Heimtextil has reported a successful start to the new furnishing season, welcoming around 70,000 visitors from 135 countries, who came to Frankfurt this month to witness design innovations by 2,975 international exhibitors. Urban design in the context of architecture and the hotel industry became the top topic of the international trade fair for home and contract textiles.

“With growth on both the visitor and exhibitor side, Heimtextil has convinced across the board and underpinned its unique position as a world-leading trade fair,” said Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt. Around 70,000 visitors, including representatives from the retail and wholesale trade, interior decorators, design, architecture and interior design, the hotel industry and industry, benefited from the fair’s unique range of products and inspiration.

New concept 2019

Based on discussions with exhibitors and visitor surveys, Messe Frankfurt has developed a new Heimtextil concept for 2019. “From the perspective of buyers in particular, we are repositioning Heimtextil 2019 and grouping themes and product groups according to target groups. In this way, synergies can be better recognised and exploited,” explained Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt.

In addition, the demand for stand space on the exhibitor side has grown sharply in some product groups in recent years. The opportunity to optimise the concept is not least due to major construction measures currently being implemented at the Messe Frankfurt exhibition site: the new hall 12 will be erected on the western side of the site and will be available to Heimtextil for the first time in 2019. Further structural measures are to follow around halls 5 and 6.

Growing offer

For the eighth time in a row, the trade fair increased the number of participating companies; these now total 2,975 international exhibitors. In addition to global market leaders and industry leaders, Heimtextil also provided an international platform for more than 50 young designers and start-ups with its newcomer programme New & Next.

One of the focal points of the trade fair was contract furnishing and the associated focus on the target group of architects and property planners. “For us it was a fantastic trade fair première,” said Tom Puukko, owner of the wallpaper manufacturer Feathr from Finland. “We were able to generate new and excellent contacts from all parts of the world. A special highlight for us was a group of architects who stopped by our stand, enabling us to present our products to them.”

Architecture meets textile design

With a high-calibre programme of lectures, topic-specific guided tours and an exposed presentation area, namely the new Interior.Architecture.Hospitality Expo, Heimtextil expanded its commitment to textile contract furnishing. Numerous architects and interior designers, hoteliers and furnishers took advantage of the diverse information and networking opportunities.

In the immediate vicinity of the new area, carpet suppliers were able to present themselves as part of a joint presentation by the Association of German Home Textiles Manufacturers (Heimtex) entitled Carpet by Heimtex.

Urbanisation is a major trend topic

With the Theme Park trend area, Heimtextil gave an outlook on the design and furnishing trends of the future. Under the title The Future is urban, international design experts visualised the megatrend of urbanisation. Based on the statement that more than half of the world's population already lives in major cities, the area not only showcased the colour and material trends of the coming season, but above all real future prospects in the field of textile interior design.

The London-based studio FranklinTill directed the showcase in hall 6.0 and received great acclaim for a trend presentation that was both progressive as well as tangible and clear. Based on the motto of the Theme Park, the Trendspot Retail offered an exciting retail experience and showed how the use of colours in shops, as well as within our own four walls, can have a positive impact on human well-being.

Finished goods on the upswing

Around 1,500 suppliers of finished products from the home textiles sector showed off their best side with a range of topics and areas of application, whether relating to sustainability, healthy sleep or international design.

In the home textiles segment, Heimtextil offered the world's largest range of bed linen. Cristina Machado, manager at Inspiration Time - Indústria Têxtil drew a positive conclusion: “Our stand was very well received. We had planned appointments every day, but there was a huge boom on the second day in particular.”

Green Village

In the Green Village, exhibitors and visitors to Heimtextil were able to find out more about environmentally and socially responsible textiles and get in touch with seal awarders and certifiers. At the same time, the Green Village was the starting point for the Green Tours, i.e. tours of selected exhibitors for sustainable textiles.

The varied lecture programme in the Green Village offered insights into current topics and developments in the green segment. On the Thursday of the trade fair, the lectures covered the hotel industry with a focus on sleep. In this context, sleep coach Nick Littlehales, who advises athletes such as football star Cristiano Ronaldo on sleep strategies for maintaining and improving performance, gave a lecture. He drew the listeners into the world of top athletes, how they sleep, what sleep performance is and how each of them achieves the best results when it comes to sleeping and beds.

The next Heimtextil, international trade fair for home and contract textiles, will be held in Frankfurt am Main from 8-11 January 2019.

www.heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com