PARIS — A snapshot of the European apparel market, designers’ highlights at the latest edition of Texworld Paris included high-tech knitwear from China, contemporary embroideries and a balance between the apparel and textiles offer.
Sourcing teams from France, the U.K., Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany led the visitor list, browsing offerings from 1,300 manufacturers from 35 countries across three halls at the Parc des Expositions Paris-Le Bourget.
Confirming the show’s September scheduling will continue in 2026, Messe Frankfurt president Frédéric Bougeaud, said the visitor uptick from the July 2024 edition is a good result in this challenging market. “Everyone knows the number of buyers has decreased, because of the concentration of brands. Before we had 10 buyers for 10 brands, now we have three buyers for 10 brands,” he said.
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“The ongoing consolidation in the sector is pushing brands to expand their collections and diversify their offerings without necessarily managing production themselves, or even, in some cases, the design process,” stated Julien Schmoll, marketing and communication director at Messe Frankfurt France. “They’re looking for suppliers who can deliver turnkey collections: creative, high-quality products in both large and small quantities, and at attractive prices that align with margin goals, especially in the mid-range and premium segments.”
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To meet that need, Texworld aimed for a balance between textile and garment offerings and continued to mix fabrics and apparel in each hall, a new format introduced last February.
This edition again welcomed a host of Chinese manufacturers looking to grow business in Europe to compensate for loss of U.S. exports. Texworld cited newcomer Wing Ka Shing, a knit sweater manufacturer with a factory in DongGuan, China, which does more than 80 percent of its business with U.S.-based brands, among companies seeking to expand to Europe to avoid taxes imposed on products entering the U.S.
The overall knitwear offer from China was a hit with multiple sourcing teams. “There are lots of new suppliers of quality knitwear,” said Laura Hazam, the third-generation owner and associate managing director of ready-to-wear label Apostrophe Paris. “We always find one or two new suppliers,” she said of Texworld overall. “We love the human side of meeting face-to-face here.”
Hazam noted, however, that the business outlook is challenging. “There’s so much uncertainty, all our suppliers are saying it — they have much lower orders, they’re more stressed when negotiating payment terms.”
Like other sourcing teams, Apostrophe Paris was also buying for summer. “We like this flexibility, because we have our own boutiques, this short-lead distribution; we can develop something in September to be in our boutiques in January, so we can be inline with trend directions and desires.” With a new Montaigne store just opened on rue Bayard, Apostrophe is rolling out a new boutique concept across its 10 locations at a pace of one a year, Hazam added.
Paris designer Christophe Guillarmé, browsing for his eponymous red-carpet label, named ultra-creative prints and “a contemporary, youth-driven” aesthetic in the embroideries at Veekay International among his standouts. “We always find a little gem here, there’s a real offer of personalization adapted to each brand.”
Guillarmé reported the label’s sales remained buoyant, even in the Middle East, except in Doha, where business was slower than two or three years ago.
Praising the innovative knitting techniques and quality-price ratio among the knitwear offer from China, Lamine Badian Kouyaté, designer of the label Xuly Bet, said in the face of the most major issue facing the planet, climate breakdown, finding solutions to industrial leftover stock was his primary goal.
“Brands will order 1 million meters of fabric, then use only 500,000 meters. It ends up in warehouses, or they burn it,” he said.
True to the brand’s name, which means “keep your eyes open” in Senegalese, Badian Kouyaté is seeking a collaborative approach to repurpose such deadstock. Xuly’s Bet’s upcycled collection, which repurposes unwanted items in the most mass-produced sectors of sportswear — transforming four American football shirts into a jacket, for example — is among its bestsellers. The label, founded in 1991, is due to move to a new flagship in Paris’s La Defense business district.
Also browsing with carbon footprint top of mind, Chloe de Baillencourt, chief executive officer and founder of Arsene & Les Pipelettes, a ready-to-wear label for women and children with 10 boutiques in France, Spain and Belgium, bemoaned “too many suppliers from China offering the same thing. We try and source as close as possible to France, for quality, carbon footprint, it makes sense not to work on the other side of the world. It’s always interesting if I find one new supplier.”
De Baillencourt reported her budget at the show was flat on-year. And while business was good in Europe, her label’s sales in the U.S. had slowed. “We’re now really expensive for them.”
Among new sourcing regions, Texworld showcased Kyrgyzstan, where textile and apparel exports have increased 78 percent since 2018. The sales pitch included the possibility to order small batches, starting from 300 pieces and the possibility to import into Europe with zero percent tax. Armenia was another new sourcing showcase, with an offer of 11 manufacturers of diverse profiles, from sportswear to outerwear.
“We have seen many different types of brands – some looking for very low cost to those designer brands looking for greater sophistication,” reported Alla Pavlova, business development expert representing the Armenia platform, which was funded by the EU and Armenia’s ministry of economy.
To help buyers navigate the season, the salon’s conference program zoomed in on everything from generative AI to scaling bio-fashion, while new services included baggage check-in straight from the show. The Avantex Fashion Pitch 2025 awarded GoldenEye SmartVision for its AI-driven quality control system for the detection of defects and cutting material waste. Texworld holds its next edition from Feb. 2 to 4.