From the Sector

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, in partnership with International Filtration News, has announced the finalists for the FiltXPO™ 2026 Innovation Awards. The awards recognize innovative new products introduced to the filtration industry since the last FiltXPO event in 2025.

The FiltXPO Innovation Awards celebrate advancements in filtration technology for air and gas and water and liquid applications. Entries are evaluated on creativity, novelty of approach, uniqueness and technical sophistication.

The winners will be announced during FiltXPO 2026, the premier global event for the filtration industry, Oct. 28-29 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis.

The FiltXPO 2026 Innovation Award finalists are: 

FiltXPO Innovation in Air/Gas Filtration Award 

• Hifyber: CombiNano
• Leanfil Oy: Leanfil®
• Solberg Manufacturing, Inc.: Fully Automated Liquid Management System

 FiltXPO Innovation in Water/Liquid Filtration Award 

• Acuriant Technologies Inc.: CUF Flow - More Water, Same Footprint
• Ahlstrom: Ahlstrom OptiPad™
• Gessner, a Mativ Brand: GESSNER PFAS Filter Media

Voting for the winner in each category is open on the International Filtration News website. Winners will be announced Oct. 28 at FiltXPO 2026.

Hamburg Textile Week will present 14 projects from Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden from 1 to 11 October 2026 under the theme “Stoffe mit Zukunft” – Fabrics with a Future. The program focuses on new materials, processes and technologies, including textile energy systems, bio-based materials and interactive fabrics.

Projects range from SkySails kites that generate electricity from high-altitude wind and revoltech’s hemp-residue-based LOVR material to “Talking Textiles,” which translates touch into sound in real time. A Stühmer|Scholz exoskeleton uses textile components as the interface between body and technology. Other exhibits include a curtain woven with thin-film solar cells and work on bio-based dyeing.

Design Zentrum Hamburg is joined by the FABRIC – Future Fashion Lab for talks and workshops, with HAW Hamburg, AMD Akademie Mode & Design, Made auf Veddel and Greenpeace also participating. The format brings research, design, production and circular-design questions into one city-wide textile program.

The eleventh edition of Hong Kong fashion event CENTRESTAGE closed with a new attendance record. According to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the four-day fair attracted more than 12,000 trade buyers from 93 countries and regions. Buyer numbers from Vietnam, Russia, the United States and Malaysia showed notable growth, providing a current indicator of Hong Kong’s reach as a fashion and sourcing platform.

The attendance figures also need to be read in the context of the event format. CENTRESTAGE formed part of Hong Kong Fashion Fest and combined design presentations, brand showcases, runway programmes and commercial meetings. Other lifestyle events ran concurrently. CENTRESTAGE and Salon de Time were also opened to the public free of charge, together recording more than 20,000 public attendances.

For manufacturers, brands and sourcing teams, the buyer composition is more informative than the public visitor count. Buyers from 93 markets point to a broad international sourcing base. Growth from Vietnam and Malaysia also reflects Southeast Asia’s increasing importance as a consumer, production and sourcing region. Higher buyer numbers from the US are noteworthy against the backdrop of changing trade and sourcing configurations.

The figures are organiser data and should therefore be treated as event metrics rather than independent market statistics. Even so, they are useful for industry monitoring. They suggest that physical B2B platforms continue to matter alongside digital sourcing tools when brands, designers, suppliers and international buyers need to establish new relationships and reassess regional production networks.