For its 2015 edition, Cematex, the European association of textile machinery manufacturers, has chosen Milan as the site of ITMA, the world's primary textile machinery trade fair, which Cematex owns.
Fiera Milano beat out competition from other prestigious European trade fair sites, bringing ITMA, which is held every four years at an itinerant site among various European countries, back home to Italy after a 20 year absence.
A great event which represents a success for the whole textile machinery sector in Italy, asserts Sandro Salmoiraghi, President of ACIMIT, the Italian association of textile machinery manufacturers. This is a just recognition for a sector, represented by our Association, which has been a global leader in the production and exporting of textile machinery for years.
In 2009, Italy's textile machinery sector generated revenues of roughly 2 billion euros, in spite of the economic crisis which has hit the entire industry very hard, maintaining its pre-crisis international market share. Italian exports, which amount to 78% of total sales, reach some 130 countries.
ITMA, which at its last edition held in Munich, Germany in 2007, attracted around 120,000 visitors, occupying a total exhibition space of almost 102,000 square metres, has always been the main showcase worldwide for innovation and technology applied to the textile industry. It will be a great opportunity to reaffirm the quality of Italian products, which are well known for their high level of technology content, reliability and creativity, states ACIMIT's President.
Salmoiraghi is also looking at the positive effects on Italy's textile sector as a whole. In Italy, we can count on a textile industry which has stood up to the crisis and is evolving. Italian textile and fashion sector has a turnover of 46 billion euros, which is 28% of the European total in terms of revenues, and 43% in terms of companies involved. ITMA can represent a driving force for an even more profitable synergy between the various segments of entrepreneurs making up textile industry.
Salmoiraghi concludes, Our thanks must go firstly to Fiera Milano, which has worked very hard to bring this event back home, and to Cematex, which positively assessed the bid put forward by Fiera Milano. Finally, I'd like to thank our entrepreneurs, who have supported the Association and I'm sure will continue to do so right up to the 2015 fair, and the challenges it poses for our sector.
