Heimtextil 2023 ended with a strong showing as 44,000 buyers participated in the global market for home and contract textiles.
According to the international trade fair, the top 10 exhibiting countries were China, India, Turkey, Pakistan, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Great Britain. The top visitor countries included Germany, Italy, Turkey, the United States, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Pakistan, India and Greece.
“Heimtextil made a powerful return to January and set all the signs for success as a barometer for the trade fair business year – with an outstanding degree of internationalization of 129 participating nations,” said Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt.
Compared to 2020, the fair achieved an increase in the degree of internationalization – in terms of exhibitors to 94 percent and in terms of visitors to 82 percent. There was growth on the exhibitor side compared to the pre-pandemic edition from Turkey and Pakistan. In 2023, there were also more buyers from Italy, Turkey, Spain and especially Greece.
“We had a fantastic Heimtextil with many new and old contacts. We will continue to participate in Heimtextil in the future. Our customers include major European brands, but we also had visitors from the USA, Japan, South Africa and South America at our booth. Our main customers include IKEA, H&M and Jysk, among others. Our most important message is sustainability. We have received many awards for this, for example, we were named the world’s most sustainable company by UN Habitat this year. Even our stand construction is completely sustainable,” says Shafiqul Alam Selim, Managing Director Karupannya Rangpur Ltd. from Bangladesh.
According to representative surveys, 80 percent of exhibitors had already achieved their trade show goals by the third day. Satisfaction with visitor quality was also very high: 72 percent of visitors were top decision-makers.
In addition to the diverse range of high-quality volume business from Asian exhibitor nations, the focus was also on European design and retail volumes – a mix that resulted in particularly high visitor satisfaction: 92 percent of buyers achieved their trade show goals.
The opportunity for personal exchange, inspiration and more know-how was offered by an extensive and multifaceted supporting program. This included guided tours at the trade show, high-profile lectures, events and special themed areas.
It was not only the “Trend Space” in Hall 9.0 with the integrated “Future Materials Library” and the material innovations for the interior sector shown there which was impressive. In the lead of the conception of this year’s Heimtextil Trends “Textiles Matter” was the British future agency FranklinTill with co-founder Caroline Till, member of the Heimtextil Trend Council.
With trade fair visitors’ significantly increased demand for sustainable products and solutions, the need for more transparency is also growing. This was evident, for example, in the Green Village in Hall 12.0, where interested visitors met label providers, certifiers and companies that have made an integral commitment to sustainability.
In the Green Lectures on the stage of the Green Village, certifiers, industry experts and NGOs spoke about solutions, best practices and challenges around sustainability in the contract business. The Green Tours led interested trade visitors to selected exhibitors and their sustainable product solutions.
Interior designers and architects experienced curated innovative exhibitor materials at the Interior.Architecture.Hospitality LIBRARY. In guided tours, the curators of the LIBRARY explained to the international hospitality experts the properties of the textiles such as “flame-retardant”, “sound-absorbing”, “light-resistant”, “antimicrobial” and “water-repellent”.
The Interior.Architecture.Hospitality DIRECTORY gave visitors an optimal overview of the numerous international exhibitors with solutions for the contract sector and allowed them to target them.
“Heimtextil 2023 was a complete success for us. Especially the quality of the visitors convinced us and we were able to meet many potential new customers. We offer a sustainable product collection with our outdoor fabrics and are pleased to present these at this year’s Heimtextil, where sustainability is emphasized,” said Antonio Romera, Area Manager BLISS by Citel, from Spain.
In the new area for fibers and yarns, Heimtextil also met the growing demand for textile materials for preliminary stages. For the first time, visitors found a global range of fibers and yarns for decorative and upholstery fabrics compactly arranged in Hall 4.0. This was supplemented by exhibitors with outdoor fabrics as well as imitation leather.
“We are delighted to exhibit our products here as Reliance Industries and Heimtextil both have the common key focus area of sustainability and circularity. We are overwhelmed to receive an extraordinary response to the launch of HEXaREL – Graphane enhanced Fiberfill – specially designed to enhance high altitude performance, at Heimtextil. It has been a wonderful experience to showcase our products and be the part of world’s leading sustainable textile companies. The Heimtextil exhibition is the perfect place to witness the latest trends in the textile industry products and materials“, says Rakesh Bali, Sr. Vice President – Head Marketing at Reliance Industries Limited from India.
For the bedding trade and retailers, Heimtextil 2023 offered an extended supporting program. In addition to the established Heimtextil Conference “Sleep & More”, Sleep Tours were offered for the first time and were very well received. Sleep coach and preventologist Markus Kamps guided interested visitors to selected exhibitors and provided insights into the topic of “healthy sleep”.
“Heimtextil is strategically crucial for us. This is where we present our new products and meet our important international customers, decision-makers and interested visitors. We will be back at Heimtextil as an exhibitor in 2024”, says Petra Schweigert, Managing Director of OBB Oberbadische Bettfedernfabrik GmbH from Germany.