3 layers of commodity
55gsm viscose/PET wet-wipe substrate. They also had the “Fria” range of 100%
cotton facial “tissues” based on hydroentangled lightweight cotton webs*. www.divaint.com
Dr Schumacher GmbH ( Germany)
had anatomically shaped facial masks impregnated with
hydrogel and whatever else you needed for cosmetic sales. Anti-ageing,
anti-wrinkle and refreshing were amongst the claims. Their toilet cleaning wipes
are “biodegradable and can be disposed of through the WC”. http://www.schumacher-online.com/php/index.php?language_id=EN&maincont_id=78
Dynamic Wipes Industries ( Israel)
were showing flushable bathroom cleaning wipes and a
wide range of mitts, some with film liners so that the hand remained dry in wet
cleaning. They supplied mitts in packs both wet and dry, but refused to provide
samples.
Eyüp Sabri Tuncer ( Turkey)
had “Cool Care™” hot or cold towels in a 24 count
rectangular tub with ring-pull top*. After removing the metallic closure the
user was asked to add 400mls of hot or cold water, replace the plastic seal-top
and leave for a minute for the fluid to distribute. They appeared to be designed
for restaurant or airline use. www.eyupsabrituncer.com
Fippi Spa ( Italy), Hyga GmbH ( Germany) and Dam-bi Produktion AB ( Sweden)
were collaborating on diaper developments and this
autumn would be introducing the first (after P&G and K-C) ultrathin diaper
using 50/50 pulp/SAP cores. This would be based on retro-fitting an existing
diaper machine. They were likely to introduce a biodegradable product but said
it would not be based on Mater-bi. They also claimed a new development in
tampons but could not discuss it at this stage. www.fippi.com, www.hyga-int.de, www.dambi.se
Fischer Pharmaceuticals ( Germany)
had Tea-Tree wipes on display using AHA and Q10
additives. Among the newer presentations were dog-paw wipes and dog-bathing
towels. www.dr-fischer.com
Flash BV ( Holland)
had a wide range of floor and kitchen wipes on display
apparently oriented to commercial rather than home use. One interesting version
was a roll of wipes, about 40 cms wide, sold dry but dispensed from a horizontal
cylinder which wetted them out prior to use. www.flash.nl
Innovate BV ( Holland)
had an attractive cardboard cube pack* for wet wipes –
not unlike the prettily-printed cubes of facial tissues. These contained two
flowpacks of 20cms square wet wipes – 35 wipes per pack. These were about to be
launched by a pharmacy-chain in the UK – not Boots. They were priced at a
premium. Innovate were collaborating with a nonwoven producer to develop a 100%
cotton version. www.innovate.nl
Kimberly-Clark Europe
continues to supply supermarkets with own-brand products
alongside the K-C brands and claims this helps them gain shelf space for the
brands. New for this show were facial tissues with aroma-therapy claims, new
embossing patterns on tissue and some 5-ply tissue products. However they
claimed three-ply tissues made with their through-air drying performed
similarly. Their tampons featured a “unique twist and tear opening system” and
their diapers were using the elastic fastners. Stand staff were aware of
Cottonelle but would not comment on its current status adding “you can deduce
from the lack of publicity that it is not a roaring success”!
