ITMA 2023 Brings Textile Machinery and Apparel Industry Together in Milan
The global textile industry, which recovering from the impact of the pandemic, came together at the ITMA 2023 held in Milan between 8-14 June. The exhibition, where 1709 exhibitors from 47 countries exhibited their latest technologies, was visited by 111 thousand people from 143 countries.
The 19th edition of ITMA, one of the world’s largest textile and apparel technology exhibitions , was held at the Fiera Milano Rho Fair Center in Italy. The companies participating in the 7-day fair, which was organized with the slogans of “Transforming the Textile World” and “Shaping the Future”; exhibited their solutions on advanced materials, automation and the digital future, innovative technologies, sustainability and circularity.
Spreading over a net exhibition area of 118,300 m2, ITMA 2023 Exhibition hosted production technologies, raw materials and new machinery. Buyers had the opportunity to see the newly launched machines and products from 20 product sectors that will help their businesses’ digital and sustainable transformation.
Turkey Becomes the Third Country with the Most Participants
As in the past ITMA fairs, exhibitors from the European Textile Machinery Manufacturers Committee (CEMATEX) countries continued to have a strong presence in the fairground. A total of 867 exhibitors from CEMATEX countries covered 63% of the net exhibition area. The largest number of participants came from Italy. Italian companies that are members of ACIMIT (Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers Association) covered 30% of the space. The next biggest group of exhibitors came from Germany. A total of 198 German exhibitors booked 15% of the space. The third largest group was from Turkey with 191 exhibitors taking up 12% of the space. Exhibitors from other non-CEMATEX countries with sizeable participation are China (7% of space with 231 exhibitors) and India (6% of space with 181 exhibitors).
The top five sectors in terms of participation are finishing (27% of exhibit space), spinning (13%), weaving (10%), printing (12%) and knitting (10%). Although not in the top sectors, the recycling and software sectors have attracted great interest. In this edition, both sectors have seen a doubling of exhibit space.
Most Visitors Came From Italy
ITMA 2023 attracted decision-making industry leaders and influential entrepreneurs who recognised the exhibition’s significance in shaping the textile industry’s future. With an overwhelming response, the exhibition was attended by a diverse and enthusiastic visitorship of over 111,000 from 143 countries. The top six visitor arrival countries are Italy (29%), followed by Turkey, India and Germany (6% each), France (4%) and Brazil (3%).
Ernesto Maurer, President of CEMATEX said: “This edition has been a great success with the visitorship higher than the previous exhibition in 2019. At this ITMA, the transformation journey toward digitalisation and sustainability has taken a huge leap forward. It has been a mega gathering with the presence of stakeholders of the entire textile and garment making ecosystem. CEMATEX associations and their member companies, as well as all other exhibitors, are delighted with the results as the exhibition has surpassed all our expectations.”
Mr. Federico Pellegata, director of ACIMIT, noted: “The results of Milan edition confirmed ITMA as the most important showcase for world textile machinery industry. It was a great success, judging from the quality of visitors in attendance, and many Italian exhibitors have secured contracts and sold their machines.”
Hosted Delegations of India and Uzbekistan
The 19th edition of the world’s largest textile and garment technology exhibition also drew the participation of several delegations and supporting organisation groups. Among many officials and government representatives, ITMA 2023 hosted high-level country delegations from two of the major textile producing countries, India and Uzbekistan.
Sustainable Innovation Awards Found Owners
And, reiterating ITMA’s spotlighting of innovation, event organisers announced the winners of its Sustainable Innovation Awards at the press conference. The winner of ITMA’s Research and Innovation Award was Philipp Benjamin Weigel for his thesis on numerical simulation of profiled yarns. The Industry Excellence Award was given to Candiani for its Candiani Custom solution.
Address of ITMA 2027: Hannover
The addresses of ITMA 2027 and ITMA Asia + Citme were also announced at the press conference. ITMA 2027 will be held in Hannover, Germany between 16-22 September 2027. ITMA Hannover Fair was held in 1991 for the last time. Dr Janpeter Horn, Chairman, VDMA Textile Machinery, said: “ITMA 2023 is one of the few international shows that did not suffer a drop in the number and quality of visitors after the pandemic. This speaks volumes about the brilliance of ITMA! The Milan exhibition has set the benchmark for ITMA 2027 in Hanover. We are eager and confident to continue ITMA’s success story 36 years after it has been hosted there.”
ITMA Asia + Citme 2025 will be held in Singapore
At the official ITMA press conference, organisers announced the show owners of ITMA ASIA + CITME had extended their collaboration to organise the combined textile machinery exhibition in a second Asian location. The combined exhibition has been held biennially in Shanghai since 2008 but show owners CEMATEX and its Chinese partners CTMA and CCPIT-Tex have selected Singapore to host the exhibition in 2025. ITMA Asia + Citme will be held in Singapore on October 28-31, 2025.
Ernesto Maurer, President of CEMATEX, said: “We have successfully held seven editions of ITMA ASIA + CITME in Shanghai. As part of our strategy to support the aspirations of local manufacturers in South Asia, South East and the Middle East to modernise their operations, we are augmenting the series with a second location in Asia to better reach out to the textile hubs in these regions.”
Gu Ping, President of CTMA, said: “Asia is the world’s biggest textile manufacturer and exporter. We are delighted to extend our cooperation with CEMATEX to bring ITMA ASIA and CITME to other parts of Asia to support our members’ marketing efforts.”
