California Apparel News

FRANKFURT, GERMANY—Giant flatbed cutters sliced dense sheets of felt while other machines scanned a thick cow hide for imperfections before etching it with intricate designs. Rows of embroidery machines stitched company logos in synchronized fashion. Garments in various stages of construction zipped along on automated conveyor systems. And visitors lined up to take a virtual tour through the latest Computer-Aided Design software.

At Texprocess, the new apparel supply-chain trade show organized by Messe Frankfurt, the full apparel-industry supply chain was on display at the cavernous Messe Frankfurt convention center. The new show debuted alongside the longstanding Techtextil show, which highlights the latest in technical textiles for industrial—and apparel—applications, and Material Vision, a trade show for product development, design and architecture.

“The whole range of product is here,” said Stephanie Everett, group show director, textile shows, for Messe Frankfurt.

According to Messe Frankfurt, the debut of Texprocess drew 16,000 visitors. Techtextil and Material Vision drew 24,500 visitors, up 2.5 percent from the last show in 2009. In all, both shows featured 1,561 manufacturers from 60 countries.

Many of the exhibitors at Texprocess said the mix of equipment, technology and technical textiles provided lots of opportunities across several industries.

“The concept is a good one, and it brings a lot of opportunities, being together with Techtextil,” said Alexander Neuss, general manager for Lectra Deutschland GmbH, the German division of the French machinery and software maker.

“We’re surprised with the quantity and the quality of people who have shown up. For all markets [including automotive, technical textiles, upholstery and fashion], the most important customers have shown up.”

Many Techtextil exhibitors were also taking advantage of the new influx of apparel attendees for Texprocess. French textile maker Sofileta is a longtime exhibitor at Techtextil, but the company typically only sends representatives from its technical textile divisions. This time, the company brought its fashion division for the first time, said Eric Firmann, who overseas Sofileta’s fashion and activewear business. Sofileta landed an Avantex Innovation Award at the show for its new Sofileta Cooling Fabric, which uses Luxicool yarn. The fabric is already in production with a high-end cycling brand, a company that manufactures running clothing and a company that produces apparel for rescue workers operating in extreme conditions. Test-driving software

Software providers—from product lifecycle management and product data management solutions to CAD software—were also part of the Texprocess mix, where attendees had a chance to preview the latest software for apparel designers, patternmakers and production teams.

It was back-to-back demonstrations at the Optitex booth, where Amnon Shalev, vice president of sales and marketing for the Israel-based company, and Julia Shaw, national support manager, were walking visitors through the company’s latest 3-D CAD system.

“It’s been a pretty big crowd,” Shalev said.

Shalev and Shaw agreed that the turnout from Eastern Europe was “very dominant” but said they also met with attendees from the United States, Asia, India, China, Pakistan, North Africa and Western Europe. Shaw said some European apparel makers were looking to shift some of their production from China back to Europe and were interested in workflow solutions that integrated PLM and PDM functions.

Visitors from Russia, Poland, India and Pakistan turned out to meet with TXT e-solutions GmbH, a Halle, Germany–based provider of supply-chain-management solutions.

Managing Director Holger Klappstein said the prospective customers were “very interesting.” The company did not meet with many U.S. companies, added Wolfgang Amann, strategic account manager, although he said the company had other plans for U.S. expansion.

“The strategy is more to acquire a company in the U.S.—rather than grow organically—and have a push immediately then,” he said. For now, the company has been building its U.S. customer base though referrals as a member of the Microsoft partnership network.

With 20 years working with the fashion industry—“apparel is our heritage,” Amann said—TXT has products for a company of any size.

“We can work with small companies and the big guys,” he said, adding that TXT has a pricing structure that supports small- to mid-size companies.

“That’s where we see growth in the U.S.”

Munich, Germany–based Koppermann Computersysteme GmbH was showing its system, which includes modular solutions for PLM, PDM and visual merchandising.

“For the PDM system, you can start with a small database, and the database can grow with you,” said Madlen Gschwenter, international sales and marketing. “It’s the same with visual merchandising. You can start on your laptop and add on after that.”Eye on Atlanta

Next year, Messe Frankfurt will bring Texprocess to the United States for its April 24–26 debut at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Co-produced by industry organization SPESA (the Sewn Products Equipment & Suppliers of the Americas), Texprocess Americas will also run alongside Techtextil North America. (Texprocess Frankfurt is co-produced by the VDMA Garment and Leather Technology trade association.)