Kovas Co Ltd ( Korea)
showed pre-moistened (with Hydrogel) masks and pads, the
latter printed and fraganced to simulate slices of cucumber (“soothing”), orange
(“revitalising”), kiwi fruit (“replenishing”) and lemon (“rejuvenating”). The
masks contained “Facial Essence” for whitening, moisturising, stress relief, and
curing acne. http://www.kovas.co.kr/cosmetic.htm
Lavino Kapur Cottons PVT Ltd ( India)
claim to be the major supplier of bleached cotton pads
to the Japanese nonwovens industry, this business being based on two 1meter wide
hydroentanglement lines installed in their Indian bleachery. One of these lines
is card/parallel lay and the other based on Rando webs. Their Chairman, Inderit
Kapur says they are now installing a Rieter Perfojet line specifically to
process 100% cotton into 40-60 gsm wet-wipe substrate using 60 bar water
pressure. The product is not for the Indian market and all of it will be
exported. www.absorbent-cotton.com
Liauw Pastry Production BV ( Holland)
in addition to teabags designed to allow tea-making in
espresso coffee machines, were promoting tea-bags specially formulated for use
as eye-pads*, and large tea-bags* for use in the bath, these being branded Te
Tao Chinese Herbal Therapy. www.tetao.com
Linette Ltd ( Cyprus)
claimed to have started “Nannys” diaper production in
1984 in response to P&G’s introduction of Pampers. They now have 45% of the
Cyprus market based on production plants in Cyprus and Greece which export all
over Europe. They attributed their success to promotion and marketing activities
which were not done by P&G. For instance in addition to visiting new mothers
in the maternity wards and presenting free diapers, they follow up with home
visits at intervals coinciding with the need to move the baby into the next
largest product. They give each mother a “baby book” in which to record baby’s
progress and run a Baby Club which brings mothers together with doctors and
paediatricians for information exchange and seminars. New for this show were
biodegradable disposal bags for diapers. Amand Chrysaphi, their young export
manager was particularly proud of the fact that they now supply the New Zealand
market. http://www.linette.com/brands.html
Minky Homecare ( UK)
showed a wide range of wipes including dry dusters
coated with beeswax for floor use (green) and furniture dusting (yellow)*. They
were in packs of two and claim to be washable and reusable up to 20 times. www.minky.com
Mykal ( UK)
added red-wine, wax and silk clean-up kits to their
De-Solv-It range of stain removing products. These contained the special liquid
and wipes separately in the pack, unlike their general purpose stain removers*
which are moist but require the addition of a little more water for best
results. http://sites.stocksphere.com/mykal/item.asp?itemid=2&categoryid=1
Nice-Pak International ( UK)
were no longer concentrating on baby wipes and showed a
very wide range of household, institutional and industrial cleaning wipes. Packs
of Miowipes claimed biodegradability (www.bambinomio.com) and Earthlets wipes
were both flushable and biodegradable (www.earthlets.co.uk). These looked like
lightly-bonded viscose probably using the hydrodisentanglement route to
dispersion. The “Keep it Handy” range of cleaning cloths can be seen at www.overseastrading.co.uk. For
furniture cleaning, the wipes were impregnated with beeswax. http://www.nice-pak.co.uk/wipe.html
Noam Urim Enterprises ( Israel)
promoted their Soap’n Wipe range of bulky polyester
needlefelts impregnated with soaps* for use in hotels, restaurants and
hospitals. They were introducing a larger version for car cleaning. The soap was
added during their needling operation. Their first commercial success had been
in patient bathing wipes for care homes. Dr Fischer was a major custormer. The
wipes, sold dry, had to be wetted with hot water prior to use. (While simple
and cheap to make this looked interesting because of the high bulk of the
product, its ability to take high compression, and the pleasing texture when
wetted. Made with even coarser polyester they could be loofah-like. Ed).
They were developing 2-sided (one abrasive) versions for retail use in washing
up and furniture cleaning. Other wipes on display were laminates* of what looked
like a light coarse spunbond to the usual viscose/PET needlefelt wipe base.
Their antimicrobial wipes used a blend of Acordis Amicor Plus® fibres, and were
said to be non-toxic and safe for prolonged skin contact, and for use around
food. www.noam-urim.com
Novamont Spa ( Italy)
had taken a stand for the first time in view of the
growing interest in their biodegradable “Mater-Bi” thermoplastic starch resin.
The product was commercial in numerous packaging applications (blown film) and
in topsheets and backsheets for femcare and, so far, just backsheets for
diapers. Being naturally hydrophilic the films are breathable and antistatic.
(There was no reference in any of the literature to the polycaprolactone
content of the resin, which used to be about 50% of the total weight. Ed.)
http://www.novamont.com/ing/html/home.html
Paper-Pak ( Sweden)
has extended the “Attends” range into the light
incontinence sector with a mini-pad* for use in underwear using elastic gathers
to create a boat shape in use. www.paperpak.com
Quest Personal Care Products ( UK)
had dispersible-flushable toilet wipes on display but
said there was not a big demand for it yet. They were doing it because the
“majors” were doing it. Among the usual range of wipes, was a Leather-Guard wipe
for upholstery cleaning. www.questcottonproducts.com
Rockline Industries Ltd ( UK)
had amongst the familiar wide range of wipes a “Kandoo”
clone called “Cheeky Monkey – Small Person Wipes” with a 99p price tag for 60
sheets. Adult wet-wipes dispensed from what looked like a plastic version of a
Coca-Cola can appeared novel. Asked if they had anything biodegradable,
flushable other than by size, or 100% cotton they said not. With regard to 100%
cotton, they would like to use it but found that the roll-goods they could buy
were low in quality and impossible to run at anything like normal productivity
on their conversion lines. www.rockline.co.uk
Spring Srl ( Italy)
had a range of nonwoven kitchen towels and tablecloths
made from hydroentangled 70% cotton/30% Polyester and promoted as washable*.
