Review: TV 2008
Photos
Outstanding success for the TV at the new exhibition site
7322 visitors to Stuttgart trade fair caught up on the latest developments in textile decoration and promotion
The TV, the international trade fair for textile finishing and promotion, has successfully completed the move to the new Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre directly adjacent to Stuttgart Airport. Taking place for the fifth time, this central European platform for the decoration, finishing and promotion of textiles recorded a 20 per cent increase in exhibitor numbers (there were 150 companies at this year's event) and 19 per cent more visitors (7322 visitors from 25 to 27 January 2008). This once again underlined the significance of the TV trade fair to specialists from the areas of textile printing, embroidery, flocking, transfer printing and textile promotion.
The upward trend in the number of people prepared to undertake a long journey to visit the TV trade fair continued this year. The majority of visitors from within Germany (44 per cent) travelled more than 300 km. A mere 15 per cent came from a 50 km radius of the exhibition. Visitors from abroad made their way to Stuttgart from a total of 41 countries - the majority from Europe, but there were also visitors from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, India and USA. The lion's share of Europeans travelling from outside Germany was made up of visitors from neighbouring Switzerland (38 per cent of foreign visitors) and Austria (27 per cent). The total proportion of visitors travelling from abroad was 14 per cent. The importance of the TV trade fair has thus been consolidated on both a national and international level, which can probably be attributed not least to the excellent location of the new Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre between the airport and the motorway. The architecture of the new trade fair buildings was also praised as a great success by exhibitors and visitors alike.
The proportion of trade visitors to the TV has also continued to grow - from 97 per cent in 2006 to its current 99 per cent figure. Visitors came primarily from the service sector (46 per cent in 2006; now up to 50 per cent), trade (42 per cent in 2006; now 41 per cent), and manufacturing and industry (28 per cent in 2006; now down to 24 per cent). Their primary interest was in textiles and fabrics (46 per cent), transfer printing (45 per cent), embroidery (44 per cent), flocking (32 per cent) and textile silk-screen printing (28 per cent). The interest in digital textile printing has shown substantial growth - from 12 per cent in 2006 to 45 per cent this year. This is primarily due to the special event staged to highlight the workflow of digital textile printing. This event was a collaboration between two universities and seven industrial partners - with the support of the trade fair organiser Messe Stuttgart and the organisation specialist gmk Veranstaltungsservice. Its purpose was to present to the industry - specifically textile finishing specialists - the entire digital printing workflow at first hand. After creating personalised designs and familiarising themselves with colour management at the first station of the digital printing process, visitors were given the opportunity to print out their own designs onto paper at the second station. The prints were then transferred to pre-cut fabric sections at the third station before being sewn together to make attractive bags at the final station.
The TV Forum, which comprised twelve practically oriented seminars, also proved very popular (there was a record attendance of around 280). Participants were given tips on a range of textile-finishing techniques. A total of six embroidery seminars generated particular interest and were virtually "sold out" (only on the Sunday were a small number of seats available). Forum participants had the opportunity to grade the event on a scale of 1 to 10 (the lower the better). The grade average was 2.7. The fashion shows, at which the latest promotion collections were presented, the Golden Shirt Award, and the stage presentations also generated a lot of interest. The percentage of visitors who had no interest in any of the special events continues to fall and is now only 38 per cent (2004: 51 per cent, 2006: 44 per cent).
77 entries were judged by a knowledgeable audience at this year's Golden Shirt Award. The winner was Anna Bileckyi from Jura Textilgesellschaft in Ofterdingen. Competitors were given the challenge of combining innovative digital printing (Inkjet) with at least one of the classic finishing techniques: embroidery, printing (silk-screen and transfer) and flocking. Second place was awarded to professional puncher Dennis Ermert from embcon in Glattbach near Aschaffenburg. Third prize went to Barbara Stümer from Tex Design and to Christian Hentschel from Budo Nord Bremen e.K. As a complement to the traditional Golden Shirt Award, a Flock Award was once again presented to participants who had mixed Inkjet printing with flocking. This year's winner was Kerstin Ebster, a student at the Westsächsischen Hochschule (University of Applied Sciences) in Zwickau/Reichenbach.
