From the Sector

Under the banner “Texpertise Focus AI”, Messe Frankfurt will place a strong emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI) across its international textile and apparel trade fairs from 2026 onwards, setting a future-shaping signal for the industry. The initiative highlights the responsible use of AI along the entire textile value chain, from fibre production to the point of sale. The programme will launch at Heimtextil in Frankfurt in January 2026.

The textile and apparel industry is undergoing significant transformation: artificial intelligence is reshaping workflows, enabling new business models and offering solutions for sustainability, efficient value chains and the sector’s skills shortage. Commercial market analyses estimate the global market for AI in the textile industry to reach around USD 21 billion by 2033, roughly ten times the 2023 figure. According to Eurostat, 13.5 percent of European industrial companies were already using AI in 2024, including many businesses in the textile sector. Under the communication umbrella “Texpertise Focus AI”, Messe Frankfurt will showcase exhibitor applications and content formats relating to artificial intelligence at its international textile and apparel events from 2026 onwards.
 
Artificial Intelligence as a Key Focus 
From 2026, Texpertise Focus AI will further enhance the visibility and accessibility of AI-related topics at Messe Frankfurt’s textile trade fairs. This includes curated content formats such as panel discussions, guided tours and live demonstrations featuring international industry experts. In addition, many exhibiting companies will present AI-related solutions.
 
The initiative will commence at Heimtextil from 13 to 16 January 2026 in Frankfurt am Main. AI will feature across numerous programme items, searchable online under “Texpertise Focus AI”. On Wednesday, 14 January at 3 p.m., internationally renowned thought leader in AI for design, Tim Fu, will join the Architonic Live Talk. Under the title “Woven intelligence: designing spaces in the era of AI”, Fu will discuss how artificial intelligence can support meaningful collaboration between architecture and interior design to create spaces that connect craft with computational technology. Messe Frankfurt will roll out the initiative across its textile trade fairs worldwide. Local characteristics and market-specific challenges will be integrated into the concept to ensure relevance.

Artificial Potential for the Value Chain, Sustainability and Workforce Development 
AI is transforming the textile value chain from fibre production to the point of sale and offers potential for greater efficiency, higher quality and improved resilience. In raw-material sourcing, AI systems support cultivation, harvesting and recycling through intelligent analytics and sorting technologies. In design and development, AI tools accelerate creative processes and simulate material properties, a concept reflected, for example, in the immersive installation “among all” by Patricia Urquiola at Heimtextil 2026. Production and logistics processes can also be optimised, waste reduced and supply chains made more transparent.
 
Artificial intelligence is also driving the twin transformation – the convergence of digitalisation and sustainability. Around 116 million tonnes of textile fibres are produced annually worldwide, yet only one percent of post-consumer textile waste is recycled[3]. With AI, companies can conserve resources and reduce waste. AI-based design and forecasting models help prevent overproduction, while life-cycle analyses enable environmentally conscious sourcing. Image-recognition systems sort used textiles, laying the foundation for a true circular economy. The entire spectrum of textile processing technologies will be showcased at Texprocess from 21 to 24 April 2026 in Frankfurt am Main.
 
In the workplace, AI is creating new job profiles and reshaping existing ones, in areas such as data analytics, digital design and process control. It also has the potential to ease labour shortages: according to the German Institute of Textile Technology (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University, up to 70 percent of standardised production tasks could be automated. AI can also support recruitment by enabling targeted identification and selection of qualified professionals.

Deren and Dibella are joining forces and have agreed to a partnership for the French market. Through this strategic collaboration, both companies combine their strengths: Dibella’s expertise in high-quality, durable, and sustainably produced textiles, and Deren’s market knowledge and trusted customer relationships across France. 

Together, Deren and Dibella will offer French customers a comprehensive portfolio of long-lasting, responsibly manufactured textiles alongside excellent service. The alliance cooperation represents an important step in Dibella’s international growth strategy, and reinforces the shared commitment both companies have to providing professionals with sustainable textile solutions that stand for quality, reliability, and responsible business practices. 

Deren and Dibella look forward to a successful collaboration and to jointly shaping a more sustainable future for the French market.

B&B Italia Group, in collaboration with Laflo, opens a new design destination located in the heart of Jakarta’s business district.
 
The setting is a unique villa, which connects indoor living space with extensive outdoor environment through glasshouse and ceiling to floor windows. The store is curated to tell a story of innovation, timeless style and quality, inviting clients to step into an Italian design world where every detail is crafted to inspire. 

The space unfolds through a series of seamless ambiances, each crafted to reflect different moods and lifestyles. Visitors are invited to embark on a pleasant journey, discovering products that resonate with their personal style and design DNA. 

