New Sensitivity: Heimtextil Trends 24/25 focus on textile transformation

Under the new theme “New Sensitivity”, textile transformation is the focus of Heimtextil Trends 24/25. Three approaches show ways to a more sensitive world of textiles: the plant-based production of textiles, the support of textile cycles by technology and the bioengineered use of natural ingredients. In addition, Future Materials curates regenerative materials and designs.

Progressive theme setting and spectacular stagings for all textile professionals who want to constantly expand their knowledge: This is what the Heimtextil Trends stand for. After last year’s focus on circular solutions, Heimtextil Trends 24/25 will once again shed light on transformative textile innovations: “At the upcoming event, Heimtextil Trends will again show ways in which the transformation of the home textiles industry is continuing. They thus form the inspirational heart of our trade fair and translate global megatrends into textile visions,” says Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies.

Plant-based: textiles made from plant crops or plant by-products

Plant-based textiles mean that the fibres are derived from something that grows rather than being synthetically produced. The sustainable advantage of plant-based textiles is that their origin is natural and, therefore, more able to recirculate in existing ecosystems. They can be divided into two groups. The first group of textiles are made from plant crops. New resilient crops like cactus, hemp, abaca, seaweed, and rubber offer new sustainable textile solutions. Because of mechanical extraction, they can grow despite climate changes and require fewer chemicals in their development. The second group consists of textiles made of plant by-products which are leftover raw materials from production such as banana, olive, persimmon and hemp.

Technological: technology and technical solutions transforming textiles

Technology can support the transformation of textiles through the use of different methods: upcycling and recycling of textiles, textile construction, and textile design. Due to decades of production, textiles are now a material available in abundance. Developing technologies for recycling textile waste and methods for upcycling textiles increases the circular usage of existing textiles. Furthermore, old textile construction techniques also offer pathways to sustainable solutions: For instance, using knitting technology for furniture upholstery produces less fabric waste; alternatively, weaving technique allows the creation of several colours using only a few coloured yarns. Textile Design Thinking is another method that addresses critical issues such as energy usage and durability of natural fibres and enhances these through technological textile advancement.

Bio-engineered: engineered to enhance bio-degrading

To a certain degree, bio-engineered textiles represent a fusion of plant-based and technological textiles. Bio-engineering bridges nature and technology and transforms the way textiles are made. They can be divided into two directions: fully bio-engineered and bio-degradable textiles. In the production of fully bio-engineered textiles nature-inspired strategies are adopted. Instead of growing plants and extracting their fibres, textiles are made from the protein, carbohydrates, or bacteria in corn, grass, and cane sugar. Manufacturing involves a bio-molecular process that creates filaments which are made into yarn. The sustainable advantage of bio-engineered textiles is that they can have some of the same functionalities as synthetically produced textiles, while still being biodegradable because of their natural origin. Biodegradable fibres can be added to conventional textiles like polyester to enhance the conventional textiles’ ability to revert to materials found in nature and hence biodegrade in natural environments such as water or soil. Although not biodegrading completely, these bio-enhanced textiles will biodegrade up to 93 % compared to conventional textiles.