This summer, the educational events at Home Textiles Sourcing Expo will include focuses on the global home textiles landscape, upcoming Autumn/Winter 2019-2020 colour trends and a unique panel on translating fashion trends into home décor.

Home Textiles Sourcing Expo Summer 2018 takes place alongside Texworld USA and Apparel Sourcing USA and will offer a wide variety of seminars and panels in this season’s edition. As a marketplace for networking, education and sourcing, Home Textiles Sourcing is the only trade event in North America to centre entirely on home textiles and finished soft goods for all home applications.

Home Textile Sourcing Expo Seminars include a session dedicated to Sheets, Towels, Tariffs and Trade: What It All Means for the Global Home Textiles Market in 2018 and Beyond. Changing international trade policies as well as a shifting in sourcing models for exporters and importers alike are disrupting the global home textiles market. Presenter Warren Shoulberg, business journalist, will look at the impact on key sourcing countries like China, India and Pakistan as well as in Europe and how American retailers and wholesalers may change their strategies, including the possibility of the return of domestic manufacturing in the US.

New Consumer Attitudes about Freshness Protection in Textiles will be presented by Karel Williams, The Dow Chemical Company. Dow recently completed a major new consumer study in the US, China, and Japan to evaluate consumer perceptions about freshness protection in home textiles. The study also looked at laundry habits and techniques and explored the shopping habits with regard to freshness protection benefits in towels, bedding, and other home textiles products. This seminar is one of the first public presentations of these brand-new findings from the Dow consumer study.

Home Textile Sourcing Expo Panels feature two sessions. Translating Fashion Trend to Décor with Staying Power will be presented by Jana Platina Phipps. Many couture fashion trends have the chance of looking absurd in home design. However, many of the innovative fabrications, textiles, embellishments and colour palettes seen on the runway serve as great indicators and inspiration for what will trickle down to decor in surprising ways. Embellishment expert and design blogger Jana Platina Phipps, known as Trim Queen, will invite participants on a fast-paced visual tour through what's "haute" and which trends can be integrated right into the home market.

Finally, a panel entitled The New Home Textiles Landscape - What’s Needed to Survive and Thrive Tomorrow will be moderated by Jennifer Marks, Editor in Chief – Home Textiles Today. Panelists include Joe Derochowski – The NPD Group, Nancy Fire – Design Works International, and Meilin Wan – Applied DNA Sciences.

This presentation and panel discussion sponsored by Home Textiles Today will hit three hot-button topics of interest to importers, product developers, marketers, sourcers, and creatives. A panel of experts will present exclusive research about consumer shopping behaviours, trend forecasts that address changing consumers lifestyles, and insight from a retail disruptor about the new landscape.

www.hometextilessourcingexpo.com