Oliver Schmidt: In a few days, after the pandemic and the resulting one-year postponement, your trade fairs, Techtextil and Texprocess, will finally start again. There is certainly a lot of relief and joy there for you. What is the situation like? How satisfied are you? What is going well, what is going less well, and what expectations do you have of the trade fairs, the exhibitors and the visitors?

Michael Jänecke: We are very pleased that Techtextil and Texprocess can finally take place again this year after a Corona-related break of three years. The relevance of the trade shows for the industry is reflected in the more than 1,300 registered exhibitors from 53 countries who will present their products and technologies to a global audience. The industry continues to face economic and social challenges such as shortages of raw materials, long delivery times, cost increases and even a lack of personnel. It is therefore particularly important that we use Techtextil and Texprocess to create a platform for personal exchange in order to work together on solutions and initiate new developments. Visitors can once again make face-to-face contact with exhibitors, establish business relationships and also benefit from the extensive supporting program, such as the free Techtextil and Texprocess Forum.

This time - planned as a one-off event - a Heimtextil Summer Special with around 950 exhibitors from 49 countries will also be taking place? Will this be a separate event or where and how do you expect links and synergies?

For the first time, the three leading trade fairs will be held in parallel. As a trade fair for home and contract textiles, the Heimtextil Summer Special has its own focus. Nevertheless, there are numerous synergies with Techtextil and Texprocess, as the textiles, technologies and processing methods on show are also used in the home textiles sector. It is a unique opportunity to see these three trade fairs at the same time in the same place and to present the textile value chains to the visitors*. Exhibitors benefit from cross-selling opportunities and can establish business relationships in entirely new constellations.

As the world's leading trade fairs, all three trade fairs also stand for innovation above all. The development time has been extended this time due to the pandemic and exhibitors have had three years to develop something new. How much innovation will we see?

Many companies have used the last three years for research and development. The resulting new materials, products and technologies will ideally be presented to the international trade audience at our trade shows. We therefore expect to see a wide variety of new products and strong innovation at the trade shows.

We are delighted to be able to support new and further developments in the field of technical textiles and textile processing, or to make them visible, with the Techtextil or Texprocess Innovation Award. The winners, selected by two international juries of experts, will be honored at a public awards ceremony on June 21, 2022, and presented on all four days of the show in Hall 9.1 (Techtextil) and Hall 9.0 (Texprocess). Once again this year, groundbreaking innovations were submitted that show how much future potential there is in the textile industry. The winners will be officially announced on June 20.

The focus topic of the trade shows is sustainability, already a focal point of the last edition in 2019. You aim to make sustainability in products even more visible to visitors. How are you implementing this?

As in 2019, exhibitors with sustainable products and technologies will be identified for visitors* as part of Sustainability@Techtextil and Sustainability@Texprocess. New this year is that exhibitors could submit both already certified and as yet uncertified sustainable products for review by an independent international jury. In this way, we are supporting exhibitors with sustainable approaches and making it easier for visitors to find them. In addition to a label on the stand, the relevant exhibitors are listed in a separate brochure and can be found in the online exhibitor search and the Techtextil or Texprocess app.

The Techtextil Forum and the Texprocess Forum will once again be part of the event. Why have both become an integral part of the trade fairs? What do exhibitors and visitors appreciate about the formats?

The Techtextil and Texprocess Forum bring together international industry representatives and interested visitors to exchange information and ideas on various industry topics. For many years, the format has established itself as an important meeting place for experts. It provides insights and inspiration on a wide range of topics, stimulates new ways of thinking and promotes discussions. The Techtextil Forum in Hall 9.1 offers presentations such as "Circular economy in the textile industry. A Position Statement," "Development of 3D-printed Composite Elements for Personal Stab Protection Clothing," or "Making a Mark with Textiles. Recycling solutions for membranes for use in architecture." The patron of the Techtextil Forum is once again EURATEX - The European Apparel and Textile Confederation. At the Texprocess Forum in Hall 9.0, the audience can expect expert presentations on topics such as Impact 4.0 / Future of Industry 4.0, Quality Management of the Future, Supply Chain Management, Digital Product Development and Sustainability Management. As in 2019, the Texprocess Forum program will be organized by DTB - Dialog Textil-Bekleidung e.V. and VDMA TFL.

Both forums are free of charge. The presentations will be simultaneously translated DE/EN or EN/DE. After the Techtextil Forum and Texprocess Forum, the presentations will also be made available "on demand" on the Techtextil and Texprocess Digital Extension platform.