CARY, NC - April 28, 2008 - What consumers want out of their sustainable wipes products – and what it means to be “green” – will be focal points of the second annual World of Wipes (WOW) International Conference. The event will once again explore topics ranging from raw materials to converting and end-use applications during three days of seminars and networking June 16-18 at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel in Chicago, Ill.

This Conference, organized by INDA, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, is devoted solely to key issues affecting the wipes industry, with a concentration on substrates, active ingredients, packaging, market metrics, industry challenges and market opportunities, particularly in Asia and Europe. The inaugural event in 2007 in Atlanta drew more than 200 attendees.

WOW will feature the premiere of the new Flushability Guidelines for the wipes industry. Attendees will learn about these new Guidelines, which include tests that determine whether products are flushable. The document has been developed by leading member companies in INDA and EDANA over the past three years. This critical document will be unveiled at WOW by presenters from Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble.

At the heart of WOW 2008 will be a focus on sustainability and how companies can gain an advantage by going green. As part of this focus, first-day keynote speaker Darrin Duber-Smith, of Green Marketing, Inc., will speak on “The Green Imperative: Sustainability and Social Responsibility in Marketing.” Duber-Smith will discuss the growing importance of incorporating people and environmental considerations into a business model.

A second keynote session on Day 2 of the Conference will feature Cheryl Perkins, founder and president of Innovationedge and a former Kimberly-Clark executive, who will speak on “Creating a Sustainable Innovation through an Innovation Ecosystem.” Perkins will share best practices for taking innovation to the next step and will offer examples and case studies of companies that have successfully delivered sustainable results.

Day 3 brings the third keynote presentation which will be made by Irv Wienberg and Carolyn Parrs, of Mind Over Markets. Their presentation – “The Ten Commandments of Green Communication” – will provide an essential guide to understanding and communicating with a fast growing and informed demographic by marrying ecology to economy.

Among other highlights of the three-day Conference:

•   “What Goes Around Comes Around: Lifecycle Analysis” will be the topic of a presentation by Robert Green, of NatureWorks LLC. He will explore Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and product eco profiles that are valuable and increasingly important tools used for measuring environmental impact, sustainability and identifying environmental performance-improvement objectives.
• A session on “The Worldwide Wipes Market” will feature presentations from the USDA and Cotton, Inc. (”The Case for Cotton Wipes and Nonwovens”) and Converting Influence, Inc., whose presentation is called “Recent Advances in Dry Wipes.”  Is it OK to leave names out here but not above?)
• A panel discussion – “What the Heck Does 'Green' Mean Anyway?” – will feature insights from Joy Nunn, Strateline Industries and Sustainable Solutions Network; Carolyn Parrs, Mind Over Markets; Cheryl Perkins, Innovationedge; Brian Sansoni, The Soap & Detergent Association; and Irv Wienberg, Mind Over Markets.
• SmartStreams™ to Profit – this presentation from Joy Nunn (Strateline Industries and Sustainable Solutions Inc.) will show how they have repeatedly turned SmartStreams™ into profitable businesses and caught the eye of Wal-Mart and others. Now they are focusing this strategy on wet wipes and other products produced from recycled cotton and in the process are resurrecting the former PGI Nonwovens plant in Rogers, Arkansas.

WOW 2008 will also mark the debut of the WOW Innovation Awards, which will recognize and reward the industry members who bring new and value-added processes and products to the wipes market. Created to encourage innovative processes and products anywhere along the wipes value chain, the WOW Innovation Award is open to all nonwoven fabric manufacturers, raw material and packaging suppliers, converters and end-product producers. Six finalists will give 15-minute presentations during WOW and attendees will vote on the recipient of the 2008 WOW Innovation Award. Nominations close on May 15. To download a nomination form, go to www.inda.org/events/wow08.

Registration for INDA members is $995 through May 15 ($1395 for non-members) and $1195 after May 15 ($1675 for non-members). To register or for more information: www.inda.org/events/wow08