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In 2017 Techtextil and Texprocess welcomed over 47,500 visitors. © Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jean-Luc Valentin

Sustainability at Techtextil and Sustainability at Texprocess are the two topics by which these leading international trade fairs for technical textiles and nonwovens, and for the processing of textile and flexible materials, will be explicitly turning their focus for the first time onto their exhibitors' approaches to sustainability. To this will be added a broad complementary programme on this topic. Among those contributing will be major players in the industry, such as Kering, Lenzing and Zalando.

Fibres made of recycled polyester, bio-based high-tech textiles, water-conserving dyeing and finishing processes, functional and work clothing, using little or no solvents and adhesives: in the field of technical textiles, and when processing textile and flexible materials, more and more firms are adopting approaches to greater sustainability.

Through Sustainability and Techtextil and Sustainability at Texprocess, the leading international trade fairs, which take place from 14-17 May, will be demonstrating these approaches taken by exhibitors. In addition, numerous event formats will be taking up the topic of sustainability at both fairs. 

Fair guide for selected exhibitors

In the run-up to Techtextil and Texprocess exhibitors at both fairs were able to submit their approaches and evidence of their work on every aspect of sustainability to the fairs' organisers. An independent, international jury of experts on sustainability assessed the submissions, in accordance with the relevance and validity of current national and international product-sustainability labels, such as currently mainly Bluesign, Cradle-to-Cradle, EU Eco Label, ISO 14001, GOTS, GRS, as well as SteP by Oeko-Tex.

Overall, 47 firms were selected, including 44 exhibitors at Techtextil and three at Texprocess. Visitors who are interested will find the selected firms in their own Fair Guide, which will be available at the Fair, via filter function under Sustainability in the online visitor search facility, and on both fairs' apps. In addition, the exhibitors so selected will be publicising their participation at their exhibition stands. 

Functional webs for clothing. © Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jean-Luc Valentin

Members of the international jury of experts include: Chairman Max Gilgenmann, Consulting Service International (Germany and China); Claudia Som, Empa (Switzerland); Jan Laperre, Centexbel (Belgium); Heike Illing-Günther, Textile Institute of Saxony (Sächsisches Textilinstitut e.V., Germany); Karla Magruder, Fabrikology (USA); and Lauren Zahringer, SAC Social Apparel Coalition (Netherlands).

Techtextil Forum featuring theme of sustainability

Taking Towards sustainability as its motto, the Techtextil Forum on 14 May will be providing a series of contributions devoted exclusively to sustainable textile innovations. Chaired by Braz Costa, Managing Director of the Portuguese technology centre CITEVE, among the topics on the programme will be: textile recycling (TWD Fibres, Velener Textil), sustainable construction with wool (Minet, Romania), sustainable textile coatings (Centexbel), biopolymers (RWTH Aachen University), traceability of GMO-free cotton (Hohenstein Institute) and low-cost, bio-based carbon fibres (Jules Verne Research Institute, France).

Techtextil Innovation Award

For the first time, the Techtextil Innovation Award will be presented to two firms in the category of sustainability. The winners will be announced and the awards presented on the first day of the fair during the opening ceremony. During the whole time of the fair visitors will also be able to find out about the prize-winners and their award-winning projects at the Techtextil Innovation Award Exhibition Area in Hall 4.2.

Texprocess Forum with branch of Fashionsustain Conference

Through a branch of Fashionsustain Berlin, Messe Frankfurt's conference on every aspect of sustainable textile innovations, the Texprocess Forum on the morning of the 14 May will be devoted exclusively to the theme of sustainability in the textile and fashion industries in all its aspects.

Texprocess Forum 2017. © Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera

The first keynote, Sustainable innovation – a matter of survival, will come from Micke Magnusson, co-founder of the Swedish start-up We are Spindye. Next, posing the question Is Sustainability the Key to Textile Innovations?, will come a discussion by leaders in the industry, such as Clariant Plastics and Coatings, Indorama, Lenzing, Perpetual Global, Procalçado, Kering, and Zalando. Fashionsustain will be chaired among others by Karla Magruder, founder of Fabrikology International.

Innovation Roadshow features sustainable footwear production

Next at the Fashionsustain Conference fibre manufacturer Lenzing, knitting-machinery producer Santoni and shoe-component manufacturer Procalçado will be presenting the Innovation Roadshow, entitled The Future of Eco-Conscious Footwear Manufacturing.

The roadshow will be supported by the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network. It will feature examples of the sustainable production process of a shoe, thus demonstrating how a fundamental change to sustainability can already be a reality in the fashion and textile industries today. The panel will be chaired by Marte Hentschel, founder of Sourcebook, the B2B network for the fashion industry.

In 2017 Techtextil and Texprocess welcomed a total of 1,789 exhibitors from 66 countries and over 47,500 visitors from 114 countries. At the coming event over 1,800 exhibitors from a total of over 60 countries and more than 47,500 visitors from more than 100 nations are expected.

www.techtextil.messefrankfurt.com

www.texprocess.messefrankfurt.com