The second World Textile Summit (WTS), which is scheduled for 13 November 2015, and co-located with ITMA 2015 in Milan, will explore sustainability strategies that create business value in the textile manufacturing value chain.

In line with the key themes of ITMA 2015, WTS 2015 will seek to answer sustainability questions that matter to the industry's strategic decision-makers:

• What return should I expect from capital investment in resource-efficient technologies?
• How do I establish and monitor a sustainable supply chain?
• What are the market opportunities that arise from a strategy based on clean production and sustainable materials?
• How do I manage the risks to corporate reputation?

WTS 2015 aims to be a unique one-day event that brings together the world's most influential textile leaders to debate issues of strategic importance to the global industry.

Charles Beauduin, President of CEMATEX, owner of the ITMA exhibition, said: "ITMA 2015 will be an opportunity for manufacturers to view and compare the latest in resource-efficient textile technologies. Such investments take place against a policy background where senior decision-makers have to consider their sustainability strategies against corporate objectives. World Textile Summit 2015 will help to place sustainability in its context as a key component of value creation in any business.”

Programme development will be assisted by an advisory panel that currently includes:

Jason Kibbey, Executive Director of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition; Jonas Eder-Hansen, Programme Director of the Nordic Initiative Clean & Ethical; LaRhea Pepper, Managing Director of Textile Exchange; Patrick Laine, CEO of the Better Cotton Initiative; Baroness Young of Hornsey, Chair of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, and Ambassador for the Ethical Fashion Forum and MADE-BY; and Saskia Hedrich, Senior Knowledge Expert, Apparel Fashion & Luxury, at McKinsey & Co.

Eileen Ng, Project Director of ITMA 2015, said: "With almost 16 months still to go, WTS 2015 is already attracting strong support from the broader textile community. We are very pleased to have the Textile Institute and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition on board as our supporting partners.”

Leading textile machinery companies SPGPrints, MS Italy and Oerlikon have also confirmed their sponsorship of the event, as has the sustainable-manufacturing specialist bluesign technologies.

The high-level business forum is a joint initiative by ITMA owners CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, in partnership with World Textile Information Network Ltd (WTiN) and the Singapore-based exhibition organiser, MP Expositions Pte Ltd.

It sets out to deliver an inspirational, forward-looking agenda, comprising expert presentations and interactive panel discussions, designed to offer a global perspective on the opportunities and challenges that face the textile industry. Its first edition took place at ITMA 2011 in Barcelona, when the keynote speaker was the former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

ITMA, the world's largest international textile and garment machinery show, is recognised as the 'Olympics' of the textile and garment machinery industry. Held every four years at different venues across Europe, it is owned by CEMATEX, the European textile machinery manufacturers association.

www.worldtextilesummit.com