From the Sector

Promising conditions in the technical textiles and nonwovens market are expected to provide ample opportunities for suppliers at this year’s Cinte Techtextil China. The fair, which last year saw 366 exhibitors and 14,868 visits, will take place from 6 – 8 September 2022 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Flexible exhibiting options will once again be available for overseas companies.

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, explained the positive conditions that exhibitors should expect at the fair thusly: “The pandemic has led to a surge in Chinese exports of both technical textiles and nonwovens, the latter in particular. The country remains the largest supplier of nonwovens, comprising one-third of the global total, yet still requires the advanced offerings of overseas machinery suppliers, as well as supplies of raw materials, to support its export production.”

Ms Wen continued: “Domestically, China is seeing increasing consumption of functional apparel, sportswear and personal protection items. Heightened health and sanitary regulations and new hygiene habits will also continue to drive demand, especially for nonwovens, well into the future. There has also been a post-pandemic boost in demand for filter, greenhouse covering and high-density fabrics amongst others. All of this adds up to a wealth of opportunities for overseas companies to take advantage of, as was experienced in the 2021 edition of the fair.”

Exhibitor and visitor experiences in 2021
“Our organisation promotes US cotton and we hope to use this platform to meet more companies and brands in the nonwovens industry who are interested in US cotton, and to meet up with old friends to discuss the current situation and industry trends. We also found some new potential clients this time.” Mr Eric Ni, Senior Manager, China Supply Chain Marketing, Fabrics, Garments and Nonwovens, Cotton Council International, USA

“Cinte Techtextil China is a professional exhibition that brings together cutting-edge technologies and products, allowing us to quickly learn about innovative technology trends in the industry. I’ve been particularly impressed by the biodegradable products in the Innovation Showcase. In addition, I am sourcing mask-related products and mops, and I have found some companies that I’m interested in.” Ms Claire Zhang, Senior Scientist, Personal Health, Philips Research China, Philips (China) Investment Co Ltd, China

The Spring Editions of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles and Yarn Expo will now take place from 14 – 16 April 2022 instead of their original March date. They will continue to be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) alongside CHIC and PH Value.
 
“With the evolving situation of the pandemic globally, we have decided to hold our three spring fairs in mid-April,” Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd explained. “At this stage, we are still processing how the Omicron variant affects the hosting of large-scale events, so this new date provides us and our stakeholders with extra time to plan accordingly so we can ensure the fairs take place in a safe environment.”
 
“We are hoping to continue the momentum that was generated at last year’s Autumn Editions where our many returning international exhibitors were well received, as well as to capture the opportunities in the domestic market with strong growth in production, revenue and profit recorded in the first three quarters of 2021.”

The 2022 Spring Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles is set to return to the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from 9 – 11 March 2022. The fair, once again held concurrently with Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition, Yarn Expo Spring, CHIC and PH Value, will continue to offer a one-stop trading platform for businesses during the traditional peak sourcing season of the Chinese home textile industry.

The fair provides an opportunity for suppliers to tap into the fast growing Chinese home textiles market and allows prospective buyers to meet their sourcing needs. Following the success of the 2021 edition, which attracted 18,951 trade buyers and 216 exhibitors to participate in this leading industry event, the upcoming spring fair will once more focus on finished products. Nevertheless, a wide range of items are also on offer including bedding & towelling, rugs, table & kitchen linen, home textile technologies, textile design and more.

The Home Textile Products for Campus & School Zone, as well as the Feather & Down Product Zone, will roll out again in the spring show after they were launched in the last edition. The Campus & School Zone was introduced to fulfil the rising market demand for domestic student bedding: “The current demand in China for student bedding is high. There are around 8 million new university students and 16 million secondary school students each year, and nearly all university students and 70% of secondary school students need bedding, equating to over 19.2 million sets needed each year,” Mr Shi Xiangyu, Department Manager at Yantai Pacific Home Fashion Co Ltd, a 2021 exhibitor, outlined.  

Helping businesses to reach their target buyers
Ms Weiqing Peng, Trade Department Supervisor of Wujiang City Yunjie Textiles Co Ltd commented on how the 2021 fair has helped them during the challenging times caused by the pandemic: “We treasure this opportunity to communicate with customers face to face. Buyers usually need to touch the fabrics in person. Many domestic companies are enthusiastic about exhibiting here, and we’ve been really busy as many new and old customers came to our booth. This fair is very popular with the whole industry supply chain.” Mr Leo Chen from Yantai Pacific Home Fashion Co Ltd also applauded the fair for helping them to “reach some big brands in China and explore more cooperation opportunities.” 

Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles concluded its 27th autumn edition in early October. Held alongside four other concurrent textile shows, the fair was the only major event for this sector able to take place in China during this season, providing a much-needed business platform for 735 exhibitors and 20,106 trade buyers. The fair was held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd expressed: “Due to the valuable cooperation of many parties and the continued support of our exhibitors and other partners, we were able to hold the fair as scheduled despite a number of challenges. Since the pandemic situation was brought under control in China last year, we have expended considerable resources to ensure our textile fairs still take place to provide trading platforms that connect the global industry. This edition was especially important as it was the only major fair to take place in the country at this time.”

While a number of international exhibitors participated this year with individual booths, the Belgium Pavilion presented home and contract products and five Chinese regional pavilions from Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, Haining, and Tongxiang also featured. Two trend forums also provided inspiration for 2022, while the IKASAS Japanese Home Design Gallery, New Voices of Top Youth Upholstery Designers City Roving Exhibition and China International Fiber Art Exhibition gave further insights into various aspects of the industry.

Fair’s fringe programme highlights sustainability, design and more
As with all of Messe Frankfurt’s textile fairs around the world, sustainability is a big focus. A number of events under this focus took place in the fair’s fringe programme, including a half day forum titled How Sustainable Fashion is Reshaping Lifestyles, with a range of innovative companies and prestigious universities participating as speakers.

The Design Talk session featured a series of presentations from leading international designers, including from China, Japan and Europe, to share their design insights. And a new concept this year, titled New Voices of Top Youth Upholstery Designers – Intertextile Upholstery Design and City Roving Exhibition, showcased the work of six groups of young local designers from across China who presented the interior design ideas of their generation through displays and a forum. And reflecting the changes that continue to accelerate in the industry, a number of e-commerce and cross-border trade events took place, including sessions from the likes of JD Home, AliExpress and Tmall.

The 2022 Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Spring Edition will take place from 9 – 11 March, while the Autumn Edition is scheduled for 23 – 25 August 2022.

• EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver Makes Debut at Fespa Global Print Expo 2021 for a Short, Smart and Green Process
• The new, industrial, entry-level EFI™ Reggiani TERRA Silver textile printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is making its debut at the Fespa Global Print Expo 2021 tradeshow, 12-15 October at RAI Amsterdam.
• The EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver uses unique TERRA pigment ink for high-quality, highly sustainable direct-to-textile printing without steaming or washing.       

“This is one of the first trade shows to return after the pandemic, and we are very excited to again meet customers in person and showcase an innovative offering that delivers superior printing results while using less time, water and energy,” said EFI Reggiani Vice President and General Manager Adele Genoni. “We are introducing this advanced EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver solution to the many print service providers at Fespa, presenting them with an ideal path to enter the industrial textile segment with a short, smart and green production process.”

The new-version TERRA Silver printer is part of EFI’s complete TERRA line-up of pigment ink printer solutions. It is a 180-cm wide printer that can print up to 190 sqm per hour with eight dual-channel printheads. The printer also features:

•    A new recirculating ink system for superior reliability and minimum maintenance
•    Several printing modes to ensure maximum flexibility in terms of design capability
•    New, real-time image processing that eliminates time spent in image pre-calculations
•    A user friendly, intuitive interface
•    A more-efficient polymerisation process that takes place as printed textile goes through the printer’s on-board dryer.

In Fespa stand 1-G71, attendees can see the EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver print smoothly and precisely on knitted and woven fabrics. The printer’s quality is evident in its high-uniformity printing modes, and it delivers numerous features that enhance the production process, including an accurate WYSIWYG interface and flexible queue management.
 
EFI Reggiani is also a leading developer of textile inks. The EFI Reggiani TERRA pigment inks used on the Silver model deliver excellent wet and dry fastness properties and remarkable sharpness in detail. Designed to leverage EFI Reggiani digital printers’ market-proven industrial performance capabilities, these eco-friendly, water-based inks provide an extraordinary level of print durability and yield longer print head life with reduced maintenance costs. The high-performance digital pigment inks also use an innovative binder technology for fast, sustainable, and cost-competitive industrial textile printing on the widest range of fabrics. Users also gain superior print definition and colour intensity.
 
This year, EFI Reggiani celebrates 75 years of heritage and innovation in the textile world. Always committed to deliver to the market new cutting-edge technologies, EFI Reggiani has world-class products offering boosted uptime and reliability, high performance throughput, and remarkable printing uniformity and accuracy – all while helping customers increase the sustainability of their textile manufacturing activities. Green EFI Reggiani processes give users fast, complete and sustainable solutions across a broad range of textile applications.
 
