Return to Heimtextil

After an inspiring week in January visiting both Los Angeles and New York, meeting our North American distributors and researching retail trends, Ben and I headed to Frankfurt to visit Heimtextil 2016.

Our first official day at the fair was spent visiting Indian, Italian and Turkish weavers. The day prior we had arrived in Frankfurt and headed straight to the fair. We like to gain access to trade fairs before they open to enjoy a preview of the latest constructions and technical advances and to catch up on our current developments.

It was really satisfying to see that after a long hiatus, a large number of high-end Italian upholstery weavers were back exhibiting at Heimtextil, many being key suppliers for the Mokum brand as well as the very best high-end editors from around the world. These mills have been absent for a number of years and their return hopefully signals a growing confidence in the European market.

Day two started with researching new wallpaper substrates and printing techniques for our forthcoming Catherine Martin by Mokum collection.

I began the day meeting with our existing United Kingdom printer to review their new digital papers and vinyl embossing grounds. This hall was filled with a broad range of wallpaper printing mills and editors, such as Elitis, Arte and Zimmer+ Rohde; and showcased a broad offering of digital printing, embossing and traditional printing techniques onto paper.

It was then on to the 'Well Being' hall. This year, the Heimtextil Theme Park presented trends for 2016/17 centred around the multifaceted theme of ‘Well-Being’. There were five themed cocoons within the hall:
• Hospitality
• Technology
• Craft
• Sustainability
• Retail

These themes reflected the market direction of the last 24 months. 

The rest of the day was spent meeting with our Italian upholstery weavers and reviewing their new constructions. Key trends were heavy linens, space-dyed warps, wool blends and weaves constructed using metallic and matte yarns creating a relaxed luxury suitable for our Australasian lifestyle.

Day three was our final day at the fair before heading on to Belgium to meet with key suppliers and continue on with market research, this time in Antwerp; the fashionable home of Dries Van Noten.

Before leaving Europe I reviewed my selections and finalised constructions with the mills and confirmed worldwide exclusivity for the rapidly growing Mokum brand.

- Stephanie Moffitt

Read more about the current and future trends that Stephanie observed at Heimtextil here.