#ITM 2018

2018-02-28

Panama participates into ITM 2018 for the first time

A surprise country will take place at the ITM 2018 Exhibition, in which the heart of the textile world will beat and the sector leaders will be introducing their latest technological products, in the present year. The Panama Colon Free Trade Zone, the world's second largest free trade zone, will take part at its booth at ITM.

Mr. Manuel Grimaldo, Director General of the Panama Free Trade Zone, expressed a special interest in the ITM 2018 Exhibition, into which exhibitors and visitors from nearly 100 countries will participate. Manuel Grimaldo requested a location from the exhibition space.

After the talks, Mr. Manuel Grimaldo confirmed that the Panama Colon Free Zone would participate into the ITM 2018 Exhibition. Thus, Panama will become one of the first countries taking place at the ITM for the first time. Grimaldo with the team, among whom there are members of the Panama Free Zone Board of Directors, will visit the ITM 2018 Exhibition.

Panama, which is the fastest growing economy in South America, has 18 registered free zones. The largest of these is the Panama Colon Free Zone, the second largest free zone in the world after Hong Kong.

There are nearly 3,000 companies in the Panama Colon Free Zone and 500 of these companies are operating in the field of textiles and ready-made clothing.

The annual trade volume of the Panama Colon Free Zone is 20 billion US dollars.

Italian Trade Agency ITA took its place at ITM 2024 with its Italian Pavilion

The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) decided to participate in the ITM 2024 Exhibition this year with the Italian pavilion. Italian textile machinery manufacturers, which are leaders in the global textile industry, will mark on the ITM 2024 with their innovative technologies focusing on energy consumption, efficiency, sustainability and digital transformation.

Providing Turkey's visa facilitation will make ITM 2024 a global destination

Leading textile machinery manufacturers, global industry investors and professional visitors will meet at ITM 2024 to see the latest textile technologies. The fact that the textile manufacturers of the countries that have visa problems when travelling to Europe will not have this problem when coming to Istanbul will increase the number of exhibitors and visitors of ITM 2024 Exhibition.

ITM 2024 gets ready to bring textile technology leaders together with global buyers

ITM 2024 Exhibition, where world brand companies in textile machinery and technologies will introduce the latest products they have developed, will host a unique experience with the diversity of exhibitors, visitor profile and the business volume it creates. Visitors to ITM 2024 Exhibition will have the opportunity to discover the technologies that will shape the future of textile.

GenuTrace client advisory: Is your cotton supply chain UFLPA ready?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released updated operational guidance (CBP Publication No. 5560-0526) expanding its forced labor enforcement framework. The guidance supersedes the original 2022 UFLPA Operational Guidance and now covers all forced labor enforcement authorities — UFLPA, CAATSA, and WROs/Findings — in a single unified document. For cotton importers, the enforcement posture has not softened. It has become more structured, more documented, and more demanding. Learn more about UFLPA.

STOLL: Agreement signed for the divestiture of selected assets

In early 2025, KARL MAYER announced its strategic decision to focus on its core business areas of WARP KNITTING, WARP PREPARATION, and TECHNICAL TEXTILES. As part of this move, the flat knitting machine business under the STOLL brand was discontinued and the production site in Reutlingen was closed in October 2025.

TERNAfil wins first place at PitchMiUp Night 2026 in Minden

The RWTH spin-off TERNAfil has developed MAXCarbon, a new high-performance hybrid fibre that combines the mechanical performance of carbon with the temperature and corrosion resistance of ceramic materials. For this development, TERNAfil was awarded first prize at the PitchMiUp Night in Minden on 21 May 2026.