Italy celebrates its digital offering at Innovate Textile & Apparel
-By Joseph Link
The Italian textile industry has a long and illustrious history and the Italian Trade Agency, in collaboration with ACIMIT (the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers), is constantly looking at ways to further enhance the country’s reputation across the textile & apparel value chain.
This year, the two organisations are exhibiting at WTiN’s Innovate Textile & Apparel virtual trade show (15-30 October), at which they are spearheading an Italian Digital Pavilion. This segment of the trade show consists of 21 leading Italian businesses from across the textile supply chain.
The Italian Trade Agency, which is sponsoring the technology innovation hall at Innovate Textile & Apparel, is a governmental organisation that facilitates the business development of Italian companies abroad and promotes foreign investment in Italy. The agency has a worldwide network of 79 offices in 65 countries, including five in the US, and says it provides information, assistance, consulting, promotion and training to small and medium-sized Italian businesses to assert the excellence of Made in Italy to the world.
In contrast, ACIMIT is a well-established private non-profit making body and its main purpose consists of promoting the Italian textile machinery sector and supporting its activities, mainly abroad, through the most updated and innovative promotional means, it says. In order to promote the knowledge of Italian textile machinery providers on a global scale, ACIMIT organises a wide range of events. Most of these are hosted in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency as evidenced by their presence at the upcoming Innovate Textile & Apparel.
But it has been a challenging year for both the Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT: textile machinery sales have slumped due to a drop in demand for fashion and apparel during the pandemic, which left their members with tough decisions to make. The Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT agree that “during the first quarter of 2020 purchase orders dropped by 40% compared to the same period in 2019”.
Furthermore, ACIMIT and the Italian Trade Agency do not expect the textile machinery sector to show signs of recovery until the middle of 2021 – and that is dependent on the world avoiding a second lockdown because of Covid-19.
Events calendar
The cancellation or postponement of physical exhibitions this year means OEMs have lost the opportunity to showcase their technologies to a global audience. Exhibitions allow companies to generate sales leads which often result in a period of post-exhibition optimism: a luxury OEMs have been starved of in 2020.
To ease the shock of so many event cancellations, ACIMIT responded quickly by organising a series of online activities earlier in the year. “These were aimed at offering information and training on specific issues related to the health emergency, for both member and non-member companies,” ACIMIT says.
The Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT, add: “Since the beginning of the pandemic in Italy, both organisations have provided Italian companies with the opportunity to interact with their customers through virtual and innovative promotional tools. We both hope that the world returns to normal as soon as possible, which entails the return of in-person events. For the time being, however, we will not hesitate to take full advantage of all that technology affords us in order to continue to promote Italian textile machinery around the world.”
Subsequently, the two organisations were eager to get involved with WTiN’s Innovate Textile & Apparel virtual trade show, which takes place on 15-30 October. Despite the economic downturn, innovation hasn’t stopped across the textile & apparel value chain and Innovate Textile & Apparel will enable its 180 exhibitors to showcase their latest solutions to a global audience. Innovate Textile & Apparel, which is free for visitors to attend, is an innovative and communicative platform with a multitude of features to enhance the experience of both exhibitors and visitors. Crucially, it will enable OEMs to generate sales leads in the final quarter of a challenging year and transform their fortunes as they enter 2021.
Digitalisation
In the Italian Digital Pavilion, exhibitors are showcasing a wide range of digitalised and sustainable technologies which they believe will secure their long-term futures in the industry.
More than a year after ITMA 2019 in Barcelona, during which “Italian equipment manufacturers pushed the boundaries of innovation in the field of textile technologies to the highest level,” ACIMIT and the Italian Trade Agency believe the Italian exhibitors at Innovate Textile & Apparel will satisfy virtual attendees’ requests with equally advanced proposals. “Digitalisation and sustainable production processes will once again represent a key element of the Made in Italy success,” the organisations state.
ACIMIT adds: “The lockdown and social distancing forced companies to accelerate digitalisation in order to stay in contact with customers, suppliers and organise smart working for employees. The restructuring of the business model certainly is an opportunity that must be pursued even beyond the current health emergency.”
Digitalisation is also playing a key role in the evolution of manufacturing machinery. The global response to the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted flaws in the supply chain. Offshoring production became a challenge, as did importing vital resources and supplies from abroad: nearshoring is, therefore, a trend which is forecast to accelerate.
Some of the benefits of nearshoring include increased uptime and faster time to market which both facilitate the on-demand business model. Additionally, digitalised solutions generally require fewer operators and therefore it is more financially viable for businesses to manufacture closer to the end consumer. As the decade progresses, digitalised manufacturing technologies are expected to continue their upward trajectory and in doing so smart micro factories will become more prevalent in the textile & apparel value chain.
The environment
The impact of Covid-19 on human health and the economy, coupled with the way the virus challenges public freedoms during lockdown initiatives, has overshadowed other issues such as the environment.
Prior to the pandemic, sustainability was arguably the single biggest challenge facing the textile supply chain. Consequently, Italian textile machinery OEMs were working hard to create more sustainable solutions for their customers that didn’t sacrifice performance, say ACIMIT and the Italian Trade Agency.
ACIMIT explains: “Sustainability for us, and for Italian manufacturers, has been a priority since 2010 when our association launched the Sustainable Technologies Project in close collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency. The ACIMIT Green Label, renowned in today’s textile world, certifies the continuous progress of Italian companies in ensuring sustainable machinery from both an environmental and economic perspective.”
The Italian Trade Agency, together with ACIMIT, are showcasing all that is good about Italian Textile machinery throughout Innovate Textile & Apparel. Visitors who want to learn more about Italian enterprises are encouraged to visit the Italian Digital Pavilion at the virtual event.
To learn more about the Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT click here to visit its booth.
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