Brief introduction of ITMA:
ITMA is the world’s largest spinning machinery exhibition, owned by the European Association of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX), and it is considered the Olympic event in the international textile machinery sector, the most important showcase in the field of international textile and textile machinery, and has been an important guide for the textile machinery industry since it was first held in 1951. It is outstanding for high quality, complete system solutions and rich exhibits, participation of market-leading companies.

The core figures of ITMA 2023:

Exhibitors: 1,709 exhibitors from 47 countries showcased cutting-edge technology. This gathering showcased the cutting edge of innovation in the industry. ITMA 2023 was characterized by the strong participation of the European trendsetters in the textile machinery sector. As in previous ITMAs, exhibitors from the CEMATEX countries continued to make a strong presence on the show floor. Compared to ITMA 2019, this year’s show gained a 3% increase in net exhibition space. The new machines and products launches in 20 product areas contributed to the digital and sustainable transformation of buyers’ businesses.

The Top 5 countries in terms of number of exhibitors were Italy (422), China (231), Germany (198), Turkey (191) and India (181).

Visitors: ITMA 2023 was well received, with more than 111,000 visitors from 143 countries attending the show. In a joint press release, the European Council of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX) and ITMA Services said the top six visitor countries were Italy with 29%, followed by Turkey, India and Germany with 6% each, France with 4% and Brazil with 3%.

“ITMA 2023 was a huge success with more visitors than the previous show in 2019. The transformation journey towards digitalization and sustainability took a huge leap forward at this year’s ITMA. It was a large gathering with stakeholders from the entire textile and apparel manufacturing ecosystem in attendance. the CEMATEX association and its member companies, as well as all other exhibitors, were delighted with the results of the show, which exceeded all our expectations,” said Ernesto Maurer, President of CEMATEX.

The success of the ITMA in Milan confirms that ITMA is the most important showcase for the world textile machinery industry. It was a great success in terms of the quality of visitors present and many Italian exhibitors have already secured contracts and sold their machines,” noted Federico Pellegata, Director of ACIMIT.

ITMA 2023 Highlights Companies

High-speed weaving
Switzerland-based Stäubli is a long-time leader in weaving technology, with a product range that includes cam motions, dobbies and jacquards as well as drawing-in, leasing and tying machines. Its latest development draws on the company’s extensive experience in robotics and digitalization, which Fritz Legler, head of global marketing, explains is interlinked with process efficiency.

“The better control you have over the process, the more sustainable you are,” he says.” We are continuously developing new and improved high-performance solutions for processing fabrics for fashion, home furnishing, carpet, automotive, protective and medical applications, as well as highly complex technical textiles for future applications. Our technology is based on more than 2,200 approved or pending patents and is in use on close to 70,000 weaving machines worldwide.”

An example of advanced digitization is the company’s PRO Series Jacquard machines, which were introduced in late 2022 to improve energy efficiency in the production of plain, terry or one-piece weaves. These Jacquard machines range in size from 4,608 hooks to 25,600 hooks – each individual position is controlled by the company’s latest Noemi electronic architecture, allowing each yarn to be fully synchronized with the hook lifting action during high-speed weaving. Stäubli’s latest development draws on the company’s extensive experience in robotics and digitization. This is how digitalization will be used in practice at ITMA Milan 2023.

Recycling
A major theme of the trade fair was recycling to promote sustainable development in the global textile industry. Among the developments in this area, Saurer, the Swiss spinning technology leader, launched an important new initiative with partners Inovafil of Portugal and Renewcell of Sweden, the company behind Circulose, a new fiber that can be made from 100% textile waste. Saurer demonstrated Circulose’s spinning process on all three of its industry-leading spinning systems – rotor, ring and air – is a major advance in the field.

Singapore-based Swiss company Säntis Textiles has also announced a partnership with Turkey’s Temsan to commercialize its RCO100 technology, which turns pre- and post-consumer cotton garment waste into new 100% recycled yarn without the use of chemical processes.

Test Smart Now! ChiuVention leads the digital future of textile testing

The four key topics of ITMA 2023 are,

• High-end Materials
• Automation and the Digital Future
• Innovative technologies
• Sustainability and Circularity.

ChiuVention textile testing instruments from Dongguan, China, accounted for exactly two – Automation and the Digital Future, Sustainability and Circularity.

ChiuVention booked the ITMA booth E301 in Hall 4 a year ago, and hired a team of top German designers for the industrial design of the products and booth design and construction.

ChiuVention is a leading developer of smart textile testing instruments and smart lab management systems. The SmartTexLab system developed by ChiuVention efficiently realizes the linkage and automation of multiple smart textile testing instruments and sample preparation equipment through the latest technologies, such as IoT and RFID, AI, vision detection, etc., digitally. Customers can easily dominate and control the series of tests and quickly obtain and share test results by simply installing the SmarTexLab app on their cell phones. In this way, textile labs can achieve automatic sample identification, automatic sample cutting, and automatic transmission of test results for the same sample in each instrument to a central computer, and then a summary report can be obtained upon completion of the test, which can be quickly shared online to the quality control department or customer.

