Heimtextil 2023: trends, developments and innovations in home textiles

ABSTRACT

The 2023 edition of Heimtextil—the world's largest international trade fair for home and contract textiles—was held at the Messe Frankfurt Exhibition Center in Frankfurt, Germany, during January 10-13, 2023. There was a noticeable buzz at the fair, even though economic and political uncertainties continued to affect the textile industry. In particular, businesses were faced with ongoing challenges as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. A key attraction for visitors attending the fair was the Trend Space—an immersive exhibition area which was dedicated to the presentation of design trends in architecture, art, fashion, furniture, interior design and textiles. The overall design theme for the Trend Space was Textiles Matter, which was chosen to encourage visitors to focus on the full life cycle of textiles, starting from the cultivation or manufacture of fibres and continuing through to a product's afterlife. The theme is based on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's principles of a circular economy which outlines two significant material cycles involved in circularity. One of the two cycles is the biological cycle, whereby organic materials are kept in a continuous loop—ie returned to earth—using processes such as composting and biodegradation. The other cycle is the technical cycle, whereby inorganic materials are kept in a continuous loop using processes such as reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling. The theme was presented as a collection of four trends. Two of the trends were inspired by the biological cycle and were named From Earth and Nature Engineered. The other two trends were inspired by the technical cycle and were named Make and Remake, and Continuous. © Textiles Intelligence Limited 2023.