With a net display area of 1,200 square meters, this monobrand store is the largest B&B Italia showroom in the Asia Pacific region, an important result for Indonesia and a testament to the country’s growing appreciation for design excellence. 

The monobrand store features a wide selection of the latest collections from the B&B Italia, B&B Italia Outdoor, Maxalto and Azucena.  

Interior designers are planners, craftspeople, consultants and designers all at once. Many of them work alone or in small teams – under high time pressure, with a clear goal: to design rooms that are harmonious down to the last detail. This makes it all the more important to have offerings that provide guidance, open up new perspectives and support the development of holistic solutions. 

Heimtextil 2026, taking place from 13 to 16 January in Frankfurt, offers a newly structured hall concept that enables targeted comparisons, saves time and provides valuable inspiration for consulting practice. In Halls 3.0, 3.1 and 4.1, interior designers will find all the components they need for well-thought-out room solutions – clearly structured, high-quality staged and practice-orientated presented.

Designing spaces means thinking in holistic contexts – and this is precisely what the new hall structure at Heimtextil is based on. Products are presented according to their use in the room: from wallpaper and window decorations to decorative and upholstery fabrics and floor coverings. This enables interior designers to find suitable combinations more quickly and experience materials in a holistic context. The trade fair tour becomes a real tool for everyday work.

DecoTeam sets impulses for the interior design trade 
A central meeting place for the industry is the DecoTeam in Hall 3.0: Under the motto “Happy up your Home”, leading suppliers such as Alfred Apelt, Erfal, Höpke Möbelstoffe, Infloor-Girloon, Karl F. Buchheister, MHZ Hachtel and Paulig Teppichweberei will be presenting coordinated solutions for holistic interior design. On Wednesday, 14 January 2026, the focus will traditionally be on the interior design trade. On this day, the DecoTeam invites visitors to a varied programme with inspiration from practice and design. The event will kick off with a lecture on “Design to be happy – International Interior Trends” by Corinna Kretschmar-Joehnk, followed by a short AI workshop with Axel Ligowski. He will show how interior designers can implement their creative ideas using digital tools.
 
The adjoining Design Lounge powered by DecoTeam presents an impressive range of brands: Brink & Campmann with the top brands Harlequin, Morris & Co, Ted Baker and Wedgwood Home, as well as Designers Guild with the exclusive brands Christian Lacroix and Ralph Lauren, are showcasing their latest collections here. The diverse range is complemented by renowned exhibitors such as Haro Carpets, Kadeco Sun Protection Systems, Kobe Fabrics, Otto Golze and Somfy. Also represented are Stoeckel & Grimmler with the renowned brands JOOP! Living, Schöner Wohnen and Esprit home, the wallpaper manufacturer Hembus, Theo Keller / Theko – with the brands Sansibar Sylt, Tom Tailor and Natur Pur – Tisca, and Unland with Pierre Cardin. 

The widest variety of decorative and upholstery fabrics
In Halls 3.1 and 4.1, quality is the common thread running through the entire range: leading manufacturers and weaving mills present the world's largest selection of furniture, decorative and upholstery fabrics, as well as genuine and imitation leather. Exhibitors include international brands such as Dickson Constant with Sunbrella (France), Edmund Bell (Great Britain), Manuel Revert and Nova Tapiceria (Spain), Vanelli Tekstil (Turkey) and Vescom Velvets (Netherlands). The Fibres & Yarns range combines the areas of fibre production, weaving and design. Angles Textil (Spain), Filtrading (Italy), Hoftex Färberei (Germany), Ilcat (Italy), Indorama Ventures Fibers (Germany), Korteks Mensucat (Turkey), Tintoria Sala and Torcitura Lei Tsu (Italy) present innovative materials and solutions for the textile value chain. 

106 brands, 16 locations, more than 70 events and around 10,000 registered visitors: interior design days cologne celebrated its premiere from 26 to 29 October 2025. The new, decentralised format brought interior design right into the city and combined brand presentations with inspiring talks, curated tours and a variety of networking highlights. The positive feedback from exhibitors and the public shows: idd cologne became the stage for exclusive interior design concepts in the residential, hospitality and contract business segments and transformed Cologne into a lively meeting point of the interiors community. 

"Urban-only": interior design staged in a new way 
With its "urban-only" concept, idd cologne relied on a new form of brand staging: the creative collections, interior design ideas and design trends were presented at authentic and architecturally special locations throughout the Cologne urban area. 

