April 2023 – Two industry forums on nonwovens, and textiles and colourants will be reprised at ITMA 2023 which will be held in Milan this June. The ITMA Nonwovens Forum and ITMA Textile Co—lourants and Chemicals Forum will feature renowned experts who will offer insights into current challenges and share ideas on how the textile industry can achieve sustainability by leveraging inno—vative technologies.

Mr Ernesto Maurer, President of CEMATEX, said: “Challenges in the industrial environment also bring with them a wealth of innovation opportunities. The ITMA forums will bring together stakeholders across the entire value chain to review the issues of the day, dialogue, collaborate and ensure that we will have a sus—tainable future. ITMA 2023 offers a unique platform as it attracts all the textile industry players in one convenient place. Delegates can also visit the exhibition to discover new trends and technologies in the sustainability sector. ”

ITMA Nonwovens Forum

The Nonwovens Forum will feature a keynote presentation by Dr Bryan Haynes, Technical Director for Global Nonwovens at Kimberly—Clark Corporation (United Kingdom). He will speak on the topic: Ready Now Nonwoven Solutions for the Global Plastics Crisis. In his presenta—tion, he will provide insights into solutions that are commercially avail—able, highlighting Kimberly—Clark’s sustainability journey.

According to Dr Haynes, who has a PhD in Mechanical Engi—neering from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the Single Use Plastics Directive was a wake—up call to the nonwoven indus—try. Hence, he would like to urge industry players to explore ‘Coope—tition’ or cooperative competition as this will accelerate speed to market solutions. Following the keynote, there will be two sessions with presentations by ITMA 2023 exhibitors. The forum will end with a panel discussion on the theme, Leveraging Sustainable In—novation and Digital Technology in the Nonwoven Industry.

ITMA Textile Colourants and Chemicals Forum

Held since 2011, the Textile Colourants and Chemicals Forumwill feature a joint keynote presentation by Mr Prasad Pant, Director, South Asia, ZDHC Foundation and Ms Sophie Mather, Co—Founder and Executive Director, The Microfibre Consortium (TMC).

The presentation, Textile Wastewater: Addressing Microfibre Loss during Manufacture, focuses on the im—pact of fibre shedding from clothing during manufacture and consumer use. Microfibres have been flagged as an environmental hazard and the presenters will share the key findings from the joint project by the two organisa—tions on fibre fragmentation in wastewater. Through the presentation, they would like to propel various stakehold—ers to collaborate towards a sustainable manufacturing value chain.

Mr Pant has a degree in Textile Chemistry and 30 years of experience in textile processing, dyes and auxil—iaries manufacturing, and marketing and chemical man—agement systems implementation; while Ms Mather is a thought leader on sustainable innovation and brings in—novative thinking and network to tackle the industry chal—lenge of microfibre release within the clothing industry. A highlight at the forum is the panel discussion, Unlocking the Decarbonisation Opportunity led by Fashion for Good(FFG). Moderated by Ms Jana van den Bergen, FFG Inno—vation Manager, the session will map the opportunities for impact reduction and dive into FFG's D(R)YE Factory of the Future Project. The project brings together key play—ers in the industry and several innovators in pretreatment and colouration to validate their technologies.

The Textile Colourants and Chemicals Forum will be held on 9 June 2023, while the Nonwovens Forum will be held on 10 June 2023. Besides ITMA forums,participants can also attend other complimentary ac—tivities, such as the Innovator Xchange (9 – 13 June)and the Innovation Video Showcase which will feature selected videos from exhibitors.