By Haley Chouinard
The clothing and textiles industry is the second-largest polluter globally, behind only the oil industry in its environmental impact. And while fast fashion often gets the lion’s share of the blame, the home furnishings industry is far from innocent.
Heimtextil, the largest international trade fair for interior textiles, is starting the new decade with a pledge to be more sustainable. In its “Material Manifesto,” published in anticipation of the Frankfurt fair’s 50th edition, which opens next week, the show committed to six overarching concepts, including using as many recycled or borrowed materials in its exhibitions as possible; sourcing from local resources wherever available; managing waste responsibly; and designing exhibitions with recyclability in mind. Heimtextil is doing more than just taking a pledge—the fair is also weaving the topic of sustainability throughout Trend Space, a high-profile section of the show curated by a group of forecasters that spotlights trends for the upcoming year.
One environmentally minded highlight of the 2020 Trend Space will be the Future Materials Library curated by London design studio FranklinTill, which will present emerging innovations in sustainable materials. Focused on material composition and manufacturing advancements—including both recycled materials and cultivated textiles (as in, they were once living organisms)—the library aims to provide insight and inspiration for both visitors and exhibitors, complementing the exhibition of more traditional design and color trends. Each featured sample will be displayed with information about the material’s origins, the manufacturing process to create it and its potential afterlife.
In late December, representatives from the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network, a global network of textile trade fairs that host Heimtextil, joined the Conscious Fashion Campaign and the United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP) at the U.N. headquarters to discuss how they can implement sustainable development goals across the textile industry as a whole. “Along with digitalization, sustainability is a topic currently exerting a significant influence on the global textile industry,” said Detlef Braun, a member of the executive board at Messe Frankfurt, during the meeting. “Messe Frankfurt has been accompanying this development with its worldwide textile events under the umbrella of the Texpertise Network for more than 10 years. It is therefore a logical conclusion that the sustainable development goals should be integrated in our worldwide textile events to generate acute awareness of the importance of sustainability in the textile industry.”