Absorbent hygiene players from 30 nations gather at US' Hygienix 2022

The successful three-day conference delivered premium content, educational workshops, networking opportunities, awards, and a lively welcome reception in the French Quarter, INDA said in a media release.

“Hygienix gathers those most relevant in the supply chain in one place to advance the nonwovens and engineered materials business,” said Tony Fragnito, INDA president.

The programme kicked off with recycling approaches for disposable absorbent hygiene waste, followed by business impacts of period product legislation and regulation, new menstrual products, consumer trends, and three finalist presentations for the 2022 Hygienix Innovation Award. “The programme was excellent—it built upon the need for sustainability and developed to demonstrate the required innovation,” said Krzysztof Malowaniec, independent consultant, KDM Management Consultancy Firm.

The event also included presentations from 18 other industry experts along with 13 hours of scheduled face-to-face networking and 50 tabletop display exhibits and banquet receptions on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

“The tabletop exhibits provided a great platform to connect with our customers and prospects. Exhibiting with INDA gives our prospects and partners confidence to do business with us. We’re here for the third year,” said Saravanan Palani, director of sales, Luwa Pneumafil Inc.

“The contacts I’ve made at INDA have been super helpful,” said Dawn Hunter, chief innovation officer. Programme presentations also included economic outlooks on the global and the North American economy, consumer perceptions of hygiene and sustainability across five generations, ingredients and product labelling, industry merger and acquisitions, sustainability, and improved absorbent hygiene resources.

One highlight of the event was the presentation of INDA’s prestigious Hygienix Innovation Award to Egal Pads for Pads on a Roll, a wrapped super-thin absorbent period pad that dispenses like toilet paper in public bathroom stalls. The product aims to prevent the personal embarrassment of not having a menstrual product when needed.

“Egal and Pads on a Roll are honoured to have been chosen as the Hygienix Innovation Award winner. We are passionate about gender equity and our part can be to provide a period product. All biological functions need to be treated equally, and INDA and Hygienix are the perfect entities to help move this vision forward,” said Penelope Finnie, CEO of Egal Pads.

Other finalists included Kimberly-Clark’s Kotex Pantyliner with pH Indicator and Sposie Kids’ Sposie Dribbles Potty Training Pads.

Other highlights included two separate educational workshops: an absorbent hygiene workshop which provided participants the latest global trends, regional product launches, and differentiations in diapers, baby pants, and adult underwear, plus an introduction to the absorption systems for absorbent hygiene products.

INDA president Tony Fragnito presented the 2022 INDA Lifetime Service Award to INDA president emeritus Dave Rousse for his long-established service to the nonwovens industry and INDA. Rousse led the acquisition of the Insight conference and combined the INDA Vision Conference to launch the Hygienix conference for the absorbent hygiene and personal care market in 2015, and initiated the purchase of INDA Media.

Hygienix 2023 will be held from November 13–16, in New Orleans, Louisiana at The Roosevelt Hotel.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)