Italians and foreigners. Veterans and newcomers. Company owners and employees. The profile of the buyers who - from 30 January to 1 February 2024 - will flock to the PTE stands is extremely diverse, as are the solutions in the respective fields of business that await them. “I am already looking forward to seeing some Dtf machinery” , began Raffaele Botta, owner of Punto Stampa in Afragola (Naples) - “because digital transfer technology is strong and simplifies the processing throughout. Compared to printing with vinyl and heat press, it helps save time, and also produces very beautiful results”. And very precise too, as emphasised by Ivana Coppola from General Pen (Nola, Naples), who deals with increasingly demanding customers from dawn to dusk, with no compromise on definition and accuracy when it comes to logos: “With conventional systems it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet such standards, so I will be looking for a further insight into the worlds of digital transfer and UV printing at the exhibition. We already have a Dtf machine for textiles, but we would also need one for gifts”.

The increasingly significant presence of exhibitors from abroad, particularly from Eastern Europe, at PTE has not gone unnoticed by trade visitors. Mirroring this change, buyers from those areas have also increased. One of them is Slovenian Božo Strgulec, head of Partner Aktiv, a Ljubljana-based company specialising in printing, promotion and processing in-house or on behalf of third parties: “At the exhibition I will be looking for both machines and materials to customise objects and wearables. I consider it very important that these products are accompanied by certificates, and this applies in particular to fabrics intended for direct contact with the skin”.

Safety of use, transparency of the production chain and both social and environmental sustainability are characteristics that go hand in hand and that end consumers are not willing to give up, even at higher costs: market research shows this and entrepreneurs such as Flavia Panella of Axent Promozioni (Rome) and Vanessa Forte of Flaminia Pubblicità (Colli al Metauro, Pesaro/Urbino). “During the next edition of PTE”, he pointed out, “it will certainly be useful to present innovations that can educate consumers to embrace more environmentally friendly products than those traditionally used, for example the eco-pen instead of plastic pens”.

However, what attitude will buyers have when visiting the pavilions of Fiera Milano, in Rho, next winter? Although the times in which we live do not warrant elation, there is no lack of underlying clarity and optimism: “The demands for very fast processing times, coupled with the streamlining of warehouses”, commented Ivana Coppola, “make managing work very complicated; however, there has been a recovery compared to the very recent past, and for Christmas there is a tendency among customers to pre-order, so all things considered, the various aspects balance each other out”.

Flavia Panella was also confident, as she already imagined piles of information material and contacts from her trip to Milan, to the extent that she suggested that the organisation provide PTE buyers with supermarket carts: “So, you go to the cloakroom where your suitcase is and place all the contents of the cart in it, instead of constantly opening and closing suitcases from one stand to the next”.