The winners received cash and other prizes and had the satisfaction that their entries had been appreciated by a highly knowledgeable audience. The "quality" (level of knowhow and experience) of visitors to the TV trade fair was once again very high. 61 per cent were self-employed traders, and 11 per cent company managers or management board members. 95 per cent stated that they were integrated in the decision-making process for purchasing and acquisitions. Exhibitors were satisfied with not only the quality of visitors but also their willingness to invest: 53 per cent had come to the trade fair with a specific intention to purchase; a further 40 per cent had not excluded the possibility of purchasing - in contrast to previous events and over a significantly shorter time period. 23 per cent had stated an intention to invest at the trade fair itself and 63 per cent planned to make a purchase in the six months subsequent to the trade fair.
Overall, visitors to the TV trade fair awarded a better average grade than ever before (1.7 compared with 1.9 in previous years). A key factor here was the opinion of visitors that they were exposed to a more comprehensive range of exhibitors and presentations - a mere 9 per cent considered it to be incomplete. In the same vein, 81 per cent of people considered their visit to the TV trade fair to have been worthwhile. An even larger proportion (88 per cent) said they would recommend the TV to others and as many as 97 per cent expressed an interest in returning to the TV in 2010. 51 per cent of those questioned thought that the TV would grow in significance in the future due to the fact that promotional clothing remains a growth market. It is not only almost every sports club that has personalised clothing; school uniforms are also becoming increasingly popular in Germany. And we should not forget the broad range of licence products from film and television.
The high level of visitor satisfaction is also related to the fact that, for the most part, supply matched demand. Exhibitors presented mainly textiles and fabrics (43 per cent), followed by transfer printing (30 per cent), embroidery (27 per cent), digital textile printing (27 per cent) and textile silk-screen printing (25 per cent). The exhibitors themselves were also pleased with their participation in the TV 2008 and succeeded in meeting their most pressing and common objectives, such as promoting and initiating business contacts, enhancing their business profile, new-client acquisition and providing consultation. They graded the business success of the TV trade fair with 1.8. The potential for post-TV business also received a positive assessment. In the opinion of exhibitors, the level of knowledge of visitors has also grown. 15 per cent (2006: 12 per cent) considered this to be "very good" and 62 per cent (2006: 56 per cent) awarded the assessment "good". This is one reason why 44 per cent of exhibitors are confident that the significance of the TV trade fair will continue to grow in the future. Three quarters of exhibitors (2006: 66 per cent) stated during this year's event that they intended to return in 2010.
A selection of views on the TV trade fair from exhibitors:
Franziska Emmer-Adolff, responsible for sales and administration at Anvil:
"We are exhibiting for the first time at the TV. The trade fair is very busy and offers an excellent platform to present our entire collection. We generally just deal with wholesale traders but here we have the opportunity to speak to retailers and to meet, as it were, our own customers and to listen to their queries and requests. Many customers are surprised by the depth of our collection. On some occasions we had so many visitors that we grouped customers together and held a sort of mini-lecture, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to talk to everyone. In short, the experience was an excellent one - and next time we will bring more staff with us!"
Peter Niedermann, Regional Sales Director at Melco:
"We were very pleased with the trade fair. We had a large number of visitors - and very good ones at that. We estimate that around 90 per cent came from German-speaking European countries."
Bernhard Herrmanns, Sales Manager at Lotus Transfers:
"We're at the TV for the first time and we are very satisfied. The trade fair addresses precisely the range of customers that we serve - and the quality of customers is excellent. Lotus operates on an international scale but we also have many clients from southern Germany - and the TV trade fair is ideal for them. We have taken the opportunity to make new contacts and to consolidate existing ones. And if I can offer a personal opinion: Messe Stuttgart is the most impressive trade fair centre I have been to. The architecture is outstanding."
Angelika Korbel from Hoff & Korbel:
"We are very pleased with visitor quality and numbers - and the exhibition site is wonderful. We were delighted to greet both domestic and foreign visitors to our stand. We have already reserved our place for 2010."
Timo Spörle, Managing Director of Bopp Casual Wear:
"We are exhibiting for the first time. It has been a great event and the architecture of the location is outstanding. The TV trade fair went extremely well for us and we will certainly be coming back. We had previously never considered using printers and stickers but the decision to do so was definitely the right one. We had a very positive feedback from visitors from Germany and, to a certain extent, also from abroad, so we're very happy."
The next TV Textilveredlung & Promotion trade fair will take place in January 2010. During the TV 2008 - and shortly after it - as many as 62 exhibitors registered their participation for 2010.
