Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
As fashion executives across the industry look to the year ahead, a key priority, as reported in the BoF and McKinsey & Co. State of Fashion 2025 report, will be to streamline collaboration with suppliers. This will involve the development of “more strategic relationships, prioritising data transparency and co-investments to jointly build resilient and productive supply chains,” the report states.
Ongoing shifts in geopolitics and consequentially, global trade, will impact resourcing, increasing the importance of trading with politically-aligned states as well as nearshoring where possible. Meanwhile, sustained pressure from international governments to find solutions to fashion’s wastefulness will encourage investment in new technologies and ever-more innovative materials.
As the climate crisis disproportionately impacts smaller businesses at the top of the supply chain, companies and brands which focus on long-term rewards by investing in sustainable practices to protect those suppliers, will benefit from more efficient business operations alongside a competitive advantage.
Expectedly, sustainability and innovation will be a key focus at the 2025 Winter edition of Texworld NYC, an international trade fair which takes place biannually in New York. The upcoming edition, which opens next week, is the largest textile and apparel sourcing event on the East Coast of the United States, with manufacturers, fabric suppliers, buyers and industry professionals congregating at the Javits Center in New York. It is held concurrently with Apparel Sourcing NYC, which offers a similar sourcing marketplace but for apparel manufacturers, in the same location.
Global exhibitors from manufacturers in India, Indonesia, USA, China, Bangladesh, Korea, Turkey, Mexico, Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Peru and Pakistan will be among those present at the fair, with many responding to the pressing needs of the industry — such as shorter lead times, smaller minimums, and greater transparency across the chain. Attendees are able to navigate the fair and source by product type, while also tailoring their visit to focus on suppliers offering smaller minimums, certified, sustainable products or specifically by country, with the assistance of Texworld’s interactive floorplan.
Education will continue to play a critical role at Texworld, with a host of “Textile Talks” aiming to further educate visiting professionals on key topics that will affect and inform their decision-making for the upcoming season. Some examples include: How to Get Consumers to Pay for Sustainability; Textile-to-Textile Recycling: Scaling for Circularity; Spring/Summer 2026: Color, Trend, and Textile Direction; and Sourcing 2025 Outlook: Policies, Politics and Predicting the Economy.
Indeed, one such event, taking place on Tuesday 21 January, will be hosted by BoF president Nick Blunden, and will unpack the key themes from the BoF x McKinsey & Company State of Fashion 2025 report. Sign up here to attend.
Below, BoF shares some of the key emerging themes from the upcoming event.
Trends will function as an important sourcing tool
Texworld’s Trend Showcase has become a valuable tool for buyers as they look to their sourcing for the next year. The trade fair works with a trend forecasting agency whose insights inform the exhibitors’ showcase selections, since they are encouraged to follow the trend guidelines and align their collections around these predictions. This helps to ensure that the “trend-right” textiles are showcased to buyers.
Some of the key emerging trends include bold colour and pattern-play. To this end, Texworld has partnered with Printsource New York, a leading textile and surface design show in the US, to hear from textile studios specialising in print and pattern trends and how to translate these onto textiles.
With functionality expected to play a key role in fashion in 2025, Texworld is creating a “Made to Move” spotlight located in the Apparel Sourcing section on the show floor, to highlight the innovations in textile development and finishing processes in the functional fabric space. Functional fabrics will be complimented by utilitarian styles which offer multiple styling options within one piece, and will largely be seen in more muted and neutral colours.
Ongoing investment in fabric innovation will drive sustainable practices
A key theme at Texworld NYC 2025 will be fabric innovation, with a focus on sustainable options for all categories of textiles including recycled, regenerative and organic options.
At the show, Texworld’s Next-Gen Innovation Hub will spotlight the value of bio-based, plant-based and other sustainable materials and processes. While some innovators in this space are in the research and development stage, others have already achieved successful commercialisation. Those that have can be expected to offer sustainable and innovative fabrics at a cost that brands and consumers can afford.
The hub is also intended to provide education around the business imperative of investing and switching to more sustainable fabric options.
Small-batch production and shorter lead-times will prevail
Exhibitors at Texworld NYC have demonstrated an awareness of buyers’ and industry needs, in particular, surrounding customisation. By producing in smaller batches and offering shorter lead times, suppliers can better meet the demands of brands as a need to be nimble in an uncertain and unpredictable market persists.
Those that offer the option of producing on a smaller scale, quickly, will benefit brands that wish to experiment with capsule collections, in order to test the success of certain products and cater to niche markets, and in order for brands to be as responsive to demand as possible.
Production practices will continue to evolve as suppliers compete
Texworld reports that there is an evident and running theme of heightened service among manufacturers and suppliers who are showcasing at the event. Investment in more efficient and streamlined production practices will help those businesses to succeed. Such improvements in factories will also help manufacturers to produce more sustainably, allowing them to certify their production measures, in-keeping with upcoming EU and global regulations, many of which will come into force as soon as this year. Indeed, the exhibitors are working towards a more transparent and sustainable relationship with both buyers and brands.
Indeed, in regions like the US and Europe where trade compliance and speed to market is of particular concern, vertically integrated production — or backwards integration — will ensure that suppliers can produce key pieces in a compliant manner, critical to the textile industry. Margin pressures and sustainability regulation will continue to place greater emphasis on end-to-end planning excellence, with brands increasingly adopting tech tools and adjusting their operating model to support agile supply chains.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Texworld NYC as part of a BoF partnership.
