Get ready for ITMA 2023: everything you need to know

What is the ITMA?

The International Textile Machinery Association (ITMA) is the world’s most important exhibition for top manufacturers of textile and garment technologies. The event is held every four years in a European city. Its first edition took place in 1951 in Lille, France.

ITMA was born from CEMATEX (European Committee for Textile Machinery) formed by 9 European textile machinery market associations. Their mission is to preserve this meeting forum and make it a world reference as the largest international machinery exhibition of companies in textile and garment industry.

ITMA in figures: a very profitable rendezvous with innovation in textile industry

Every ITMA edition brings together an average of 1,000 exhibitors from 50 countries around the world. Numbers have been growing throughout the 18 editions already held.

Barcelona, which debuted as host city in 2011, repeated for 2019 edition. The venue took place at Fira de Hospitalet, where important congresses such as GSMA Mobile World Congress is held annually.

According to the organizers, the exhibition brought together 1717 exhibitors from 45 different countries, welcoming an audience of 106,000 visitors from 136 countries. The venue housed 114,600 m2 of exhibition space, the equivalent of 15 football pitches.

Various pavilions featured the booths of the most leading textile companies offering the lates developments in machinery and garment manufacturing. Among the companies 60% of them where European, leading by Germany, Italy, and Spain. According to several specialized media, the exhibition generated an economic impact of 343 million euros in the city of Barcelona and its area.

ITMA has always been a platform for innovation, establishing itself as a meeting point for companies in the sector where they present their latest developments in textile machinery, textile fibers and technology. Relationships and collaborations are forged at this meeting to continue transforming the textile industry. Many of these relationships arise as a result of the various forums organized by the main business associations that make up CEMATEX

What can we expect from ITMA 2023?

ITMA 2023 will take place from 8 to 14 June 2023 at Fiera Milano Rho, in Milan, Italy. This will be the 6th time this city will host the event, becoming the European city with the most exhibitions hosted.

This edition will feature a dedicated space for textile reinforcement structures and composite materials. The motto of the edition is “Pivoting towards digital transformation and circularity” focusing in 4 points:

1. Innovation in fibers offering multipurpose advanced materials and technical textiles.
2. Technological innovations in textile manufacturing and garment processes
3. Digitalization of textile industry to impact positively on the value chain.
4. Promote the use of sustainable materials and circular processes to contribute to the expansion and sustained development of textiles.

The latest press release from March 2022 confirmed that ITMA has already booked 93% of the available space. A total of 1364 exhibitors from 42 countries is on track to occupy 12 halls of the Fiera Milano Rho exhibition complex.

Ernesto Maurer, president of CEMATEX, said, “The response to ITMA 2023 has exceeded our expectations despite the economic and geopolitical uncertainties facing the global business community. We are grateful for the strong support from the industry. The space booking status shows the industry’s confidence in ITMA as the best global launch pad for the latest technologies and innovations.

The three countries with the highest number of applications are Italy, Germany, and Spain, following China, Turkey, and India. The main sectors according to the number of applicants are finishing, spinning, weaving, printing, knitting, winding and nonwovens.

EAS at ITMA 2023

As we already announce in 2021, EAS has confirmed its participation at ITMA 2023. This will be our sixth consecutive participation since our debut at the 1999 edition in Paris.

For the 2023 edition we will have again an 80m2 space, with an exhibition of our solutions for manufacturing companies. We look forward to welcome all our customers, representatives, and new visitors, establishing a meeting point to discuss and celebrate the future of the textile sector. A new space to keep promoting the future of digitalisation for textile manufacturing plants.