From the Sector

Beaulieu International Group invites EuroGeo7 attendees to discover geotextile solutions promoting greater sustainability for future civil engineering projects. Specialists from Beaulieu Fibres International (BFI) and Beaulieu Technical Textiles (BTT) will present high-performance geosynthetics through high tenacity fibres for lightweight, nonwoven geotextiles, and a range of high durability woven geotextile solutions with an environmentally beneficial impact.

“We are delighted to sponsor EuroGeo7 and to be finally on-site, following a two-year postponement of the event. EuroGeo7 is bringing the geotextile community together to further promote and develop geosynthetics in a fast changing global economy striving for growth while reducing its carbon footprint along the supply chain, " comment from Jefrem Jennard, Sales Director Fibres, and Roy Kerckhove, Sales Director Technical Textiles. “Geotextiles provide highly versatile, durable and natural resource-saving alternatives in large infrastructure works, and offer durable protection in erosion control and waste/water management projects. We are continuously developing our fibres and finished engineering textiles with proven sustainability-enhancing benefits to progress product development and customer sustainability goals on fossil carbon reduction, while taking concrete steps to reduce our own environmental footprint.”
 
Sustainability improvement is key to the long-term strategy of Beaulieu International Group, and it is committed to supporting the geotextile industry by targeting and accelerating change and communicating the sustainable performance of its products. The UN Sustainable Development Goals are integrated into its business and are the foundations of the new Route 2030 Sustainability Roadmap.

For manufacturers of nonwoven geotextiles, BFI’s high-tenacity HT8 staple fibres enable customers to achieve nonwovens with high mechanical performance at reduced fibre weight. The HT8 high tenacity fibres are designed in a way that customers can meet the industry durability standards for a longer service lifetime, supporting more sustainable design and resource reduction over time. BTT’s woven geotextiles are amongst the most sustainable in the industry and provide a wide range of functions, including separation, filtration, reinforcement and erosion control.

BFI and BTT have conducted lifecycle assessments to calculate their activities' carbon footprint and solutions and have received external recognition for their ongoing sustainability efforts. For example, in 2022, BFI was awarded a Silver EcoVadis sustainability rating, and BFI and BTT are proud recipients of the Voka Charter for Sustainable Entrepreneurship 2022.

ROICA™, Asahi Kasei's premium stretch fiber manufacturer, strengthens its presence in the high fashion segment thanks to its established network of partners, who will present their latest innovations - activated by ROICA™ - at the upcoming edition of Milano Unica, taking place at Rho Fiera Milano from 12th to 14th July 2022.

Going more in depth in the offers of ROICA™ partners for this season of Milano Unica, they are:

• Cifra, which presents its innovative garments for men and women, combining fashion and function. Base layers, tops, leggings and jumpsuits are made with natural yarns, or recycled pre- and post-consumer yarns in combination with ROICA™ EF, the sustainable recycled stretch yarn able to complete proposals that offer design, performance and responsibility. The design of the garments, created in Cifra's design office, offers a perfect shape with body mapping technology that creates dedicated ventilation zones, for a feeling of comfort and freshness as well as an innovative aesthetic impact.
• Iluna Group, whose journey into the new dimension of responsibility continues with developments in GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified recycled yarns aimed at unprecedented effects in looks, performance and hands. Brand new for this edition of Première Vision is the inclusion of GOTS-certified organic cotton in GRS-certified galloons and allover lace containing ROICA™ EF, so as to meet market demands for natural comfort in the underwear sphere.
• Maglificio Ripa, which presents the Splash collection for summer 2024, developed in two major themes, united by the same focus on sustainability that results in the use of recycled pre- and post-consumer polyamide and polyester yarns including ROICA™ EF for the sustainable recycled stretch fiber. The first theme encompasses printed, 3D jacquard fabrics, ennobled by innovative processes that move the bottoms for an organic and sometimes irreverent final look. The second theme embodies a cocoon spirit, enveloping like a caress, soft as a hug.
• Penn Textile Solutions/Penn Italia, whose highlights of the new collection are on one side fabrics developed with the use of Neride eco yarns by Nurel with ROICA™ V550, characterized by restraining lace effect, soft touch and breathable, in combination with tulle as a sustainable basic, and on the other side charmeuses with soft hand, raw cut in combination with a band fabric from the dreamshape family with reinforced gripping edge, made again in Neride eco yarns by Nurel with ROICA™ V550
• Piave Maitex, whose orientation is, as always, to present new products with the right  balance between technological innovation and aesthetic look, between fashion and comfort, proposals that include sustainable fabrics made in recycled polyester,  polyamide and the sustainable recycled stretch fiber ROICA™ EF, three-dimensional and optical, perforated, plush effects, made by prioritizing technical functionalities such as waterproofness, breathability, transfer and moisture management, opacity and anti-UV as well as anti-abrasion.
• Sitip, which is one of the premium partners, together with ROICA™, for the creation of the first Scott Racing Team’s responsible biking uniform. This year, the evolution of research and development has also led to the creation of new responsible shorts, made with NATIVE-THUNDERBIKE POWER fabric by Sitip in recycled polyamide and ROICA™ EF yarn by Asahi Kasei. A fabric designed for high-performance sports, particularly suitable for making cycling pants for its maximum coverage and UV protection - thanks to ECLIPSE Sun Protection technology - breathability, comfort and fit. Also the shirt has been produced with Sitip recycled fabrics - NATIVE-BICIMANIA and NATIVE-PIRATA - made with Asahi Kasei's ROICA™ EF sustainable, stretch and certified recycled yarns.

