By Warren Shoulberg
The climate—both economically and weather-wise—was chilly for this year’s Heimtextil trade fair, which wrapped up here last month.
Even Messe Frankfurt officials, representing the fair organizers, predicted a “negative prognosis” for 2009 as the textiles industry grapples with the slowdown in the world economy and a global oversupply of product.
The fair, still the largest home textiles show in the world, has, for most American customers, evolved into a sourcing event, a chance to meet and find Asian suppliers. More than 900 exhibitors, almost a third of the total, were from China, India and Pakistan.
While the Europeans use the show as their prime order-writing time, for most American retailers—the lineup included at least Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, J.C Penney, TJX stores and Tuesday Morning—the show was mostly all about product development, although some close-out stores also came with shopping lists.
Those purchases might have been a little easier on the pocketbook than they were last time as the U.S. dollar had strengthened somewhat over a year ago. “The stronger American dollar should help our sales to the U.S.,” said Andre Bravo of Sousa Dias, a Portuguese textiles supplier.
Some suppliers were cautious in their predictions for 2009. They said 2008 was not a bad year because import programs had been put into place a year ago before the economy really started to falter.
“We see more problems for 2009,” admitted Tiago Lopes of Carvalho, another important supplier from Portugal.
For those American customers who came to buy closeouts, there was plenty to pick from, buyers said off the record, reflecting the large number of retail bankruptcies in 2008.
This meant stores had to be especially vigilant not to be tempted by the oversupply. “This is the time when it’s as important what you don’t buy as what you do,” said a buying executive with a big American off-price retailer.
On the supply side, the American presence was once again underwhelming with just 44 U.S. companies showing, according to the official show count. A conspicuous name on that list was WestPoint Home, which returned to Heimtex after a prolonged absence. Company officials said because WestPoint Home now does all its manufacturing in Asia and the Middle East, it wanted to exhibit to showcase its sourcing capabilities.
In design, embroidery and embellishments—on both bed and bath products—continued to be a strong look, with sparkling accents like crystals being especially popular. Many of the new towel designs sported velour textures, a technique that has been in the decline in the U.S. market for a number of years.
And if there was no one dominating color story, that could be interpreted as a good thing since the range of colors was broad and the monochromatic beiges of some Heimtextils were in the minority.