Let me sum up Fespa 2010, the recently concluded Federation of Europe Screen Printing Association’s bi-annual show by saying this…if you do not ever go to another show save your money and experience FESPA just once during your screen printing lifetime. They do a lot of smaller shows and every three years they do a huge show. The next smaller show is in Hamburg in May of 2011. It is a digital show but they will be having FespaFabric which will feature all types of garment decorating.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be asked by Mark Vasilantone to work for 5 days at FESPA with the staff of Vastex International. And, it was five very busy days as customers filled the booth looking at equipment from start to finish. I heard similar comments from other exhibitors about the traffic and also witnessed boothfuls of people gathering information on the latest trends. This is truly an international show and it’s a pleasure to be able to talk to people from all over the world and get their perspective on the state of what is truly a global industry.
Attendees were treated to a first class educational program as Fresener’s Fabric (familiar name?) coordinated the efforts for the FESPA organizers. The seminar I delivered on Discharge Printing was packed with the audience asking a myriad of questions both during and after the seminar. For over 30 years Scott Fresener’s name as been associated with “education” thus putting hundreds and hundreds of printers into business and his organization of Fresener’s Fabric proves why any organization is crazy for not utilizing his talents.
The floor or the hall was top notch with many large exhibitors having stands that took days to custom build. Also, a little different from our shows in the USA is that most booths had bars set up to entertain clients at the end of the day. For those who are not aware the World Cup Soccer Tournament being held from South Africa was being held during the dates of FESPA and many exhibitors had large screen televisions in their booths so attendees could watch and cheer on their favorite teams. As a matter of fact in the booth adjacent to Vastex a Brazilian company practically shut down their booth one afternoon when Brazil played Portugal in one of the late games. And, if you find this hard to believe see the attached picture I took of the stand during the match.
Last but not least you get to experience the beauty of major European city. Munich is famous for their restaurants and night life and many attendees and exhibitors were found at any of the many local beer gardens around the city.
I am sorry if you missed it….it was a great time! I’ll see you in Hamburg, or better yet – if you can wait – at Fespa 2013 in London!
Written by Jeff Proctor – http://t-biznetwork.com/category/blogs/jeff-proctor-blog/
