Moreover, with Techtextil trade fairs in North America, China, Russia and India, you have founded successful offshoots at the same time as setting new exhibitor and visitor records in Frankfurt year for year. Take a brief look back at the development of the fair and the market for us. What was the idea and what do you think of the way it was implemented?

The idea for a fair for technical textiles came about in the mid-eighties. At that time, there was no proper fair on this subject. Instead, companies made presentations at a variety of different events, such as Heimtextil in Frankfurt or K in Düsseldorf. Looking back, I would set the following milestones:

Techtextil made its debut in 1986 with 195 exhibitors, and has been held biennially since 1987. In close cooperation with the industry, we defined twelve areas of application for technical textiles – from Agrotech to Sporttech – and developed pictographs for them in 1997. This user-oriented concept has been continuously up-dated since then and is now a permanent part of Techtextil. Moreover, the terms have also become part of the general vocabulary used in the sector. After holding the first Techtextil outside Germany (Japan) in 1992, we have continuously exported the fair (since 1998) so that Techtextil is presently held at five venues outside Western Europe. In 2011, Texprocess, Leading International Trade Fair for Processing Textile and Flexible Materials, was held concurrently with Techtextil at Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre for the first time. Adding all this up, I believe I can justly say that Techtextil has been a success story from the initial idea to the current positioning.

2.) And could you now take a look into the future. What can we expect from Techtextil 2013?

This year’s Techtextil will be the biggest ever both in terms of exhibitor numbers and the amount of exhibition space sold. Never before have we had so many requests for additional exhibition space as in this year.

This is a very positive sign because it shows that companies want to make more striking and better presentations. Naturally, it is too early to say anything about visitor numbers. However, very great interest has been shown by the media and we have received more inquiries than ever before for pre-fair reports, interviews, etc. And we are increasingly being told that many companies and associations are planning to hold meetings at or on the occasion of Techtextil. Therefore, I am personally looking forward to a very intensive, high-grade event thanks also to the fact that it is being held concurrently with the second Texprocess.