TECHTEXTIL

The Techtextil exhibition held in May became the largest in the entire history of the project. It was possible to get acquainted with all possible areas of application of textile materials and technologies of their manufacture. The exhibitors showed their achievements and the latest developments, such as fluorescent clothing and heated clothing, airbags for construction workers, textile-reinforced concrete with built-in sensors and much more.

The leading international exhibition of technical textiles and nonwovens Techtextil this time hosted 1 477 exhibitors from 55 countries of the world.

"This year we are holding the largest exhibition in our history. The increase in the number of participants reflects the growth in the number of manufacturers of technical textiles. The exhibition demonstrates a huge range of applications of technical fabrics: from the automotive industry, architecture and medicine to the manufacture of sportswear. This proves the high innovative potential of the textile industry," said Detlef Braun, Member of the Board of Messe Frankfurt GmbH at the opening ceremony.

423 exhibitors from Germany and 1 054 –  from other countries presented their products at Techtextil. For the first time, the exhibition was visited by representatives of Lebanon, Mexico and Vietnam. Companies from fourteen countries (Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Great Britain, USA) have placed stands in thematic pavilions. There was a significant increase in the number of participants from Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, China and India.

Some companies, being the undoubted leaders of the international market in their niche, demonstrated products that have no analogues in the whole world. In addition, several German startups and young companies presented their new textile developments in the special zone "thinsp;– Hall 6.1. Messe Frankfurt organized this zone in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy of Germany for the seventh time.

The guest of honor of Techtextil this year was Dr. Reinhold Ewald, astronaut of the European Space Agency ESA and professor of astronautics and space stations at the University of Stuttgart. "If the task is to reduce the weight of a space capsule, then high-tech fiber-based materials are simply necessary. In these cases, each additional gram increases costs. Functional textiles can even save the lives of astronauts, he noted.

The shows of innovative clothing, which successfully started at the exhibitions Techtextil and Texprocess in 2015, this time took place twice a day on a special platform between the pavilions. Fashion and design universities from Germany, France, Italy and Portugal took part in the show. Young designers showed fashionable designs using all the possibilities of technical fabrics.

On the first day of the exhibition, 8 winners of the 14th Textile Innovation Award were selected. They presented new developments in the field of technical textiles, nonwovens and fabrics for functional clothing. Visitors could see the works of the nominees and winners on a separate podium.

TEXPROCESS

Texprocess – international exhibition of technological textiles and flexible materials, equipment and services for the production of textile and elastic materials. Texprocess is performed simultaneously with Techtextil.

At the exhibition, it became clear that the degree of interaction between man and machine has reached a new level. This year, 312 exhibitors from 36 countries came to Texprocess. Special emphasis was placed on digital textile printing. Some companies presented micro-factories of digital printing on fabric to the public for the first time, demonstrating the capabilities of their machines right on the stands. It is worth noting the developments of the company Epson. The Envision printer from Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH also attracted the attention of visitors. A whole process unfolded before their eyes: a specific pattern was applied to the fabric, then it was fixed, the fabric was sewn and a ready-made T-shirt, bag or other product was received.

It is significant that the emphasis was placed on the development of new types of production. The behavior of visitors has also changed, many of whom came not with specific questions, but with a desire to study current trends and get an idea of the numerous innovations and additional opportunities of the textile industry. The technical specialists of the AMANN laboratory tried to help clients in finding innovative and individual approaches and to choose the most successful way to solve individual tasks. This suggests that there is a rethinking of the usual processes.

At the exhibition, it was possible to look into the future of clothing production: to see firsthand the scanning of customer sizes, automatic cutting of parts, rapid sewing and embroidery of many parts of products at the same time.

At the exhibitions, a survey of visitors was conducted on the topic of the economic climate in the industry. According to 33% of Texprocess visitors, the current economic situation can be described as good. In most cases (42%), visitors to the exhibition rated the situation with the highest score. 96% of visitors to the exhibition Techtextil said that they were very satisfied with the results of the trip to Frankfurt. For Texprocess, this indicator is even higher than 97%.

The following exhibitions Techtextil and Texprocess will be held in Frankfurt am Main from May 14 to 17, 2019.