A portrait of Italian textile industry

Few countries can claim to have the same degree of in-depth knowledge and experience in textiles, mechanics and electronics as Italy. Age-old tradition in machine construction, versatility and flexibility within the Italian system of small and medium-sized enterprises and close contact with customers make Italian textile machinery companies leaders and highly-valued partners for textile operators in the global market. An extremely wide and complete production supply marks out the Italian textile machinery industry. Variety and flexibility of the Italian machines let them to give correct solutions to the needs of a modern textile industry.

Textile equipment produced in Italy include pre-spinning and spinning machinery, twisting, reeling, winding machinery, pre-weaving and weaving machinery, knitting machinery, hosiery machinery, finishing, dyeing and printing machinery, nonwovens machinery, laundry and dry-cleaning machinery, and accessories, programming, measuring and monitoring instruments.

Machines are studied to process all natural and man-made fibres, including the most innovative and technical ones. A complete range of machinery for the production of nonwovens is also provided by Italian companies.

Italian textile machinery sector is known for its creativity, reliability, quality and sustainable technology. The competitiveness of Italian textile machinery industry and its leading role have deep-rooted causes which may differ from company to company and from sector to sector.

However we can highlight some common features which are core reasons for the success, which comes from the special nature of the Italian system.

• Tight relationship with Italian textile & fashion industry: Italy is the leading producer of textile and clothing in Europe. The worldwide success of Italian fashion industry is strictly connected not only to the quality of made in Italy and to the creativity of Italian stylists, but also to the exchange of ideas and suggestions with the Italian providers of technologies.
• Industrial clusters: Clusters are typical of the Italian industry and bring in a network all the companies operating in the same downstream sector within the same area. Majority of Italian textile machinery companies are located in areas where also the textile industry is localised (Biella, Prato, Como, etc.). Clusters model has a huge impact on the efficiency of the industry, production costs and development of research activities.
• Close cooperation with customers: Majority of Italian companies are small and medium-sized ones and are specialised in defined production sectors. These features let companies pay constant attention to the customers with the creation of customised machinery which guarantees maximum results.