Two major nonwovens trade association, INDA, the Association of the Nonwovens Industry, based in Cary, NC, and EDANA, the Voice of Nonwovens, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, have announced the signing of 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.

As the nonwovens industry evolves, both associations recognize the need for a unified approach to navigate complex international markets. The potential alliance aims to deliver several key benefits:
Enhance the scope and value to Members: The increased integration of resources will enable both organizations to deliver greater value to members, offering an expanded range of educational programs, enhanced networking opportunities, and access to a wider breadth of industry insights.

Joint Advocacy and Representation: The alliance will amplify both organizations’ collective voice, enhancing their ability to advocate for members’ interests at local, regional and global levels, ensuring that their needs and concerns are effectively addressed.

Operational Synergies: The alliance will create efficiencies, strengthen the collective talent pool and optimize the use of financial resources to better support member and industry initiatives.

Innovation and Growth: The alliance will drive joint initiatives and projects that foster innovation, enhance industry leadership, and support the long-term growth and sustainability of the nonwovens industry

“This Letter of Intent underscores our commitment in exploring how we can better serve the nonwovens community and tackle industry’s evolving challenges,” said Murat Dogru, general manager of EDANA. “Our purpose is to ensure that our members are well-positioned to thrive in a dynamic global environment. Reflecting on the Treaty of Rome signed decades ago, we hope that the signing of this Letter of Intent in Rome will pave the way for even greater achievements.”

INDA President & CEO Tony Fragnito adds,
“This potential alliance represents an opportunity to combine our strengths while openly engaging on the global issues affecting the industry. Better coordination will enhance our ability to serve the industry and our members while retaining our regionally focused support and representation.”

The organizations will conduct a thorough due diligence process over the coming months to evaluate the strategic benefits and operational efficiencies of a potential alliance. Both associations remain dedicated to advancing their members’ interests and exploring new growth avenues within the nonwovens industry.

Courtesy of Nonwovens Industry

Sustainable Nonwovens: Can we begin with a bit of background on how this new EDANA/INDA alliance came about.

Tony Fragnito: Murat and I began our roles at almost the same time, and as outsiders to the industry without its historical context, we quickly recognised a key opportunity: greater collaboration would benefit everyone. As we settled into our respective organisations, we started identifying common challenges, and feedback from our members confirmed that the issues they faced were strikingly similar. While the pace of change varied across different markets, the core themes - technology, member needs, and workforce development - were consistent. It became clear that working in isolation wasn’t maximising the value we could bring to the industry; collaboration, on the other hand, offered clear advantages. Both Murat and I are focused on the same goals: understanding member needs, supporting the industry, and adding value to membership and engagement with our organisations. That’s the journey we are on. This is an announcement of our intent to explore even more opportunities for collaboration, sharing information, and potentially rethinking how we deliver programs and services. We want to identify where those opportunities lie. Most importantly, what I consistently hear from our members - and what I believe will be incredibly valuable - is the need for a global forum for conversation. By stepping away from our regional perspectives and adopting a global, industry-wide view, we can ask, “What are the trends? What’s impacting the industry? And how can we work together to address these challenges?”

Murat Dogru: I can only emphasise what Tony is saying. This collaboration started as a small, step-by-step conversation between the two of us, and we later brought it to our respective boards. While there has always been collaboration between EDANA and INDA, this goes beyond any single project. We approached it with a fresh perspective, without any preconceived ideas about what the partnership should look like, allowing us to discover and identify new possibilities together. For example, there are global challenges that we can address through joint efforts. We’ll have the opportunity to evaluate what INDA is doing, while they assess what EDANA is doing, making us both more agile and responsive as a result. We are announcing this now to signal our commitment to developing this collaboration further.

SNW: You mention working together on global challenges. Could you expand on this?

TF: There are a number of trade challenges, and ensuring fair and equitable trade globally is becoming a major concern, also the use of chemicals and the definition of plastics. These challenges have a broad impact on the industry. And so, the more divergent the approaches, definitions, and regulatory frameworks are, the more complicated it becomes for our members to navigate.

Written by Haydn Davis
Courtesy of MCL News & Media, Sustainable Nonwovens. Read the full story here

The Board of Directors of INDA and EDANA met this week to continue progress toward a vision of broad collaboration for the benefit of the industry detailed in a Letter of Intent signed by both organizations in September 2024. Read the full story here