Christian Schindler has worked at the ITMF, an international forum for the world's textile industries, for more than 15 years. In this podcast, he talks about the ITMF’s latest surveys. The first set of results were published in March and showed how orders and turnover were starting to be affected by Covid-19. By the next survey, the results looked much worse as other countries across the world entered a period of lockdown. And although the results of the third survey don’t show much positive change, there has been no significant negative impact either, suggesting that maybe the industry is beginning to stabilise.

Elsewhere, Schindler talks about the main challenges that the industry is facing, while also discussing some of the opportunities too. For example, some of the ITMF’s members have been able to switch to PPE manufacturing, while others are looking to streamline their operations. He also says that he’d like to see governments across the world provide more support for local textile industries, even if that means just offering better interest rates. 

What’s more, Schindler talks about nearshoring, saying that actually he doesn’t think this is something that we’ll start to see more of any time soon, even considering the impact of Covid-19. He says that people will try to look for more reliable supply chains, but at the end of the day you have to go where the price is right and where the skilled workers are. Lastly, he sheds some light on what the future of the textile industry might look like.

The ITMF is dedicated to keeping the worldwide membership constantly informed through surveys, studies and publications. It participates in the evolution of the industry's value chain and through the organisation of annual conferences and publishes considered opinions on future trends and international developments.