EDITORIAL

Message of the CEO.
2021, a year like no other: unprecedented growth despite difficult trading conditions.

Dear Red Dot Community,

it is great to be back with the first 2022 edition of our Red Dot News. We have fresh and interesting news to share with you all!

2021 was an outstanding year for Itema. If I should sum up briefly the previous sentence, I would say that we recorded the highest sales volume of the last 10 years and, in addition to this, our strategic plans for the evolution of the Itema Group moved forward quickly over the year. In terms of figures, in fact, while we struggled, as everyone did, with supply chain challenges through the year, we managed to grow the Itema turnover by nearly +43% last year – Lamiflex at +18% and Schoch at +23% – with a Group average that sees us at +41% compared to 2020. And even if these results speak for themselves, what makes me even more proud of my company are not only the numbers, but the fact that we have been able to attract new customers who chose Itema as supplier for the first time, meaning that we still have an exponential growth margin and that we are offering the right products services, and solutions to the market. First and foremost, the newly established partnership with the renowned Italian finest fabrics wool producer Lanificio F.lli Cerruti, about which we tell you more here.

Passing from brand new to historical Customers, we present in this newsletter a new episode of our Weaving Excellence Diaries, this time dedicated to Martinelli Ginetto, our neighbour in the Seriana Valley who weaves sophisticated and beautiful bed sheetings and furnishing fabrics in Italy and in Hungary.

On the strategic happenings, I am proud about the evolution of Lamiflex company structure. Entered in Itema Group in 2017, Lamiflex represents a strategic asset for Itema. The company operates in the promising world of composite materials, guaranteeing to our Group significant research and development opportunities. In 2021 Itema acquired the 100% of Lamiflex shares, in a move that demonstrate how this company is crucial for our future developments. We will tell you more about this strategic move in the Company Investment section.

We also dedicated a corner to the Itema Group company Schoch and especially to its range of drop wires for weaving machines that guarantee the best quality in the market while providing maximum economic benefits.

We finally restored the Events Calendar section, trusting and hoping that the pandemic will loosen its grip to enable us to meet you all in person.

In addition, it is with great pleasure that we unveil here the new Itema advertising campaign. As I like to say to our customers, our weaving machines are tools in weavers’ hands. It is our technological support combined with their capability that makes their fabrics special. Superior performances, eco-efficiency and textile mastery are the features you immediately feel when relying on Itema. The Itema weaving machines guarantee to worldwide weavers the most innovative technology tailored on the latest market trends, thus meaning that we are focused on providing the innovative content that weavers really need. Check out our new campaign here and drop us a line to let us know what you think!

Finally, we close this Red Dot News Edition with the Itema Group 2022 Calendar that we share with you in the digital format of wallpapers for your desktop. A journey among the beautiful fabrics that you, our Customers, produce with the Itema weaving technology. A celebration of the beauty and the passion that comes to life from the wise use of the ancient art of weaving.

It only remains for me to wish you good reading, nevertheless I cannot fail to express closeness and support to all those who are suffering from the harmful effects of the war. Itema and I are always on the side of peace.

Sincerely,
Ugo Ghilardi
CEO Itema Group