Texprocess organizers hope to draw more attendees from North and South America at the Atlanta show. “We’re bringing the mountain to them,” said David Audrain, president of Messe Frankfurt U.S.A.

For SPESA, Texprocess America’s co-sponsor, the Frankfurt show was a good beginning.

“This is a good first show,” said Dave Gardner, SPESA’s managing director. “The international players are all set to go to Atlanta. We’re in a business that is growing.”

Eastern exposureMany exhibitors at Texprocess reported a strong turnout from Eastern Europe.

“From the first day, we had a lot of Russians—customers and prospects,” Lectra’s Neuss said. “It shows this area is recovering very fast.”

Russians and Eastern European visitors were also prevalent at the Gerber booth, according to Yvonne Heinen Foudeh, marketing and communications director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Gerber Technology GmbH, the German division of the Tolland, Conn.–based maker of machinery and software.

“The economy is catching up,” Foudeh said. “[People] are ready to invest. They put a lot of decisions on hold the last few years. Messe Frankfurt did a good job marketing [the show], but the economy also played in their favor.” Both Lectra and Gerber introduced new machinery at the show.

Lectra introduced the Versalis Fashion, a leather-analysis solution and cutter created for the luggage, accessories and footwear industries. The machine features two parts, one that analyzes hides for flaws and digitizes the results for more-efficient cutting, and the other, a three-head cutter that features a color-coded sorting system that sends the correct piece to the corresponding sewing line.

The Versalis can cut up to 60 meters per minute, according to Michael Kopecky, Lectra’s manager for strategic projects for automotive. “So, you can estimate your cutting time.”

The Versalis also features Lectra’s Smart Service software, which uses 100 sensors to record and analyze cutting data to make sure the manufacturers are using the machine correctly and efficiently.

For Gerber, the show marked the launch of ContourVision, a scanner that works with Gerber’s DCS 3600 conveyor cutters. ContourVision scans printed textiles, automatically generates cut files and cuts directly from the roll at up to 1.1 meters per second. The scanner was on display in Gerber’s booth, where visitors watched the machine scan a roll of fabric printed with colorful football helmets. The ContourVision then precisely cut along the edge of each printed helmet.

The company was also demonstrating the precision of its Gerbercutter Z7 high-ply cutter on thick sheets of felt. But rather than throwing away the cut pieces at the end of the show, Gerber partnered with German company Daff, which sells accessories and home deacute;cor items made from the cut felt pieces.

Lake Worth, Fla.–based Methods Workshop LLC was at Texprocess with two software products that help apparel makers and designers accurately predict production costs. The company’s primary software, Engineered TruCost, helps companies engineer the production process to determine the true costs and streamline processes. Available in seven languages, ETC features demo videos to help offshore staff correctly demonstrate efficient work operations. Methods Workshop President John Stern developed a designer version of ETC, called Quick TruCost, which helps provide a fast and immediate estimate of production costs.

“Designers today realize what they design has to come to fruition in a factory,” he said.Reconnecting with United States

For many international companies, Texprocess Americas could be an opportunity to connect—or reconnect—with U.S. apparel makers.

Koppermann’s Gschwenter said her company is looking to rebuild its business in the United States, which dropped off during the economic downturn.

“It’s a big market,” she said. “It’s an interesting market. They’re very open to technology.”Although she could not confirm that Koppermann would definitely participate in the Texprocess show in Atlanta, she said the company was considering it.

“If the show is like it is here, it would be an opportunity for us to rebrand.”

For Human Solutions, the Atlanta show will be a way to reintroduce the company since it purchased CAD and PLM provider Assyst last year. With operations in Kaiserlautern, Germany, and in Detroit, Human Solutions develops hardware and software for body scanning, ergonomic and simulation applications. The company is currently re-evaluating its U.S. business and operations, according to Alexandra Seidl, Human Solutions’ director of marketing.

“The German market is going very well,” she added. “We had a 43 percent increase in the first quarter. There is a new trust in technology.”