The event, on 30 September 2016, will be supported by Fespa Italia Association with collaboration from the Italian Fashion and Textile Federation and the Italian Textile Designers Association.

Both groups will host speakers and up to 150 delegates are expected to sweep through the doors, said Fespa head of events Duncan MacOwan.

“Milan is the heart of textiles in a global sense, so we are in the right place and surrounded by big printers including the behemoth Miroglio Textiles,” he said.

“The company runs three MS Larios – a beast of a machine – and rolls out 25 million metres of printed textiles per year. Company head Andrea Ferrero will talk at the show, which is a big highlight.”

Europe, Middle East and Africa accounted for more than 55% of the total digital textile printing market on volume.

He said Italy then Germany led the market in volume production with the the UK in the top five, mostly in soft signage but with an increasing element of garments and fashion.”

He pointed out findings from last May's Fespa print census that showed textile was in “dominant growth”, with 81% of printers seeing business boom - the highest of any growth application.

“It's the analogue-to-digital story: textiles once lagged behind other substrates because of the quality and speed on screen printing. But digital technology has caught up in sharpness of print and speed.

“Meanwhile fashion business models have changed. Once you had a collection every 12 months or so, now it's quicker turnaround, with smaller numbers of garments, say 100 to 1,000, produced more frequently to test the market. More printers are getting to grips with the possibilities.”

The one-day conference builds on the success of a series of Fespa-led digital textile conferences, which have taken place in the last eight years.

They have been designed to help members of Fespa's global speciality printing community realise the growth opportunities in digital printing on textile substrates for a range of applications.

Target audiences are both printers already active in digital textile printing and those seeking to explore the opportunity, keen to learn and network.

The September 2016 conference programme will provide print service providers with insights into the market segments of digital textile printing.

It will offer feedback from printers who have successfully entered the sector and technical guidance on how to address the opportunity including updates on the latest kit, software, inks and textiles.

The conference programme will be delivered in English and Italian. Confirmed speakers and panellists include MacOwan along with Ferrero.

Also included are Enrico Barboglio from Fespa Italia, Ron Gilboa at InfoTrends, Andrea Ferrero at Miroglio Textiles and Gianluca Brenna at Stamperia di Lipomo.

Last year's Fespa print census also identified digital technology as a 'key enabler', with over 50% of respondents expecting digitally produced garments to become an important alternative to traditional screen printing in the next two years.

Textile printers featured prominently in investment plans, with 21% of respondents specifically focussing spend in this area, supported by 12% planning to acquire thermal transfer equipment.

Decorative and industrial textile applications also featured heavily, with 78% of those surveyed reporting growth in textiles for decor applications.

Textile substrates were continuing to make inroads in the signage and graphics space, with 67% observing sustained growth in soft signage.

Fespa chief executive Neil Felton said: “A year on from the census, printers are turning interest into action, as we saw from the tremendous buzz in the Fespa Textile halls in Amsterdam a few months ago.

“Today, digital accounts for only a small proportion of all textile printing, but this is forecast to grow substantially in the years ahead, with estimates suggesting that digital could account for 5% of textile printing by 2020, up from 2% today.

“Clearly that's a significant diversification opportunity for printers already invested in digital output technology and supporting workflows.”

Registration for the Digital Textile Conference is open to any printer. Full details of the conference programme and delegate registration can be found at www.fespadtc.com.