Held every four years, ITMA has successfully established its position as a leading textile exhibition. The quality of exhibitors and visitors at the recently concluded ITMA 2011 reiterates the importance of the show despite many smaller shows happening around the world. With over 1,350 exhibitors from 45 countries and economies displaying latest technological products and innovative solutions and over 1,00,000 visitors from 138 countries registered for the eight-day event in Barcelona, of which over 90 per cent of the visitors came from outside of Spain, ITMA consolidated its supremacy as the prime show window for textile technology. Team Stitchworld highlights some innovative technologies on display…
The organizers of the event were extremely satisfied with the result as the international mix of visitors and buyers was very well received by exhibitors. “ITMA 2011 has surpassed our expectations. Considering that the world is still facing economic difficulties, the vast majority of our exhibitors are delighted with the quality and the number of visitors. According to our national associations, their members have reported significant enquiries and many have taken even more orders than they hoped for,” said Stephen Combes, President of CEMATEX, owners of the ITMA concept. “The textile and garment industry must be commended for its resilience and willingness to invest and to innovate. The sales and serious enquiries generated were greatly appreciated by the exhibitors,” he added.
The exhibitors not only showcased latest technology, but also demonstrated prototype of future developments, giving the visitors a vision of what to expect in the future. ITMA is not only about buying technology, but about updating and knowing the future of technology, which helps the industry to plan for growth. Innovative solutions and focus on sustainability were key themes at most booths.
From where the growth in the textile sector is coming was very well defined from the visitors’ profile and while Italy fielded the largest contingent of 9 per cent of visitors, the host country Spain and then India were the best represented. Some of the bigwigs of the Indian industry that StitchWorld met include Manish Mandhana of Mandhana Industries, Sudhir Dhingra of Orient Craft, Aman Agarwal of Bombay Rayon, Shekhar Agarwal of Maral Overseas, Dilip Jiwrajka of Alok Industries, Rajesh Mehra of Active Clothing, Rajesh Kabra of NRK Overseas to name a few.
For India, textiles is a growing industry with increased focus on technology. “ITMA 2011 demonstrated the finest of global excellence in textile manufacturing technology. India is emerging as the preferred base for textile manufacturing and Indian buyers were able to evaluate various machines for procurement during ITMA 2011. As a policy planner and in order to usher in India’s next leap into finer processing, finishing and a strong textile hub, it was particularly gratifying to be shown the finest technology in the world and a range of options at ITMA 2011,” said Rita Menon, Textiles Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, who led a high-level delegation that included the Joint Secretary (Textiles) and the Textile Commissioner.
While the textile segment was a hit, the newly introduced garment technology segment was a damp affair with no major brands participating. However, with its reputation as a textile technology fair it will take some time to be associated with garmenting.
