OUTLOOK™ Past Editions: 25 Years of the World's Hygiene & Nonwovens Conference

545+ delegates from 207 companies across 30 countries gathered in Budapest, with the programme's focus on hygiene markets in developing economies and wipes-sector sustainability claims reflecting OUTLOOK™'s growing reach beyond its traditional European base.

The 2025 exhibition and its meeting-room programme — first introduced in 2023 — continued to expand this year.

Read the full OUTLOOK™ 2025 recap →
OUTLOOK™ 2025 Programme →

400+ delegates from 193 companies and 28 countries met in the Algarve for a programme that paired sustainability compliance with a first-time focus on diversity, equity & inclusion and start-up innovation.

This was also the edition that introduced a dedicated tabletop exhibition and pre-bookable meeting rooms — a feature that has expanded every year since.

OUTLOOK™ 2023 Programme →

Held as a multi-stream online conference, eighteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Run across 3 parallel content streams with dozens of short talks; the titles below are a representative selection by day, not the full multi-stream running order. 

Even as a fully virtual event, OUTLOOK™ 2021 attracted 200 companies from 33 countries — a wider country spread than most in-person editions — with sessions on post-pandemic economic recovery and early decarbonisation efforts across the value chain.

OUTLOOK™ 2021 Programme →

200 companies from 46 countries — among the broadest geographic spreads in the conference's history — reflected a programme that looked outward, with dedicated sessions on the Indian, African and Russian/Eurasian hygiene markets alongside a growing sustainability track. 

OUTLOOK™ 2019 Programme →

With over 470 delegates from across the nonwovens and related industries, OUTLOOK™, the primary conference for the nonwovens hygiene and personal care industry, was again confirmed as a key industry event for the sector, showcasing EDANA’s mission to support the growth and promote the sustainable development of the industry.

Read the full OUTLOOK™ 2017 recap →

190 companies from 45 countries met in Athens for a programme balancing hard commercial topics like private equity and competition law with a closely watched panel on consumer-organisation diaper testing. 

OUTLOOK™ 2015 Programme →

209 companies from 49 countries convened in Cascais for a programme shaped by the EU's new cosmetics regulation and its implications for the wider hygiene products industry. 

OUTLOOK™ 2013 Programme →

181 companies from 36 countries gathered in Budapest for a programme focused on innovation management and embedding sustainability across increasingly complex supply chains. 

OUTLOOK™ 2011 Programme →

172 companies from 48 countries met in Malta during the global financial crisis, for a programme that squarely asked whether sustainability still mattered in a recession.

OUTLOOK™ 2009 Programme →

176 companies from 27 countries met in Cascais for a programme split between innovation & R&D and the economics of incontinence and sustainability.

OUTLOOK™ 2007 Programme →

182 companies from 49 countries were on hand as EDANA presented its first-ever Sustainability Report for baby diapers and incontinence products, a milestone for the conference's sustainability agenda. 

OUTLOOK™ 2005 Programme →

151 companies from 26 countries took part in a programme centred on harmonising consumer product testing standards across Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States.

OUTLOOK™ 2003 Programme →

549 delegates, 212 companies from 37 countries came together in Rome — the highest attendance of the previous five editions — for a programme weighted heavily toward EU regulation and ecodesign, from the Green Claims Directive to washable absorbent underwear.

The tabletop exhibition and dedicated meeting rooms introduced in 2023 continued to grow this year, with 20 exhibiting companies.

Read the full OUTLOOK™ 2024 recap →
OUTLOOK™ 2024 Programme →

Held against the backdrop of the European energy crisis, OUTLOOK™ 2022 brought together 186 companies from 29 countries, and its programme responded directly to the moment — from the energy situation's impact on hygiene manufacturing to new EU Ecolabel and ISO menstrual-product standards. 

OUTLOOK™ 2022 Programme →

OUTLOOK™ "reinvented itself" as a digital-first format in response to COVID-19.

OUTLOOK™'s first digital edition still reached 225 companies across 35 countries, as the industry turned its attention to PPE supply chains, face mask sustainability and the geopolitical reshaping of world trade in the pandemic's first year.

OUTLOOK™ 2020 Programme →

198 companies from 42 countries gathered in Dubrovnik as the EU's Circular Economy and Plastics Strategy took centre stage, setting the tone for a programme dominated by bioplastics, cellulose waste valorisation and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

OUTLOOK™ 2018 Programme →

Marking the 15th anniversary of OUTLOOK™ with 198 companies represented 49 countries — the widest country spread of any edition to that point — for a Madrid programme built around the Fourth Industrial Revolution and disruptive innovation reshaping the global wipes market. 

OUTLOOK™ 2016 Programme →

Built around four recurring pillars: Markets (Geographic, Economic), Technology & Innovation, Regulatory Landscape, and Sustainability.

219 companies from 48 countries attended a Barcelona edition structured around the conference's four enduring pillars — market intelligence, innovation, regulation and sustainability — with particular attention paid to Asia's growing innovation capacity.

OUTLOOK™ 2014 Programme →

OUTLOOK™ 2012 remains one of the conference's most internationally represented editions, with 252 companies from 60 countries, fittingly for a programme centred on innovation in the age of globalisation and the push to standardise sustainability measurement. 

OUTLOOK™ 2012 Programme →

 173 companies represented 53 countries — a striking geographic spread for 2010 — as the programme weighed global economic recovery against the emerging bioplastics value proposition for hygiene products.

OUTLOOK™ 2010 Programme →

179 companies from 30 countries attended this edition. A detailed session-by-session programme was not available in the source material for this page. 

OUTLOOK™ 2008 Programme →

Conference themes: Sustainability, Industry Economics, Innovation, Emerging Markets and Trends in Consumer Behaviour.

192 companies from 25 countries attended, with the programme tracking the industry's economics as closely as its innovation — from private equity interest in nonwovens to the growing baby and adult wipes category.

OUTLOOK™ 2006 Programme →

154 companies from 30 countries attended a Monte-Carlo edition focused on the increasing sophistication of the disposable products market and early EU regulatory discussions around product safety. 

OUTLOOK™ 2004 Programme →

The inaugural OUTLOOK™ conference.

The first edition of OUTLOOK™ conference drew 112 companies from 22 countries — modest by later standards, but the starting point for what would become the industry's flagship hygiene conference.

OUTLOOK™ 2001 Programme →