In this 75th anniversary year, EFI Reggiani has also launched several other ground-breaking solutions, such as EFI Reggiani HYPER, the fastest scanning digital printer on the market, and the EFI Reggiani BLAZE, an industrial entry-level, easy-to-use printer designed to give new textile companies the opportunity to adopt digital inkjet production with a compact solution to blaze a successful path into the industry.

The rescheduled Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles, now taking place from 9 – 11 October, will once again provide the industry with insight into the future through its fringe programme’s four categories: Design Inspiration, Business O2O, Textiles & Technologies and Industry Empowerment. And with the Online Business Matching sourcing platform returning this edition, buyers worldwide can still participate in the fair.

Each of the fringe programme’s four categories – Design Inspiration, Business O2O (online to offline), Textiles & Technologies and Industry Empowerment – features a mix of conferences, seminars and presentations that reflect the future of the home textile industry. Highlights of each category are included below, while further details can be found on the fair’s website: https://intertextile-shanghai-hometextiles-autumn.hk.messefrankfurt.com/shanghai/en/programme-events.html.

Since 2019, Messe Frankfurt has been working with the Conscious Fashion Campaign and United Nations Office for Partnerships as part of the Texpertise Network and supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The goals will be presented gradually at global textile events in order to highlight the most pressing challenges facing the textile and fashion industry worldwide.

Industry Empowerment: antimicrobial technologies and licensing in the home textile sector

Growing awareness of health and hygiene has increased the demand for antimicrobial and other functional textiles. Seminars hosted by the Chinese Industry Association for Antimicrobial Materials & Products will further discuss the increasing prominence of these textiles, as well as how the adoption of new antimicrobial textile technologies is expected to evolve in the future. In addition, experts will share the new trends of licensing and IP with case studies for the furniture companies and fabric brands.

2022 China Home Textile Trends

The China Home Textiles Trend Area will feature the research of the China Home Textile Association, The Department of Home Textile Trend Research and Promotion and Concept & Style Fashion Project Group Italy who shared their knowledge, inspirations and exchanged their visions of trend evolutions considering consumer demand, retail expertise, the contract market and new technologies.

Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition 2021 will be held concurrently with Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition, Yarn Expo Autumn, PH Value and CHIC at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Autumn Edition is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Home Textile Association (CHTA).

The 2022 edition of Cinte Techtextil China has been confirmed to take place from 6 – 8 September at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. 2021 saw 366 exhibitors and 14,868 visits recorded at the June hybrid event, which offered in-person and digital options for suppliers and buyers.

This year’s edition of Cinte Techtextil China marked the first time the fair was held annually, and the second year physical and online participation options were available, with both aspects well received by exhibitors and visitors.

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd elaborated: “The response from our exhibitors this year was the Chinese market is still growing strongly, and having an annual edition allows them to benefit from these opportunities on a more regular basis. The domestic economy has shown strong resilience over 2020 and so far in 2021, and this has allowed the technical textiles and nonwovens sector to maintain the growth momentum it has experienced over the past years. As more economies return to normal in 2022, we expect export orders for the sector to receive a further boost which will benefit those overseas companies with business in the Chinese market.”

Cinte Techtextil China’s product categories cover 12 application areas, which comprehensively span the full range of potential uses of modern technical textiles and nonwovens. These categories also span the entire industry, from upstream technology and raw materials providers to finished fabrics, chemicals and other solutions.

In light of recent Covid-19 cases in China, the Autumn Editions of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles and Yarn Expo will be rescheduled to 9 – 11 October 2021. The fairs were originally due to take place at the end of August at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd explained: “To comply with the government guidelines for pandemic containment and following discussions with our stakeholders, we have made the decision to postpone the fairs from their original August timing. To allow our exhibitors and buyers as much time as possible to plan ahead, we have already confirmed new dates with the fairground for the three concurrent fairs: 9 – 11 October.”

“I would like to thank the participants of all three fairs for their understanding and ongoing support as we continue to operate in uncertain times. We remain dedicated to providing a quality international trading platform for three sectors for the autumn / winter sourcing season, and our overseas suppliers will still be able to participate through our hybrid exhibition scheme if they are unable to be in Shanghai in-person.”

