In September, two of the nonwovens industry’s largest trade associations, INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, based in Cary, NC, and EDANA, the Voice of Nonwovens, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to explore a strategic alliance. This marks a significant step toward leveraging their combined expertise and resources to address global challenges and drive new opportunities in the nonwovens industry. Leaders from the association signed the agreement during the EDANA-organized Outlook conference in Rome, Italy.

According to the associations, the continued growth of the global nonwovens industry has created a need for a more unified approach to navigating complex international markets. By creating a more official alliance, INDA and EDANA will be able to enhance their scope and value to their members; align advocacy and representation; create operational synergies and drive innovation and growth.

While much work remains as to how this collaboration would be structured and what it would mean for members and the global nonwovens industry, the leaders of these associations, EDANA general manager Murat Dogru and INDA president and CEO Tony Fragnito, shared some insights on the factors that led up to the decision to examine an expanded partnership.

Can you describe the steps that led up to EDANA and INDA exploring a more formal alliance?
Murat Dogru (MD): Both of us began our positions around the same time. At the IDEA Show in 2022, it started with a genuine and pleasant discussion between us to understand the longstanding collaboration between INDA and EDANA and what more we could achieve together. With the support of our members and as our trust grew stronger, we were able to discuss the possibility of a formal partnership more freely and without constraints.
Tony Fragnito (TF): INDA and EDANA have very similar mission statements—to support the nonwovens industry—and the challenges of our industry are increasingly global. Regionally these issues may differ in focus or in the pace of how the market is changing and evolving. Both organizations support the entire supply chain and represent small, medium and global players.

As we enhance our spirit of cooperation, signing this LOI expresses our organizations’ commitment to explore the benefits an expanded partnership can bring to our members and the industry. 

Why would a potential alliance between INDA and EDANA make sense for the global nonwovens industry?
TF: In the past, our collaboration would be limited to a project or an event. Moving forward we hope to expand our collaboration efforts across all programs and services. The format and the way information is delivered regionally won’t necessarily be identical, but we will benefit from working together. We will monitor and be responsive to the needs and formats that work in different markets and strive to support the global industry in the most efficient way.

MD: EDANA and INDA were created for the same purpose, and they developed in similar ways even if differences are existing. They are providing a comparable set of services to their membership and after an in-depth assessment we can undoubtedly say that those services are completing themselves and not competing. It is important to say that our aim is not just to support our common global members but ensure that everyone benefit from it. We want to better understand what our left hand is doing to make sure the right hand is more efficient. We hope this will allow us to leverage our activities in different regions.

For example, our training courses are very similar, and we spend a lot of time and resources separately to build and promote this content. If you think about it, combining our efforts on these courses would only make them stronger.
 
Now that you have signed the agreement, what are the next steps?
MD: We are recognizing that there are global challenges. For us, the European market is much more regulated, so we need to quickly react to these regulations. We are aiming to be more proactive with a global position statement on the issues facing the industry on a global level, but at the same time we need to allow the same flexibility that the regions demand. If we tried to be completely global, we would not be heard. We are creating an environment that allows us to create the agility to move between acting globally while maintaining our regional efforts.

TF: We don’t want to create the expectation that everything will change on a particular date. The reality is that the collaboration has been getting stronger for some time and on several levels. This LOI solidifies the fact that this collaboration will be ongoing, transparent and involve both our staff and leadership. We will continue to engage and communicate our plans and timelines to our members because these efforts are ultimately designed to benefit them and support the broader industry.

Formally signing and announcing the agreement expands the group of people that know we are working towards a more strategic partnership. This gives us the chance to get input from more stakeholders.

We have engaged a consultant to look at our organizations and report recommendations to our leadership teams regarding potential legal and governance structures. We want to avoid structures that hinder our ability to act, and we want our volunteer leaders, and staff, in a position of certainty regarding their ability to act on behalf of the membership.

What will this mean for EDANA and INDA sponsored events like trade shows, conferences, and workshops?
TF: With conferences specifically, our data tells us that the current conferences and events have very little overlap of attendees, so there appears to be strong regional support for these events. That doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to introduce more global content or to develop different formats. EDANA has been more active beyond Europe than INDA. I think if we choose to co-host an event in other regions, the fact that we are working together would add value and make it much more attractive for people to attend. It would gain more attention and more interest.

MD: We understand what a large investment in terms of time and money trade shows and events can be to our members and the nonwovens community. We want this investment to pay off by providing the best events to fulfill their needs. At the same time, we also want to find new opportunities beyond our well-established events in the U.S. and Europe. Having a partnership between us and potentially with others will allow us to develop stronger international events.

As for the major trade shows, right now, the IDEA Show is committed to 2027 and INDEX is committed to 2026. We will know what happens to these shows beyond those dates, but we are honoring our current commitments.