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After its postponement in 2022, the eighth edition of ITMA Asia + CITME is due to take place in Shanghai, China, on 19–23 November 2023. Ahead of the combined shows, Editor James Bakewell picks-out a few likely highlights.

ITMA (held most recently in Milan, Italy, on 8–14 June 2023 ) served to showcase the current key trends among machinery builders—increasing automation, machines designed to make composite reinforcements and the increasing need to process recycled textile waste, and how they will shape the future of the textile manufacturing industry, writes James Bakewell.

2023 sees IFG International Fibres Group is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of its launch of a fibre made from the biopolymer polylactic acid (PLA). Here, the company describes the benefits of the biodegradable thermoplastic for the production of fibres, the research and development work it has undertaken over the last ten years, and the role that PLA could play in the future of the technical textiles industry.

Founded in 1880 and with its headquarters in Belgium, Bekaert describes itself as a global market and technology leader in the material science of steel wire-transformation and coating technologies, and has 27 000 employees. In recent years, the company has been finding innovative applications for its metal/metal-alloy yarns in smart textiles, reports James Bakewell. 

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