Looking to INDEX 2026

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Looking to INDEX 2026

Murat Dogru, EDANA deputy general manager and Magali Fakhry Dufresne, exhibition director at Palexpo join Madelaine Thomas, head of content at WTiN to discuss the upcoming INDEX exhibition from 19-22 May 2026.

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
Hello and welcome to this WTIN Fireside Chat. I'm Madeleine Thomas, Head of Content at the World Textile Information Network and your host for this discussion. Joining me today is Merat Dogru, Adana Deputy General Manager and Magali Fakhri Dufrosne, Exhibition Director at Palexpo. Both are joining us from Adana's Outlook Conference in Budapest. So thank you so much for finding the time to be with us today. I know how busy you both will be.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN 
There's no time to break for you guys though from one event to another. Today we're going to talk about Index 2026 and we'll look at kind of the opportunities, the current market challenges and demands and key themes for the global non -woven market and event as well. So we'll get started, Murat we'll come to you first. What can we expect at Index 26?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
What can we expect? I mean, the attendees can expect immersive events, if I may say. So immersive events, because this is really the place where we are gathering all the key industry players that will be coming there to show the latest innovations. that they will be there in order to meet their peers, in order to contact businesses. It will also be a great opportunity for all the participants that are coming to such type of trade show to be able to see what are the latest innovations within the different products that we are covering in non -wovens. So this is really a key and the identity of INDEX.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
So from the beginning, as of the first step into Pali Expo, the people are facing the full experiences there, which is going for this year quite be unique in a sense that we're going to use the, you know, all the different scents that human can feel in order to make sure that they can touch, they can see, they can smell sometimes the products in a different way of different products that the non -woven is using.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
And Magali, when Murat talks about that full Pellexpo experience, can you kind of add a little bit more on that for us?  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Yes, full experience. Yes, we will be gathering again, like Morat said, all the key players of the industry. We will cover all the sector of the industry, of the application sector, from geotextile to, of course, hygiene, wipes, automotive, What is really important maybe to remind for index is that at index you can meet, I mean you can see all the value chain gathered under one roof. And this is very important for the industry because For example, for somebody from machinery, he can speak from people from the production or the converters, and he can feel the trend of the industry, he can meet some customers or potential customers coming from everywhere in the world, INDEX is the most truly international event, 40 % of our participants come from outside Europe, so it's a really great exposure for people, for participants, for exhibitors, and they come from more than 100 countries, so all this, it's really, it's really important. And also we will propose a big, a large mix of workshops, tutorials. There will be the exhibitors, the famous product presentation, exhibitor product presentation.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
They are always very successful. They allow our exhibitors to show the latest development and innovation in the industry. And yeah, it's really appreciated. It's really, yeah, it's a great place to network and to see the trends.

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
Magali, you mentioned some kind of different application areas there and you know there is this kind of idea really that non -wovens is very much hygiene related and that obviously is a really important part of the non -woven industry but how will the exhibition provide opportunities for all sectors within the non -woven industry?  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Yeah, how it provides is that our exhibitors, a lot of our exhibitors, they cover the various sectors. So when you are there, you can see for an attendee, for a professional looking for something in a specific sector, you can sometimes find out in another sector, some benefit that he could then apply in his sector. So it can give him some ideas that this cross fertilization between sectors. And this is, I think it's only at index that you can find this because people come from, I mean, they cover all these application sectors. So you have the old value chain, but you have also all the application sectors. And we have maybe this image of being hygiene and hygiene show because it's historical, but and the industry at the beginning come up for the hygiene, but it's getting less and less and we have more and more participants who come to look for the other applications.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Yes.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
And would you say there's any other application areas that are experiencing some kind of extreme growth in the non -woven sector at the moment, maybe technical textiles or something like that?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
Yes, indeed. I mean, some specific markets are facing decent growth. We can see that. You have been mentioning geotextile for sure in the construction area also too. Yeah, so the things are working well, even for those where we are seeing we may be a bit concerned, for example, let's take the hygiene industry, you know, we may, you know, if you connected us, you may see, okay, the number of population in Europe may, for example, it's not increasing anymore.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
So this is going to be potentially have an impact on the hygiene product. But yeah, on the other side, you have also like, we can see that there's more and more need to serve the more elderly people, the senior people there. So nowadays a lot of growth sometimes is more niche, sometimes it's really for the entire industry that is represented in one product category to another. So yeah, the future still looks bright.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
And what would you say with that in that bright future that are the key opportunities in the industry at the moment and how will index help to nurture these opportunities?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
I mean, the key words here are innovations, product developments. Every step along the journey is an opportunity to make our product even better. You know, Europe is heavily driven by regulation also, too. New regulations are coming into the market. This is putting pressure sometimes on the shoulder of the industry, but they are always finding ways in order to transform this into ways of innovating around our product and making them even more performing. for the entire end consumer also too.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
So this is really I think the part of the DNA of the industry that we're representing. It has always been like that and I think we have always been driven by innovation and this is why such a gathering is really important. As Magali has said, this trade show is organized every three years. There have been some discussions at a certain point, do we want to organize it more often or not? This is not our strategy there because we prefer rather to do less but better and this is what is important. We are also acknowledging that people are investing a lot of money in such type of trade show and so they are starting to be more also thinking in regards to what is really relevant or not.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
So we want to be the leading show for the industry and this is our approach then. we are we are looking forward and we have been receiving a lot of already many many many confirmations so everything looks looks good. 

