Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

With 148 participating nations, rising global relevance and a marked increase in visitor quality, Heimtextil 2026 stood for stability and reliability in a volatile market environment. Once again, 3,000 exhibitors from across the globe placed their trust in the industry’s central platform in Frankfurt, presenting current collections, materials and textile solutions for holistic interior design to over 48,000 buyers. Under the motto “Lead the Change”, Heimtextil brought evolving market dynamics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new business opportunities to life. The focus was on progressive design approaches, visionary talents, functional textiles and new hospitality concepts shaping the future of interior design. A tangible sense of confidence and a clear commitment to Heimtextil as a strong industry partner resonated throughout the exhibition halls.

From market shifts and new consumption patterns to concrete design and application contexts, Heimtextil 2026 translated key industry developments into new business opportunities. Through innovative exhibitor presentations, curated special showcases and an even more targeted content programme, the leading trade fair addressed the industry’s growing need for exchange, orientation and strategic insight. As a further market driver, Heimtextil consistently embedded AI into the trade fair experience, demonstrating under the umbrella “Texpertise Focus AI” how AI strengthens competitiveness in practical terms. “Artificial intelligence is already part of economic reality – as a creative partner for design concepts and material visualisations, and as an efficient tool for data migration, day-to-day workflows and personalised customer engagement. Our aim is to make these concrete applications tangible and actionable for the industry,” said Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies. In doing so, Heimtextil 2026 acted as a strong strategic partner for the industry, opening up new business perspectives and encouraging the global textile sector to jointly advance key future topics.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

Generative AI is reshaping the first steps of shopping experience before clicking buy, as per a new global study from the Institute for Business Value (IBM), in collaboration with the National Retail Federation (NRF). From hyper-personalised suggestions to curated inspiration, influence now begins long before a store visit or app tap, moving where brands and retailers compete to an entirely new level.

The study found that while nearly three-quarters of surveyed consumers (72 per cent) still shop in stores, almost half (45 per cent) turn to AI for help during their buying journeys. Shoppers still want to see and touch products, but today's savvy consumers increasingly arrive with a sense of what they're looking for and why. They are using AI to research products (41 per cent), interpret reviews (33 per cent), and hunt for deals (31 per cent).

Generative AI is reshaping early shopping decisions, with 45 per cent of consumers using AI for product research, reviews, and deal-hunting, as per an IBM–NRF study. While stores remain important, AI-driven discovery now guides choices before purchase. Brands must redesign journeys around AI moments, ensure data readiness, and invest in AI skills to stay competitive and build long-term trust.

As AI reshapes consumer decision-making, brands and retailers must redesign shopping journeys around future AI-driven moments, using agents to reduce uncertainty early through research, comparison, and personalised support. Strong data readiness and end-to-end testing are essential to overcome cross-channel challenges. Companies should leverage AI to scale relevance while preserving brand distinctiveness, and invest in AI skills and strategic partnerships to build expertise and deploy AI responsibly.

AI is reshaping where, when, and how decisions are made across every industry. In retail, understanding AI-influenced consumer behaviour will become a defining competitive advantage, separating brands and retailers that shape decisions from those that simply fulfill them.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

There is a clear cultural shift in how consumers use fashion to express identity, manage choice and engage with culture, according to Depop’s 2026 Trends Report, The Edited Self. Building on last year’s The New Fundamentals, the report finds that global pressures, digital overload and accelerated trend cycles are driving a move towards more deliberate and refined personal style.

Across the Depop community, people are choosing clarity over clutter. They are repeating silhouettes, refining core staples and curating wardrobes that reflect lived-in authenticity rather than fast-moving microtrends. At the same time, major global moments in 2026, including the World Cup and the US 250th, draw people back into public life and shape new reasons to gather, dress with presence and signal belonging.

In an environment shaped by decision fatigue, economic tension and constant digital noise, consumers are gravitating towards dependable silhouettes and repeatable staples. Neutral palettes, sharp tailoring, boxy knits and crisp button-downs anchor wardrobes with ease. Across Depop, search interest reflects this shift, with spikes in workwear jackets, peacoats and office shirts. Modern Uniforms is about dressing with conviction and signalling taste through repetition rather than reinvention.

Consumers are dressing with greater intention. Everyday activities are becoming opportunities for small rituals and self-expression, with tailored coats, draped skirts, metallic fabrics and bold accessories elevating even the simplest routines. Search behaviour on Depop shows strong growth across structured blazers, kitten heels and statement jewellery. Confidence and emotional comfort are central to this trend, with users dressing up as a way to feel more present in their day-to-day lives.

