The second edition of textile fair BSTIM (Best Solutions in Textile Manufacturing) is preparing to take place from 24-25 February in Igualada, Spain, where it expects to gather even more international visitors than its first edition and aiming to become the European reference fair in the production of knitwear pieces in proximity.

BSTIM, organized by Fira d’Igualada and backed by the collaboration of the two leading knitting machines manufacturers Shima and Stoll want to make the jump to the European market and attract the presence of buyers of international brands. The exhibition aims to demonstrate the potential of textile production in Catalonia and the opportunities of manufacturing in Spain.

The BSTIM organizers, in addition to increasing the number of international visitors, aims at widening the territorial scope of the exhibiting enterprises so that several Catalan territories can take part as well as exhibitors from other European countries. In the first edition, it had gathered more than 60 exhibitors and 1,400 visitors.

In 2014, the consumption of fashion products in Spain increased by 3.5 percent. This rise was consolidated during the first semester of 2015, showing a positive development for the first time in many years.

As a result of the growth in the consumption of fashion, the industrial production of the textile-ready-to-wear sector grew by 2.4% in 2014 in Spain as opposed to 0.9% of the average industry. The growth in production went hand in hand with the growth in exports, which last year was of 8.7% and this year has already increased to 9.1%.

Another reason for optimism is that the textile-ready-to-wear sector is beginning to grow in turnover and occupation. In 2014 in Spain the sector gave jobs to 5,000 new professionals, an increase achieved after more than a decade of continued loss of employment.

Fresh Fashion is the name of a new way of working that enables producers to deliver orders quickly if there is yarn in stock. BSTIM fair introduces this system of working that will enable an order placed at BSTIM to be delivered in a record time of 21 days because the space will bring raw materials, producers and buyers together at the same moment.

At the fair several spinners will exhibit all the range of yarns that they have in stock. Therefore, any visitor contacting a producer will be able to choose the available raw material and have that piece manufactured and ready to be sold in only 21 days. Because not all of the exhibitors have the capacity of delivering in this record rate of time, the emblem Fresh Fashion will be created and placed in a visible way in all the stands of the manufacturers that offer this possibility.

This kind of production is opposed to the one for orders manufactured in Asia and require very large series and very long terms of delivery that considerably reduce the capacity of reaction of brands in front of the demands of the final buyers.

To promote creative talent and make access to fashion brands in Catalonia easier for young designers. The young designer winning the contest will be rewarded with his/ her admission into one of the brands of the sector in Catalonia.

The Design Award BSTIM 2016 is open to young creators and schools of design in Catalonia and is going to be focused on the subject Knitting a Rebel Soul, set in the fashion of the rebel and non-conformist spirit of the late sixties.