Techtextil 2024 Frankfurt prepares for digital-driven textile growth

Techtextil 2024 is scheduled to open its doors in Frankfurt in just under three months, from April 23 to 26, 2024. In conjunction with the concurrent Texprocess, there will be a total of over 1,600 exhibitors from around 50 countries at the event.

This is a positive development because the transformation of the textile sector has taken on a completely new dimension. Something that sounded like science fiction yesterday is already a tangible business model. In this connection, digitalisation and networking have a major role to play. Accordingly, these are the very subjects on focus in 2024.

A panel discussion at the international Techtextil and Texprocess press conference on January 11 2024 offered a foretaste, the organiser Messe Frankfurt said.

Panel Discussion: How digitalisation is driving growth

Sustainability, supply chains, new regulations and a shortage of skilled labour: how can digitalisation help overcome today’s challenges? What are the latest developments? And what does the digital future of the textile industry look like? These were the main themes of the panel discussion entitled ‘From yarns to smart textiles – how digitalisation is driving growth’. Chaired by Zackes Brustik, the panellists – Prof. Thomas Gries (Head of the Institute for Textile Technology (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University), Elgar Straub (Director General of VDMA Textile Care, Fabric & Leather Technologies) and Olaf Schmidt (Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt) – discussed opportunities, risks and new achievements in the sector.

The members of the panel agreed: the market is ripe for digital disruption. Innovations that have long been technically possible, such as textile tagging systems for the circular economy, have become market relevant and are developing into a promising business model. However, time is of the essence. The pace of transformation must increase. And the solution is digitalisation coupled with interdisciplinary networking between companies and innovation hubs. For this reason, too, international platforms such as Techtextil are gaining more and more in significance.

The place to be for innovations

"We don’t want to exaggerate. And there’s no need to do so. After all, it is a fact that Techtextil is unparalleled worldwide when it comes to the spectrum of products and services on show. Covering twelve areas of application, it is distinguished by an unrivalled spectrum of international market leaders, first movers and start-ups who use the world’s leading trade fair specifically to present their innovations to the world market or, in many cases, to launch them there. The range of products runs from fibres and yarns, nonwovens, composites and coated textiles to technologies for use in a variety of industries including automotive, fashion, medicine and construction," the organiser added.

Among the exhibitors this year are Concordia Textiles (Belgium), Datacolor (Belgium), Everest Textile (Taiwan), Franz Miederhoff (Germany), Groz-Beckert (Germany), Kuraray (Japan), Kusumgar Corporates (India), Outlast Technologies (Germany), Sandler (Germany), Tanatex Chemicals (Netherlands) and Textilcolor (Switzerland).

Winning Team: Techtextil & Texprocess

Held concurrently with Techtextil, the Texprocess trade fair presents the latest machinery, plant, processes and services for manufacturing garments, as well as textile and flexible materials. The spectrum of products to be seen stretches from sewing technology and materials, via embroidery, fixing, CAD/CAM and cutting systems, to recycling technologies and much more. Among the companies exhibiting at this leading international trade event are, for example, Assyst/Style3D (Germany), ASTAS (Turkey), Barudan Co., Ltd. (France), Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen (Germany), bullmer (Germany), Dürkopp Adler (Germany), IMA (Italy), Kai Corporation (Japan), Morgan Tecnica (Italy), natific (Switzerland), Orox Group (Italy) and Tajima Industries (Japan).

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)