High-Tex from Germany made a guest appearance at Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas in Atlanta for the second time last week. At the special exhibition organised by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, in cooperation with the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, a total of 66 companies presented technical textiles, nonwovens, textile-processing machines, smart textiles and textile-research projects to the trade visitors.

The textiles sector made its first appearance in the USA in 2000. This was followed by highly successful presentations in Shanghai in 2002, in Mumbai in 2007 and in Moscow in 2012. “Taking High-Tex from Germany to Atlanta again was a very good decision,” said Detlev Rünger, German Consul General in Atlanta.

“The southeast of the USA has a long tradition of textile manufacturing. It is home to many companies that are always on the lookout for innovative textiles and machines for textile production and processing.”

Good platform

“Fairs bring people together. And this was evident here in Atlanta. With the overseas exhibition programme, we give small to medium-sized companies the chance to show their products in foreign markets,” said Patrick Specht of the Trade Fair Policy and EXPO Participations division of the BMWi.

“High-Tex from Germany within the framework of Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas was a very good platform for our small to medium-sized companies. After Techtextil and Texprocess in Frankfurt, these two events are the second-most important editions of the trade-fair duo. ‘High-Tex from Germany’ came fully up to our expectations and anyone who failed to take part missed a great opportunity to be noticed,” added Marc Lorch, Member of the Board of Zwissler Holding, who represented the participating companies as exhibitor president.

In addition to the appealing exhibition-stand concept and the excellent organisation, the companies taking part were particularly pleased with the high visitor standard. “We regularly exhibit at Techtextil North America but taking part in High-Tex for Germany resulted in our best ever day at a fair here. The pavilion is a real eye-catcher,” said Thomas Wiederer, Area Sales Manager, Brückner Textile Technologies.

Cultivating customer relations

Besides gaining new customers, the focus of the companies taking part in High-Tex from Germany was on cultivating customer relations. “The German pavilion in Atlanta once again gave us a good opportunity to get to know the US market better. We have had a factory in the vicinity of Atlanta for two years now and aim to expand our network in the long term,” said Ronny Schröder, Associate Sales Director Technical and Comfort Products, Sandler.

“We like making presentations within the framework of the German pavilion very much”, added Georg Voggenreiter, Technical Sales, Maschinenfabrik Herbert Meyer. “Once again, High-Tex from Germany was a good starting point for cultivating contacts with our customers in the USA.”

The companies taking part in High-Tex from Germany made their presentations on around 1,300 square metres of exhibition space with their own exhibition stands, with selected exhibits on a central Plaza, in guided tours and no less than 35 lectures. Additionally, the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research, the Association of the Finishing, Yarns, Woven Fabrics and Technical Textiles Industry, the Tübingen-Reutlingen-Zollernalb location agency and the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern US provided insights into current research projects and offered information about the sector.

www.high-tex-from-germany.de