The Trendsetter

Trends have been a major focus at Heimtextil for many years. Well in advance of the event, six leading trend agencies from all over the world will be pooling their expertise with the aim of offering reliable statements about current and coming trends. Like all successful concepts, the presentation of trends at Heimtextil is subject to a natural process of change. Thus the original trend show has since evolved into the Theme Park. First established in Hall 4 in 2015, it expanded the presentation of new textiles by including a veritable world of experience in the field of new furnishing trends. The concept was so well received that the trade fair organisers decided to move the Theme Park to a new hall area for the upcoming show in 2016.

In addition to actual new developments in textiles, featuring contemporary décors, colours and materials, the presentation will focus on trends in sectors of relevance to the industry, such as the retail and hospitality trades as well as everyday life. ‘We plan to present these trends prominently in various different pavilions in 2016 as well. We will have a truly vast expanse of space in which all trend concepts can be realised and conveyed to visitors in a variety of ways,’ notes Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles and Textile Technologies at the Messe Frankfurt, with evident pleasure.

‘Our visitors have quickly realised that trend themes are presented in concrete form at the trade fair. Exhibitors are informed about them in advance in the Heimtextil-Trendbuch. The information provided in this publication is of crucial importance, as it serves exhibitors as an aid to orientation and enables them to adapt their products accordingly,’ explains Schmidt. Announcing a new trend every year is really an impressive feat. It is accomplished within a timeframe that offers producers sufficient lead times. In any given year, manufacturers receive the relevant information in the new Trendbuch in advance in July and can exhibit their textiles in the halls representing the various trends the very next year. Beginning at mid-year, producers make necessary changes and additions to their production plans, put together their collections and present them in keeping with the announced trends. Visitors then discover products that embody variations on the trends featured in the Theme Park.

Trend products and innovations are the primary focus for most exhibitors, who also present their complete current product portfolios. At the same time, the most prominent producers also have trend ideas, visions and experience of their own, which they incorporate into their products. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain the incredible variety of offerings presented. ‘Each producer interprets the current trend a bit differently. That results in diversity; yet visitors recognise a continuous thread that starts in the Theme Park and runs through the entire trade fair. It’s not only about colour and design, but relates to numerous other aspects as well, such as material, tactile qualities, functionality, production methods, economic efficiency and sustainability’, says Schmidt.

The keynote theme for 2016 is ‘Well-Being 4.0’. That has to do with well-being in our networked world, with sectors of relevance to the industry and with the roles played by technology and smart digital solutions. After taking part in a series of intense rounds of discussion and information exchange, the six trend agencies engaged for Heimtextil 2016 (WGSN Group, USA/Dan Project, Japan/Carlin International, Exalis, France/Felix Diener, Germany/Franklin Till, Great Britain/Stijlinstituut, Netherlands) have defined the trends for the coming season.

WGSN, the lead agency, is responsible for producing the Trendbuch and developing the concept for the Theme Park. The committee representing the agency group made a public appearance in September, introduced the book and presented the previously identified trends. In the process, the agencies developed forecasts that will apply to a wide range of different markets on nearly all continents. ‘Identifying international trends and making forecasts that will stand the test of time and can also be presented in understandable terms in the Theme Park is a major challenge’, notes Schmidt, adding: ‘These trends will be expressed and realised differently in every country and by every producer, of course, but that is reflected in the trend statements, which are very comprehensive. Our aim is to show our customers what is happening now and above all what they can expect in future. Our trend table does not draft recommendations for action, but it does offer key insights in support of reorientation.’

Visitors confirm that they have already registered certain trends as vague mood shifts, although they could not have defined them quite so accurately. Consequently, producers as well as planners and dealers appreciate these forecasts. Everything that is already happening beneath the surface in the market is concentrated in the Theme Park. Thanks to the trade fair, these currents will become interpretable – and perhaps even perceptible for the first time – for a large segment of the public.

What is being created in Frankfurt is not merely a peripheral or potential future trend, but rather a reliable trend statement that has been correctly distilled and focused by experts in the field. For the planer, who after all has ideas of his own, the Theme Park is above all a valuable indicator of what is possible and probable both now and in the near future. The question, then, is ‘What’s out there?’, not ‘How should I do it?’.