Sportswear continues to evolve beyond performance into a new form of playful, soft-edged athleticism. Tennis whites, vintage jerseys, bike shorts and ski layers are styled with silk, tailoring and ballet flats to create looks that balance comfort with aspiration. In a World Cup year, athletic references carry added cultural meaning. Depop data shows significant spikes in interest for vintage Lululemon, upcycled jerseys and ski-inspired pieces, signalling a sustained appetite for reworked and elevated sports staples.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

Baptized Very Middle Ages, the new trend book from Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris outlines the directions that will guide – in a world under pressure – the Spring-Summer 2027 collections. It will be unveiled from February 2 to 4, 2026 at the Paris-Le Bourget Exhibition Center.

This new edition of the Trend Book offers ideas to help creators combine imagination and a desire for renewal while developing the Spring-Summer 2027 collections. It explores a universe often dark, mixing protection, conflict, magic, and augmented identity: a reworked, digital, imagined Middle Ages used as a metaphor for current upheavals.

Four creative Universes to “rearm” imagination

Directed by Louis Gérin and Grégory Lamaud, the artistic directors of Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris, this document is based on the reflections of a collective of stylists, designers, writers, and artists brought together around one question: how do you create in a world that doubts its own ability to imagine? From this question comes a vision made of four narratives showing different points of friction between reality and expectations: a return to primitive function, comforting digital illusions, warrior attitudes in the face of crises, and the constant expansion of the “digital self”.

Rather than a fixed projection, Very Middle Ages offers a sensitive, instinctive (and sometimes unsettling) reading of the Spring-Summer 2027 season. An invitation to rethink clothing as a tool of protection, affirmation, resistance, or transformation, in a world where the borders between real and virtual, natural and artificial, past and future have never been so blurred.

#1 Digital lordship. This first theme elevates the giants of Silicon Valley to the rank of all-powerful overlords. Individuals, voluntary vassals of these contemporary digital empires, give up intimacy and freedom in exchange for an illusory safety. Protection and control: two expectations expressed in a fashion made of layered, highly functional pieces. Symbolic shells of heavy fabrics, textile-like armor (metal-coated finishes), rigid ribbed knits treated in steel gray, charcoal black, with silver holographic accents.

#2 Nuclear sorcery. Although this colored universe brings a form of “reenchantment,” it resembles an aesthetic of illusion. Technology (AI), which threatens to bring a new obscurantism by numbing reasoning, is paradoxically felt as an artificial comfort. The silhouettes here are full of soft deception, protective and velvety materials (iridescent organza, translucent fabrics, foamy knits, light mohair, “second skin” jerseys), in an atmosphere of techno magic, between enveloping cocoon and “digital aura.” The palette moves between spectral purples, carmine red, opaline, and “radioactive” greens.

#3 Speculative crusade. This creative sequence calls on the (human) history of an endless quest for unsatisfied domination. A martial and dark direction built on conflict. The silhouettes are very “armored” – technical, combat-inspired – or made with hybrid materials, visceral textures in an organic and warlike palette: dark reds and browns, textured blacks, military khaki, burnt chrome...

#4 Data inquisition. This final direction explores a society of suspects under surveillance. In this world of constant inquisition, any difference, any eccentricity or nuance is instantly condemned. Personal identities are absorbed and intimacy disappears in favor of the collective. Clothing becomes an interface, a second skin, an extension of the digital self. The garments can be adjusted with interchangeable modules. All of this in an icy blue, algorithmic aesthetic.

Words to discover in February

These four themes are enriched with moodboards and color palettes built around three “star colors” followed by six shades. Each theme, imagined as a design capsule or creative direction, will be showcased at the fair in the area dedicated to trend forums in Hall 2. This immersive setup will allow visitors to discover the looks created by the artistic directors using materials and finished products selected for each world based on strong sensory intentions. Louis Gerin will also present the full details of this work during a dedicated conference to give creators solid creative perspectives for imagining the Spring-Summer 2027 fashion season.
 

Source: www.fibre2fashion.com

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), which owns and organises the fashion calendar for New York Fashion Week (NYFW), has announced that it will no longer promote animal fur at any Official NYFW Schedule events, including on its fashion calendar, social media channel and website. As a continuation of past programme collaboration, the announcement follows years of engagement with Humane World for Animals and Collective Fashion Justice.

Beginning with September 2026 New York Fashion Week, the CFDA will no longer permit animal fur in collections on the Official NYFW Schedule. This timeline gives designers space to adjust their materials and show plans.

Farmed or trapped fur from animals killed specifically for their pelts, including but not limited to mink, fox, rabbit, karakul lamb, chinchilla, coyote, and raccoon dog, is not allowed. An exemption applies only to animal fur obtained by indigenous communities through traditional subsistence hunting practices, the CFDA said in a press release.

The CFDA will support designers through this transition and continue to provide resources on alternatives. While the CFDA encourages each designer to make decisions for their own business needs, to help align NYFW designers with this position, the CFDA is committed to offering educational materials and a material library so they can explore more innovative and sustainable materials.

This position aligns with London Fashion Week, which ended its promotion of fur in 2023, as well as fashion weeks in Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Melbourne.