Techtextil, the leading international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens, opened its doors on Tuesday in Frankfurt and closed yesterday, counting 24,500 visitors* (2009: 23,902). Over half of the visitors to the show and its Material Vision cutting edge materials exposition are said to have come from outside of Germany, the world's leader in technical textiles.

The mood at Techtextil 2011 was extremely good with the main halls ‘buzzing' as business was conducted at over 1200 exhibitor stands. Most exhibitors and visitors we spoke to, said the show had been a really encouraging one, with most citing the promise of new and increased business from existing customers.

Buoyant Techtextil

On the afternoon of the second day, Techtextil Brand Manager Michael Jänecke, who was in buoyant mood, confirmed verbally that visitor numbers were up for the first day. At an afternoon presentation from the Taiwan Textile Research Institute, It was obvious from the smiling Mr Jänecke's demeanour that he was more than pleased with the optimistic mood at the show.

"Visitor numbers for the first day are up on the first day at the last Techtextil and my own feeling is that today is an even busier day. I can feel the buzz from the floor as I walk into each hall. It is a fantastic feeling, I am very happy with it," Mr Jänecke said.

Texprocess

Texprocess a new exhibition for textiles processing machinery and equipment, which ran concurrently at Messe Frankfurt, celebrated what the organisers are calling ‘a successful premiere' with 16,000 visitors*.

Hall 4.0, which housed Texprocess, did not seem quite as busy as the Techtextil halls, however stand size and layout together with high ceilings and wide aisles gave a more open and therefore less busy feeling. Many company's offering software and services also had stands which were far less visually cluttered than the ‘jam packed' technical textile product stands at Techtextil.

In Texprocess' hall 4.0 the enormous stands of the likes of Lectra and Assyst dominated, displaying lay planning and marking and cutting equipment of enormous proportions. Messe Frankfurt says it is very satisfied with the show's premiere and with visitor numbers.

New dates announced

Across the three events, a total number of 1561 manufacturers from 60 countries presented their innovations in technical textiles and nonwovens, as well as in the area of manufacturing and processing of apparel, to trade visitors from 107 countries.

This was a first time offering for such a range of products and the three events will return together again in two years time in Frankfurt:

Techtextil and Material Vision from 11 to 13 June 2013

Texprocess from 11 to 14 June 2013

Exhibitor breakdown

The ten leading exhibitor nations at Techtextil were Germany with 432 exhibitors, Italy with 110, France with 107, China with 67, Belgium with 52, United Kingdom with 46, Spain with 44, Switzerland with 38, Taiwan with 34 and the USA with 32 exhibitors.

The Techtextil exhibitors presented their products and services in eleven product groups spread over Halls 3.0, 3.1 and 4.1 of the Messe Frankfurt Festhalle exhibition centre. Additionally, twelve areas of application from Agrotech to Sporttech described potential uses for the individual products. According to Messe Frankfurt, the leading areas of application were Indutech, Mobiltech, Buildtech, Hometech and Protech, followed by Clothtech and Medtech.

Speakers presented the latest product, material and technological developments at the restructured Techtextil and Avantex Symposiums and at two promotional areas, young and innovative German companies showed their products to an international audience of trade visitors. This year, the participants came from the German states of Hesse, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Hamburg.

The ten Techtextil and Avantex Innovation Awards given this year underscore the creativity and potential for innovation in the sector. Techtextil also promotes young people with a total of twelve student projects being honoured at the 11th ‘Textile Structures for New Building' Student Competition, which is organised by Messe Frankfurt in cooperation with the TensiNet association.

*Including Techtextil visitors that also visited the Texprocess and vice-versa

Individual articles and reports on the above events will follow on Innovation In textiles over the next few weeks. Please subscribe below to receive news alerts when we publish more material.