Bemberg™ is teaming up with MagnoLab, a network of Biella-based companies apt to carry out projects related to sustainability and circular economy, to create and display T-shirts that combine environmental responsibility and aesthetic research at the 102nd edition of Pitti Uomo.

Bemberg™ is used in shirts, cocktail dresses, dust coats, coordinates, outerwear and more by international brands operating in the fashion and luxury industries. To demonstrate its journey and evolution in contemporary style, Bemberg™ has collaborated with MagnoLab to develop a project that resulted in contemporary cut I-shirts presented both in sheer and blends with other certified fibers, including GOTS cottons and RWS wools, capable of enhancing both the hand of the final garment and the performance of the yarn.

The project conceived for Pitti Uomo 102 stems from the spirit of Bemberg™ and fits perfectly into the philosophy of MagnoLab, whose mission is to carry out projects related to environmental responsibility through a joint and participatory approach of partners, and to create value by developing innovative products and processes with rapid testing cycles, according to a lean management model.

At this year’s Techtextil in Frankfurt/Main (June 21st to June 24th) Trützschler Nonwovens, Trützschler Card Clothing and Trützschler Man-Made Fibers present various new and proven solutions for the nonwoven, card clothing and man-made fiber sectors. Join us at booth D80 in hall 12.0!

Trützschler Nonwovens invites to talk sustainable fibers such as hemp or linen and out-of-the-box fibers such as nettle and pineapple fibers. Our solutions for manufacturing innovative nonwoven products include machinery and complete production lines for paper grade pulp, re-generated cellulose fibers, cotton and various other natural fibers.

What happens when sustainable meets digital? Trützschler Nonwovens and software partner Proptium introduce T-ONE, our new digital working environment for both fiber- and polymer-based nonwoven producers. T-ONE supports routine tasks such as quality control and recipe management but also enables systematic line monitoring and data collection for T-ONE’s line optimizations.

Trützschler Man-Made Fibers introduces the OPTIMA-based, versatile TEC-O40 and TEC-O80 systems for extruding and spinning industrial yarns (IDY). The modular OPTIMA platform is highly flexible and adaptable to manufacturing a broad spectrum of (semi-)industrial yarns from polyamide, polypropylene or polyester.

• Featured at FESPA Global Print Expo 2022, new cloud and mobile suite offerings help reduce costs and maximise the value of customers’ EFI printer investments

Electronics For Imaging, Inc. announced the availability of its EFI IQ™ suite of cloud and mobile applications with supported EFI VUTEk®, Wide Format, and Nozomi inkjet printers. With this cloud service, EFI™ printer users can monitor production and printer utilisation, including exact device-level consumable tracking data, to reduce downtime, reduce costs and maximise the value of their EFI printer investments. New EFI wide- and superwide-format UV LED printers will include a one-year subscription to EFI IQ. EFI inkjet printer users can also purchase IQ subscriptions for other supported printers.
 
The newly available cloud service for superwide-format production is making its debut at the 31 May - 03 June FESPA Global Print Expo in Berlin.

