FRANKFURT – Texprocess 2026 will bring around 200 exhibitors from 28 countries to Frankfurt in Germany from 21 to 24 April. The event is a key marketplace for apparel and textile manufacturers weighing strategic investments in automation, digitalisation and AI.
Held alongside Techtextil, the show offers a practical forum for companies under pressure to improve efficiency, quality and resource use in a difficult operating environment marked by labour shortages, high energy costs and volatile trade conditions.
The most represented exhibitor countries this year are Germany, Italy, Taiwan, Turkey and Great Britain. New exhibitor countries include Australia, Finland, Slovakia and Hungary.
Returning exhibitors include bullmer, Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen, Eton Systems, Kai Corporation, Morgan Tecnica, Style3D | Assyst, Veit and Zünd. New participants include Amann & Söhne, Coats Group, Melco International, NedGraphics, Ozbilim, Pathfinder Australia, PGM System and Robotextile.
For apparel manufacturers, sourcing teams and production specialists, Texprocess remains particularly relevant because it brings together suppliers across the garment processing chain in one place. Visitors are able to compare technologies across 15 product groups, spanning CAD/CAM, cutting, sewing, embroidery and finishing.
Cutting technology is expected to be one of the strongest segments, with Messe Frankfurt suggesting the event offers the world’s most comprehensive range in this area. New exhibitors in the category include Anhui Han-Bond Technology, Comelz, Cutting Edge Automation Machines and Sheffield Cutting Equipment.
The fair is also giving space to younger companies through its Start-up Stars area, where firms including ProMSD – Pusztay, Prodactive Solutions, Qsee.ai and White Pattern will showcase new ideas and seek partnerships with industry and research organisations.
Organisers are placing heavy emphasis on connected systems, AI-enabled workflows and production modernisation. Sabine Scharrer, director brand management Technical Textiles & Textile Processing at Messe Frankfurt, said investment in fast, connected and cost-efficient systems can help companies future-proof production at a time when machinery and process optimisation are becoming more important to competitiveness.
Innovation will again be a central theme through the Texprocess Innovation Award, which highlights developments in quality improvement, digitalisation, AI and ecological and economic optimisation. Guided tours to selected winners’ stands are due to give visitors closer insight into technologies judged to have the greatest transformative potential.
The forum programme will also reflect those themes. Planned presentations include sessions on AI-enabled fashion workflows from digital to physical and on modernising fashion manufacturing through scalable Industry 4.0 approaches without major capital expenditure.
Texprocess’s link with neighbouring Techtextil is likely to strengthen its appeal for apparel visitors. Together, the two fairs will host more than 1,700 exhibitors, covering the wider textile production chain from materials through to processing technologies.
Of particular relevance to the apparel sector, Techtextil’s Performance Apparel Textiles segment has been repositioned in Hall 9.0, closer to Texprocess in Hall 8.0. That should make it easier for visitors to move between advanced material suppliers and garment processing technology providers, while opening up additional networking opportunities across the two events.
For the apparel industry, that combined format reinforces Frankfurt’s role as a key decision-making platform this spring, especially for companies assessing how quickly to invest in smarter, more automated and more digitally integrated production systems.
