As part of the IMB 2006 Fair in Cologne, Germany, the partners in the joint European "Leapfrog" Project are organising a national conference on May 10 entitled "Advanced Garment Development and Production".

The conference will be divided into four sessions, where speakers from research organisations, industry and trade associations, headed up by the European Textile and Apparel Association Euratex, will present the main aims of the project and its four key focuses.

The sessions on innovative development of new products will deal with the technologies which could help the European clothing industry to hold its own against competitors from other parts of the world. These include, for example, 3D design and flattening, and the computer-assisted simulation and animation of clothing products.

Finally, an overview of the latest procedures and equipment for laser welding, a presentation on the framework conditions for networking between companies involved in the production process, and a talk on the transponder-based identification and tracking of clothing products right through the production process will demonstrate the potential benefits of innovative partnerships and approaches to production.

The "Leapfrog" Project is an initiative of the European textile and clothing industry, designed to give a boost to innovation in terms of productivity and competitiveness and to reduce the importance of wage costs as a factor.