User-friendly with better business intelligence
According to an early user of the cloud service’s new inkjet offering – Dave Brewer, chief technology officer of California-based Image Options – “EFI IQ is a user-friendly tool that gives me better business intelligence to make better decisions.”
 
By monitoring their printer fleets in real time, EFI IQ users can reduce consumable spend, save on labour costs, improve margins, and more.

Productivity with powerful cloud tools
The decision to adopt EFI IQ comes down to several key questions owners and managers should ask themselves about business performance, including:

• Can you accurately measure ink usage?
• Is your team able to get real-time production blocking alerts?
• Are you able to compare performance metrics between printers and shifts?
• Are you able to check production status from anywhere, at any time?

The IQ suite is a management solution which has a direct connection to EFI printer data, and it gives business leaders powerful tools to handle their day-to-day production and administrative challenges. Plus, the suite’s EFI Go component helps to ensure that managers receive urgent updates wherever they are. At early user site Studio DAR in Bielsko-Biała, Poland, notifications from the mobile application allow managers and operators to keep the company’s EFI Pro 32r+ roll-to-roll printer running as much as possible.

Monforts and its Turkish representative Neotek are looking forward to the forthcoming ITM 22 international textile machinery show taking place from June 14-18 at the Tüyap Fair and Congress Centre in Istanbul, after a three-year break.

With the TwinAir heating chamber system within a Montex stenter, top and bottom airflows can be regulated completely independently of each other, ensuring heat is only applied when and where it is required. The Optiscan balancing system ensures continuous automatic evaluation of the distance between the nozzles and the fabric for highly economical and contact-free drying. The resulting constant evaporation rate within the stenter ensures optimum energy utilisation and also avoids markings on the fabric.

With the latest Montex stenters, overall energy savings of up to 40% can now be achieved compared to a conventional stenter with no heat recovery or energy optimisation measures like high-quality chamber insulation.

The Montex stenter also benefits from full digital control, with the Qualitex 800 PLC control system providing ease of operation and rapid access to line and management data, including full operating cost overviews, as well as maintenance monitoring.

Advances in digital technology mean that there are also now significant gains to be made in the retrofitting of existing Monforts machines with the latest automatic drives and control systems, going far beyond the basic replacement of spare parts.

“We will be emphasising the robustness and versatility of the Montex stenter for essential processes such as drying, stretching, heatsetting and coating at the Istanbul show,” said Monforts Area Sales Manager Thomas Päffgen.

“With energy prices rising steeply everywhere, features such as the MonforClean system, or the EcoBooster, in which waste heat from the drying process is used to pre-heat the drying air, are proving more invaluable than ever,” added Ahmet Kilic of Neotek. “Monforts can provide a range of further resource-saving and energy recovery options tailored to each individual line installation.”

• Winners in Six Categories to be Announced at IDEA® 2022 in Miami Beach

Online voting for the IDEA® Achievement Awards representing the “best of the best” innovations in the global nonwovens and engineered fabrics industry in six categories will open on Feb. 28.

Industry professionals will have the opportunity to vote for the winners from the finalists and see award-winning achievements in person at IDEA® 2022, the World’s Preeminent Event for Nonwovens & Engineered Fabrics, March 28-31, at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Presented by INDA, in partnership with Nonwovens Industry magazine, the awards recognize the leading introductions in equipment, raw materials, short-life, long-life and nonwovens products, and sustainability. To vote on the Nonwovens Industry website, visit: https://www.nonwovens-industry.com/idea-reg-achievement-awards

In addition, INDA will unveil the IDEA® 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree and Nonwovens Industry will announce the IDEA® Entrepreneur Achievement Award recipient at the event.  

All of the winners will be announced on March 30 at a ceremony at IDEA® from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. moderated by Dave Rousse, President, INDA and Karen, McIntyre, Editor, Nonwovens Industry.

The INDA Technical Advisory Board, consisting of technical professionals from member companies, has narrowed the competition from more than 100 online nominations to the following 18 finalists selected for their leading innovations since the last IDEA show in 2019.

