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PromoTex Messse Düsseldorf
Picture: PromoTex Messse Düsseldorf

Featuring a catwalk, a fashion boulevard and a campus that puts sustainability centre stage, the second PromoTex Expo will take place from 7 to 9 January 2020. Also on tap at the International Trade Show for Promotion, Sports and Workwear will be a high-calibre programme with experts discussing industry showcases, current trends and areas of focus. Together, PSI, viscom and PromoTex Expo form the whole World of Advertising and Selling, making it possible to bundle and display textile, haptic and visual communication options under one roof.

In Hall 12, textile professionals, signmakers, promotional products distributors, agencies and marketers meet major industry players such as TeeJays, Lynka, Vossen, Matterhorn, Regatta and MASCOT International A/S. But there will also be new faces showing their product highlights at the international trade show, including stilfaser and IGUANA GROUP. With bags2GO and miners mate, L-Shop Team will present not one but two new brands at PromoTex Expo.

The heart of the hall: Boulevard and Catwalk

The Textile Campus in Hall 12 is the central destination for textile professionals. Sustainability is the priority here. One example is Pure Waste, the company from Finland that shreds used textiles to make new clothing. The mission of “Die Hehlerei” (German for “dealer in stolen goods”) is to recycle, upcycle and network in the social hotspots in the Cologne metropolitan area, offering information on clothing donations, clothes swaps and rental-clothing subscriptions. Effekt Textiles from Cologne is focussed on merchandising articles, among others. Together with visitors, both Cologne-based companies will develop a sustainable merchandise collection at the trade show. As a testing institute, certifier and quality management expert, Intertek is bringing a hands-on testing lab to the show, allowing visitors to try out and learn more about mechanical, physical and chemical textile tests. The Bremen Cotton Exchange, HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Bianca Seidel Consulting and the Academy for Textile Finishing will have a presence on the Textile Campus.

Another hotspot is the Catwalk, where professional models will present the exhibitors’ latest collections to great advertising effect. The fashion shows will be staged four times a day: at 11:30 am, 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm and 4:30 pm.

Routes to offer guidance

Themed routes are the ideal way to discover the most important stops for sustainability and merchandising. Sustainability, for example, is a topic that threads through all three trade shows; a walk along the “Go Green” route lets visitors explore it. The route takes visitors to the winners of the fifth PSI Sustainability Awards 2019 and to various exhibitors with sustainable textile products at PromoTex Expo.

Merchandising is featured both at PromoTex Expo and at PSI. One stop is the Members Only Lounge at PSI, but Forum 13 is also among the destinations. Various presentations on the topic will be held here exclusively on the first day of the show. Attending “Merchandising and Special Markets” sessions, participants will get insights into the success story of Kolter’s Tatort quilt based on the long-running German crime series and hear the story of how a merchandising article is developed from idea to finished product. Visitors will also learn how merchandising products differ from promotional products and find out where the opportunities are for distributors, finishers and their customers. Non-members of the PSI Network can visit the Members Only Lounge to get advice on memberships and the various PSI services.

At the same time, viscom is inviting visitors to get an overview of machines and materials for textile finishing. The themed routes will offer guidance in this case, too. The “Go for It” route will pass by the “Street of Explorers” and go on to the special “Make Your Shirt” area, the viscom live signmaking workshop, the Nations Wrap Cup, various boulevard islands and selected exhibitors. The focus will be on digital cutting techniques and on insights into embroidering textiles, generating T-shirt designs and creating motifs for various products. The interior design tour will take visitors to the presentations in Forum 13, individual islands on the Street of the Explorers, the viscom live signmaking workshop and leading printing technology exhibitors, among other stops. Seen as a whole, then, textile finishers can look forward to finding everything they need for their business at these three trade shows.

Knowledge transfer at Forum 13

Expert experience and inspiration for everyday challenges are on tap in the presentations and best practices featured at Forum 13 in Hall 13. In addition to topics revolving around sustainability in the textile industry, the emphasis will also be on new solutions in digital and textile printing and possible applications in signmaking and illuminated advertising, thus linking the content of the three trade shows.

Tuesday, for example, will be about how projects can be realised in a network. The illustrative example will be sourcebook, the digital B2B platform for the textile industry, which PromoTex Expo has joined as a partner member. Also on the first day of the show, the industry experts will discuss what the sporting goods industry is doing to combat harmful substances and how detoxification works. Another key topic is smart textiles. One business case discussed, for example, will be about luminous clothing as a customer-specific solution. Also on the agenda is a look at how unique garments are created by artificial intelligence.

Making contacts

The matchmaking platform supports exhibitors and visitors in planning their perfect day at the show. Based on their own interests, it helps them to find the right contacts and set up appointments with them. The Job Exchange brings together companies looking for employees and skilled employees looking for change. Offers and requests can be entered online ahead of PromoTex Expo or dropped off in the matchmaking area during the show.

The custom shirt

Smake leverages the advantages of digitalisation to fling open the door to the future of textile finishing. When the company from Castrop-Rauxel puts embroidery and prints on apparel, it doesn’t just do so in a personalised way and in a single piece on demand, it has simultaneously developed software solutions to make the finishing process scalable and cost-efficient. “We come from the production side and know the requirements. After a detailed analysis of the processes, we aligned the digital process to match exactly”, explains Thomas Drees, the managing director. Together with his partner Mark Busche, he’ll invite visitors at his special “Make Your Shirt” area on a special journey. In the role of the customer, they’ll configure their very own garment while generating a barcode at the same time. Using this barcode, they can track every single stage the order passes through, from placing the order to receiving, finishing and quality control to shipping.