Following its new focus on textile markets, the European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association (ESMA) is launching a brand new event to explain and inspire change within the industry.

The Textile Printing and Sustainability (TPS) conference will take place on September 8-9 2022 at the Dorint Kongresshotel in Düsseldorf-Neuss, Germany, and welcomes all involved in automatisation, new business models and best environmental practices for textile applications.

“According to the European Environmental Agency, textiles have the region’s fourth largest climate impact, behind only the food, housing and transport industries,” explains Peter Buttiens, CEO of ESMA.  “The average European throws away 11 kilograms of textiles every year and different international bodies are putting their weight behind changing this. The EU, for example, is introducing a digital product passport to boost the circular economy. This forms an incentive for every step of textile production and workflow, to stimulate creative reuse, recycling and repurposing of materials and end products.”

The TPS will examine all critical factors and global trends which influence textile market conditions today and in the near future – customer-made fashion, responsible businesses, quality concerns, customisation and personalisation. The event will assemble industry experts from two main printing processes – screen and inkjet – to promote best practices, discuss new application fields and explain benefits and challenges of individual technology choices.

In total, 40 presentations are scheduled on two conference tracks, accompanied by a networking section with more than 40 tabletops representing key industry and academia players. The programme will cover the entire supply chain and workflow, involve manufacturers of products for fabric handling and the printing process itself, as well as printers, cutters, sewers, value added resellers and brand owners.

“As natural resources diminish and the climate crisis grows acute, the question of more sustainable textile industry occupies the entire world,” says ESMA partner and industry veteran Thomas Poetz. “Proposed solutions include changes in supply chains, the development of new fibres and chemistry processes, as well as digitalisation.

“According to one calculation, up to 790 billion litres of water could be saved annually if all textile printing moved from analog to digital. Similar reductions can be achieved with innovative dyeing processes. And there are of course other potential savings in areas such as energy, transport or waste production. With the TPS conference we are setting up a platform for the industry and research centres so that sustainable networks can develop.”

www.esma.com