This 8th European Conference on Protective Clothing will be organised by CITEVE - Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal, in association with the European Society of Protective Clothing (ESPC), the Federation of the European Union Fire Officer Associations (FEU), the Institute for Safety (IFV) and the European Safety Federation (ESF).

A three-day conference, in the unique setting of Porto city, will bring together industry innovators, technology providers, researchers, clusters and other actors from the protective clothing industry sector from across Europe next May.

The event will provide opportunities to explore, learn, share and do networking, through an attractive programme of presentations, posters and discussion sessions. The conference will embrace domains like integrated electronics/smart textiles, product safety, ergonomics, comfort, sustainability, regulatory aspects and, in addition to the regular ECPC/NOKOBETEF, a supplementary and important theme day dedicated to the needs of firefighters will contribute to the conference success.

“Protective clothing provides a vital role in workers safety, ergonomics and comfort and with the evolution of the smart textiles, such as the integration of wearable electronics, beyond physically protected, the workers could be monitored and alerted to various hazards, avoiding possible injuries,” organisers explain.

“As a result of this evolution, the arrival of smarter protective equipment and new wearable gadgets is making life safer and more productive for workers from several industries.”

The conference intends to be a platform to disseminate, to exchange and to discuss the results of research, project developments and implementation programmes related to protective clothing, with a strong focus on user protection and well-being, installing a dialogue between industries and academic organisations.

In addition, the purpose of the Firefighters Theme Day is to initiate interaction between end-users and scientists to create a better understanding of their worlds. Industrial partners can benefit from this to develop more task-specific products based on the functional needs of the end-users, organisers report.

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