“The Willingness of Turkish Companies to Embrace New Technologies Encourages Us”

Monforts Area Sales Manager Thomas Päffgen emphasizes that Türkiye is increasing its strategic importance with its integrated production structure and growing capacity in technical textiles, while highlighting that Monforts contributes strongly to this transformation with its energy-efficient, digitalized, and sustainability-focused technologies.

Monforts, a company distinguished by its deep-rooted engineering heritage in textile finishing technologies, further solidified its strong market position in 2025 with its high-performance, long-lasting, and energy-efficient solutions. The Turkish market, with its integrated value chain, skilled workforce, and growing expertise in technical textiles, continues to be of strategic importance to the company. In an interview with Tekstil Teknoloji magazine, we discussed Monforts’ 2025 strategies, innovative solutions for technical textiles, and its perspective on the Turkish market with Thomas Päffgen. Päffgen stated that Türkiye holds a significant position in global competition thanks to its integrated value chain—from fiber to garment—strong technical know-how, and export experience. He also noted that investments in modern coating, drying, and digital control technologies provide manufacturers with higher added value and sustainable competitive advantages.

How was 2025 for Monforts? How would you evaluate your performance in global markets in terms of order intake, production capacity, and customer investments?

Order intake, production capacity and customer investments all remained solid for us, but it was a challenging year for the textile industry in some respects, not least because of the new US tariff policies and the uncertainties and interruptions they caused.

Türkiye’s specific difficulties due to rising production costs and intensified competition in 2025 have been well documented, but nevertheless, we have been encouraged by the readiness of forward-thinking companies to adopt the latest technologies in order to gain competitive advantages.

Türkiye remains the bridge between Europe and Asia and one of the enduring strengths of its textiles and apparel sector is its deeply integrated value chain, spanning from fibre production through to garment manufacture within a tightly connected domestic ecosystem. The industry also benefits from a skilled workforce, strong technical know-how and decades of export experience, alongside established capabilities in home textiles, denim and increasingly technical and performance fabrics.

While preserving its strong engineering heritage, what strategic priorities has Monforts been focusing on recently to adapt to the rapidly changing global textile market?

Our machines are built to last and known for their robustness and long service life and textile companies making major capital investments in new manufacturing lines rely on durability from our production ranges. It’s for this reason that there are currently so many Monforts machines in operation worldwide and some of them were first installed over 30 years ago. In addition to supplying new machines, our services increasingly extend to the retrofitting of specific modules with new control and drive technology – going far beyond the basic replacement of spare parts – which can have a significant impact on the performance of an existing line.

We are also committed to investing in the digitalization of our technology, with concepts which assure advanced quality control and energy monitoring. Apps to help customers further optimise day-to-day and remote running of the machines are also under preparation and we are working with business partners and textile producers across all industries to use AI to increase operational efficiency and transform the customer experience.

Energy efficiency and sustainability play a central role in Monforts’ machine development strategy. What are the most notable technological innovations you have introduced in this area recently?

Monforts is constantly working on improving the energy consumption of its machines. Heat recovery systems and dual heating options already provide the opportunity to achieve significant energy savings and we are currently exploring the use of green hydrogen as a future energy source, which could prove game changing.

“By Focusing On Innovation and Quality, We Have Strengthened Both Our Reputation and Customer Loyalty in the Turkish Market”

New solutions such as VertiDry have attracted attention, particularly for technical textiles and coated fabrics. What production advantages do these systems offer, and what are your expectations for this product group?

Along with the new VertiDry vertical dryer, our innovations in minimal application techniques such as the Eco Applicator and MontexCoat are setting benchmarks for sustainable finishing. By focusing on innovation and quality, we’ve strengthened both our reputation and customer loyalty in the Turkish market. Specifically for the technical textiles market, the MontexCoat is a multifunctional coating line which offers versatility with knife coating, magnet roller coating, rotary screen printing and other applications. As a fully automatic machine, it fully caters to customers who require such flexibility. For clients only using knife coating, Monforts has also launched the more cost-effective coaTTex coating line.

It is notable that Türkiye’s technical textiles sector maintained growth in both value and strategic importance in 2025 and manufacturers benefited here from their proximity to European manufacturers seeking shorter, more reliable supply chains, particularly for just-in-time industrial inputs. At the same time, ongoing investment in modern coating and finishing technologies is enabling manufacturers to move further up the value chain and reinforcing margins, even as price competition intensifies elsewhere.

Flagship products such as Montex stenters and Thermex continuous dyeing systems are well known in the market. How do these solutions respond to today’s textile manufacturers’ challenges in terms of cost pressure, quality requirements, and production flexibility?

Montex stenters and Thermex dyeing systems are the industry standards for the fabric dyeing and finishing industry, particularly in the sectors of denim, home textiles and technical textiles, providing a number of advantages in terms of production throughput and especially in energy efficiency and savings. These machines remain unmatched in terms of their robustness and long service life, as well as resource-efficient productivity.

For over 40 years, Monforts machines have been manufactured at Montex Maschinenfabrik based in St. Stefan, Austria, and while there is standardisation in our series-produced machines, we are increasingly called upon to construct bespoke machines with unique designs, according to the special needs of customers in technical textile or special textiles.

How does Monforts’ Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) create added value for your customers? How do you measure the practical impact of the testing and R&D activities carried out there?

Since its opening in 2013 the ATC has proved an invaluable resource to customers for achieving new standards in fabric finishing. As such, it is now pivotal to our operations. Over an area of 1,200 square metres, it houses two full Montex finishing lines, engineered to accommodate an extremely diverse range of processes, in addition to a Thermex range for the continuous dyeing of denim and other woven fabrics, a full colour kitchen and a number of lab-scale systems for smaller batch trials.

The ATC allows our customers to test their own technical fabrics under fully confidential, industrial production conditions. Using the results from these trials, we are also able to make recommendations for improving many fabric finishes.

Your investments and activities in Asia and India are particularly noteworthy. How would you summarize your growth strategy and market expectations for these regions?

Monforts has established a strong foothold in all of the growing markets in Asia which are all subject to the ups and downs of the global market, in addition to specific internal challenges and opportunities at differing times.  Our growth has been consistent across key sectors, supported by a strong distribution network, localised solutions and partnerships with domestic firms. Monforts was also early in recognising the future significance of global communication with customers, having first introduced our teleservices from Germany back in the 1990s, and this remains central to our global reach and service.

“ITM is a Trade Exhibition We Absolutely Must Attend”

How do you view the Turkish market in terms of textile finishing technologies? How do you assess the role of existing installed lines, new investments, and exhibitions such as ITM 2026 in this market?

Even at the height of last year’s cost inflation and currency volatility, Turkish producers have demonstrated an ability to adapt product mixes, upgrade technology and maintain quality standards aligned with international compliance requirements. This combination of integration, flexibility, technical competence and logistical advantage remains the structural foundation of the country’s competitiveness, positioning it to respond dynamically to shifting global sourcing strategies.

ITM is a ‘must-attend’ exhibition for us and we are greatly looking forward to meeting customers old and new at ITM 2026 from June 9-16, to discuss our latest technology developments and services. We will be in Hall 11 at stand 117D at the Istanbul show, along with Neotek, our regional partner for service, installation and commissioning, providing specialised and timely help to all our customers.