Texcare Asia and China Laundry Expo 2020 (TXCA & CLE), the dedicated trade fair for textile laundry, leather care, cleaning technology and equipment gathered a total of 14,413 visitors and 122 exhibitors. Being the only large scale exhibition in the global textile care industry in 2020, the fair successfully closed its doors on 16th October at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Despite the uncertainties that the global textile care industry has faced in 2020, many participants reported an optimistic outlook in the Chinese market, particularly in light of emerging opportunities in fields such as medical laundry and automation. Helping participants to capture these opportunities, the three-day fair presented the latest technologies and products from the textile care industry and offered an effective business development platform.

Industry recovery was a key theme of this year’s fair due to the challenging global business environment caused by COVID-19. Consequently, the fair’s product offerings closely matched growth sectors that are expected to thrive both during and after the pandemic, including medical laundry and sanitisation solutions, as well as automation, digital technologies and intelligent laundry systems.

With an abundance of well-established brands in attendance, trade visitors were impressed with the exhibition’s quality and broad coverage, which allowed them to conduct their yearly sourcing activities and catch up on the latest technology trends in one-stop.

Discussing this year’s focus on medical laundry, Mr Junjie Zou, a trade visitor from Jingzhou, and Chairman of Kiwi Public Textiles Service, said: “TXCA & CLE is a very important exhibition. It provides a one-stop communication platform that helps medical laundry companies discover the leading technologies and equipment, as well as the latest information from both the local and international market. The insights gained here can help the industry better serve hospitals. After the pandemic, there will be higher standards and requirements for medical laundry when it comes to hospital infection prevention and control.”

Exhibitors focus on automation and intelligent solutions amid the pandemic 
Following a challenging year, exhibitors were pleased to establish new business connections with a wide variety of buyers from across China’s different geographic regions.

“The visitors here are all big buyers, and our sales volume has reached its highest this year,” said Mr Liyi Lv, President, Shanghai Weishi Machinery Co Ltd. “The products we are showcasing at the exhibition focus on automation and intelligence, reflecting developments in the industry amid the pandemic, and mirroring trends that we are seeing around the globe. Over the past decade, China's laundry industry products have reached international standards. Customers are comparing our equipment with international products at the exhibition, and giving us a good evaluation. This gives us great export opportunities.”

Mr Shi Xin Wu, General Manager of Jiangsu Sea-Lion Machinery was another exhibitor to note the rising standards of domestic equipment: “The pandemic has impacted the entire laundry industry, and a lot of new medical and sanitary equipment has been produced, forcing the industry to develop faster. We participate at TXCA & CLE every year. The fair helps the industry improve its technological standards, and as the range of domestic products is rapidly expanding, we feel the need to improve our brand image. This year, due to the pandemic, we have launched a range of environmentally-friendly medical laundry and disinfection products under our ‘hygienic isolation design’ concept.”

Besides medical laundry, smart laundry factories were another popular discussion point during the show. “Our company is mainly involved in industrialised washing equipment for large ‘centralised’ laundry factories. We were able to demonstrate our technical strengths at the exhibition and reach our target customers, who are mainly large washing companies searching for the latest technological solutions,” said Mr Gavin Xiao, Sales Director of Herbert Kannegiesser GmbH.

Fringe events provide forum for discussions on reform and development
Parallel to the exhibition, this year’s fringe programme provided a welcome occasion for textile care professionals to confer on developments following a turbulent year. At the heart of discussions was reform and development post-pandemic, as well as topics such as textile hygiene services. A recognition ceremony of outstanding dyeing and washing companies was held, while a ceremony acknowledging role model businesses during the pandemic also took place.  

Attendees appreciated the strong line-up of speakers for each event as well as the valuable opportunities to network and exchange, learn about the industry’s latest technologies and services, and explore the difficulties, challenges and new opportunities that have emerged amid the pandemic.  

“Laundry services have been affected by the pandemic, but at the same time, the medical washing sector has received more attention,” said Mr Panwei, President of the China Laundry Association, a speaker at the China Textile Hygiene Service Expert Forum. “In view of this, we organised a forum targeting professionals from the medical textile care industry. The audience members all represent big-scale domestic washing companies engaged in medical textile care services, as well as companies that are the backbone of the China Laundry Association. TXCA & CLA this year has built an interactive platform for professionals to network, and to promote new products and technologies. The fair is a microcosm of industry developments and a good barometer of industry change.”

To deliver its exhibition content to a wider audience, for the first time, TXCA & CLE implemented an “online + offline” experience. Live coverage of the fair, including product demonstrations and forums was broadcasted on the official WeChat platform, allowing participants who could not travel to the fairground to keep up with industry developments. The two-day livestream attracted 8,297 views.

Extra health care and hygiene precautions implemented
The organisers implemented additional safety measures to ensure the health and safety of every participant. This included: real identity pre-registration, entry checkpoints to verify the digital health code of all participants, and onsite temperature scans. Frequent sanitisation of facilities and distancing measures for seminar attendees was also implemented.

TXCA & CLE is an annual event organised by the China Laundry Association and the China Light Industry Machinery Association, as well as Unifair Exhibition Service Co Ltd and Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd For more details about the show, please email txcacle@unifair.com or txcacle@china.messefrankfurt.com.