Heimtextil 2024 - Trendstefan

It is fair season and first out is Heimtextil in Frankfurt. It is one of the largest fairs of the season with 2 800 exhibitors and 46 000 visitors. Focus is on textiles and wallpaper and the fair hosts the best trend presentation of the year. Expect purple, peach and chartreuse for the year to come.

Before we go into trends – how was it? And what can we expect with this year ahead of us?

The fair was good and busy. The numbers speak for themselves. As expected, the wallpaper section is growing smaller but the fair compensate that by opening a whole new section with carpets. Adding new content to a fair is something we see as a trend now in 2024. Heimtextil adds carpets, Formland adds new areas like outdoor and Stockholm Furniture Fair adds galleries.

And to be clear. The new carpet section was a success. Going to other fairs after this, the new carpet hall was a big topic.

A common remark for ALL fairs is that people comment that they are missing brands. This is for ALL fairs. And that is fine. Things change. And this year we are all a bit obsessed with “oh, brand X is not here”, as if it was a bad thing. It doesn’t have to be bad. It is a natural evolution. Next year we will not talk about missing brands and focus on the brands that participate.

Fairs are still relevant and I will defend all fairs. If brands choose NOT to be a part of fairs, then they miss out and we should not talk about them too much. Just ignore them.

Speaking of change. This was the last year that Heimtextil did the loved and appreciated trend format. Next time there will be a new format. But in short. The content for this trend installation was as follows. Focus on sensitivity and sensuality. Earthy base (such as apricot or peach) with stronger accents like tomato red, purple and green. This installation is also including a lot of sustainability and new technology. You can read more about the trends from Heimtextil at the dedicated website here.

Lead trend agency for the work at Heimtextil was Spott.

Here is my take on the trends I saw at Heimtextil.

1. Liquid

Most of us have read or seen that patterns are coming back. Slowly but surely also at a fair like Heimtextil. It is not as flower-y as you could expect. I saw a lot of these wavy, liquid patterns. Here a metallic wallpaper.

More wallpapers.

At the trendinstallation.

Here on bedlinnen

It’s like a watercolour effect.

Also on carpets.

It’s not all about the “oil on water” effect. It could also be like this. Still very blurry but not watercolour.

Same here.

2. Checkers and squares

Kind of the opposite of the non-figurative I saw a lot of strong graphical patterns with squares.

Blankets, towels, bedlinnen etc. I assume it is a fashion reference, as I happened to have a chequared shirt on.

As you see, it is mainly about strong patterns and strong colours – but it doesn’t have to be. It can be pastell and soft too.

I do fint it interesting to see these strong patterns on bedlinnen. Not as romantic as we have seen before.

Even on wallpaper

Pretty nice wallpaper, actually.

3. Purple

“Did you see all the lilacs and purples?” Heimtextil is a very international fair and lots of journalists and trendhunters from all over the world meet. At one point I had wine with some American journalists and they commented on how many of the things were purple.

I am not super sure this is the dominant colour I saw, but I looked at my pictures afterwards and this is what I have. Do you see a purple trend?

4. Peach

If I didn’t see purple, I definately got my share of peach. A sandy, beige hue with a hint of red. Could also be a bit pink. Here at the trendinstallation.

Peach is almost like a neutrual. It needs another colour to bounce off to. Like minty green. Or even emerald green.

Or tomato red.

5. Chartreuse

Colour of the year is ABSOLUTELY chartreuse. You can call it “cyberlime” or something else but this strong green-yellow. Almost toxic. Pantone 390 C or NCS S 1070-G50Y

It is everywhere at Heimtextil. Here as a wallpaper