Recycling will be the new Focus Topic at the leading international trade fair for functional textiles that takes place from 20-21 April in Munich, Germany. The show will structure its special events programme around the issue, highlighting the latest trends and challenges of the textiles industry.

In addition to diverse presentations and workshops, this important and controversial topic is taken up not only at the Performance Gate, but also at the Jury's Pick Table at the Performance Forum, under the title theme Recycled? Challenges & Opportunities!

The topic of recycling is not new in the world of functional textiles, but it is taking on ever more importance now, according to organisers. In particular, the sports sector aims to demonstrate that it is taking responsibility to protect the environment and natural resources very seriously.

Programme highlights

At the Performance Forum, the Jury's Pick Table highlights the most important new fabrics and insulations made of recycled materials for use in sports, sportswear, and workwear collections. The Performance Gate also provides background information about the recycling methods and explains what to look for in the choice of recycled fabrics.

In addition, as part of the presentations programme, consultant Anne Pahl presents several ways to use waste, or recyclable materials, but goes a step further in proposing that clothing designers should already be thinking about avoiding waste and saving resources.

The importance of this idea is emphasized in a presentation by Lars Gutow, a marine biologist from the Alfred Wegner Institute, who has researched the pollution of the world's oceans by plastic waste and its impact on the eco-system. Ian Rosenberger also shows meaningful ways to reuse this plastic trash and in the process how to contribute to fighting poverty. Through his Thread initiative, plastic trash in Central America is collected for recycling to the North American textile industry.

Exclusive workshops

In addition to this fair’s focus on recycling and the usual professional and free presentations with many other insights into other valuable subjects for the sport textile sector, the next Performance Days trade fair features a new form of seminar for visitors and exhibitors for the first time.

Exclusive workshops are scheduled on both days of the fair and are situated one floor above the exhibit area. Issues and solutions will be discussed in depth in a small group environment. Again recycling is a topic, but also the recoverability and reuse of textiles is investigated in depth on both days among other textile topics.

Two of the workshops are moderated by top experts in the area of recycling and sustainability: Anna Rodewald, from GreenRoomVoice, and Benjamin Marias, from the consulting firm AIR, have been advisors to the sports item sector in this important area for quite some time. Prior registration is required.

www.performancedays.com