Took place on September 28th and 29th in Madrid the 18th annual meeting of Ebia (European Bedding Industries ' Association), the European Federation which brings together associations of European mattresses, and counts among its members, even the producers of raw materials and individual producers of mattresses for those Nations where there is not a national trade association. Fabio Formenti, Councilor in charge of the Group sleeping Systems of FederlegnoArredo and CEO of Simmons, in his speech stressed how the industry of sleep grows aiming at quality of culture, focusing on the theme of recycling.
The most important strategic initiative of the Group sleeping Systems of FederlegnoArredo, which includes Italian producers who share the same quality-oriented approach. It concerns precisely the subject of the circular economy.
“The theme of end-of-life of mattresses – explained Formenti – already at the center of the last meeting of EBIA, it could produce in the near future legislative initiatives aimed at building a virtuous chain of collection and treatment of discarded mattresses encouraging a careful planning of the product’s cycle of life. Our group, which brings together the leading Italian manufacturers of mattresses created for this purpose, a task force of entrepreneurs and engineers to build the conditions to effectively answer to a challenge that is going to be very difficult. “
The important theme of recycling will also be at the heart of discussions of the Environment Committee which has been just formed within FederlegnoArredo.

Italy industry of sleeping systems: signs of growth

According to data of the Centro Studi FederlegnoArredo, Italy industry of sleeping systems is ending 2017 with signs of growth. Italian exports of mattresses in 2016 increased 1.2% compared with the previous year, a positive trend that continues also in the first half of 2017 (+5%).
The mattress industry last year exported a total of over 156 million euros. In the first semester of 2017 mattresses have in particular a strong growth in the USA (+ 67.5%) and in Eastern countries like Japan (+ 5.6%) and China (+ 60.3%), where Italy is the first supplier of furniture. In Europe good results in France (+ 5.2%) and in Spain (+ 4.1%).
Poland confirms itself first supplier of Italy, followed by Turkey and Romania, both increasing + 39.6% and + 134.5% respectively.
Good signals in internal market too: in 2016 if the furnishing system logged totally an increase of 3.7% over the previous year, thanks to the positive influence of “furniture bonus“, bedrooms and children's bedrooms have a positive sign (+ 4.6%) and sleeping systems show an increase of + 2.5%.
Another important asset is represented by the Italian tourism, which is experiencing a strong growth: if we compare 2008 with 2016 no eurozone country has seen an increase in the number of employed people of the accommodation and catering industry like Italy, both in absolute value and  in percentage.
“In 2015, the last year for which detailed statistics were available, in the eurozone Italy is the first country for overnight stays of non-EU tourists, with over 60 million of nights,“ said Formenti. “A great opportunity for the world of Italian furniture and to improve the quality of Italian accommodation capacity. In Italy rest is an essential element“.