The new interactive live online events are each themed around a particular area of technology and applications, giving visitors a focused environment to engage with new products and explore trends.

The first event, Wide Format, will take place from 26-27 May 2021. The event will be focussing on wide format graphics and the evolving printed décor market. It will also showcase innovations from a range of leading technology, software and substrate suppliers.

The Gold sponsors for the event include: Durst, highlighting its latest P5 portfolio; EFI, showcasing its new EFI Vutek Q5; HP, showing its new Latex 700 and 800 portfolios; Kornit Digital, explaining how printers can harness its NeoPigment inks; Mimaki, presenting its new 100 series of UV, solvent and sublimation printers;  OneVision, highlighting its end-to-end automation suite; and PrintFactory, discussing the benefits of using correct workflow and colour management tools.

Other participating suppliers include Ahlstrom-Munksjö, Aleph, Aslan, Avery Dennison, Dataline, Elitron, Fotoba, Hanglory, Kala, Klieverik, Kongsberg, Mactac, Mutoh, Pigment.Inc, PLASTGommet, Pongs, STS Inks and TTS.

The second event, Printed Clothing, will be conducted from 9-10 June 2021. It will focus on the textile printing and garment decoration sector, covering direct-to-garment (DTG), screen printing, software and materials.

Gold sponsors for the second event include: B-FLEX, showcasing its growing heat transfer vinyl portfolio; EFI Reggiani, introducing its integrated offering for digital textile production; Gemini CAD, highlighting its software solutions for fashion designers, manufacturers and e-commerce brands; Kornit Digital, presenting the latest Kornit HD industrial DTG printers; Polyprint, presenting its DTG & Direct-to-fabric printers and pre-treatment machines; PrintFactory, highlighting its suite of textile software tools; Roland, introducing a new compact DTG printer; and ROQ, showing its latest innovations in automatic screen printing and hybrid printing.

Other exhibitors include technology suppliers such as INO, Klieverik, Lotus Holland, Melco, Pigment.Inc, Sport PrintLab, Vastex, and customised software solution provider Zakeke, and transfer film producer Coveme.

Each FIT event will feature a minimum of 16 exhibitors presenting their products and solutions. Visitors will have open access to virtual demonstrations, exhibitor insight and Q&A sessions. Participants can see the full event programme in advance to plan their time and the online platform makes it easy to join live chats, network via video chat, and schedule timed meetings.

Fespa FIT events are free to attend for visitors, but numbers are capped to manage the quality of the interactive experience for printers and suppliers alike.

Fespa CEO Neil Felton explained, “To plan investments and make informed decisions, printers need to be able to see new products, discover technological developments, and access expert advice on products, applications and avenues for diversification and development.”

He further added, “Speaking to printers across our communities, it’s clear that – while their strong preference is to do all of this in a live event setting – there’s a pressing need to access information in a time-efficient way... By launching the FIT series of virtual events, we’re supporting our community in the most effective way available until we can meet in the real world again at a Fespa live exhibition.”

The events will take place on the digital event hosting platform that was used for the virtual Fespa Global Summit, which took place in January 2021, providing an accessible and easy-to-navigate environment.

For more information, including the FIT event programmes, and to register, visit: bit.ly/Fespa-FIT-WF and bit.ly/Fespa-FIT-PC.

Fespa will hold its first Global Print Expo since May 2019 from 12 to 15 October 2021 in Amsterdam.