Fespa’s Print Make Wear inspires visitors to invest in textile printing

467 individual delegates registered for Print Make Wear. They were joined by the 17% of visitors to the wider Fespa event who came with an interest in garment decoration and manufacturing, and who visited the Print Make Wear area, as well as more than 2,000 visitors who attended the feature tours.

Technology investment would have been the agenda of visitors to Print Make Wear, with more than half planning to invest within six months. The audience comprised 90% senior managers, with 76% of visitors having purchasing authority. 

A number of prominent sportswear, clothing and promotional apparel brands were represented among the delegates, with visitors typically occupying business, manufacturing, product development and technical roles. Their feedback shows that Print Make Wear at Fespa 2018 was viewed as an opportunity to update industry knowledge in the areas of increased efficiency and sustainability, workflow and technology and evaluate equipment and technology to inform future investment.

The leading countries in terms of attendance at Print Make Wear were Germany and the UK. Substantial groups also participated from Poland, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Romania, the Russian Federation and Hungary, reflecting the significance of the garment sector in these countries. 

56% of Fespa Print Census respondents active in textile printing have invested in digital printing technology, with 19% planning to do so in the next two years. Productivity is the major investment driver for 69% of textile respondents, while more than half are looking to print directly onto untreated materials.

Folker Stachetzki, marketing manager at Brother Internationale said "The quality of visitors to Print Make Wear was very good, with a number of visitors coming to our stand having seen our machine in Print Make Wear and wanting to learn more. Being able to demonstrate our equipment in Print Make Wear helped to inform visitors about our product offering. For us, Print Make Wear played an important part in educating visitors about the entire fast fashion production process."

Head of events at Fespa Duncan MacOwan said "Our research shows that, while the garment sector has been slower than other speciality print segments to transition to digital production, this is changing, driven by brand owner demand for streamlined production in the interests of reduced waste along the supply chain and increased flexibility to seasonal and local demand. Just as Fespa has supported graphics producers to evolve and adapt, with Print Make Wear we are now giving this focus to garment producers and printers and other businesses considering enhancing their fashion textile print offering."

Fespa head of technical, Graeme Richardson-Locke, who personally led some of the Print Make Wear tours, added "We're delighted by the enthusiastic response to the launch of the inaugural Print Make Wear from all parts of the fashion ecosystem."

The upcoming Fespa events include Fespa Africa, to be held at Johannesburg, South Africa between 12-14 September, Fespa Mexico to be conducted at Mexico City, Mexico between 20-22 September 2018 followed by Fespa Eurasia at Istanbul, Turkey between 6-9 December 2018