Please tell us history of ITMA, which is considered the most important textile machinery show on earth, when was it started and how did it become so successful show?
Held every four years in Europe since 1951, ITMA is the world’s largest international textile and garment technology exhibition. An innovation platform, textile machinery makers and other solution providers often use ITMA as the exhibition to launch their new or enhanced technologies and products.
Owned by CEMATEX, ITMA is considered the Olympics of textile machinery exhibitions. It holds a key position in strengthening the textile and garment machinery industry, offering vertically-integrated manufacturing solutions to textile and garment makers, as well as brand owners.
Over the years, ITMA has remained relevant to the needs of the industry by expanding and refining its product index, as well as introducing initiatives that are meaningful to the industry. ITMA’s unique selling proposition of only allowing IP owners to exhibit, live machinery demonstrations and organising exhibits into sectors for easy sourcing will continue to be useful features to the industry.
Please tell us about the preparation of this year’s ITMA in Milan? This time is a bit tougher than any other time that we have gone through, we watched a worldwide pandemic and we are also witnessing one of the heaviest crises in Europe with Russian war against Ukraine, in its perspective, please say a few words.
We are glad that preparations are progressing smoothly. Despite the pandemic, exhibition space has been fully booked by over 1,600 exhibitors from 44 countries. Visitor registration is now open and we look forward to welcoming textile professionals from over 100 countries to the exhibition in Milan.
Amid the global challenges, we would like to bring greater value to our participants’ experience. To encourage entrepreneurship, we have a new initiative – Start-Up Valley to share novel technologies and solutions with the textile industry.
We have also introduced ITMAconnect, the world’s largest directory of textile machinery manufacturers, to help visitors better plan their visit by exploring exhibitors’ and scheduling meetings before the exhibition.
What will be the strongest part of this 2023 ITMA? Any particular field of textile will see any ground breaking innovative products?
The theme of ITMA 2023 is Transforming the World of Textiles. It is underscored by four trending topics: automation and digital future, advanced materials, sustainability and circularity, and innovative technologies.
As the world is pivoting to digital and there are urgent demands for sustainable solutions, innovative textile technology that will help textile manufacturers transform digitally and automate processes will be on display. These technologies will be featured across sectors, from spinning to knitting, weaving, finishing, garment making and more. It will be difficult to pinpoint specific sectors.
What is your expectation about this event? In terms of exhibitors and their sales volume as well visitors in terms of orders, may be in compare with last ITMA event.
As the exhibition is held every four years, ITMA is highly anticipated as many new innovations are launched at each edition. Besides sales and orders, the collaboration and networking among different stakeholders will help to drive the textile industry forward in terms of modernisation and sustainability. The response from exhibitors is excellent and we expect visitors will also be eager to visit ITMA, especially after the pandemic.
Just out of curiosity, I wish to ask you why ITMA always taking place in Europe? Why not in other continent? Any plan in future?
ITMA is owned by CEMATEX. It is held in Europe as we are made up of nine European national associations. We have an Asian version – ITMA ASIA. The Asian show is combined with an established Chinese exhibition, CITME. The ITMA ASIA + CITME series of exhibitions has been held in Shanghai every two years since 2008. We are always reviewing the market situation; if required, we will initiate new exhibitions to address evolving market needs.
From Bangladesh perspective, would you please tell me your expectations on number of visitors that they tend to visit ITMA in Milan this year. And what are the marketing tools that were used to attract visitors from Bangladesh.
We are hopeful that more visitors from Bangladesh will be at ITMA 2023 as there will be a lot of innovative technologies, especially in the areas of sustainability and modernisation, that can help manufacturers future proof their business.
Our outreach programme includes working with key industry organisations and inviting them to support our exhibition. We also have advertisements in the main textile publications, and leveraging various marketing channels, both digital and offline, to reach out to textile and garment manufacturers in your country.
Tell our readers how can one start the process if she/he wish to visit ITMA in Milan in June, 2023. And do you have any local solution provider, travel pack and boarding facility/booking agents, while they will stay in Milan.
Interested visitors must register online to buy a badge and request for an invitation letter to support their visa application. They should also book their accommodation as soon as possible. If they do not have a preferred travel agent in Bangladesh, they can approach our official travel agent, MiCodmc or visit https://book.micodmc.it/itma2023.
Please share any messages you wish to tell our readers.
As ITMA 2023 will be the first large-scale textile and garment machinery exhibition to be held post-pandemic, the entire industry is excited to be meeting again face-to-face and to seek out innovative solutions to be more competitive. With exhibition space sold out, we can expect a very exciting showcase that should not be missed.
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