The European Textile Services Association held a conference in Berlin, from 28-29 May, where it announced a launch of its new website. The event billed as an impulse generator and idea forum saw 115 industry leaders coming together for an intensive exchange of ideas.

"The two-day ETSA member conference is by now a firm date in the calendar of leading providers of textile rental services and their suppliers. Quality lectures and interesting discussions time and again ensure fresh impetus for Europe's textile rental services industry that equips us for the future," summarises Christina Ritzer, the owner of Bardusch (Ettlingen) and chair of ETSA.

Website

The new site, www.textile-services.eu, is a business focused communication tool. It is designed to profile the textile services industry, focus on key messages through words and visuals and provide easy navigation to key information about our business and the many professional end users that benefit from our services.

It is also expected to communicate the commitments textile service providers make to corporate responsibility and environmental sustainability.

Common interests

The leading European textile rental services firms, their key suppliers and the national textile service associations are all affiliated to the ETSA.

This community of joint interests is a platform for information, the exchange of ideas and networking for decision-makers and the management of member firms and is actively dedicated to the interests of the industry. It acts as the organiser of the member conference that is held every two years.

Perceptible changes

Demand for rented work apparel and protective clothing, hotel linen, as well as washroom services and textiles is decreasing alongside declining domestic production, dropping incomes and an increase in unemployment rates.

In order to keep track of economic and political changes and to discuss their repercussions on textile services and their supply industry, the programme of lectures at the member conference was characterised by worldwide political and economic transformation.

Towards the future

The former editor-in-chief of the business and finance newspaper Handelsblatt, Bernd Ziesemer, and Dr Linda Yueh, a professor at Oxford University and the London Business School, spoke about global and national trends at an economic and political level.

On the basis of his many years of economic and political observations, Mr Ziesemer forecast the beginnings of an economic downturn in Germany, which in the view of Dr Yueh can be countered through increased productivity and an expansion into emerging nations like China.

ETSA

Based in Brussels, the European Textile Services Association was established as a non-profit trade association for the European textile rental services industry in 1994. Amongst the main tasks of ETSA is the promotion of textile services as well as the consistent and continued development of the sustainability principles entrenched within the industry.

Its members include rental service businesses specialising in renting out work apparel and protective clothing, hotel, hospital and surgical linen, floor mats, as well as washroom textiles and services at an international level, as well as their key suppliers and national associations.

www.textile-services.eu