as part of the business program of the international textile exhibition "Intertkan – 2026. The Spring" case session "HoReCa: sustainability and comfort in the service of the future" was held. 

The meeting was moderated by Nikita Kozhemyakin, CEO of Smart Systems (part of ISBC Group of Companies), a Russian developer and manufacturer of RFID products. RFID is a radio frequency identification technology that is used, in particular, to control the turnover of textiles in the hospitality industry.

Special tags are embedded in the fabric, allowing you to identify the item: know its location, how many times and for how long it was used, whether it needs to be replaced and sent to the laundry, and what the inventory levels are.

 Additionally, the use of tags helps reduce the number of textile items stolen by hotel guests or lost by staff, improving the economic efficiency of the business.

Radio frequency tags have proven to be an excellent tool, for example, in the global fashion and retail industries, as a means of protecting against counterfeiting, managing the flow of goods, and replacing barcodes and other traditional labels. During the case study session, we discussed the potential for widespread adoption of this smart service by hoteliers, restaurateurs, and companies operating in the passenger transportation, sports, and spa industries.

While top-tier representatives of the HoReCa sector in Russia have been adopting this foreign technology for some time, it is too early to speak of its widespread adoption. Many people are afraid of some technical complexity, but this is more of a lack of personal experience with RFID. In practice, it is no more difficult to implement the technology in the production chain than any other smart device. You need a scanner that can search for a labeled object in space, and the object itself with an embedded ergonomic transmitter.

The participants of the case session noted that there are good practices for using RFID in the country that can be replicated. These practices demonstrate the relative simplicity, convenience, and effectiveness of working with RFID tags. Additionally, we already have our own domestic ecosystem for the reproduction, implementation, and development of this technology. It is important to establish a three-way communication between potential customers of smart textiles, textile manufacturers, and labelers.

Experts believe that the collaboration of such different industries will allow each of them to reach a higher technological level.