Organisers of the Catalan textile fair BSTIM (Best Solutions in Textile Manufacturing), Fira d’Igualada, textile group FAGEPI and the Town Council of Igualada in Catalonia, have announced that the third edition of the show will take place 22-23 February 2017. The dates are said to be ideal for the fashion sector because it is the period when brands place orders for the next season.

At a joint event Fira d’Igualada, the textile group FAGEPI and the town council of Igualada explained that the 2017 edition will be oriented towards the promotion of zero kilometer fashion - fashion designed and manufactured locally with better social and environmental respect than goods manufactured in other parts of the world and imported into the region. This is yet another good initiative by the organisers as the highly skilled Cataln textiles industry is located very close to a number of major clothing brands and designer labekls. Talks and seminars will be organized with the aim of promoting zero kilometer fashion and its advantages.

The budget has also been increased for the 2017 edition of BSTIM. Although buyers from countries like the USA or Russia came to the second edition, for 2017 the organization will invite distributors with high purchasing capacity and different business meetings with the exhibitors will be organized so that the contacts are of high quality and result in increased orders.

In each one of the previous editions BSTIM has gathered more than sixty textile manufacturers in Igualada and attracted 1400 visitors. Buyers of important fashion brands such as Grupo Inditex, Desigual, El Corte Inglés, Lacoste, Cortefiel and Loewe were present at the previous editions of BSTIM.

The exhibitors at Escorxador d’Igualada in February 2016 were mainly Catalan manufacturers, although there were also producers from other areas of Spain in attendance. Many exhibitors emphasized the high quality profile of visitors who came to BSTIM 2016, who are said to have been very focused with clear intentions of buying. 

Business contacts between exhibitors and buyers yielded results from the first edition in February 2015 and now organizers have surveyed the exhibiting companies in order to be able to take stock of the turnover made by the companies of the area in the past two editions.

From details obtained by Fira d’ Igualada, the value of the orders closed at BSTIM rises above the 4 million Euros, a number far greater than expected. One of the elements of BSTIM’s success is the fact that it is the only textile production exhibition in Spain organisers say that this has enabled it to become the reference fair in Europe for local production.

Sustainable fashion - a growing tendency

“Sustainable Fashion is that which from its design to its commercialization and use takes social and environmental impacts into consideration. Consumption of proximity is a tendency that is taking force in the world and European economies and it is linked to sustainable fashion,” organisers say. “In this sense, the exhibitors are mainly Catalan or Spanish and follow the environmental and social regulations of the European Union, the most advanced in the world.”

The organizers want to point out that the Fira uses recyclable materials in its production of exhibition booths and spaces and the materials used in the construction of the fairground. Also, all materials and products used by the Fira come from local suppliers.

Further reading

Latest Stoll technology goes on show in Catalan knitting capital

Shima Seiki to exhibit latest technology at BSTIM

BSTIM aims to become knitwear reference fair in Europe

www.bstim.cat