Show attendees and exhibitors hit the ground running on the second day of Messe Frankfurt’s Texworld and Apparel Sourcing’s New York City edition as they sought refuge from the heat in the cool Javits Center, while also seeking fresh offerings in design and manufacturing. A midday presentation covering “Fall/Winter 2025/26: Inspiration on Color, Trend, Textiles and Apparel from Doneger/TOBE + Trend Showcase Explore the Floor Tour” from Kai Chow, director at Doneger/TOBE drew a standing-room-only crowd.
Visitors listened intently as Chow spun trends into four stories: Brutalism—”raw and industrial,” Eco-romanticism—”mixing masculine and feminine,” Fusionism—”folkloric” and Scientism—”futuristic,” each with their own color, silhouettes, and fabrics.
“The first story—’Brutalism,’ you can see the tone of gray working with the striking bright; so one working with the other is very easy to work into. The second story, ‘Eco-romanticism,’ look for a range of colors: warm pops, earth tones to light, olive greenery. ‘Fusionism’ brings in those folkloric midtones to very symbolic types of brights. Finally, in the last story, [Scientism] tinted whites work into some shimmering, futuristic tones of artificial colors.”
Kimberlye Bethea, Vice President, New Business Development in Home for Cocona, was present for the session and although her focus is in home products, she was also on the lookout for trends to share with her apparel-focused colleagues.
“Just looking at the different fabrics and I decided to see what’s out there,” said Bethea. “Everyone is looking for newness, hopefully I will see something that catches my interest where we can work together. I work on bedding and we also have apparel. I find that going to the trade shows you usually find a gem or two but you just have to carefully look.”
INVESTING IN FACETIME WITH CUSTOMERS
Meeting with apparel clients in person is crucial in the textile and supply-chain businesses, as exhibitors can showcase their innovations and new initiatives on the show floor. Exhibitors are also able to support attendee demands for transparency by revealing their best practices and methods that are leading new approaches to sustainable clothing design and manufacturing.
“There are some local customers who come here to find something special and different,” said Jessi Nguyen, sales lead with Vietnam’s FASLINK, which is focused on ecological and social values. “The universities come here to do research in apparel and textiles. They see our fabric that is made with a resource like coffee and they think “Wow, how can we use coffee grounds to make fabrics?” and they see the recycling processes we use to keep the planet healthy.”
As a member of the shows’ Investment & Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam (ITPC) Pavilion, Nguyen mentioned that a spirit of collaboration among her colleagues supports the work of attendees who are interested in diversifying their design, sourcing and production by exploring partners in the country, each of whom can offer different services.
“We need to do this together,” said Nguyen. “In the competitive market we all have many strengths that can afford the best service to customers for the best products.”
Demand for transparency and sustainable resources was also felt by the members of the Birla Cellulose team who were exhibiting textile and fiber options from their Mumbai, India-based business. This edition marked the first time Birla exhibited at the show and Nelson Jaffery Raj, Assistant Vice President of Design and Development, was optimistic about seeing established customers and connecting with potential new clients regarding the company’s products including recycled options.
“It’s good to meet face to face and have our customers feel the product. It’s good to have that interaction with the customers,” Raj said. “They want the sustainable products we have to offer. That is a hard subject now. Most of our offerings are toward this direction because we’ve been working on it for quite some time.”
FINAL OPPORTUNITIES ON DAY THREE
Texworld New York City and Apparel Sourcing New York City’s final day (July 18) opens at 10:00 A.M. and includes a continued roster of education sessions beginning with “Fall-Winter 2025-2026: Colors and Inspirations—Theatrical Sobriety from Peclers Paris,” with Jennifer Karuletwa. Additional sessions include “Exploring Innovation and Sustainable Next-Gen Materials” and “Next-Gen Innovation Hub Tour,” which will both be led by Thomasine Dolan Dow, Materials Innovation and Design Director at the Material Innovation Initiative.
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
If you haven’t done so, there is still time to register!