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
Great and Magal you were agreeing there did you have anything to add?  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Yeah maybe I can also add something is that at Index it's a well it's really a qualitative show and also because people know that when they go to index, they will find the decision makers people. And yes, on each booth when you go and also amongst the participants, the CEO are there. So for a company, it's really a kind of saving money to go to index because they don't need to travel and see so many partners. They will see in four days, they will see all potential customers and their usual partners. really, it's really, it's really the quality which is there, yeah.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
And with opportunities there are also challenges to be aware of as well and obviously in the market at the moment we do have a lot of challenges. How will Index help visitors to navigate the current challenges that we're facing? Are there any current challenges that really stick out to you?  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Well, there's a challenge is at the moment what we can hear it is yes overproduction and I think it's like more I'd say that that's index you can find I mean people company they work on on on it or also the regulation and they find someone to go around this and to innovate. And it's extraordinary. I think it's something really specific to the industry, to the non -governance industry, because you This encourages you to find, to innovate all the time because you have to go over all these obstacles. So, yeah. And at Index, you can see either by speaking to all these people, you can find some new, some innovations, some ideas.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
And also with the conferences that we are organizing, it's really, yeah, we have experts who are there and yeah.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
And Merat, for you, what are the kind of the key current challenges that the industry is facing and how can index help to navigate those?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
things that I would like to highlight. First, I would like to emphasize again what Maggie have said, you know, we are in sometimes an overcapacity situation and the way to make yourself different from The competition is to show how your product is unique in its own way and gathering like that is a key momentum where these things can be showcased or when collaboration can be done together in order to achieve such type of things. Another thing that I would like to mention is It's more like, let's bring up the level of discussion toward the political situation right now. There is more and more siloed vision of the world where we are talking about tariffs, where we are talking about challenges. And so what the industry would like to show as an image is how these things can still be working the opposite direction. So when collaboration, when exchange is happening.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
So this is why when we are saying it's 40 % of people outside of Europe, it's not just a number. We are really proud of it. We are probably, because people will be... together, people that right now may be under certain level of tensions due to things that they are not in control of, they will have the opportunity still to work and to exchange together. So I think that this is also a role that the industry would like to take over, is really to show that there's also other paths, other ways of dealing together, of working together, even if we are competitor and even if there are some challenges, communication and exchange is always feasible.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
Absolutely. And you mentioned regulations earlier. Will this be kind of something that will be focused on at the show? And sustainability in particular, is that going to be a focus? And how do you feel that together we can enable a green and unwoven production?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
I mean, yes, definitely. So it's really important to know that it's a trade show. So people are there for business. It's also a content driven platform where we have seminars, also where we are going to cover all those different subjects, where we are feeding people with information in order for them to also better understand what is regulation. Now, when the regulation is in place, the first thing is, OK, what does it mean? And what does it going to impact?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
And how can I answer this? And so this is what we are going, of course, to share with them and making sure that the people also get further insight to be able to answer those new regulations that sometimes are made for really good reasons. What I can say is that generally speaking, if we're talking about the regulation in Europe, we can see that there's also a certain level of shift from the current people in place in Brussels versus the previous one, meaning like, yes, regulation sustainability is still there, but we also need to make sure that the industry is still competitive. And so trying to find the right balance in between that. And so, you know, with all those different changes, we constantly need to have an open discussion with the industries and the industries together in order to understand okay, what does it mean?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
What does it mean in regards to urgent changes, opportunities, long -term visions, all those type of things that are going also to be covered during index.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
And Magali, will recycling and circularity as part of sustainability be prioritized at the show? And are there any other key themes that we should be aware of?  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Other key team, well, then we're going to have our sector seminars. So they will be covering other applications like filtration, automotive, geotextile. Yes, and maybe we may have something about, well, I don't know, it's not totally wrap up, but maybe on the artificial intelligency, because it's also a very, very good topic.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
Yeah, and on picking up on the artificial intelligence point, and you are right it's kind of everywhere at the moment and digitalization is a big topic for the industry, AI and automation, etc. Yeah, we will we see a lot. yeah in the seminars but also kind of on the exhibition.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Yeah I think it will be especially within the exhibitors because they are including now this completely in their like some machinery companies and so we will certainly be able to see this and to discover this on the booth and yeah it's a really really very fresh and interesting topics and the industry is completely What do you feel is the link between, you know, AI digitalization and the sustainability points that you  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
were making just earlier. Is there a strong link in the non -woven industry? Because in other sides of the tech industry, they have been linked together quite closely. Is this the same for non -woven production?  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
Yes, definitely. We are just, I mean, just to be as concrete as possible, we have just left the conference.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Yeah, maybe this is why I was influenced by this.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
But we just had like an in -depth presentation about the impact of AI on industry and how this can be leveraged into positive direction. And that was entwined with also the sustainability topic. Yes. So this is not even a choice, I think. It's just the new way to move forward. Those are key elements, key trends, and they are entwined together.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
They are enablers to each of them.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
So yes, this is definitely going to be shown by your members, but it's also going to be highlighted by us during the trade show. Yeah, and also before in our communication, certainly, because the exhibitors, they have the possibility, you know, to communicate about their innovation, then we can, they communicate to us and then we highlight it in our communication on our website.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
And so, and often they are around sustainability, yeah, and automatisation, so. Well, thank you both so much. That was all my questions.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
Is there anything you guys would like to add before we leave?  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
If I may, yeah, just to say that all the people that will come back, that we are really happy to welcoming them back, but all the people that have not been able to experience it, that yeah, at least if they can come and as visitors to be able to see all the dynamic and everything, because it's really the global gathering for the industry and we're proud of it. Absolutely. Thank you.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Magali and thank you for your time and thank you to our audience as well and I hope you have found this as insightful as I have and as Murat says do join us at the World's Leading Novel Ovens Exhibition Index from the 19th to 22nd of May, 2026.  

Madelaine Thomas - WTiN
Thank you very much to you.  

Magali Fakhry Dufresne - Palexpo
Thank you so much both.  

Murat Dogru - EDANA
Have a nice day. Bye bye. Thank you.