Orders for ltalian textile machinery from abroad were down by 10% at the start of this year, but domestic orders have increased by 10%, said Raffaella Carabelli, president of the Association of Textile Machinery, at the ACIMIT and ICE press conference.

" The beginning of the year has been a little bit more difficult in terms of order intakes within the country, " said Ms Carabbeli. "We know it has been more difficult for the exporter because of the things like the strong Euro currency. However, we are still 10% up from this time in 2013, so it's a mixed set of data at the moment."

Of the 300 Italian textile machinery manufaturers, aroun 110 are participating at the show. "At the show we are the second number after our Chinese partners." said Ms Carabelli. &

ACIMIT is keen to represent its 'sustainable technology project', launched in 2010, with the machinery displayed at the show. The project aims to reduce waste in water and energy terms, as well as chemical use.

Forty Italian manufactuers are involved in the project. Since 2011, green labels have been issued for certified machinery, confirmed by the international certification body RINA. The green labels contain data on the sustainability of footprint of the previous and updated machines.

" ITMA is the most important event for the textile machinerry manufacturers. It is also a great way to show our new sustainable machinery, "Ms Carabelli said.