Printing Growth
FESPA is a global federation of 37 national associations for the screen printing, digital printing and textile printing community. Founded in 1962, it organises the leading exhibitions and conferences for this community. FESPA's Exhibitions Director, Roz Guarnori, tells Subir Ghosh all about FESPA Global Print Expo 2018.
What, according to you, has been the growth story of the FESPA Global Print Expo since it was organised for the first time? On that count, could you also share some numbers in terms of participants, visitors, etc?
FESPA has certainly come a long way since the launch of its first exhibition in Paris in 1963. Originally formed as an exhibition for European screen printers, by 1973 the event started to grow its audience outside Europe, welcoming visitors from further afield including the US, Asia and South Africa.
With the evolution of digital printing, 2006 saw the launch of a dedicated FESPA Digital exhibition focusing on the emerging digital technologies in the signage and graphics market.
Moving forward, our flagship FESPA event has alternated with its sister event FESPA Digital, reflecting the growth in digital that has so dramatically reshaped and revitalised our sector over the last decade. In fact, FESPA Digital succeeded to the point where it was almost as significant a landmark in the print event calendar as the original FESPA, and feedback from both our visitors and exhibitors was that, as digital becomes a mature technology, they would prefer to see FESPA present one annual event, embracing both digital and analogue products as well as applications to reflect the diversity of their businesses.
It was because of this that we took the decision to make FESPA Global Print Expo an annual event for 2018 onwards providing the global speciality print community with one comprehensive, yearly destination event, covering all technologies, processes and applications.
FESPA Digital has therefore been replaced by this all-encompassing event, allowing exhibitors- screen and digital-to exhibit each year in line with their R&D timelines.
FESPA 2018 will be the first FESPA Global Print Expo in our new annual cycle.
A key indicator about how beneficial an event is for companies lies in the amount of business generated at an event like this. How have you been tracking this?
Of course, ROI is important for any exhibitor attending an event. We know from speaking with exhibitors that sales and high-quality leads are generated at the show. At FESPA 2017, for example, many exhibitors reported record sales at the event. Our visitor survey, also showed us that in 2017 we attracted an audience of senior decision makers with an intention to invest immediately. This level of sales and the high-quality audience led to us taking reservations onsite for almost 80 per cent of floor space for this year's FESPA 2018, requiring the addition of two further halls at Messe Berlin to meet exhibitor demand.
This response underlines the success of FESPA as a forum for meeting customers and prospects face-to-face, making concrete sales and developing business pipelines.
You don't have to take just my word for it-please see below a handful of quotes from our exhibitors following the FESPA 2017 exhibition:
Ronald van den Broek, General Manager Sales-EMEA: FESPA 2017 exceeded our expectations as it has done time and time again, and was our most successful FESPA ever. The theme for FESPA 2017 was "Dare to print different," and visitors from around the world came to the Mimaki stand with lots of great ideas for printing on innovative substrates and with different technologies. Most were introduced to solutions that would help them achieve their objectives. Whether they were looking to print on natural fibres, use sublimation inks for fast fashion or soft signage, find solutions that would allow them to repatriate outsourced processes, or move from conventional to digital printing, FESPA 2017-and the Mimaki stand-had answers.
Willy Van Dromme, Wide-Format Marketing Manager, Agfa Graphics: In terms of sales, Agfa Graphics experienced a successful FESPA 2017. The extension of our wide-format printer portfolio with UV LED technology drew a lot of visitors, as did the successful launch of our Avinci soft signage wide-format printer. We spoke to a lot of potential customers with real buying intentions, which confirmed that the market perceives us a reliable supplier of wide-format printing solutions.
Mark Lawn, Director, Canon Europe Graphic & Communications Group: FESPA 2017 has exceeded expectations for us. By Wednesday we had to reassess targets after outstanding sales across the portfolio. We've been especially blown away by the response and feedback we have had to the new Océ Colorado 1640, reconfirming how a game-changing technology like Canon UVgel is welcomed in the industry.
Oliver Luedtke, Head of Global PR, Kornit Digital: This edition marks another successful participation of Kornit Digital in FESPA and like fine wine, it keeps improving over time. FESPA goes to great lengths to keep growing its focus, its audience and its commitment towards its participants. Our figures don't lie-all efforts pay off. Our garment action really showed people the power of personalising textile anno 2017, and what the Kornit Digital solutions bring to the table. As a result, we closed our most successful edition to date, marking significant increase in lead generation and system sales. The feet may be tired, but our minds are still buzzing from the FESPA vibes.
