SleepTech Magazine Mattress, Accessories, Machinery, Raw Materials
Turkey has been second largest national exhibitor after the USA, the host country.
(Alexandria, VA) – After a 4-year hiatus, the bedding industry was back together again in-person at ISPA EXPO 2022 from March 8 -10 in Orlando, FL, hosted by the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA). EXPO welcomed nearly 3,200 attendees from 56 countries and held a record-breaking show with over 200 companies covering over 148,000 square feet of show floor space.
“This was my tenth EXPO, and for me, it was the best one ever. I’ve never seen the industry’s spirit and enthusiasm as strong as it was in Orlando. EXPO consistently provides an exciting place for industry leaders to gather, discuss issues, and share ideas,” said Ryan Trainer, ISPA President.
Attendees saw the latest innovations in machinery, components, services and technology, while also participating in educational sessions, networking events and receptions, including a new Young Professionals Happy Hour and a Women’s Networking Reception. Speakers included CNBC Senior Analyst Ron Insana, materials scientist and SVP at Material ConneXion Andrew Dent and motivational speaker Mark Schulman. The show gave attendees the opportunity to discover cutting-edge solutions and hear about the latest trends and news in the mattress industry.
Attendees from around the globe found ISPA EXPO beneficial. “ISPA has been a good and lucrative show for us,” said Onur Kırayoğlu of Kırayteks. “I cannot compare the performance of the show with the previous editions because this was our first participation but I can say that we have had good contact with our existing and prospective customers. We have had a chance to promote and market our innovative products. It was indeed a good experience.”
“ISPA was a productive fair for us,” said Deniz of Demas Makine. “People who entered our customer scale followed our product groups closely. In fact, our main target was the exhibitors because they are the companies that produce or work with bedding fabr
ics; there has been a lot of interest in our machines from them. We had warm meetings with most companies and submitted our offers to t
hem. There are serious buyers that we are currently in talks with. In general, the fair went very well.”
Commenting on the fair, Hazal Gençtürk, founding chairperson of Luda Yay said, “I observed that the number of both visitors and participants was low due to Covid and anti-vaccination. In other words, I can say that at least it was a little duller than previous years. But I can say that the fair was colorful because ISPA is an organization that constantly includes qualified exhibitors. We saw that some of our foreign customers we met and our friends who had a stand before, unfortunately, could not open a stand this year due to Covid. With the effect of the USA being the host, of course, the weight of USA companies was high in the fair. Turkish companies came right after them. However, we did not see many Chinese companies, which have an undeniable position in the sector. As you can see, there was no homogeneous distribution in terms of participating countries. Of course, apart from flour, I can say that it was very productive in terms of meeting new customers and communicating for export.”
Osman Güler, Chairman of the Board of Elektroteks said, “ISPA Fair is the world’s largest mattress production technologies fair. We participated in an area of 450 square meters with a team of 23 people. At the fair, we established a model factory consisting of 3 separate production lines and very special machines and exhibited our products. We were very pleased with the interest we received.”
Yiğit Durak, member of the board of Durak Tekstil commented, “First of all, ISPA EXPO is a globally important and proven mattress industry fair for both its exhibitors and visitors. At the fair, we had the opportunity to meet with visitors and manufacturers from many other regions as well as those coming from North and South America. This year, we observed that the participation of European-based companies was less. While we left behind the negative effects of the pandemic, it was very beneficial for us to meet with producers from the reviving markets. Meeting with potential customers in a market far away from Turkey in terms of geography has made significant contributions to us in terms of production and marketing. We have seen once again how appropriate our growth targets for the American market are, and we continue our preparations to increase our initiatives in this regard.
ISPA will next host ISPA EXPO in Columbus, Ohio March 12-14, 2024.
