Since 2014, EURATEX, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, in collaboration with dozens of organisations across Europe, runs the Energy Made-to-Measure (EM2M) campaign which provides companies, notably SMEs, with tools, best practices and training to assess options and take informed decisions on energy efficiency measures. The campaign has so far promoted the outcome of three international projects on textile and clothing manufacturing co-funded by the European Union, namely, ARTISAN, SESES and SET. More than 20 public events took place in eight countries to meet some 500 professionals and discuss opportunities to spare energy and cut costs for a more efficient, sustainable manufacturing.
This year, the EM2M campaign will intensify promotion of energy efficiency in textile manufacturing together with ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, and with VDMA, the German textile Machinery Association. VDMA has launched the Blue Competence initiative to support the sustainable textile production, especially by means of a more sparing use of resources and more efficient manufacturing processes involving intelligent technical solutions. ACIMIT has created the Sustainable Technologies project with the aim of developing and promoting new production models and efficient processes from an energy standpoint, with reduced environmental impact.
Based on such clear mutual interest in sustainability and in the competitiveness of textile manufacturing, EURATEX signed agreements with the two leading associations to join forces and benefit from each other‘s achievements in all applicable areas, for instance, technical know-how and communication.
Common activities are to be discussed in Budapest on the occasion of the SET project Advisory Board, of which both VDMA and ACIMIT are members. The international trade fairs of Techtextil / Texprocess (Frankfurt, May 4-7), and ITMA (Milan, November 12-19) will offer additional opportunities to present early results and upcoming steps to the attention of global companies.
“By signing this agreement,” commented ACIMIT President Raffaella Carabelli, “we intend to pursue our ongoing commitment to issues which we consider of interest to the entire European textile industry: sustainability and energy efficiency. Only through the involvement of the greatest possible number of operators in the industry will we be able to increase the competitiveness of all its components, relating to both the textile and textile machinery sectors.”