Commission to showcase high-tech clothing
15 October 2002 - 15 October 2002
The European Commission will demonstrate to the clothing industry how to use information society technologies (IST) to their advantage at 'The EU apparel business goes high-tech' in Brussels on 15 October.
Wearable technology and clothing customised to individual healthcare, sports, quality of life and entertainment needs will be on show. The Commission will underline how IST can boost productivity and competitiveness and highlight the advantages of a move into activities such as 3-D body scanning, trying on clothes virtually, mass customisation, multi-functional clothing, online retailing and other e-commerce solutions.
'Tailoring textiles and clothing to enhance every wearer's quality of life will bring benefits to consumers and offers interesting new opportunities for industry,' says EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, who will open the conference.
'Enterprises that want to succeed in today's competitive markets cannot stand still. Innovation does not just mean inventing new products. It means transforming and extending product ranges and services, adapting production and delivery methods and constantly upgrading management methods, the organisation of work and worker qualifications,' said Mr Liikanen.
As customers become more sophisticated and seek more individualised products, IST can be used to meet these demands. Until now, the main difficulties have been sector specific ones such as the customer's desire to check the fit of clothing, feel the material and see the colour. The conference will examine technological developments aimed at surmounting these challenges, and pinpoint areas where further research and innovation is necessary.
The event will also demonstrate how IST can create new networking structures across company and country boundaries. This will benefit small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular by enabling them to pool fragmented activities and search for suppliers and markets worldwide.
The textiles and clothing sector is one of Europe's leading manufacturing industries with a turnover of around 196 billion euro in 2001. It employs over two million people in around 113,000 companies, most of them SMEs, which are often concentrated in particular regions. In addition, the sub-sector in Europe has a turnover of 70 billion euro, employing some 960,000 people. While the trade balance for textiles is positive, this is not the case for clothing, with exports of 16.4 billion euro against imports of 50.8 billion euro in 2001.For further information on the conference, please consult the following web address:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/textile/conf_apparel.htm(opens in new window)
For further information on the textile and apparel industry, please consult the following web address:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/library/enterprise-papers/pdf/enterprise_paper_02_2001.pdf(opens in new window)
Wearable technology and clothing customised to individual healthcare, sports, quality of life and entertainment needs will be on show. The Commission will underline how IST can boost productivity and competitiveness and highlight the advantages of a move into activities such as 3-D body scanning, trying on clothes virtually, mass customisation, multi-functional clothing, online retailing and other e-commerce solutions.
'Tailoring textiles and clothing to enhance every wearer's quality of life will bring benefits to consumers and offers interesting new opportunities for industry,' says EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, who will open the conference.
'Enterprises that want to succeed in today's competitive markets cannot stand still. Innovation does not just mean inventing new products. It means transforming and extending product ranges and services, adapting production and delivery methods and constantly upgrading management methods, the organisation of work and worker qualifications,' said Mr Liikanen.
As customers become more sophisticated and seek more individualised products, IST can be used to meet these demands. Until now, the main difficulties have been sector specific ones such as the customer's desire to check the fit of clothing, feel the material and see the colour. The conference will examine technological developments aimed at surmounting these challenges, and pinpoint areas where further research and innovation is necessary.
The event will also demonstrate how IST can create new networking structures across company and country boundaries. This will benefit small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular by enabling them to pool fragmented activities and search for suppliers and markets worldwide.
The textiles and clothing sector is one of Europe's leading manufacturing industries with a turnover of around 196 billion euro in 2001. It employs over two million people in around 113,000 companies, most of them SMEs, which are often concentrated in particular regions. In addition, the sub-sector in Europe has a turnover of 70 billion euro, employing some 960,000 people. While the trade balance for textiles is positive, this is not the case for clothing, with exports of 16.4 billion euro against imports of 50.8 billion euro in 2001.For further information on the conference, please consult the following web address:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/textile/conf_apparel.htm(opens in new window)
For further information on the textile and apparel industry, please consult the following web address:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/library/enterprise-papers/pdf/enterprise_paper_02_2001.pdf(opens in new window)