The paperless process it enables also helps save lab personnel and material costs, a reflection of sustainability and recyclability. In addition, by dramatically reducing the time from sample collection to report output, SmartTexLab can reduce lead times for textile and apparel mills, creating greater economic benefits.

The ChiuVention SmartTexLab system is the first of its kind in the textile testing industry and is a revolution in traditional textile testing, saying goodbye to the tedious traditional testing process and instrument silos, allowing textile testing from point to point, forming a truly intelligent testing solution.

SmarTexLab Textile Testing vs Conventional Textile Testing

(S represents SmarTexLab and C represents Conventional)

With the advent of the digital age and the expansion of the middle class, the market demand for apparel and fashion products is becoming more and more diversified, which brings challenges to the textile industry, including product diversification, small orders, and rapid updates. Accordingly,  the smart textile testing solutions that can help the textile industry to obtain more accurate and reliable test results quickly and at lower cost undoubtedly have irreplaceable strategic value. ChiuVention, this time, stands at the windbreak of textile testing digitization and is bound to be promising.

ChiuVention Becomes a Unique Scene at ITMA 2023
From 6.8 to 6.14, ChiuVention’s booth was hot for 7 days. Textile brands, supply chain companies, third-party laboratories and university laboratories from all over the world surrounded the 60 square meters booth. They were also impressed by the smart, ease of use and reliability of each instrument. Just take the top 3 smart test instruments as an example:

The star exhibit won the top prize

SmartShrink Rate Tester is the most popular among ChiuVention’s 9 exhibits.

The SmartShrink Rate Tester uses visual algorithms to automatically capture warp and weft data of textiles before and after textile shrinkage rates testing. It then automatically calculates the shrinkage rate and generates corresponding data, which is recorded in the software. The process involves scanning and identifying the QR code on the textile product, generating corresponding data in the software, and saving it. This greatly improves the efficiency of shrinkage rate testing in textile factories and reduces human testing errors, ensuring accurate and reliable test results.  The whole testing process only need 3 seconds! By choosing SmartShrink, you can save 324.5 hours per month based on 300 samples per day in an average fabric factory.

That is, each SmartShrink can save the company 2 labor cost per year! Based on a salary of $7,000 per person, each unit can save $168,000 per year.

Smartindale  replaced the traditional analog drive with a digital drive

The Smartindale martindale abrasion & pilling tester, an exclusive innovation in the industry, the combination of dual servo motors, micro controller, embedded, mathematical model, point-to-point drive, etc., single point directly generated LISSAJOUS, with higher precision and reliability of the equipment.

Calibration-free
The dual action of servo driver and position sensor allows the instrument to continuously achieve accurate testing.

Smart instrument
Can be connected through Wi-Fi with SmarTexLab App installed in the smart phones, set parameters, monitor the test status, receive equipment warning reminders, replenishment reminders, etc., and share test results with one click.

One-click testing modes shifting
Compared to conventional Martindale, with the Smartindale, you don’t need to remove the top plate and change the pins, just click one key of the screen to switch the testing modes from abrasion to pilling (e.g. straight line mode, large Lissajous figure, small Lissajous figure).

Ergonomic design
The moving guide plate can be operated by one hand and automatically close, with anti-collision function, more friendly to testers.

Smart and good-looking air permeability tester

The AirFicient air permeability tester, displayed in a right-angle corner of the ChiuVention booth, is popular for its smooth, minimalist design and easy-to-use interface. Simply place the sample in the test area, select the test criteria, test unit, test pressure, etc. from the touch screen, and click the “Start” button to start the test. Similarly, the test status can be monitored remotely in real time through the app, and the test report can be transferred to the cell phone, exported and printed simultaneously. The AirFicient is practical and high value, standing out among many homogeneous air permeability testers, allowing customers to feel the beauty of industrial design.

The feedback on ChiuVention from customers

Surprised. Impressive. Creative.

That’s the feedback we hear most often.

ChiuVention provides solutions to solve the pain points of textile testing industry for many years. Many experts and scholars from universities, research institutes and third-party laboratories have offered to collaborate with ChiuVention to help drive the updating of testing standards in order to support ChiuVention’s revolutionary and innovative products.

Conclusion:
As evidenced by the unprecedented success of ITMA 2023, the global textile industry, recovering from the effects of the pandemic, has shown remarkable resilience, attracting the world’s attention. This highly anticipated show is a comprehensive showcase of cutting-edge technologies, energized by a large line-up of 1,709 exhibitors. ITMA 2023 attracts leaders and influential entrepreneurs in the decision-making industry, who further recognize the importance of the show in shaping the future of the textile industry. It will also attract more Chinese textile companies to continue to innovate and stand out on the world stage.

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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