Having enjoyed a successful year in 2006, the Italian textile machinery industry is preparing to showcase its latest innovations at the International Exhibition of Textile Machinery (ITMA) in Munich on September 13-20, where producers will present their most recent products and services.

New developments for the dyeing sector will include hank dyeing cabinet or arm machines, yarn dyeing technologies for cones on vertical or horizontal spindles, piece dyeing with extra equipment for rope dyeing through jet or flow technology, and jigger or beam dyeing equipment.

Other innovations to be featured will include a system of printing machines with annexed integrated equipment for unwinding, transporting and winding of the finished material, machinery for sublimation printing which works both continuously and with the positioned single sheet, machines designed for special ‘handle’ treatments, discontinuous machines with autoclave equipment and continuous decating lines, and machines for brushing, calendering, polishing, embossing, suede finishing, raising and shearing.

The  finishing machine sector enjoyed a particularly successful year in 2006, accounting for 21% of the country’s textile machinery industry’s turnover, totalling approximately €560 million ($757 million), of which over 78% was exported (€440 million in 2006). The main export destinations are India (€39 million), China (€31 million), Turkey (€31 million), Germany (€22 million) and the United States (€22 million).