Texworld Paris draws 6.8K visitors; preps for Feb 2024 show

The Texworld Evolution Paris trade fairs, held in July in Hall 1 of the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles, ended on a very positive note. Bringing together more than 1,350 exhibitors from 27 countries, the show was hailed for the breadth of its offering, confirming its position as the largest event in the textile and clothing market. The association with Curve Paris and Interfiliere Paris, lingerie products and accessories fairs (Hall 5, July 2–4), has offered buyers an unprecedentedly broad fashion platform in the heart of the French capital, organiser Messe Frankfurt said in a press release.

The ‘more Parisian than ever’ edition was also noted for its renewed design and the quality of the experience offered to visitors—a new T-Club space redesigned to encourage business exchanges, a revamped scenography at the entrance to the show and in other areas such as the Trend Forum or the Agora, and a concierge service—were all praised by visitors and exhibitors alike.

In terms of visitor attendance, the breakdown by country of the 6,800 visits counted over three days (including 200 from Interfiliere) reflected, once again this year, the anchoring areas of European distribution—France leads the way at 18 per cent of visits ahead of Spain, Italy, the UK, Turkiye, and Germany. In terms of product offerings, this highly international edition confirmed the major balances between the Asian sourcing zones—as demonstrated by the strong Chinese presence, just six months after the reopening of the country, as well as Korean and Taiwanese—Indian and Mediterranean, with, once again this year, a highly visible Turkish offering.

Most of the buyers questioned welcomed the decision to locate the show downtown Paris, which simplified access to a show that was eagerly awaited. In this period of inflation, collection managers tend to redirect their long-term sourcing strategy towards Asia or the Mediterranean region for restocking.

“Texworld is unique in terms of what it has to offer,” said one of the three Spanish buyers from a distribution group who came to Paris together. “In two days, we can build 70–80 per cent of our collections, by mixing fabric choices for creations that will be made in Spain or Portugal, but also finished products, which we will have made in Indonesia according to our specifications.”

This session reveals the changes taking place in a global market that is reorganising itself, and for which the offering must be adapted.

Frederic Bougeard, president of Messe Frankfurt France, explained: “The fashion world is increasingly challenged, with consumers—and therefore buyers—becoming more demanding in terms of price, quality, and durability. We have to do more to attract our visitors and meet their expectations. That’s why we’ve decided to renew our offer, in a new venue with new services, to ‘whet the appetite’ and make the visit more efficient. Eventually, we’ll certainly have to go one step further, and offer our buyers a sharper selection of manufacturers. We are working on this with our partners, and it will be visible at the next edition, from February 5–7 in Hall 7 at Porte de Versailles.”

A growing number of supplier countries present at the show are incorporating sustainability as a central element of their approach, and are moving fast on this issue. This key topic has been highlighted in the aisles by the sustainable sourcing itinerary, which enables visitors to easily identify several hundred certified companies. This year, a number of Pakistani and Taiwanese manufacturers have joined forces to promote these aspects with a highly specialised range of products, such as that of Pakistani company Cresent Bahuman Ltd—present on the Sustainable Pakistan pavilion—which recycles the indigo waste generated by its dyeing processes to dye jeans and T-shirts sold by Pull& Bear (Inditex). Also worth noting is Wynist Retail Solutions, one of the six companies in the Taiwan Eco-Textiles Collective pavilion, which has developed an upcycling process that produces shop displays (found at Uniqlo and Lululemon) from fabric scraps and used clothing.

Once again this year, Messe Frankfurt wanted to shine a spotlight on the sourcing zones emerging on the international scene. The July edition featured the winners of the young South African designers’ competition, organised by Allfashion Sourcing Cape Town, Messe Frankfurt’s sourcing platform for African production. Thando Munkus Ntuli (winner in 2021) and Carla Hanekom (winner in 2022) were able to showcase their creations in a dedicated area near the Agora. The event was organised as a part of the Texpertise—the textile business network, one of whose aims is to promote the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. This time the focus was on empowering women and achieving gender equality. Texpertise comprises around 50 of Messe Frankfurt’s textile-related trade fairs worldwide.

Developed as part of the innovation support policy developed by Messe Frankfurt France, the Avantex Fashion Pitch rewards the best projects in the fashion and textile sector every year. Eight companies were selected to present their projects at the show. The 2023 jury chose to reward the solution proposed by Dutch company Aware, which uses a scanner to determine the exact composition of a garment in order to facilitate its recycling.

A special prize was awarded to Refact by Induo, whose solution enables the development on an industrial scale of a process for recycling all types of textiles and producing a new viscose fibre with very low ecological impact. The 2023 jury was made up of Corinne Begaud, head of HEC’s Challenge+ programme; Christian Martin, founder of the Fashion Tech Lab and a specialist in augmented reality; and Frederique Thureau, partner and leader of the TCBL textile network.

Organised by Avantex Paris, the international trade fair for innovation in advanced and sustainable fashion, the event gives fashion and textile start-ups international exposure to investors, professionals, and the media. CDamslab, De Rigueur, HYPUnderwear, NIL Textile, Redivivum, Terra Ferra and Thesara were finalists in the 2023 Avantex Fashion Pitch.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)