Responsible innovation was the hallmark of Italian Exhibition Group's zero edition of this week’s FIMAST B2B event dedicated to the world of hosiery and knitted footwear, which closes its doors today. Organisers say the Brescia show highlighted the dynamism of the entire supply chain with 20% of visitors from 28 foreign countries attending.

Optimism for the sector’s recovery, the desire to physically meet again and great ability to adapt to the global context changed by the pandemic - this is what emerges at the end of the first edition of FIMAST, organized by Italian Exhibition Group.

The B2B event turned the spotlights back on the hosiery supply chain, summoning the sector’s top players to the show, brands and top players from the area that unites the hosiery textile industry’s two main districts - the Brescia district, centred on mechanical textiles with the production of machinery, components and accessories, and the Mantua district, linked to the production of yarns and hosiery, together with leading companies from Germany, Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom.

FIMAST provided a meeting place not only for hosiery but also for the world of accessories, sportswear and technical garments. Designers, product and production managers from the world of 3D footwear, sportswear and technical hosiery discussed topics relating to technological innovation as well as to the product development possibilities that technologies presented at the show offered.

The theme of responsible innovation, around which the entire project of IEG’s new FIMAST revolves through a first-rate partnership with C.L.A.S.S., captured the attention of visiting operators, who are increasingly attentive to the needs of consumers in terms of sustainable and ethical products, IEG says.

“The exhibition season for the world of hosiery has therefore re-started thanks to IEG’s business event that saw a qualified audience of visitors from all over Italy attending the show and 20% of the overall number also from abroad, representing 28 countries - 75% from Europe, 14% from Turkey and 11% from the rest of the world, in particular Argentina, South Africa and Russia - marking a point of change for the business community of reference and laying the foundations for the mechanical-textile and hosiery production districts’ recovery,” the organisation said.

“During the four days of the event, held in complete safety thanks to the SAFE BUSINESS by IEG protocol, international experts from within the sector took part in a panel of conferences, seminars and events designed to tackle present and future challenges.”

“Sustainability, the importance of training, technological innovation and company and production process digitalization were the focus of the meetings attended by key partners for the hosiery supply chain: C.L.A.S.S., Assosport, Centro Servizi Impresa (CSC) and the Associazione Distretto Calza e Intimo (ADICI),” IEG concluded.

 www.fimast.eu