Johan Bonner, Director, Squid: We came to this show to be discovered as an innovation. As it turns out, it was Squid that did the discovering. We were introduced to a vibrant community of visual experts all looking for solutions to lift this market to an even higher level. Participating in FESPA proved the invaluable jump-off we needed to reach an international and varied audience of customers, partners and distributors. We can hardly wait for FESPA 2018 in Berlin.
How much has the textiles world changed since the first time that FESPA Global Print Expo was held? Could you elaborate?
Today textile printing-both digital and screen-plays a big part in our FESPA exhibitions, covering fast fashion, soft signage, garment decoration, embellishment and décor. Until a decade ago, textile printing at FESPA shows was predominantly screen printing and garment decoration; however, more recently with the growth in digitally printed textiles, the take-up and growth in textile printing is huge.
We work hard to ensure we align our shows' features and content to the needs of the audience, reflecting developments within the industry. As digital textile makes an emergence, bringing more application possibilities to life for our visitors, we have reflected this in our offering.
The prevalence of textiles within FESPA has not been an overnight occurrence. FESPA ran its first FESPA Digital Textile Conference in Geneva in 2008 and the launch of a dedicated textile section in 2010-later rebranded as FESPA Textile-gave a specific home within FESPA to the garment printing and decorating community. Eight years on, FESPA remains the destination event for printers interested in everything from soft signage to garment printing, promotional wear to decorative textiles.
Now in 2018, this is reflected in the growing emphasis on textile within the halls of FESPA Global Print Expo 2018 in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 18 May 2018. Visitors will find the largest ever contingent of textile-related exhibits at any FESPA event to date, with over 150 exhibitors, including Aleph, Caldera, D. Gen, Dover, EFI, Epson, Kornit, M&R, Mutoh, OKI, Ricoh, and Roland, showcasing textile printing equipment, substrates, inks and consumables.
This time FESPA Global Print Expo will focus on 'Print Make Wear'. How significant is this in the present context?
The launch of our Print Make Wear feature reflects the significance of garment applications and the wider opportunity in printed textiles today. Our FESPA Print Census in 2015 identified textile printing as the dominant growth application among respondents. Twenty-seven per cent of participants stated that they were already involved in garment printing, with 81 per cent seeing growth in this segment, the highest of any growth applications. The findings also showed that digital was the key enabler, with over half of respondents expecting digitally produced garments to become an important alternative to traditional screen printing in the following two years.
Print Make Wear builds on this research replicating a fast fashion factory focusing exclusively on fashion textiles, garments and printed accessories. Taking the form of a live production environment this area will highlight every step in the screen and digital printing production process, from initial design to finished product. Visitors can gain inspiration, and a greater understanding of all processes -The Print Make Wear 'production line' will feature a screen-printing carousel, washing and drying equipment, digital direct-to-garment printing, cutting and sewing, as well as solutions for welding and embellishment. Contributing exhibitors include Brother, Coloro, Dekken, Falk & Ross, Gerber, Inedit, Juki, Magna Colours, MHM, Mimaki, Premier Textiles, Unik and Vastex amongst others, with design and technology experts on hand to explain each step of the fashion production process.
This unique area also offers a live fashion catwalk, with designs from FESPA Young Star of the Year Award winner Sandra Zomer. Visitors will be able to see the garments and accessories produced in the factory before their appearance on the catwalk.
In addition, visitors will be able to join daily Print Make Wear tours providing an informative introduction to all things textile. Industry experts will be on hand to guide attendees around software, colour management, textile and ink selection, printers, cutting tables, sewing, welding, folding and packing, DTG and screen SFX.
Further information on this important growth area can be found within the Print Make Wear fashion and print trend presentations as well as the FESPA Trend Theatre which explores the growing sectors of décor, digital textile, signage, industrial and digital print for packaging.
Print Make Wear will appeal to both experienced textile printers and PSPs looking for areas to diversify into a real, fast fashion environment. The interactive feature will bring together collaborators from all areas of the printed fashion sector, including brand owners, designers, garment printers and producers, to explore the latest production possibilities, exchange experiences and to share knowledge. We will also be announcing the findings from our second Print Census during the course of the event and it will be interesting to see how textile printing is developing.
For any visitor with an interest in textile printing, Print Make Wear is a "must visit" at FESPA 2018.
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