California Apparel News

Over 2,000 people and counting have walked the show floor by day two of Messe Frankfurt’s Texworld and Apparel Sourcing editions on July 24 at Manhattan’s Javits Center. Networking, connections and deals were being made while inspiration, education and trend/tech talks took center stage.

Whether you were sourcing dead stock, scouting new trends or discovering future partners, the summer 2025 edition was designed to support every step of the development process—with curated features that inspire and inform, according to Walker Erwin, Marketing Manager Fashion + Apparel, Messe Frankfurt.

TamilNadu India Pavilion

Making its Texworld NYC debut was the TamilNadu pavilion showcasing 13 exhibitors in apparel and six exhibitors in home textile from the southern part of India. The state is India’s textile powerhouse, renowned for its luxury, cost-effective sustainable cottons and exquisite craftmanship. Exhibitors say TamilNadu is very progressive, has the highest employment rate of women in factories and mills, and celebrates women entrepreneurship. “This show is a breath of fresh air and worthwhile participating in,” said Sushil Parvatham, Managing Partner, Alfine Knit PVT.LTD, part of High Stitch Apparel LLP. “We’ve made connections with companies we want to work with. We finally found people who value the quality garments and not just the price.”

Textile Talks

The day started with a breakfast and tariff briefing at Home Textile Sourcing, where Robert Leo, legal counsel at the Home Products Association, spoke on the key issues to do with tariffs. The three points he highlighted were: “The regulations you need to look at now and in the future are country-of-origin regulations that govern when you can say it’s a product of a specific country. This most likely will change eventually. New rules of origin classification—how to classify your product to make sure it’s in the right classification for duty and tariff purposes—and valuation, how your home-textile product is valued. Regulations and laws will be enforced, you can’t have arbitrary numbers, you need to have real prices.”

Trend Showcase 

The audience concentrated intently during the Fall/Winter 2026/27 Color Trend and Textile Direction from Doneger|TOBE in conjunction with the show favorite Trend Showcase. “The way we used to look at trend forecasting is very different from how we’re seeing trends today, said Shelda Hartwell, VP Creative +Merchandising, Doneger|TOBE. “We’re looking at the consumer and consumer habits and speaking to the direction they’re kind of taking us. When we’re looking at the trends for the year even five years down the road they all somehow are threading the needle from what we originally talk to. Within the retro reissue, again, it’s not new, we’ve had this really polished and want to get dressed back up again for all the events we’re going to and we’re making sure that we’re not sitting on all the things in our closet. She wants to wear them out, so if she wants to wear a sequin jacket in the day with her denim jeans, she’s wearing it! That’s again speaking to the consumer, looking at our research and when we’re looking at design concepts.”

Next-Gen Innovation Hub

All eyes were on the fifth installation of the Next-Gen Innovation Hub where many of the brands and technologies shown have moved from R&D into manufacturing with various partners. “At this stage we’re really happy and proud to be showing commercially available products that are sustainable as well as biomaterials,” said Thomasine Dolan-Dow, Director, Texworld Innovation Hub, who noted, “Some of the next-gen leathers are collaborating with the auto industry, someone’s collaborating with Jaguar, another one’s collaborating with Mercedes-Benz, and a few shoe commercial collaborations will be announced this fall.” Among the exciting innovations is from Biofur, a fully bio-based sherpa made from corn, which is a PLA bio synthetic, biodegradable, recyclable and compostable.

Day 3 brings more opportunities to explore on the floor, at Textile Talks and at “Collective Sourcing—Unlocking Next-Gen Scale.”