Germany: More exhibitors and visitors contribute to a successful Heimtextil

Event & Conferences

Germany: More exhibitors and visitors contribute to a successful Heimtextil

With an increase of around three percent in the number of visitors, Heimtextil 2015 in Frankfurt am Main once again ensured the new furnishing season got off to a successful start. A good 68,000 trade visitors (2014*: 66,265) were pleased with the high quality of the products and designs, and kept exhibitors busy throughout the fair. The 2,759 exhibitors from 68 countries (2014: 2,714 from 62 countries) were no less delighted with the orders placed by buyers. The further increase in the level of internationality – from 87% to 88% on the exhibitor side and from 67% to 68% on the visitor side – also ranks as a success factor for the trade fair.

“This has been the most successful Heimtextil for many years and means we have not only extended our lead as the world’s most important event for home and contract textiles but can also confirm the positive outlook for the economic climate. The significant increase in the number of affluent buyers once again demonstrates the high power of attraction exercised by our exhibitors and their products”, said a delighted Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt.

Martin Auerbach, Director of the Association of the German Home Textile Industry (Verband der Deutschen Heimtextilien-Industrie), confirmed that, “As the world’s biggest meeting place for the sector, Heimtextil is for us the most important indicator for the latest subjects, challenges and opinions in the worldwide market for home textiles. At the fair, the German home-textile industry gave a clear demonstration of the flexibility, energy and creativity with which it is reacting to the massive changes and challenges in the international market. At the same time, our discussions with buyers, designers, artisans and retailers from all around the globe were once again an incentive and a source of inspiration.”

High level of satisfaction among international exhibitors

Ninety-five percent of all visitors achieved their goals for the fair (an increase of 2% compared to 2014), which underscores the high standard of the companies exhibiting at Heimtextil. Confirming this, Alessandra Ferretti, Export Manager of Jannelli & Volpi, Italy, said, “It was a wonderful fair. The visitors included all the right people and we registered more definitive business contacts than anywhere else. The echo from all parts of the world has been fantastic, especially to our new Armani collection.”

Ann Thomson-Krol of the UK Fashion & Textile Association, which took part in Heimtextil with 86 British companies, said, “All were very pleased with the fair. Great Britain concentrates on creative and technical aspects of the industry and primarily presented decorative and upholstery fabrics. Heimtextil is the world’s leading trade fair for the sector, which means a big national pavilion is important for our association. The visitor standard and the purchasing power were fantastic. It is also apparent that the type of visitor is changing – away from individual visitors to groups of visitors. Our target regions continue to be the USA, Europe and Japan. This year, more Japanese visitors came to our exhibition stand to see our designs. The first day was particularly good in terms of designers. Naturally, Great Britain will be back again in 2016 with, perhaps, even more exhibition space.”

There were particularly large increases in the number of European visitors from Great Britain, Italy and Spain. From the Arabian Peninsula, more visitors came from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. An increased number of visitors also made their way to Frankfurt from overseas nations, such as Japan and the USA. As expected, there was a decline in the visitor numbers from the Ukraine and Russia.

New ‘Theme Park’ trend area a great attraction

The new Heimtextil ‘Theme Park’ proved to be a popular highlight. “A clear and good trend show”, said Soizic Gilibert, proprietor and designer of Cosmic Zoo design studio from France. “I was able to gain valuable inspiration from the installations. Particularly interesting for me were the ethnic themes and the wide range of exhibitor fabrics.” In addition to the main parts, such as the ‘Material Gallery’ and the ‘Colour Pavilion’, particular interest was shown in the themed installations, such as the seven-metre high foot spa for the ‘hospitality’ segment and a 3D printer for making carpets in the ‘Technology Lab’. Virtual-reality glasses for the retail sector also offered new perspectives by showing ways in which retailers can present textiles virtually and thus create a symbiosis between online and offline sales.

Buyers had the opportunity to look through a selection of 1,500 innovative fabrics that were spread around the entire ‘Theme Park’.”

Wallpaper a trend theme

A satisfied Philippe Desart, CEO of Arte NV, said, “It was good to be at Heimtextil 2015 because it is an important place to ‘meet and greet’ the wallpaper sector.” There, visitors encountered an incomparable selection of creative, innovative and exclusive products from the ‘wall’ segment. Customers have long since recognised that wallpaper is a very effective way of changing the whole atmosphere of a room for relatively little effort. Thus, the popularity of wallpaper is on an unstoppable upward curve.”

Design Live – the biggest platform for textile design

Around 200 international studios presented their latest ideas at ‘Design Live’. Said Shohreh, proprietor and designer of Shohreh Textildesign, “The concept for this hall is right. My new designs are primarily graphic, floral and structural, and they were well received. This year, there were fewer customers from Russia. Most came from Japan, China, the USA, Great Britain, the Benelux countries and Germany.”

Alistair Boyd, proprietor and designer of the eponymous label was also very pleased with the high level of international interest, “Customers from department stores from South America, New York and San Francisco were interested in my hand-crafted designs. There were also visitors from Asia. I have been exhibiting at Heimtextil for several years. Indeed, I only exhibit at this fair because customers from all over the world come to Frankfurt for Heimtextil.”

‘New & Next’ – fresh design ideas for the bed, bathroom and table

Start-ups and young designers presented product ideas by the coming generation of designers in the ‘New & Next’ area of Heimtextil 2015. Some companies are also using sustainable methods of production. “I am very pleased to have been able to show my work in the ‘New & Next’ area”, said Kirsten Wiegand of ‘Pude – sustainable home textiles’. “My products are sustainable from A to Z, from the production to the packaging. I think it’s very good that the Heimtextil fair provides facilities and orientation aids on this subject.”

Digital printing – efficient, flexible, sustainable and future-oriented

The boom in the digital-printing segment continues unabated with the quota for digital textile printing expected to rise to 5% by 2017. Key players such as Epson Europe and Hewlett Packard, participated in this segment.

Digital printing still has an enormous potential and – thanks to its contribution to more sustainable production through faster printing processes, significantly better colour fastness, resource-friendly technology, dyes with eco-quality labels, e.g., GOTS – it is still in the early stages of market expansion.

Heimtextil to begin a day earlier from 2016

Next year’s Heimtextil will begin and end a day earlier, on the Tuesday and Friday respectively. With this change, the Heimtextil management is complying with the wishes of many exhibitors and visitors. “For the retail trade, Saturday is an important sales day. In this age of increasing online shopping, it is important that bricks-and-mortar trade retailers can offer their customers first-class products and services. And, generally speaking, the most important day for this is Saturday”, explained Detlef Braun.

The next Heimtextil in Frankfurt am Main will take place from Tuesday, 12 January, to Friday, 15 January 2016.