TSA-UK Hosts ETSA National Associations Meeting in London

Posted October 18, 2019 at 11:11 am


ETSA National Association representatives from left to right: Robert Long, ETSA; Nelly Le Dévic, ETSA; Daniel Dalkowski, DTV; Andreas Schumacher, DTV; Tarkko Nuutinen, Tekstiilihuoltoliitto; Melanie Saner, VTS; Joseph Ricci, TRSA; David Stevens, TSA; Shyju Skariah, TSA; Anne Sofie Wibe; Nathalie Matignon, Geist; and Daniel Kärrholt, Sveriges Tvätteriförbund. Also attending but not pictured was Ann Vande Kerckhove and Marc Callewaert, FBT; Matteo Nevi, Assosistema; and TSA Chairman Charlie Betteridge, Christeyns.


The European Textile Services Association (ETSA) hosted its National Associations meeting in London earlier this week with more than a dozen association executives representing the linen, uniform and facility services industry throughout Europe and North America. Participating organizations included Belgium (FBT), Denmark (BVT), Finland (Tekstiilihuoltoliitto), France (Geist), Germany (DTV), Italy (Assosistema), Sweden (Sveriges Tvätteriförbund), Switzerland (VTS), United Kingdom (TSA) and North America (TRSA). Hosted by the Textile Services Association (TSA-UK) and facilitated by ETSA Secretariat Robert Long, National Association delegates discussed their respective new initiatives and potential collaborative projects focused on promoting the industry to customers, regulators and potential employees, standards development, and training and research.

The two-day meeting kicked off with an interactive session hosted by Ben Jeffries, CEO and co-founder of Influencer, one of the largest, fastest growing social media marketing companies. His presentation focused on the value of strategic social media activities, including identifying the appropriate channels, messaging and metrics for successful campaigns. Based on these insights, the participating associations will develop and launch a collaborative social media campaign leveraging their respective expertise and resources across Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

The National Associations also discussed existing projects such as the development of an industrywide training platform and shared resources highlighting the industry’s sustainability, as well as efforts to improve standards monitoring at the European Union (EU) level for hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other issues impacting the industry. In addition, delegates shared nation-specific regulatory activities and resources to promote reusable textiles over disposables, as well as the economic and environmental benefits of commercial vs. on-premise laundries (OPLs) and home washing.

Finally, the National Associations discussed the content of the International Textile Services Alliance website (www.itsa-alliance.org) and the World Textile Services Congress and Texcare Forum both scheduled to be held in conjunction with Texcare International in June 2020 in Frankfurt, Germany. The group also expressed interest in creating a special joint task force for selecting sites and developing content for future World Textile Services Congresses (WTSC), including shared capital investment.

The next National Associations meeting is scheduled for May 5-6, 2020, in Helsinki, and will focus on environmental stewardship, including the circular economy, microplastics and effluent discharge.

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