FRANKFURT, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- The International Trade Fair for Home and Contract Textiles, or Heimtextil, opened Tuesday in the German city of Frankfurt, celebrating its 50th anniversary with a focus on sustainability.

First started in 1971 with 679 exhibitors, the trade fair has grown into a leading event in the textiles industry and attracted nearly 3,000 companies from 65 countries and regions this year. More than 600 Chinese companies from various sub sectors are attending the fair, which runs from Tuesday to Friday.

The home and household textiles industry has seen sales falling in the previous two years, mainly due to the sluggish economy, according to research institute IFH Cologne, but the sector does not cease to explore measures to achieve sustainability.

This year's Heimtextil includes a new area of "Future Materials Library", which showcases innovative and even progressive choices of raw materials for textile.

In this section, textiles made from pineapple leaf, seaweed and even PET bottles and human hairs were exhibited, attracting numerous visitors.

CHINESE PRESENCE

Charming Hometex, based in east China's Shandong province, joined this year's Green Directory, a list of 200-plus sustainable producers attending the trade fair.

The company has decades-long expertise working with importers and buyers across the globe, and has obtained the Oeko-Tex certification, a high industry standard certifying that textiles are free of harmful chemicals and are safe for human use, Zhang Yueya, a sales manager, told Xinhua.

Zhang admitted that the textile sector has become very competitive over the years, especially among Asian peers, but she believed Chinese companies have their own strengths, particular in design and fabric research and development.

While many Chinese exhibitors at the fair are manufacturers, Chinese design studios also started to have a bigger presence at Heimtextil.

Ranger Art Design Co. Ltd., a fabric design company in Hangzhou, the capital of east China's Zhejiang province, came to Heimtextil as an exhibitor for the first time, although the company has been a veteran player in the domestic market for many years.

Lu Shasha, its design director, said their company has a good understanding of the market and has been quick and flexible in giving follow-up customization options, thanks to years of experience working with domestic manufacturers.

The studio has successfully sold their original fabric designs to buyers from the United States, Germany, and Turkey since they arrived at the exhibition, according to Lu.

Domestic design trends used to lag behind the global ones, but the situation is different now, Lu added. "The two trends are almost synced now...In some areas we even go faster. The Chinese-style designs we brought here could not be found anywhere else and are sold out," she noted. Enditem

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