ITMA 2015 in Milan, Italy reports more visitors and increasing attention to sustainability
The organisers of ITMA 2015 have just published their final report on the results of the important fair
The global textile and garment manufacturing industry converged at ITMA 2015 in Milan to source innovative solutions to enhance their business sustainability. Their commitment to sustainability is evident from the strong industry turnout. At the end of eight days, the 17th edition of the world’s most established textile and garment technology exhibition attracted visitors of almost 123,000 from 147 economies.
CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, and owner of ITMA and ITMA ASIA, is pleased with the overwhelming response from the industry, both from exhibitors and visitors. Charles Beauduin, President of CEMATEX is enthused, “We registered a 20 % jump in visitor numbers, compared with ITMA 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. More importantly, from participants’ feedback, we can confidently say that this is one of the best ITMA exhibitions! Our message on sustainability has resonated greatly with buyers.”
He also praised the industry’s resilience and forward-looking agenda, adding that global industry players have understood the importance of investing in innovations that are planet-friendly, and also help improve their business bottom line. “Our exhibitors have discovered that the visitors – whether they are seasoned ITMA visitors or attending the exhibition for the first time – are serious about checking out new innovative solutions to improve their competitive edge.”
Concurring with him, Regina Brückner, CEO of Brückner Trockentechnik GmbH & Co KG, Germany and President of VDMA, the umbrella association of German textile machinery manufacturers, stated: “We felt for the first time there’s a real understanding and interest in energy efficiency and green technology. There’s a trend among our customers to want to upgrade their very old equipment because they understand the necessity of a highly productive and efficient production over the entire textile production process.”
Overall, exhibitors felt that the quality of visitors was high and there was strong buyer interest. Visitors from Italy form the biggest contingent. They accounted for 18 per cent of the visitors.
Outside Italy, the top visiting countries were India (9 %), Turkey (8 %) and Germany (7 %). Other countries making it to the top 10 list were France, United States, Iran, Brazil, Pakistan and Spain. The lifting of sanctions on Iran in the near future has buoyed the country’s textile and garment sector, resulting in more visitors.
ITMA 2015 welcomed many groups from the Indian sub-continent. There were also delegations from Central Asia – a region where the textile and clothing industry is prepared for development as the sector has the potential to create jobs. A 140-strong Uzbekistan textile and garment industry delegation spent three days at the exhibition. This visit was co-ordinated by the Textile and Garment Ministry of Uzbekistan.
“ITMA 2015 is really the world’s largest textile and garment manufacturing technologies platform which also introduces innovative and eco-friendly machinery. The Ministry aims to modernise the industry with innovative technologies to create additional value and eco-friendly solutions helping our manufacturers to compete in the textile world market. Our government programme for 2015-2019 is to renew and modernise the industry and we have set aside a budget of around USD two billion to implement it. We have signed contracts with a number of ITMA exhibitors in the weaving, printing, dyeing and finishing sectors, and we will start installation from early 2016 up to 2019,” said Mr Khaydarov Ilkhom Utkirovich, Minister of textile and garment industry “UZBEKYENGILSANOAT”.
In addition, there was a delegation of 48 representatives from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the textile and clothing sectors in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The group’s coordination was in care of by Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations.
A Russian delegation of 60 members was headed by Mr Evgeny Ryzhov, Deputy Director of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. “ITMA 2015 allowed our domestic companies to learn about the latest technologies for the light and textile industry, enabling them to consider implementing them in their own production, purchase production equipment and to exchange experience with foreign colleagues,” he pointed out.
Launched as a dedicated sector at ITMA 2015, the printing chapter featured many established and new exhibitors. First-timer Fujifilm presented its capabilities as a complete solution provider in digital textile printing.
Mr Terry O’Keeffe, Strategic Customer Support Manager of Fujifilm, said: “ITMA has been an excellent platform for us to feature many exciting new developments in the digital sphere to a targeted audience. Our technology was very well received with good customer feedback that our technologies significantly contribute to the current and future digital textile market needs.”
“ITMA continues to be the world’s showcase for textile printing, and provides the ideal platform for presenting our latest technologies,” says Dick Joustra, CEO, SPGPrints. “The show’s organisers have kept the ITMA fresh with new programmes so that visitors can see the latest in textile printing equipment while also learning about the urgency of issues like sustainability. The volume and quality of those coming to ITMA make it a dynamic and exciting marketplace.”
Exhibitors from other sectors were also impressed with the quality of the visitors. One happy exhibitor is Etienne Leroi, General Manager of NSC Fibre to Yarn. He said, “This year’s ITMA has entirely met our expectations. We have received numerous customers from all over the world, who have shown great interest in our latest developments. This confirms once more the importance of such an international event.”
At the close of the exhibition on November 19, 2015, Carlo Rogora, CEO of ITEMA Group, concluded: “Considering the current situation in the textile industry in some markets, we are pleasantly surprised with these results. ITMA 2015 has been especially satisfactory in terms of the organisation and logistics of the show, and the significant level of attendance of customers. The contacts and orders we established, above all from India and Turkey markets, largely exceeded our expectations.”
Themed ‘Master the Art of Sustainable Innovation’, ITMA 2015 featured exhibits from the entire textile and garment making value-chain spread over 108268 square metres of net exhibition space at Fiera Milano Rho. Organised by MP Expositions, it also featured several conferences with the sustainable agenda, as well as the first ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award.
ITMA 2019 is scheduled from 20 to 26 June at Fira de Barcelona at Gran Via fairground.
The European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX) comprises national textile machinery associations from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It is the owner of ITMA and ITMA ASIA. Considered the ‘Olympics’ of textile machinery exhibitions, ITMA has a 60-year history of displaying the latest in machinery and software for every single work process of textile making, it is held every four years in Europe.
MP Expositions is a subsidiary of MP International Pte Ltd, a professional exhibition and conference organiser. Established in Singapore in 1987, MP has organised and managed over 2000 major national, regional and international events, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2009 Leaders’ Week. It is the organiser of ITMA 2011 and 2015, and ITMA ASIA 2001 and 2005. It is also co-organiser of the ITMA ASIA+CITME shows 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014. A member of the Pico group, MP International, headquartered in Singapore, and has a global footprint across Asia and Europe. MP’s success with various partners is a testimony of its ability to identify opportunities and maximise the rewards for win-win partnerships.