#Nonwovens / Technical Textiles

2015-01-08

FUTEX 2015 "Textiles & Energies" is starting on 21 January, 2015

Energy exists in various forms: solar, thermal, fluid, chemical, nuclear, electrical, piezoelectric, triboelectric, and so on. What are the tools and means available to us to manage, produce, harvest, transfer, and store energy? FUTEX 2015 has chosen to put the spotlight on existing solutions, available opportunities and possibilities for development through textile materials. Textile chemistry, new fibres, textile constructions, combinations of textile and non-textile technologies offer innovative perspectives to transport or store these energies.

On 21 and 22 January 2015, in two cities which are both located in the leading textile Euro-Region, leading figures of the energy sector (EDF, Dunkerque LNG, ...) and key players in the textile industry (manufacturers, engineers, researchers, ...) will meet to discuss these issues, find solutions and discover the latest innovations. Conferences and exhibitions will be held at the Hippodrome in Marcqen-Baroeul and the workshops on innovation will take place at CETI, CENTRE OF EUROPEAN TEXTILES INTELLIGENCE, in Tourcoing.

Every two years since 2005, FUTEX has been a major meeting point for the European technical textile sector with an ever-growing attendance of what is now over 220 participants, representing more than 10 nationalities. FUTEX includes five events in one: conferences, booths (manufacturers, partners), the FUTUROTEXTILES exhibition, the FUTEX Innovation Challenge Award for Students, and workshops on innovation. FUTEX gives rise to development opportunities in the short and medium term, such as the emergency shelters developed for the NGO Emergency Architects with local manufacturers in 2009.

For the 2015 event, FUTEX is inaugurating an afternoon devoted to workshops on innovation run by the Technology Platform CETI, IFTH (French Institute for Textile and Clothing) and the Adicode® system of the HEI-ISA-ISEN Group. Participants can explore three ways to carry out the development of an innovative product. These workshops will be held at CETI, the French centre of excellence serving as an international reference, dedicated to the development of added value in textile products.

FUTEX is the brainchild of the honorary president of CLUBTEX, the technical textile companies club, Patrice Gallant, a former textile manufacturer in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, and Bernard Gerard, deputy mayor of Marcq-en-Baroeul and Chairman of the Textile Commission of the French National Assembly. This biennial European Convention on Technical Textiles, FUTEX brings together producers, end users, and specifiers of these innovative materials structured around the needs of key accounts.

In 2004, the Fourmies museum, with the support of CLUBTEX, put together an exhibition presenting the range of applications of technical textiles found in everyday objects and industrial items provided by contractors in the region of Nord-Pas Calais (expanded and praised by Lille 3000, it is now known as FUTUROTEXTILES). Bernard Gerard wishes to organize a parallel event bringing together professionals to present the regional know-how and to raise awareness of the many textile applications.

Founded in 2005, FUTEX is the opportunity to present what is state-of-the-art, to get updated on the latest innovations and on-going projects, and to present a showcase of what currently exists in a theme chosen by the organizing committee representing all figures in the textile industry. Patrice Gallant co-founder of FUTEX states:"FUTEX is the privileged place of European gatherings to do business, initiate partnerships and invest in research."

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