The growth of the future fabrics expo is a good indicator of the new textile economy, a collaboration of heritage and new bio-diverse materials that have a healthy relationship with plants and natural environments. Entering the venue at Magazine London event space on the River Thames, you felt a calm buzz of excitement. My first impression is that the event is beautifully curated and welcoming. Navigating the expo was easy, even for those with a little social anxiety. The tone was inclusive, kind, collaborative and community-led, replicating nature, all reflecting the future of fabrics. The Magazine venue offers state-of-the-art spaces, and the staging area blends into the exhibition space with high-tech audio equipment and headphones, allowing for easy talks and panel discussions to co-exist.

Bast fibres were certainly trending and well represented, including high visibility of Flax, Hemp and Nettle with notable highlights at:

Contemporary Hempery is a new UK start-up with a strong presence proving how industrial Hemp can grow again regeneratively in the UK.

 Based in Switzerland, Nettle Circle proves there's way more to the nettle than it’s typically known for “sting”.   In addition to being a modern, regenerative, and compostable textile, sewing thread and zips were also available as part of the nettle offering.

At Canopy, an environmental non-profit showcasing a dress created from non-woven hemp and linen fibres.  The dress became a focal meeting and talking point of the expo designed for Bast Fibre Technologies by London-based artist Anna M. Stephenson.

To complement the heritage and new fibres at the expo, the event's spirit was about how nature replicates instead of scaling, encouraging multi-generational conversations and co-creation.  Protecting a place-based approach, learning from natural living systems in each place, and maintaining each system's integrity and knowledge were heard in the strength of being kind to our planet tone.

The magazine venue provides opportunities for indoor and outdoor conversations by the river. Future Fabrics Expo was an experience where you didn’t want to leave as the conversations flowed, and it already is keeping the collaborative conversations going.

Co-creation of a new textile economy is changing perceptions and expectations of fashion as these regenerative relationships grow stronger into 2024 and beyond!