The industry will have the chance to select their top choices from the three finalists in each of the following six categories through the online voting process:

IDEA® Equipment Achievement Award

• ESC-8 – Curt G. Joa, Inc.
  Imagine endless combinations of insert and chassis designs for adult incontinence production at the push of a button. With patent-pending ESC-8™ Electronic Size Change Technology, JOA has addressed the need for automated product size change. The release of this industry-leading, first-of-a-kind technology gives customers the flexibility to configure endless insert and chassis combinations while maintaining higher production speeds and minimizing raw material usage. The ESC-8™ can be integrated into new and existing machines.
   
• Elastic Thread Anchoring (ETA) Sonotrode – Herrmann Ultrasonics Inc.
  Elastics are an integral component to many hygiene products. Imagine a diaper or incontinence product that is reliable, adhesive-free and extremely soft. Herrmann Ultrasonics Elastic Thread Anchoring (ETA) Sonotrode technology provides just that, in an industry first, easy-to-use closed-loop feedback manufacturing solution. The fixation of the elastic threads is accomplished with ultrasonic energy that offers a wide process window, without the need for tool changeovers, at processing speeds above 2,000 ft./min.
   
• Doffer Airlay Card – Technoplants SRL
  With airlaying suction and a doffing system like traditional roller cards, the Doffer Airlay Card makes it possible to produce carded webs with doffer in thicknesses from 10 to 1.500 gsm. With top and bottom suction, it can produce a partly carded and partly airlaid web. This card can comb, separate and make parallel all types of natural, synthetic and regenerated fibers for applications including hygiene, filtration, medical and gradient acquisition distribution layer (ADL).

IDEA® Raw Material Achievement Award

• sero™ premium hemp fiber – Bast Fibre Technologies Inc.
  sero™ 100 percent premium hemp fibers are the result of years of the company’s top-to-bottom supply chain experience. BFT’s proprietary processing technology is employed to carefully clean, individualize, and soften bast fibers that meet stringent nonwoven technical standards and are plastic-free, tree-free, and compostable. sero™ fibers are a plug-and-play replacement for plastic fibers that run seamlessly on major nonwoven platforms without compromising production speeds, efficiency, or uniformity.
   
• ODOGard – Rem Brands, Inc.
  Rem Brands, Inc.’s patented ODOGard® technology is a revolutionary advancement in odor elimination. This next-generation odor elimination mechanism works by covalent molecular bonding to malodors. Malodors are permanently attached to the ODOGard® molecule, changing them into non-odorous molecules forever. ODOGard® can be impregnated into pulp fluff and other kinds of media. Whether  malodors come from the air or from hygiene products, ODOGard® has it covered.
   
• SharoWIPES™ – Sharon Laboratories
  SharoWIPES™ by Sharon Laboratories, Israel, is a technological breakthrough from in-depth scientific research addressing industry needs for more “clean label, non-irritating, eco-friendly” consumer wet wipes. With their unique anti-biofilm mechanism, SharoWIPES™ offer dual protection from microbial contamination of both the wet wipe formula, as well as the non-woven fabric. SharoWIPES™ preservation systems deliver broad-spectrum protection at low levels contributing to wet wipe brand equity with free from, microbiome friendly, vegan and biodegradable claims.
   

IDEA® Short-Life Product Achievement Award

• MDP™ – Dermasteel, Ltd.
  MDP™ presents a breakthrough approach to restoring the quality of life for men experiencing bladder leakage. MDP™ is a revolutionary nonwoven product for men coping with light urinary incontinence that is invisibly discreet, effective, comfortable, and reliable. It features Body ID Technology™ for customized adjustment, variable elasticity strapping, self-reflexive side panels for unimpeded breathability, form-fitting to the unique characteristics of each man’s anatomy, and the smallest carbon footprint of any comparable male incontinence option.
   
• Organic 2.0 – Ellepot A/S
  In young plant propagation, plastic products are used in large quantities. Ellepot’s new paper is a game-changer supporting plastic exit strategies. During six years in development, Ellepot and Ahlstrom-Munksjö partnered with OrganoClick, the developer of special binders using organocatalysis, a field of chemistry awarded the Nobel Prize in 2021. The product is approved for organic crops in Germany, the UK, Denmark, The Netherlands, Sweden and Canada and certified okay home compostable and biodegradable in soil.
   
