With around eight months still to go before the first editions since the corona pandemic of Techtextil, the leading international trade fair for textiles and nonwovens, and Texprocess, the leading international trade fair for processing textile and flexible materials, around 900 exhibitors from currently 45 countries, including the organisers of numerous joint stands, have already registered to take part in Frankfurt am Main.

The registration status is over 85 percent for Techtextil and over 70 percent for Texprocess based on the last events in 2019.

“The sector is in motion again and people have a great need to find out about the latest developments and see innovations live. Over the last one and a half years or more since the outbreak of the pandemic, companies have had faced a variety of new challenges. Many of the companies have undergone a complete restructuring and, simultaneously, launched a host of innovations. Now, they want to discuss them with an international audience of trade visitors”, says Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt.

"Techtextil and Texprocess will provide a look ahead in June 2022. The distortions of the industry due to the pandemic and the commitment to sustainability are directing the focus even more toward flexible, digitally automated and sustainable production structures. Among other things, these will also be more regional than before," said Elgar Straub, Managing Director, VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies. "Adapted technological solutions exist and are increasingly in demand. The high registration numbers show the need for exchange."

Both trade fairs will be held as hybrid events with many supplementary digital services for exhibitors and visitors in addition to the live exhibition and programme of events.

Sustainability as a key theme

From the UN Decade of Action, which calls for the implementation of sustainable development targets on a global level by 2030, to the EU Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, or the Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (‘Lieferkettengesetz’) recently passed by the German government, which makes companies responsible for human-rights infringements in their supply chains, sustainability is a vital subject that is also driving the textile industry and to which, given its size and impact on people and nature, the sector can make a substantial contribution.

With Sustainability@Techtextil and Sustainability@Texprocess, the two leading fairs will put the spotlight in June 2022 on the sustainability concepts of the companies and organisations taking part. Expert discussions will supplement the subject. Moreover, a special category of the Techtextil and Texprocess Innovation Awards will honour outstanding achievements relating to sustainability in the sector.