ITMA 2015 succeeded in having a breakthrough by hosting the biggest number of participation since the year 1951. The 17th ITMA that took place in Fiera Milano Rho, hosted 1.691 participants from 46 countries. The previous record belonged to ITMA organized in the year 2007 that had 1.451 participants from 38 countries.
ITMA’s owner the President of The European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers Online (CEMATEX) Charles Beauduin said: “ITMA has a name as a fair that is the most known among the textile and fabric technologies fairs. We are grateful for our industry partners and participants that put their faith in ITMA brand. ITMA’s key to success is its constantly renewing itself and staying connected to the industry it provides service.” ITMA 2015 organized the widest fair with 11 halls and net fair area of 108.000 square meters belonging to Fiero Milano Rho fair area. This is 20 percent bigger area than the fair in the year 2011. As it was in the previous years, the biggest participation came from the CEMATEX member countries. These countries reserved 73.830 square meters, which is the 69 percent of the total fair area. This figure increased by 11 percent since the year 2011. The biggest participation in terms of the reserved area was showed by Italy. Italian participants had an area of 32.540 square meters reserved. This country was followed by Germany with 21.380 square meters, Switzerland with 5.880 square meters and Spain with 4.540 square meters. Among the countries that are not members of CEMATEX, Turkey with 7.590 square meters, China with 5.880 square meters, India with 4.870 square meters and Japan with 3.960 square meters became the four countries that showed the widest participation. The countries that showed the biggest participation in ITMA 2015 were Italy (543 participants), Germany (238 participants), China (184 participants) and India (158 participants) respectively. ITMA 2015 fair was divided into 19 sections. The sectors varied as spinning, cheesecloth production, winding and texturization, weaving, knitting and sock knitting, embroidery and braiding, finishing, colorant and chemicals, software, logistics, production area operators, recycling, textile and fabric production training, printing, fiber and yarn.
THE MOST IMPORTANT FIVE FACTORS
Colorant and finishing, constituting 23 percent of the fair area with 303 participants. Yarn production, constituting 14 percent of the fair area with 290 participants. Weaving, constituting 12 percent of the fair area with 179 participants. Knitting and sock knitting, constituting 13 percent of the fair area with 128 participants. Printing, constituting 10 percent of the fair area with 113 participants.
THE FOCUS IS SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY
ITMA 2015’s focus was “Master in Sustainable Innovation Art”. Fair is not only a big technology activity but at the same time it gives support by focusing on the sustainability. Among these efforts to provide support, starting to give ITMA Sustainable Innovation Prizes, changing the name of Research and Education Tent into Research and Innovation Tent and sharing a lot of information that gives the message of sustainability can be considered as examples. CEMATEX still supports a lot of studies and educational institutes along with the grant it gave to Research and Innovation Tent for participation. Speakers Platform was organized at the central stage in the Tent between 15 and 17 November. A total of 43 subjects including sustainable innovation, success in innovation and technical textiles were introduced in this platform. Activity series that complement each other were organized to meet the needs of the textile and fabric industry professionals.
THE PARTICIPANTS LEFT FROM THE FAIR SATISFIED
American textile producers also visited ITMA. A participant who did not want to reveal his name transferred one of the sayings of these producers: “Now we have money to make investments.” Another person remarked a high number of orders were taken so as to increase the production of the company in the next months for machine accessories and to meet customer needs. There was a lot of commotion in all the halls with activities throughout most of the eight days, however the widened stands which display high-lined production lines and weaving hall are excluded. Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Service Departments of Picanol – which is the producer of textile weaving machines established in Belgium – Johan Verstraete said: “It was an excellent activity for us. We were quite surprised about the number of people that came here and the projects that were performed world-wide. Meanwhile, we saw a lot of Americans here. The companies that present the purchaser identities send bigger representatives. This is the sixth day of the fair but we are still unusually very busy.” Producer of the weaving machine founded in Italy, ITEMA’s CEO also made similar remarks. Carlo Rogoro said: “We are very happy to have our stand quite busy for the last couple of days. The textile sector is getting better in America. They are starting to make investments again.” On the topic of weaving machine producer German Dornier’s expectations from the fair, Authorized Vice President and CEO of American Dornier Peter Bust said: “We were very pleased with the number of Americans here. We had a lot of high quality and good visitors from America and all around the world.”
PRINTING IS A NEW SECTION
The printing section that was specially announced in ITMA 2015 generated a lot of new developments and attracted new participants. ITMA 2015 was satisfactory both in terms of organization and logistics as well as the number of customers that participated. Milano also hosted the previous ITMAs held in 1959, 1975, 1983 and 1995. The next ITMA will be held at Fira de Barcelona Gran Via in Barcelona between the dates 20 and 26 June 2019.