Exhibitors or visitors with any queries about these fairs should email textile@hongkong.messefrankfurt.com, or visit the fairs’ respective websites:
•    Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics: https://intertextileapparel.hk.messefrankfurt.com/
•    Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles: https://intertextilehome.hk.messefrankfurt.com/
•    Yarn Expo: www.yarnexpochina.com

Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre. The co-organisers of Yarn Expo are Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT. Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Home Textile Association (CHTA).

The PERFORMANCE DAYS summer edition took place as a Digital Fair Week from May 17 to 21, 2021. By extending the event to an entire week of the fair, the PERFORMANCE DAYS team, in cooperation with the Functional Fabric Fair by PERFORMANCE DAYS, was able to provide even more opportunities for intensive networking and interactive exchange for industry insiders to catch up on the latest innovations and participate in exciting expert talks, supplier workshops and panel discussions.

Informative, innovative and international: new sourcing platform THE LOOP
The Digital Fair Week was introduced for the first time at the summer edition as part of PERFORMANCE DAYS LOOPS. The sourcing platform was launched in the first half of 2021 together with US Partner Functional Fabric Fair by PERFORMANCE DAYS. With much success, as proven by the great enthusiasm shown by exhibitors, trade fair visitors and fabric manufacturers. The MARKETPLACE area, which showcased some 10.000 products and around 400 curated, sustainable fabrics and accessories from more than 170 international exhibitors, enjoyed particular popularity as part of the Digital Fair.

Another extremely popular and particularly well-attended attraction was the 3D FORUM, which tested hand-selected fabrics for their material properties as part of the digital fair week, to be visualized ultimately as a 3D scan.
Also for the spring/summer 2023 season, the jury presented two awards for outstanding fabrics – so in addition to the presentation of the PERFORMANCE AWARD, won by Trenchant Textiles, the ECO PERFORMANCE AWARD was presented to the winner, Utenos Trikotazas.

Professional, versatile and informative: Program with Expert Talks
A total of 17 live talks from 30+ speakers followed by a question-and-answer session, under the guidance of moderator and freelancer Astrid Schlüchter, formed the basis of the digital fair supporting program from May 17 to 19. All talks, webinars and panel discussions are available on demand via THE LOOP platform.

The PERFORMANCE DAYS Team has once again succeeded in providing the industry with an almost real trade fair experience despite being held digitally. Via the Digital Fair Platform, which was activated explicitly for the trade fair week, trade fair visitors can enter into interactive exchange, including matchmaking and networking activities.

The premiere of the Functional Textiles Shanghai by PERFORMANCE DAYS fair takes place in Shanghai in September 28-29 as well as in Portland in October 27-28, 2021, with the planned hybrid event in Munich scheduled for December 1 and 2, 2021.

• CHIC Shanghai, March 17 to 19, 2021 (due to new regulation to control the infection rate)
• 905 exhibitors are present at CHIC
• Parallel: CHIC ONLINE as a digital platform with upgrade of the CHIC
• APP
• CHIC GARDEN: puts fashion and sustainability in the limelight

The CHIC spring event takes place from March 17th to 19th under strict hygiene guidelines in the National Exhibition & Convention Center in Shanghai parallel to Intertextile Shanghai, Yarn Expo and PH Value.

The Chinese economy has recovered again after the pandemic in China and already reached pre-crisis level with 6.5% growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. McKinsey estimates are a 5 to 10% growth in sales in China in 2021 compared to 2019. Thanks to good sales in China, the fashion luxury brands in particular have been able to improve their sales figures. But also regarding online trade, Chinese ecommerce sales were in first place worldwide for the eighth year in a row. The average per capita income of consumers rose by 3.8% last year.

905 exhibitors and 932 brands will present themselves on site at CHIC. Around 95,000 trade visitors from all retail areas, including all relevant online sales platforms, are expected. The CHIC's online and live streaming events, which run parallel to the trade fairs, have recorded an average of 150,000 clicks on each show since April last year.

CHIC Garden
China is to become climate neutral by 2060, which of course also affects the fashion sector. Overall, the awareness of Chinese consumers has developed even more towards high-quality, sustainable collections. In their "State of Fashion 2021" report, McKinsey & BoF analyze the awareness development in China that consumers and producers are increasingly recognizing the importance of joint efforts by all participants in the value chain to work together in order to achieve sustainability in the fashion industry.

The CHIC flagship event visualizes this topic with the "CHIC Garden" theme. With the help of garden design experts, the fair is transformed into an inspiring garden paradise that reflects closeness to nature and the appreciation of natural resources.

As an exception, the CHIC autumn event, CHIC Shanghai will take place in August this year (25th to 27th August 2021).