The PromoTex Expo took place from January 7 to 9 in Düsseldorf under the patronage of the German Federal Minister for Development Dr Gerd Müller. The trade show registered 110 exhibitors, 80 percent of them from abroad. Altogether 16,367 textile traders, advertising engineers, traders of promotional articles, agencies and promoters visited the Expo.

The Bremen Cotton Exchange was represented with a large stand on the ‘Textile Campus’. A cotton field made of 130 cotton branches aroused the visitors’ interest. They were able to meet the natural raw material and its quality variations by touching cotton samples from major provenances. A Walk of Cotton explained the way of cotton from planting to harvesting, and from ginning to spinning, weaving and finishing within the textile cotton value chain. Visitors’ questions were answered directly, and any distrust regarding cotton production was disproved by objective information. The international nature of the Promotex Expo was reflected by the visitors of the Cotton Exchange’s stand as well: Interested people from 13 countries dropped in. Next to a lot of representatives from enterprises there was a larger group of students from the Fashion Design College, Düsseldorf, making use of the opportunity to gather information on cotton and sustainability.

With a speech titled ‘Fair traded organic cotton and corporate fashion’, the Bremen Cotton Exchange being responsible for imparting knowledge amongst others also contributed to the trade show’s lecture programme.

For the second time, the PromoTex Expo was held parallel to the two trade fairs PSI and viscom. Forming Europe’s largest platform with an international level, these three jointly represented the whole world of advertising and selling. Products from textile, haptic and visual advertisement including corporate fashion were exhibited. All fairs focused on sustainability. The ‘Textile Campus’ provided visitors with an overview of sustainable production methods within the supply chain beginning with the raw material up to the finished product. There were exhibitors from recycling, upcycling, textile testing, consulting as well as science represented by the University of Applied Science ‘Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin’ (HTW), and a booth informing on certifying products for the ‘Grüner Knopf’ (green button) in hall number 12.