However, K in Düsseldorf also started small once: the debut event "Wunder der Kunststoffe" (Miracles of Plastics) in 1952 registered 270 exhibiting companies – exclusively from Germany. They occupied approximately 14,000 square metres of net exhibition space.
At the premiere 165,000 visitors marvelled especially at the colourful consumer goods exhibited by plastics processors. Because from 1952 to 1959 K Düsseldorf was purely a showcase of the German industry. Any interested visitor, be it a layman or specialist, was admitted to visit the trade fair. Major attractions on show were products designed to make life more beautiful and convenient. Today, we smile at the advertising of that time, which was also aimed at the "modern housewife" and introduced her to such post-war achievements as trendy PVC raincoats or sheer nylon stockings - aesthetic epitomes of the economic miracle.
The more the plastics industry specialized and high-tech plastics for special solutions in electronics, medicine, automotive or aerospace attracted attention beyond standard polymers, the more specialists visited the trade fair. In 1963 the break was made: K in Düsseldorf became a special-interest only trade fair of international standing. Since then it has maintained its position as a leading global trade fair for the entire industry. 2019 saw over 220,000 trade visitors from almost 170 nations travel to K on the Rhine River.
The international origin and composition of exhibitors will also guarantee the completeness of the product ranges and a comprehensive overview of the world market at the upcoming K in autumn. Nowhere else will they find such a wealth of innovations, and no other trade show will provide such a variety of impulses for the future of the global plastics and rubber industry.
