Techtextil 2015

2015-05-08

Trade fair duo once again distinguished by new exhibitor and visitor records

Around 42,000 visitors from 116 countries[1] made their way to Frankfurt am Main to see the world’s biggest spectrum of materials, processes and technologies for the entire textile value chain during the four days of the two leading international trade fairs. Altogether, 1,662 exhibitors from 54 countries (2013: 1,660 exhibitors from 56 countries[2]) presented their new technical textiles, nonwovens and processing technologies for textile and flexible materials.

Wearables and smart textiles magnets for visitors
Visitors delighted with the first catwalk show and its creative hybrids of fashion and technology

“Not only was there a fantastic atmosphere at the fair and in the sectors, the visitor standard was exceptional and there were more new products to be seen than ever before. Techtextil and Texprocess 2015 have shown themselves to be the undisputed centre for innovation in the field of high-tech fabrics, smart textiles and processing technologies”, said Detlef Braun, Member of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt.

The unexpected rail strike had less impact on visitor numbers than initially expected. This was thanks to the large number of international visitors who profited from a shuttle-bus service from Frankfurt Airport to the Exhibition Centre and back, which was organised at short notice in response to the situation. Many German visitors took their cars and used the additional parking facilities made available at the Exhibition Centre. However, a slight decline in the number of domestic visitors was inevitable. “The two trade fairs are more relevant than ever before and we welcomed more international visitors to Frankfurt. Moreover, the exhibitors confirmed the high standard and decision-making authority of trade visitors”, added Detlef Braun.

During a tour of the fair, Germany’s Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Brigitte Zypries, had the opportunity to learn about the numerous new products along the entire textile value chain. “Techtextil and Texprocess show that, even in the age of ‘Industrie 4.0’, textiles are the material from which the future is made. I am really impressed by everything to be seen here”, said Zypries during the official opening ceremony on Monday. “A wonderful example of this is a glove fitted with sensors that enables deaf-blind people to write text messages by pressure.”

Pic: Brigitte Zypries talked to the audience during the opening ceremony

All participants gave top marks for satisfaction with the two fairs. Thus, 95 percent (2013: 94 percent) of Texprocess visitors and 96 percent (2013: 96 percent) of Techtextil visitors rated their time there as having been well or very well spent. More than one in two visitors came from outside Germany.

The top visitor nations were, after Germany, Italy, France, Turkey, Great Britain, Poland, The Netherlands and Spain. Significant increases in visitor numbers were registered from, e.g., Egypt, Bangladesh, China, Portugal, Romania and Spain. According to the exhibiting companies, the economic outlook is very good: 94 percent (2013: 88 percent) rated the situation in the technical textiles and nonwovens sector as being satisfactory to good while the percentage for the processing industry for textiles and flexible materials reached no less than 96 percent (2013: 80 percent). In particular, German companies tended to be even more euphoric in comparison to 2013.

Smart Textiles, synergies and ‘Industrie 4.0’: the textile and apparel industry well equipped for the future

“The range of products and services at the 16th Techtextil and the 3rd Texprocess supplemented each other perfectly on this, the third occasion they have been held concurrently”, said Detlef Braun. With 1,389 exhibitors, an increase of 4.4 percent over the last edition of the fair in 2013, Techtextil presented the world’s biggest ever range of technical textiles and nonwovens. With 273 exhibitors[3], Texprocess, the Leading International Trade Fair for Processing Textile and Flexible Materials, extended the process chain significantly with a product spectrum stretching from design and cutting, via sewing, joining, embroidering and knitting, to finishing, textile printing, logistics and IT.

The range of technical textiles and nonwovens to be seen at Techtextil was once again characterised by the diversity of application areas. Thus, these innovative fibres are not only used in the agricultural, automotive, construction, apparel, energy and medical fields. “Without textiles and nonwovens, there would be virtually no trains unless passengers wanted to sit on bare metal”, said Eike Eberle, Vice President of Sioen Coated Fabrics, Shanghai.

For example, Techtextil exhibitors also presented synthetic fibres for covering stadiums or for truck / goods-wagon tarpaulins, as well as non-combustible glass-fibre mats for seats, flooring and luggage racks. In addition to multi-function jackets that can communicate, warm and illuminate, other highlights at Techtextil included embroidered electrodes for long-term ECGs, algae-based artificial snow, an artificial womb for premature babies and a maritime textile for cultivating kelp.

One of the top subjects at Texprocess was ‘Industrie 4.0’, i.e., fully-automatic, digitalised and decentralised production. “’Industrie 4.0’ has a great potential for the garment and leather technology sector, which needs fast and fully-integrated production processes to cater for the numerous collections”, said Dr Andreas Seidl, CEO of Human Solutions, one of the leading suppliers of 3D body-scanning systems.

In addition to cost optimisation, these new machines also save energy and are environmentally friendly. Accordingly, fully integrated sewing and fixing machines, as well as cloud-based 3D product development were among the new products to be seen at Texprocess. The significance of this subject was also underscored by Elgar Straub, Director General, VDMA Garment and Leather Technology: “The opportunities of ‘Industrie 4.0’ mean series production with batch size 1 will soon be reality for consumers.”

Germany’s next top apparel comes from Mönchengladbach

The 1st Innovative Apparel Show proved to be a magnet for all participants interested in new materials and processing technologies. Each show attracted around 500 trade visitors to the catwalk on all four days. “Unparalleled worldwide, this event showed new ways for this creative and imaginative sector. The universities and fashion schools involved presented fascinating and aesthetically pleasing hybrids of fashion and technical textiles made using manual and mechanical processing technologies”, explained Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles and Textile Technologies of Messe Frankfurt.

During the four days of the fairs, spectators were invited to vote for their favourites. The winner was Maria Valdez from Mönchengladbach, a student from Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, with a black and white dress made using ultra-sound welding technology. In addition to a new edition of the successful show in 2017, Schmidt also announced during the presentation that it would be opened to more international participants in the future.