Along with Swiss members, the members of all German-speaking national sections were also invited to the event.

 The gathering began with a visit to the company Tisca Tiara, an interesting textile industry business in the village of Bühler, in the canton of Appenzell. The variety of different types of carpet was impressive. Customer requests – including individual designs – are processed and developed here down to the smallest detail, for everything from major projects to personally-designed private rooms and prestigious office and hotel fittings. Artificial lawns, synthetic grass for sports pitches and similar products are available for outdoor areas, alongside materials for interiors. Tisca Tiara, founded in 1940 by Anton Tischhäuser Senior, is today a globally active independent family business. The IFKT expressed its gratitude to the company for offering some interesting insights. There then followed a visit to the Locher brewery in Appenzell for another highly traditional ‘piece of Switzerland’ that is familiar across several continents, not least through the on-board distribution of Appenzeller Quöllfrisch beer by international airlines.

During the evening’s festivities, three deserving members of the IFKT – Fritz Benz, Prof. Wolfgang Schäch and Andreas Hämmerle – were rewarded with honorary certificates. The success of the 2016 events and of the jubilee celebration provided an incentive and the confidence to look forward to many more successful years for the IFKT. In 2017, long-term planning of content and preparation by small working groups on the subjects that need tackling will determine the IFKT’s workload. The goal is to expand the opportunities to visit industry-relevant companies and institutions, and thus to further emphasise the drive for development that the textile industry is experiencing.