The FESPA exhibition has once again proved to be the pivotal exhibition to the complete decorating industry, with record numbers of exhibitors making their way the Messe Munich in southern Germany for four halls of solutions and new developments.

Open for a total of five days, with the final day falling on a Saturday, the show saw a total of 4000 new visitors on each day, resulting in a total number of visitors of 20,301, more than double the attendance of the 2002 exhibition that was held in the Spanish capital Madrid.

The results of the registration team showed that a large number of visitors returned to the show on more than one day, meaning that the total footfall for the five days was more than 33,000. The show was wall represented by the world with visitors travelling from more than 100 countries worldwide

FESPA Exhibition Director, Frazer Chesterman said, 'As we expected, turnout from the national screen and digital printing communities is high, with around 25% of visitors on the first day coming from Germany. But visitors have also made the trip from much further afield, with high levels of attendance from other European, Middle Eastern, African, Asia Pacific and American markets.

'Delegate numbers from Italy, France, Benelux, UK, Turkey, Brazil and South Africa have been especially buoyant. The location in Munich has also attracted throngs of visitors from central and eastern Europe, adding up to over 1000 visitors from these regions. It's too early to predict the overall visitor figure with any accuracy, but we believe that FESPA 2005 is firmly on course to be the best FESPA exhibition yet.'

Altogether there was 6000 registered exhibiting staff from a record breaking 523 exhibiting companies. These exhibitors were divided into four halls which represented a certain section of the industry, hall A1 housed general screenprinting, A2 specified on garment decoration, B2 saw the new developments in digital printing and A1 held both digital and screen printing.

This made for a fantastic environment for the screen and digital technology manufacturers who brought their products to market in Munich. Vendors around the exhibition were buoyant, and visitors left with new insights into the technologies and techniques which will help them drive their business forward in the years ahead.

Frazer said, 'We couldn't be more thrilled with what we achieved with this show. The event met the needs of our exhibitors and provided a stimulating learning and buying environment for screen and digital printers. The seminars, a first-time feature of FESPA 2005, were well attended, and the stands were buzzing with activity.

'This is a fast-moving industry with exciting new applications emerging all the time. FESPA 2005 was an international showcase for technical and production innovation, and we left Munich highly motivated to work with exhibitors and visitors to look at how we can deliver an even better FESPA event in Berlin in June 2007.'

Starting promisingly, the curtain was raised with an official opening ceremony hosted by outgoing FESPA President Ricardo Rodriguez Delgado and FESPA President Elect Hellmuth Frey. Visitors then made their way to their desired hall, with many returning on subsequent days to see the exhibitors that they had not been able to visit previous.

This was particularly evident in hall A2, with many exhibitors reporting a quiet first day but with business picking up significantly on the following days. The UK industry was well represented with garment brands showing off new and existing collections.

This was the first option since the PSI exhibition in January, and of course Printwear & Promotion in February, for many visitors to see new colours and designs from the likes of Front Row, Hanes, Mantis, Henbury Continental Clothing Company and Fruit of the Loom.

There was a large number of decorating companies on show too, with major names in screen printing such as MHM and M&R taking considerable floor space to show the large carousels that still continue to be used and be extremely popular in the European market.

The inks sector was also well represented too, with the likes of Sericol, Rutland, Willflex and Lancer Group all showing off new and existing ranges. With the exhibition being held in the centre of mainland Europe, the majority of exhibitors in hall A2 came from the continent with Germany in particular well-represented.

As a result brands such as True Image, Promo Doro, Sol's and Switcher were met by UK visitors for the first time and given new options for product sourcing.

The exhibition's success came as the result of a restructure of the organising team, who headed by Frazer Chesterman, learnt the lessons of previous years and chose to hold the exhibition in an accessible and convenient location. As a result of working with various steering groups and knowledgeable members of the industry, FESPA 2005 exceeded the results anticipated by the new team.

Frazer said, 'Our team here at FESPA has made it a key objective over the past two years to turn FESPA 2005 from a stand alone exhibition to an interactive event.'

The event also won the praise of Staatsminister Huber, the State Minister for the German federal state of Bavaria. In a speech to FESPA 2005 visitors in the atrium of Messe Munich, he welcomed the exhibition to the Bavarian capital, calling it the 'World Cup of Screen and Digital Printing' - referencing the football world cup which will be held in Germany in 2006, with Munich as a major venue for matches.

He went on to praise the international screen printing community for its entrepreneurial spirit in adopting the latest digital technology, drawing parallels with Bavaria's 'Laptop and Lederhosen' business culture, which looks to the future while retaining firm roots in tradition.

Hellmuth Frey, who took Mr Huber on a tour of the exhibition, said, 'FESPA 2005 is a showcase of everything that is exciting and forward-looking in our industry, so it is gratifying to hear such positive acknowledgement from a government representative, and to receive this level of recognition of our industry's commercial and technical achievements.'

Following the exhibition, the winners of the FESPA 2005 Awards were announced. Highlighting the very best in screen and digital printing, there was a total 20 categories covering all sectors of decoration with over 400 entries received from 20 different countries.

Nigel Steffens, FESPA General Secretary said, 'We have been hugely impressed by the stunning work submitted, and were also delighted by the broad range of suppliers and nationalities that entered. It was particularly gratifying to see such a large number of entries from India, with some of them winning Gold, Silver and Bronze.'

To focus on the two categories that dealt with garment decoration - category 11 for decoration on T-shirts and other garments, caps and direct printing on transfers had two sections: Process Colours and Single/Multi colours.

The results for Process Colours were;

Gold - Torun Print Tech

Silver - Midi Print

Bronze - Graphic Elements

While for Single/Multi Colours the winners were;

Gold - Anil Labels

Silver - Pulitel SAS

Bronze - Torun Print Tech

While Category 13 - Other Textile Products (bags, scarves, ties and canvas) had a gold winner in Process Colours - Michel Caza Eurl - and a bronze winner in Single/Multi Colours - Graphic Elements.

FESPA 2007 will be held in Berlin, Germany from 5th - 9th June 2007. A new digital-focussed FESPA event, FESPA Digital Printing Europe, will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands from 16th -18th May 2006.

For further information visit the website at www.fespa.com.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---