• LifeSavers Wipes – LifeSavers LLC
  LifeSavers Wipes are personal hygiene wipes that change color if they detect abnormal health indicators in the urine. The launch product is a diabetic wipe, which will change color if there are abnormal levels of glucose in the urine. The wipes are therefore triple purposed as they assist with personal hygiene after urinating, act as an early warning system, and serve as an instant glucose monitor. UTI and kidney disease wipes are next in line.
   

IDEA® Long-Life Product Achievement Award

• Canopy Hero Pro – Canopy
  Today’s reusable respirators are uncomfortable, limit communication, and can lose effectiveness after cleaning. Disposable options pose similar issues and generate waste. Canopy® has created a next-generation, reusable respirator for healthcare workers that’s comfortable, easy to clean, exceeds federal safety standards, has a transparent front to allow for improved communication, costs less than disposables, and can help save 7,200 tons of waste daily. Its patented, transparent, fully mechanical filter helps protect those who protect us.
   
• Long-Life Cellulose-based Nonwovens for Higher Performance in Reusable Baby Diapers – Kelheim Fibres GmbH and Sumo Diapers
  Innovation exemplified: the trend-setting Sumo Baby Cloth Diaper shows how needle-punched/thermobonded nonwovens find their way into reusable diapers, thanks to Kelheim Fibres’ specialty viscose fibers with adjusted cross-sections (trilobal and hollow). This technology pushes liquid management capabilities and the absorbency of washable hygiene products to new levels, creating a unique duality of high-performance and high-sustainability credentials, and opening up new fields of application.
   
• Nanofiber Cabin Air Filter – MANN + HUMMEL GmbH
  MANN+HUMMEL has developed a hybrid media by combining electret-based spunbond and a pure mechanical filtration layer of ultrafine polymer fibers. The result: an outstanding separation of PM1 particles up to 95 percent, according to DIN EN ISO 16890. This technology enables stable filtration performance and long-term efficiency over the whole filter lifetime. The nanofiber layer can be combined with any cabin air filter media of the MANN+HUMMEL range, improving air quality in a vehicle’s cabin significantly.
   

IDEA® Sustainability Advancement Award

• Pureflow8 – In Flight Material Separator – Diaper Recycling Technology Pte. Ltd.
  New bolt-on additions to the company’s Generation 8 recycling platform guarantee increased performance in terms of material purity and work efficiency. While recovering up to 87 percent of diaper waste raw material’s financial investment, DRT pushes the boundaries further to meet sustainability targets and include active pulp scanning, fluidizing SAP re-gen technology, and gravimetric pulp refeed processes. DRT recognizes its teams and suppliers who have worked tremendously hard to complete this major milestone.
   
• Fitesa® 100 Percent BioBased Bico – Fitesa
  Fitesa® S Bico 100 percent BioBased PE/PLA is a technically sophisticated plant-sourced nonwoven that has been successfully applied in innovative baby diapers as topsheet, backsheet, and front ear components to deliver classic spunbond strength with good abrasion resistance and converting performance. It is responsibly sourced, PE soft, and sustainable, leaving a negative carbon footprint by reducing environmental CO2. It represents the next generation of hygienic nonwovens designed to make work easier and life better.
   
• Fiber-based Screw Caps – Glatfelter Corp. and Blue Ocean Closures
  Finally, an alternative to metal and plastic screw caps! Blue Ocean Closures partnered with Glatfelter and ALPLA to accelerate and produce sustainable and environmentally-friendly packaging solutions. The companies optimized their use of renewable and recyclable wood fibers and airlaid materials by creating paper-based screw caps that are durable, strong, and water-resistant. The method of proprietary vacuum press forming allows for low production cost and high scalability.
   

IDEA® Nonwoven Product Achievement Award

• Sontara® Silk – Glatfelter Corp.
  Sontara® Silk perfectly fits facial contour, is luxurious on the skin, and has a minimal environmental impact. When infused with lotion, these masks have enhanced elasticity, conform closely to the skin, and have excellent adhesion. Sontara® Silk has superior translucency and ensures even penetration of active ingredients onto the skin. Sontara® Silk fabric is manufactured with premium fibers derived from natural raw material. These sustainable materials allow the product to be biodegradable and compostable.
   
