The summer edition of Texworld Paris welcomed nearly 1,200 exhibitors from 26 countries. The season presented many new features and the show's dynamism remains satisfactory.
The next event takes place on February 10, 2025, at the Le Bourget Exhibition Center in Paris.
The latest edition of Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris, comprising the Avantex and Leatherworld sectors, came to an end on July 3, with fewer visitors compared to the July 2023 edition. In addition to the possible "Olympic effect" and its impact on transportation and accommodation costs in the capital, the current economic situation has prompted show organizers to explore alternatives to adapt the show to market demand.
However, these results do not seem to have had any impact on business dealings between visitors and exhibitors, who reported a fairly positive overall atmosphere.
The atmosphere on the stands remained stable and the exchanges were satisfactory. The Indian shirt manufacturer Sheraton Apparel, for example, made some 30 credible contacts over a period of three days and reported several serious contacts with African distributors. The same was true of SMIT, a Turkish company specializing in "Made in Turkey" sourcing, which met its main European customers at the show and established new contacts with Canadian and Brazilian buyers.
Expanding the range of services
At the Near Sourcing Hub, the digital sourcing space for plants connected via QR codes to the B2B digital platform of Messe Frankfurt's French partner FourSource, the number of inquiries from exhibiting companies remained more or less the same as in 2023. Visitors, on the other hand, were mainly buyers from a network of small multispecialized boutiques looking for innovative mid- to high-end products. It is in response to the market's need for differentiation that the show's organizers decided to expand the scope of Apparel Sourcing to include new categories in the fashion accessories sector, such as jewelry and bags.
Eye-catching initiatives
Other innovations were on display this summer. The Yarn Pavilion, created for the first time in partnership with Yarn Expo, showcased the expertise of companies from China, India, Pakistan and Taiwan, while highlighting upstream products and services. At Avantex, some 20 suppliers of sustainable fashion solutions came together, and the new Designer Center allowed designers and buyers to discover novel initiatives such as the association of stylist Jean-Luc François, which is supported by the Texpertise network of Messe Frankfurt and provides training for people far from employment; There is also the three-dimensional design studio Scotomalab, whose approach has attracted fashion designer Katherine Pradeau: "By applying cutting-edge technologies such as 3D and artificial intelligence to traditional skills, the studio opens up interesting and promising perspectives in terms of creativity", she notes.
Materra Wins 2024 Avantex Fashion Pitch Award
The Avantex Fashion Pitch jury has awarded the 2024 prize to Materra. The UK startup, founded in 2019, designs solutions to support climate change-adapted cotton farming. At the other end of the chain, it offers brands a Cotton-As-Service model, encouraging them to source from the producers it supports. Materra will receive a booth at Avantex 2025 from Messe Frankfurt France worth €2,800, as well as a €2,000 donation from the Texpertise Network, the textile industry network of the Messe Frankfurt Group, and a one-year incubation at the Foundry from IFA Paris, the official partner of the competition.
Leather World's Fashion Zone
New for 2024, World of Leather presents the Leather Trends Zone. Designed around the expertise of Italian shoe and bag manufacturing companies, this inspirational space showcases the trends for Fall/Winter 25-26 through four creative axes organized around simplicity, nature, dynamism and romanticism of expression. Leather Trends also offers the opportunity to discover the new leather tanning technology developed by Ecotan, which avoids the use of metals (chromium) and chemicals at the leather preparation stage thanks to the use of vegetable tannins.
Texpertise Econogy: guided tours with a focus on the sustainable economy
The Texpertise Econogy, the global chain of the Texpertise network developed by Messe Frankfurt Group, is once again the focus of this year's trade fair. This concept combines the ideas of ecological and economic development in a number of ways. First of all, the Econogy Finder enables visitors to find all suppliers of sustainably produced textiles online (around 80 companies in July). These exhibitors' CSR commitments have been verified by third-party organizations and their stands are marked with the Econogy logo.
There will also be Econogy Talks, a conference on topics related to the sustainable economy, and for the first time, the Econogy Tour. The two Econogy Tours offered to buyers at the show introduced them to products from companies such as Cradle to Cradle and TUV Rheinland, which specialize in CSR certification and audits for the textile industry, as well as products from producers such as Skosh Commercial in India, which specializes in organic cotton T-shirts and sweatshirts.
Mark your calendars for February 10-12, 2025: the Messe Frankfurt France team is looking forward to welcoming international fashion professionals to the Le Bourget Exhibition Center in Paris.