Posted May 19, 2014

 

By Devin Steele

 

ATLANTA – Exhibitors, visitors and organizers had plenty good to say about last week’s textile trade shows here.

 

So it’s probably safe to say this year’s Techtextil North America, Texprocess Americas and the JEC Americas co-located trade fairs at the Georgia World Congress Center were an overwhelming success.

 

“Traffic has been steady and encouraging,” Harrell Ligon Sr., president of Lang Ligon & Co., Greenville, S.C., said during the show. “We’re happy with what we’ve seen. No big surprises, but people are saying, ‘yes, why don’t you come see us?’ now instead of ‘hmmmm … yeah.’ ”

 

David Monteith, vice president of the Americas for Conitex Sonoco, Gastonia, N.C., had similar sentiments.

 

“We’re happy to be a part of TechTextil again this year,” he said. “We have our complete line of products here and we’re happy with the traffic flow coming through the show. It seems like the industry continues to rebound from a few years ago and it looks like a bright year this year.”

 

Texprocess Americas exhibitor National Spinning Co. also was particularly busy when we stopped by. Representatives of the Washington, N.C.-based company are typically visitors to trade shows, not exhibitors. But they participated as part of the U.S. Pavilion organized by SEAMS.

 

“There aren’t many opportunities anymore to see so many people in one place,” said Jim Booterbaugh, National’s president. “Everybody seems to be optimistic about business.

 

“One participant commented that the aisle we were on looked like a bazaar, with all the people who were milling about,” he added.

 

Such a pavilion allowed National Spinning the chance not only to exhibit but to shake the perception that it is solely an acrylic spinner and dyer, Booterbaugh added.

 

“At this show we were demonstrating that we spin and dye a lot more than acrylic,” he said. “Ironically, some of the market does not recognize how skilled we are in spinning wool and wool blends, even though our company was formed as a wool spinner and dyer more 90 years ago. We still spin wool, though now it is oven blended with polyester, modacrylic or aramid fibers for performance apparel.”

 

National Spinning also promoted its blending capabilities, he added. Its operations are set up to blend fibers in order to achieve certain colors or performance characteristics.

 

“If someone is looking for a custom blend of fibers in a yarn, National Spinning is able to make it happen,” Booterbaugh said.

 

Charles Poston, textile industry market manager for Kluber Lubrication, Londonderry, N.H., said the show was “more lively” than previous incarnations at this venue, despite the fact he didn’t see as many visitors from Central America.

 

“We received more leads this year than two years ago, with many potential customers looking for some of our new developed products,” he said.

 

Roland Zimmer, president & CEO of Zimmer America, Spartanburg, S.C., said he was equally pleased.

 

“There are a lot of interested folks here,” he said at the show’s midway point. “There is a lot of traffic in the aisle and in our booth. So overall I think it was much better than the last show two years ago. If it continues this way, it’s a solid sign of recovery in the U.S. industry.”

 

The quality of visitors also was good, according to Thomas Poston, senior technical sales rep for Daikin America, Inc., Orangeburg, N.Y.

 

“It was a good show with many important customers,” he said. “Manufacturing and development representatives, along with executives, were walking the floor. It seemed like there was more participation than two years ago.”

 

A record number of exhibitors showed their products and services during the combined trade shows. This unique platform hosted no less than 754 exhibitors from 29 countries, including pavilions from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Portugal, China and Supply Chain USA, with UBIFrance participating with a pavilion for the first time.

 

The 11th Techtextil North America showcased 363 exhibitors, the second Texprocess Americas hosted 164 exhibitors and JEC Americas had 232 exhibitors.

 

Stopped for a chat on the floor, Kristy Meade, group show director at organizer Messe Frankfurt, said she could not have been more pleased overall.

 

“We’re really happy with this year’s show,” she said. “I’m hearing amazing things. I just talked to a company that hasn’t been here before and is planning to come back in ’16. I also spoke with a company that’s planning to double their size in ’16. So I think everyone’s very happy.”

 

The decision to move the show from the A halls to the B halls, which are about 20 percent larger, already has been made for the 2016 event, Meade added.

 

“And we are having a triple location with these three trade shows,” she said.

 

MORE COVERAGE NEXT WEEK: EXHIBITOR REVIEWS

 

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