• HYDRASPUN® Aquaflo – Sustainable Nonwoven Substrates – Suominen Corporation
  Suominen’s latest moist tissue product, HYDRASPUN® Aquaflo achieves dry tissue dispersibility through a proprietary blend of 100 percent sustainable cellulosic materials, minimizing environmental impact. This flushable nonwoven has a premium hand feel for a luxurious consumer experience. In addition, it passes dispersibility standards set by INDA (GD4) and the International Water Services Flushability Group (IWSFG.) HYDRASPUN® Aquaflo is produced in Europe and North America and represents multi-year development and market insights to deliver a personal care product ideal for today’s consumer.
   
• LS SAF™ Nonwoven Fabrics –Technical Absorbents
  Technical Absorbents developed a new grade of Low Shrink (LS) superabsorbent fiber (SAFTM) for use within a new range of nonwovens that are more resistant to shrinkage. The new LS SAFTM fiber and resulting fabrics were developed in response to demand from the medical industry for a superabsorbent nonwoven suitable for use in advanced wound pad dressings. The new fiber was engineered to be capable of withstanding the moisture used in the EtO sterilization process.

Moving forward after this year, the IDEA® Achievement Award will be presented every two years under the new cycle announced for the event with the subsequent IDEA® taking place April 23-25, 2024.

During the 22^nd annual Connect conference at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort, Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is highlighting digital print innovations, that give print businesses more capability and profit potential in a range of market applications. Display graphics inkjet offerings at Connect from the company’s leading-edge product portfolio include the new EFI™ Pro 30h production printer. Plus, Connect features the first-ever live demonstration of the new EFI Fiery^® FS500 Pro digital front end (DFE) – the most-advanced print server in EFI’s 30+ year history – and the debut of the EFI Fiery Impress™ DFE, a scalable, flexible server and colour management solution for inkjet label and packaging applications as well as for inline manufacturing lines that need variable print.
                                               
EFI Connect has more than 130 break-out sessions presenting the latest tips and trends across all the industry segments EFI supports. This includes sessions addressing the growing analogue-to-digital transformation opportunities using EFI’s industrial Corrugated & Packaging, Textile, and Building Materials/Décor solutions.
 
EFI Connect also marks the debut of an innovative prepress product for display graphics businesses, EFI Fiery Prep-it™ software for the preparation, layout, and automated production of print-for-cut jobs. Designed to address productivity needs amid continued labour shortages, this powerful and cost-saving true-shape nesting solution reduces the time needed to nest complex objects for wide-format printing by up to 90%. Compared with competing products, Fiery Prep-it software also reduces media usage by 10% or more, helping to alleviate media supply constraints. With the media savings it generates, this affordable, effective software can pay for itself in four months or less, helping print shops become more competitive.

In view of the exponential worsening of the pandemic situation worldwide and the accompanying tightened travel and contact regulations, the consumer goods fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld are cancelled for January 2022 and Ambiente for mid-February 2022. The regionally-oriented trade fair Nordstil from 15 to 17 January 2022 in Hamburg will take place at the present time.

The easing of the pandemic situation that was still hoped for in December is no longer in sight. Instead, the situation is deteriorating worldwide with an enormous, unforeseeable dynamic. This extreme deterioration due to the spread of the Omicron virus in Europe and Germany currently makes it impossible for Messe Frankfurt, as organiser of the leading international trade fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld, as well as Ambiente, to keep their dates in Frankfurt at the end of January and in mid-February 2022.

The four events, consisting of Christmasworld with its focus on seasonal and festive decorations, Paperworld and Creativeworld with their product ranges for paper, office supplies, stationery and hobby, craft and artists' requisites and Ambiente with its cross-sector range of products for the table, kitchen and housewares, furnishing and decorative accessories, home furnishing concepts, gifts and fashion accessories, are the recognised leading trade fairs in their sectors and open the trading year in their respective segments. Even in a reduced numerical form, the four trade fairs would still have been the leading events worldwide for their respective product segments.