Their Blitser electrostatic dust capture mitt* appeared made from the
hydroentangled polypropylene reinforced with polypropylene scrim as used in the
early Swiffers. www.springit.com
Stenago Srl ( Italy)
were showing certified organic grown and harvested
cotton wipes said to be on sale in Tesco UK. The cotton, from Tanzania and India
had been checked through production and harvesting and certified as organic by
the Italian Soil Association (AIAB?) and ICEA. The nonwoven is made by the new
Hebi-Orsa plant in Egypt and its commercialisation follows a 2-3 year
development program. The ”Organic Soft” wipes* sold at about 3 times the price
of the commodity viscose/PET versions, but they were said to be attracting a lot
of interest in the baby care, femcare and bodycare wipes categories. www.stenago.com
Tyco Healthcare ( UK)
had a stand concentrating on their “Lily” range of light
incontinence products, said to be growing at 25% per year through outlets such
as Boots and Carrefour. They were about to launch an ultra-mini Staydry pad
through Boots commencing May 28 th. Interestingly, they found that when people
began to buy light-inco products (instead of femcare) they chose Mini products
which were probably too small. However once the barrier of actually buying an
inco product had been crossed, they rapidly moved to larger products to get even
better protection. Odour control is more important than in femcare, and stronger
formulations are used. (Tyco used to make a “Baby Booster” pad for adding to
disposables for night-time use but withdrew it on the basis that diapers were
now so good that these were not required. It has now been relaunched following a
storm of protests from “grannies who buy them for their grandchildren”) Staff on
the stand were aware of the pulpless diaper using acetate tow and
superabsorbents and were trying to get them for test in the European market.
They had been told that it was not fully commercial yet in the USA. www.tycohealthcare.com
Valor Brands Europe ( Spain)
showed “Little Swimmer” diapers* using a pre-formed
core, and also their “Affective” range of incontinence products. They claimed to
be developing a biodegradable diaper in collaboration with the Swedish companies
Polar Gruppen (www.polargruppen.com)
and Cell Comb AB. They were already supplying the “Nature Boy and Girl” range of
diapers on sale in Mothercare and Sainsbury’s in the UK. The product was not yet
fully biodegradable, but they were getting there. The backsheet and probably
topsheet used the Novamont Mater-bi thermoplastic starch polymer. www.valorbrands.es
Wellness Innovation Project (WIP, Italy)
had a small stand attracting a lot of interest promoting
the virtues of organic cotton by drawing attention to the poor environmental
credentials of commodity cotton. (“It’s less environmentally friendly than
polyester production”) They were showing concept femcare products based on 100%
organic cotton core containing Lysac SAP on a Mater-bi back, and covered with a
PLA topsheet. They also had one “100% Tencel” dry-wipe on display and said that
Tencel was another environmentally friendly product with the same values as
organic cotton. They were working on a 70% Tencel and 30% PLA version for a
baby-wipe. Their organic cotton wipes were certified 100% organic and were
produced from peroxide bleached African and Indian cottons supplied by Remei AG
- bioRe®, and hydroentangled by Fama Jersey. Generally their products would cost
3-5 times the commodity equivalent, but there was a niche market for such
environmentally sensitive materials. www.wip-srl.com, the show catalog gives their
web address as www.famajersey.com and a
brochure gives it as www.bioworld.it.
Zema ( Italy)
showed a sticky door mat system* designed to remove dust
and bacteria carried into and moved around homes. This was said to have been in
use for years in hospitals and high-tech industries. The slab of 15 prettily
printed sheets is stuck to the floor in a doorway and the surface adhesive
removes “everything” from the sole of the shoes. When the top layer is dirty it
is pealed off and discarded. www.zemaonline.com
Zendac Group ( Holland)
displayed a “Floratex” Turbo-clean mop which could take
either wet or dry wipes. These wipes* were a laminate of apertured spun-laced
(apparently all long fibres) and latex bonded airlaid pulp. www.zendac.nl
31/5/2004