The third edition of textile symposium, The Fabric Year 2018, was held in Albstadt last week. The symposium was attended by around 150 participants from over 20 countries from America, Asia and Europe. It provided detailed into the current market developments. The conference was inaugurated by Eric Schöller, Member of the Executive Board Groz-Beckert. The first presentation of the day by Dr Josef Braml, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, focused on the global competition between the US and China, as well as implications for Europe. Later Andreas Engelhardt, Groz-Beckert Product Marketing and Innovation, presented key messages from his established yearbook The Fibre Year.

Gail Strickler, President of Global Trade Brookfield Associates spoke on the Transpacific Partnership from the Asian perspective, the status of negotiations and the expected implications of the agreement for the global textile trade. Andreas Engelhardt and Martin Weiler gave insights into the developments of further key textiles markets.

A second presentation from Gail Strickler provided exciting insights into the US trade policy and status of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). An interesting outlook on the Italian fashion market was provided by Davide Bonassi, from the Italian Hosiery Association. Engelhardt and Weiler completed the block of presentations with a worldwide summary, with an outlook through to 2022