However, the exponential increase in the number of infections worldwide in a very short period of time and the accompanying multitude of developments and decisions that are clearly outside the organiser's sphere of influence have led to a significant deterioration in the general conditions and necessary prerequisites for holding the four leading trade fairs as major events of international relevance at the end of January and in mid-February 2022 respectively. These developments include the classification of Germany as a high-risk area and the associated travel warnings and international and intercontinental travel restrictions in countries such as India, Japan and the United States, as well as the corresponding quarantine obligations. Equally important are the steadily rising infection figures and the accompanying urgent appeal, among others by the Robert Koch Institute and the expert council of the German Federal Government, to continue to reduce contacts to a minimum and to cancel all major events. At present, there are even further international fears that the critical infrastructure will not be maintained due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The majority of exhibiting and visiting companies at Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld as well as Ambiente are currently reacting to this overall situation with travel and trade fair attendance bans for reasons of duty of care towards their employees to protect them from health risks. The global willingness to travel is dropping enormously at the moment.

There are no plans to postpone the event. Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt, explains: "Since the trend-oriented order cycles of the international consumer goods industry require an annual event at the beginning of the year, a shift to the second half of the year would not meet the needs of the exhibiting companies and visitors."

Nordstil to be held in Hamburg from 15 to 17 January 2022
In the interests of the sectors involved, the planning and implementation of Nordstil from 15 to 17 January 2022 is not affected. This trade fair will take place in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg at this time due to other general conditions for local implementation. However, the extremely volatile situation is continuously reviewed and assessed in close exchange with the relevant local authorities and industry partners.

Messe Frankfurt's digital platforms for business success
Messe Frankfurt has already been actively helping retailers to help themselves since 2019 with Nextrade, the first order and data management platform for the home and living sector, and Conzoom Solutions, an information platform for the global consumer goods sector. "A second year without appropriate ordering, inspiration and networking formats poses considerable and in some cases existentially threatening challenges for retailers worldwide," Braun explains. "With our digital offers, we are specifically supporting our partners in industry and trade in this volatile situation. In addition, we will continue to put all our energy and optimism into safe and promising trade fairs. Because there is no substitute for meeting in real life."

Information on the planning of the Frankfurt consumer goods fairs for 2023 will be announced at the beginning of February 2022.

The Premium Group events will take place in Frankfurt am Main in the third week of January 2022, taking into account the 2G+ regulation (all participants have to be vaccinated, recovered and additionally daily tested).
 
On the basis of the current regulations of the federal government and the Hessian state government, which did not announce any further restrictions for vaccinated people last week, the fashion fairs PREMIUM and SEEK, the FASHIONTECH talks and the showcase of the new format THE GROUND will comply with the official health and hygiene regulations from 18th to January 20, 2022 in Frankfurt am Main.
 
This decision is based on the representative feedback from many protagonists of the industry, expert opinions and a close observation of the situation as well as an assessment of all measures that can be taken in Europe to ensure a safe event.

Four formats - one large exhibition hall
The conceptual novelty is that the PREMIUM, SEEK, THE GROUND and FASHIONTECH events will - for the first time and once - take place all together in a spacious hall, which roughly corresponds to the entire area of Station Berlin, on a total area of approx. 20,000 square meters. The resulting simplified admission management serves the safety of everyone. In this way, visitors can quickly and comfortably experience all the inspiration and concentrated brand power at once.

In addition to the security aspect, the merger of the two flagship events PREMIUM and SEEK in one large exhibition hall will bring new features, above all, in terms of content and atmosphere. Apart from an unprecedentedly strong brand portfolio, completely new synergies and energies will arise, which will make the meeting in January a unique momentum in the history of the industry.

Numerous brands have already signed-up and despite some decisions for smaller pop-up presentations, instead of large stands, the willingness to start again together and to want to send positive signals prevails! In addition to established players, many new brands also want to show their collections now.

THE GROUND - new generation, new platform
THE GROUND will give an outlook on what can be expected in summer with an exclusive press and influencer event. The Fashion Festival ‘for a young and purpose driven generation’ is an innovative platform for brands to get in direct contact with Gen Z with interactive installations, campaigns and storytelling.

At the preview event in January, 15 curated brands and key partners will present their value-based projects and products. In keynotes and panel talks, THE GROUND is dedicated to the topics most relevant to GEN Z: diversity, inclusion & sustainability.

FASHIONTECH - innovation, inspiration, content
FASHIONTECH is the content platform for fashion, technology and lifestyle. This is where decision-makers, industry insiders, communication experts and innovative minds meet to exchange experiences, discuss potential and developments, generate new leads and promote exchange between the various industries.

In addition to the core events, the Premium Group will also organize its popular evening events - due to the conditions, of course, to a slightly different extent than usual.