Central venues were the Design Post Köln – an official Koelnmesse cooperation partner as of this year –, the listed monument Stoff-Pavillon Moeller and the machwerkhaus köln, a centre for design and urban production. The concept was supplemented by numerous showrooms, creative locations, flagship stores and pop-up formats of the local design scene. In total, 106 brands from the premium range joined at 16 locations to form a unique city tour through the diverse world of interiors – from classic living through hospitality to contract solutions. Embedded in the architecture and atmosphere of Cologne, a total experience arose that presented interior design there where people live, work and design. 

Event highlights of the premiere 
The event programme of idd cologne was distinguished by depth of content and a high level of experience quality. In total, the event offered more than 70 events that combined design, architecture and urban life in an inspiring way. The spectrum extended from lectures and panel talks to sociable networking formats – the spirit of idd cologne was tangible throughout the city. 

The Urban Design Walks proved to be real crowd-pullers. The six tours led to central venues of idd cologne and made it possible to directly experience current design trends. In the Architonic Talks, leading minds from architecture and design provided forward-looking insights into themes like longevity, emotional spatial impact, brand identity and material properties. Also a special highlight was the idd cologne Aperitivo in the Stoff-Pavillon Moeller, which promoted an exchange and networking within the design community in a relaxed atmosphere. 

The future of idd cologne 
idd cologne 2025 was an important step in the continuing development of the trade fair portfolio in the furniture and interior design segment of the Cologne location. With the change to the urban format, idd cologne implemented important impulses and wishes of the industry. At the same time, it became evident how dynamic the current market situation is: forms of use, target groups and expectations are changing rapidly and call for flexible trade fair concepts. In a close exchange with the furniture industry, experience values, feedback and perspectives will now be evaluated by partners, exhibitors and visitors. Taking other market and economic situation development factors into account, this provides the foundation for the continuing development of idd cologne in future.  

idd cologne in figures 
A total of 106 premium brands participated in idd cologne 2025 at 16 locations throughout the Cologne urban area. More than 70 individual events took place. According to the figures for registrations, including the last day of the fair, around 10,000 visitors registered for interior design days cologne. 

ALLIED Feather + Down, a global leader in high performance, responsibly sourced, and sustainably processed down, recently secured Okeo-Tex® Standard 100 Certification and bluesign® approval for their ExpeDRY Ultra Dry Down insulation. 

Designed to outperform current chemistry-intensive hydrophobic down treatments and approved for safe use by the textile sustainability authorities at Okeo-Tex and bluesign, ExpeDRY is both cleaner and better performing than standard down treatments in real world situations. It is the result of years of research into how down and moisture interact inside of an insulation chamber. 

After bringing the world’s first hydrophobic down insulation to market, ALLIED learned that these traditional chemistries not only introduce PFAS and other questionable chemistries into the environment, but also lack performance as they tend to slow evaporation and retain moisture inside jackets and sleeping bags. While the down itself stays dry, water droplets can become trapped inside the insulation chamber, slowing dry times and compromising warmth. 

ExpeDRY uses FUZE Technologies’s unique gold micro particles to actively reduce moisture in the entire insulation chamber by slowing the formation of water droplets and speeding evaporation. Gold itself is inert, and with FUZE’s ability to control the size and shape of the particles, there is no concern over nano or cytotoxicity. And due to the minute size of the gold material, the amount needed in a common down jacket equates to roughly two grains of salt. Because of this, ALLIED is able to secure Oeko-Tex standard 100 certification and bluesign approval.

“For decades, there has been a fear of using metals to enhance performance, but this is all based on toxic, outdated, silver, zinc or copper ion release technology,” said Andrew Peterson, CTO of FUZE. “FUZE’s parent company is heavily involved in the biomedical space and its proprietary gold meta material technology aids in targeted pharmaceutical therapeutics and medical device development. By using this pharmaceutical grade material, ExpeDRY addresses all environmental and safety concerns, and we are glad to see the certifications backing this technology.” 

“As material innovation evolves and incorporates new solutions, globally recognized certifications play an increasingly important role in supporting sustainability claims and building trust with product developers and brands,” said Daniel Uretsky, President of ALLIED Feather + Down. “The Okeo-Tex Standard 100 certification and bluesign approval bring credibility to what we already know: ExpeDRY takes down, which is arguably the lowest impact insulation on the market, and elevates it to the highest performing insulation, all with less impact on the material than traditional hydrophobic chemistry.” 

ExpeDRY has been adopted worldwide by ALLIED partner brands and demand has quickly overtaken ALLIED’s own hydrophobic down treatment. Now, brands will have even more reason to adopt it. 

ALLIED will be exhibiting at Performance Days in Munich, Functional Fabric Fair in Portland , and ISPO in Munich.