Heimtextil 2014: significant increase in exhibitor numbers and more visitors

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With further growth in the number of exhibitors and more visitors, Heimtextil provided a successful start to the new furnishing season. From 8 to 11 January 2014, almost 67 000 trade visitors (2013: 65,835) from 133 countries saw the latest products of the 2,718 international exhibitors from 61 nations (2013: 2,616). "In addition to the excellent statistics, the quality and enormous spectrum of products underscore the unique position of Heimtextil as the world's leading trade fair for home and contract textiles", says Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt, summing up the results of the event.

Once again, the results of the fair were rated very highly on both the visitor and exhibitor sides. 94 percent of visitors (2013: 94 percent) said they had achieved their goals for the fair, which confirms the high standard of Heimtextil exhibitors. In turn, the bulk of exhibitors were very pleased with the visitor quality – 79 percent reported that they had achieved their targets for the fair (2013: 78 percent). The economic recovery in the last quarter of 2013 was also reflected by the market-research results: 78 percent of exhibitors (2013: 69 percent) and 81 percent of visitors (2013: 79 percent) said the current economic situation in the sector was satisfactory to good.

The high degree of internationality continues to be one of the key features of Heimtextil: just over 66 percent of visitors (2013: 66 percent) and 88 percent of exhibitors (2013: 88 percent) came from outside Germany with particular growth being noted from Scandinavia, East Europe, South America and South Korea. The biggest visitor nations after Germany were Italy, Turkey, China, Great Britain, the USA, France, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands.

Whether playful interactivity, scientific depth, contemplative calm or a textile labyrinth: the Heimtextil Trend Show in Forum 0 held visitors enthralled with its spectrum of textile impressions and was the undoubted highlight of the fair. The Trendtable of six renowned design studios compacted the trends for 2014/2015 into two antithetic blocks: 'Progress!' and 'Revive!' with four sub-themes entitled 'Generate Collision!', 'Engineer Nature!', 'Exalt Purity!' and 'Rejuvenate Craft!'.

In the home-textile sector, Heimtextil was once again able to underscore its position as the leading event for the wall-covering segment. Exhibitors of high-grade wall coverings in Hall 3.1 were extremely pleased with their results and the course of business at the fair.

Among the trend colours that emerged in the sphere of household textiles this year were lively shades of green and natural tones with repeating patterns and clear accents. Traditional colours and designs combined with modern printing and weaving techniques also represented a source of completely new textile creations. In opposition to this, the dominant trend was towards intensive, loud colours with sensational patterns and lively details.

In Halls 8, 9 and 11, Heimtextil also put the spotlight on young companies with 'New&Next'. Eleven start-ups presented their refreshing and innovative textile development to an international audience of trade visitors.

Digital textile printing proved to be a milestone in the development of textiles and a major trend at Heimtextil.

Also in Hall 4.2, around 200 exhibitors presented their creations at ‘Design live’, which began a day before the official opening of the fair and was able to consolidate its position as the biggest international platform for textile design.

Revolving around an important, future-oriented subject, the ‘Upcycling’ special show in Hall 4.2 was characterised by original ideas and high-grade products made of article remainders, and aroused great interest. With the ‘Young Creations Award: Upcycling’, Heimtextil in Frankfurt am Main presented for the second time an award for young people focusing on the principle of sustainability. The subject proved very popular in 2014 with 42 projects being submitted (2013: 12) after the competition had been opened to four instead of two universities as in the first year. First prize worth € 1,500 Euro went to Jacqueline Theuer for her ‘un Tragbar’ project, a chair made of colourful textile scraps held together by a tension belt, which will also be exhibited at the Berlin Fashion Week in July. In the future, Heimtextil plans to expand the competition to include international universities and thus offer more space to this increasingly important subject.

The online trade and marketing are currently one of the most hotly discussed subjects in the sector. Especially for retailers and newcomers to the world of e-commerce, Heimtextil held the two-day ‘Webchance Academy’ on successful internet advertising and sales on 8 and 10 January. The presentations on best-practice examples and legal obstacles in e-commerce proved to be particularly popular among visitors and triggered some lively discussions. The ‘Webchance Academy’ was part of ‘Lecture Square’, a high-grade programme of expert lectures on subjects of importance to the sector, such as Hotel IT and sustainability.

Heimtextil also offered a broad spectrum of textile products especially for the contract business under the heading ‘Contract Creations’. The range of facilities for architects, room planners, interior decorators and designers included an expanded programme of lectures at the new ‘Contract Square’ in the foyer of Halls 5.1/6.1. There, well-known architects and furnishing experts reported on subjects of topical interest to players in the contract business. Additionally, many architects took advantage of the chance to gather training points in a special scheme offered by the regional architecture guilds in Germany.

During Heimtextil, ‘AIT’ and ‘xia IntelligenteArchitektur’ architecture magazines presented the 11th ‘Architektur+ Textil Objekt’ Innovation Award for innovative products from the home textile, contract business and interior solutions segments. Trade visitors had the chance to see the seven award-winning products in a special exhibition.

Ten years after making its debut, the ‘Heimtextil goes City’ campaign for consumers in downtown Frankfurt continues to be very popular. Under the motto ‘Saturday is Trend Day’, 22 interior decorators, bed dealers, book shops and galleries presented new products from the trade fair.

The next Heimtextil in Frankfurt am Main will be held from 14 to 17 January 2015.

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