Sportswear Pro 2020 builds momentum – March 2020, Madrid

Co­located with FESPA Global Print Expo 2020

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IPP Desk
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Sportswear Pro

The first Sportswear Pro, taking place at IFEMA, Feria de Madrid, from 24 to 27 March 2020, is gaining momentum with participating exhibitors and official support from AFYDAD, the Spanish Sports Association.

Companies including FK Group Spa, Perma Press AB, Tajima DST, Gemini CAD, and Caron Technology will exhibit at Sportswear Pro 2020 to showcase their latest innovations in manufacturing technologies for sports and athleisure garments, such as heat transfer systems, fabric cutting equipment, and automatic spreaders and loading systems.

Sergio Angulo Rodríguez, sales manager, Tajima DST, says, “Sportswear Pro is a great opportunity for Tajima to strengthen its brand and connect with industry professionals. Customization is a key focus, and we are looking forward to showing visitors how they can easily personalize products with our embroidery technology.”

Traian Pindaru, senior product specialist at Gemini CAD, adds, “With our strong focus on the sportswear sector, it is important for us to reach the right audience. Exhibiting at Sportswear Pro will enable us to share our latest products with new and existing customers and sportswear producers, share ideas, and connect with other industry specialists.”

Michael Ryan, exhibition manager, Sportswear Pro 2020, says, “The ‘Pro’ in Sportswear Pro stands for ‘production.’ Our mission is to help sportswear manufacturers and apparel brands respond to the fastest moving trends in the market by giving them actionable insights into the technical innovations that are re-shaping every stage in the manufacturing process.”

“Our exhibitors will show some inspiring examples of technologies that can enable lean, just-in-time production and personalization, reducing time to market, minimizing waste and creating stand-out sports and athleisure garments that consumers can’t wait to buy.”

Educational content program, fast-fashion factory, and visitor trail

Sportswear Pro 2020 will include a dedicated theatre area with a Triathcon program featuring streams of content specifically developed to address the key trends shaping the sportswear and athleisure sectors, including customization, on-demand production, sustainability, and smart wearables. The full program will be published in early 2020, and all the sessions will be free to attend.

Visitors to Sportswear Pro 2020 will also have the chance to experience a live sportswear manufacturing showcase in Print Make Wear, a micro-factory feature that will connect Sportswear Pro and the co-located FESPA Global Print Expo.

Print Make Wear at FESPA Global Print Expo 2019
Print Make Wear at FESPA Global Print Expo 2019

Print Make Wear will represent the full production process for sports and athleisure garments, featuring two distinct workflows. The first reflects a customized garment ordering scenario, enabling visitors to order sportswear items from an on-site kiosk. The second workflow begins with design software, progressing to nesting, and production layout. Polyester garments will subsequently be printed using a roll-fed dye sublimation process before calendaring, laser cutting, and sewing. Samples produced at the event will be displayed and modeled on the Print Make Wear catwalk. Guided tours of both workflows will be available to pre-book online.

FESPA Global Print Expo will feature numerous exhibitors dedicated to textile and garment printing and decoration. Printed sportswear on display within FESPA Global Print Expo will also be highlighted in a Visitor Trail, extending the experience for visitors to Sportswear Pro.

New partnership with AFYDAD

AFYDAD is a national trade association and an active member of FESI, the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry. It is a non-profit organization representing all the sports sub-sectors, such as manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers dedicated to all sports, equipment, and apparel.

As a partner of Sportswear Pro 2020, AFYDAD will promote Sportswear Pro with its members in the run-up to the event and will take part in the Triathcon program of seminars, to provide critical insights on the current state of the sports market in the Iberian region.

Marta Mercader, general secretary of AFYDAD, says, “We are proud to be collaborating with Sportswear Pro and, of course, we wanted to support an international event that held its first edition in our country. Many of our association members use textile printing technology, and so Sportswear Pro is a good opportunity for them to see the latest technologies and sector trends. In addition, Sportswear Pro will have conferences dedicated to sustainability and digitization, which are two key focus areas for AFYDAD. The agreement will allow our members free entrance and a guided tour, among other benefits.”

Visitor registration for Sportswear Pro 2020 is open now at www.sportswearpro.com/registration.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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