The German exhibition for laundries travelled on two parallel tracks: a global challenge between multinational giants and unknown, small and medium-small businesses. With lots of satisfaction for Made in Italy brands
In the burning heart of the Kavir desert in Iran, there is a big and antique city called Yasd, famous for its various marvels. Among them, inside the Fire Temple, there is a burning flame that since year 470 has incessantly heated the faces of the followers of mazdaism a–thousand-year old religion founded by a prophet named Zoroaster known also as Zarathustra.
A company called Negin Pazirik Isatis has its headquarters in Yasd, Iran. The company translated the most antique knowledge of Persian carpets washing techniques into majestic washing machines. At Texcare 2016, the world textile care fair scheduled from 11 to 15 June in Frankfurt, the Negin Pazirik Isatis stand H68 is among the smallest and least eye-catching ones if not for the images that show some magnetic and beautiful textile drapes. The staff at the stand strike us by their silent discretion and by the total lack of any kind of an initiative aimed at visitors: no trace of presentations, no 5:00 p.m. cocktails, no Far East looking models wearing “Arabian Nights” style outfits. All this, however can be seen elsewhere, but not at stand H68, where the inspiring thought aims at evoking not only the charm but also the business linked to Persian carpets commerce known for being quite profitable, too. To do so, only a couple of photographs have been hanged on the wall. As if to say: “Have you seen what it is about?”
As much to ask ourselves how many visitors and which ones did give the stand H68 a look during the five days of Texcare: businessmen, distributors, importers, artisans or inventors with their pockets full of patents. Who better than an Iranian from Kavir knows how to adapt the art rooted in the sixth century B.C. to a variant of a washing machine designed for a specific use? The question can echo in the minds of those who, starting from Beverly Hills star system and Moscow oil business passing by Dubai with its sheiks, operates in wealthy markets where fine textile moves million dollars deals. A qualified answer on Persian carpets washing is as possible at Texcare in Frankfurt as other answers to questions like: what is the latest shoes washing machine? Is it worth opening a laundry for domestic animals and their “wardrobe”? Where are the self-service chains going and what are their increasing objectives in terms of services?
Nothing gives more reasons to a trade fair than a catalogue full of possible questions. A show of “abundance”, dimensions and goals where the immediately recognizable giants with their flashy stands know perfectly well they exist as leaders. They know they are leaders because they operate within activities range where – for now – there are still some small and very small second players obliged to move from the way with their strikes of genius, better still if strictly connected to marketing. This is what the Farinelli family does at Texcare. Father Luciano, occupation: inventor. His son, Pietro, occupation: Sales Director. The company is called Bieffe and it is smartly taking advantage of a tiny and decentralized stand where the family company from Villa Fastiggi, Pesaro, illustrates to the buyers from all over the world their patented Scarpavapor, a generator that uses steamed ozone to clean any kind of shoes.
The resilient Made in Italy phenomena like this one make the physical presence of sector operators necessary at a fair like this. If in the predicted future – not only for the laundries – it should limit its stage to the sole presence of big multinational companies, it could paradoxically confine the show to virtual space only. The invited audience, provided with the right information technology systems would “visit” a future Texcare, say in year 2028, organized for a certain number of days inside an interactive and protected system to which it would be possible to connect real time from places like Kuala Lumpur, Oslo or Chicago.
Sticking to current affairs, Texcare 2016 will be remembered for various flashes snapped during the event, stretched towards still unpredictable future. We have chosen the three fundamental ones:
Made in Italy battleships – that continue to demonstrate here in Frankfurt to be navigating big time with the wind in their sails. This concerns both the dry cleaning, where we can register, according to some opinions, a surprisingly high position of perc next to new generation natural solvents and the historical ironing sector, where Italian brands continue to be leaders in the market in terms of models quality and export volumes.
The championship of the “Big” ones – inspired by football, we can define the contest between the giants of “industrial laundry” sector in this way. Companies whose stands are represented as concentrated worlds designed through an inspiration by precise visual models: the camping site by the Spanish Girbau, a city skyline by the Dutch Jensen, a floating ship over the waves of normality evoked by the German Kannegiesser. They are “villages” where we can gather signals launched by the three multinational brands: Girbau towards niche markets represented by self-service destined for domestic animals; Jensen in the direction of advanced sustainability models such as its new universal tunnel with a continuous internal water and energy recycle; Kannegiesser in the sign of a Smart Laundry whose system makes the interaction of materials and information flow perfect.
“Touch” philosophy – embraced by Imesa owned by Miotto brothers for the first time, it is a variant of a laundry that has got a universal language: “Touch Screen” introduced by the new generation cell phones. Due to its accessibility and functionality, it turns out to be successful in the global challenge of managing systems thanks to making complex processes automated while saving energy and reducing costs.
All the additional flashes belong to each individual visitor who captured something on their own here at Texcare 2016. To better understand them, we can only rely on the market. And we will soon know.
Numbers at Texcare
Texcare International has closed its doors after welcoming ten percent more international visitors. Overall, the number of trade visitors remained stable – of the 15,700 visitors (2012: 15,650 from 101 countries*), almost 9,000 (2012: 8,045) came from outside Germany to the world’s leading trade fair for the sector in Frankfurt am Main from 11 to 15 June 2016, which means that international visitors account for 57 percent of the total. The visitors travelled to Texcare International from 112 countries, to discover the latest products and innovations at the exhibition stands. After Germany, the top visitor nations included Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria and Poland. Outside Europe, the USA, Japan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, China and India ranked among the biggest visitor nations at the textile-care fair. Overall, the proportion of international visitors from outside Europe rose from 15 to 22 percent with the largest non-European growth coming from Argentina and Kazakhstan. In Germany, the market continues to be characterized by an on-going process of consolidation and concentration.
For five days, 319 exhibitors from 28 countries (2012: 262 exhibitors from 26 countries) – over 20 percent more than four years ago – presented their high-tech solutions and innovations for laundries, dry cleaners and textile service providers.
by Stefano Ferrio
DETERGO MAGAZINE JUY/AUGUST 2016
