Performance Days returns to Messe München in Munich from October 29 to 30, 2025. This is the autumn edition of the trade fair for sustainable fabrics and functional accessories, featuring fully booked halls, top-level exhibitors, and a diverse program, confirming its relevance for the industry.
Performance Days enables designers, product managers, and sourcing and materials specialists to procure fabrics at the right time for upcoming summer and winter collections.
Textile to Textile
The central theme of this edition is “Textile to Textile – The Role of Recyclers”, a topic of vital importance for the future of the textile industry. The era of the “take-make-dispose” model has come to an end, driven by new legal requirements such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR), which turn the demand for circularity into a mandatory obligation.
While PET bottle recycling has long been considered a sustainable solution, true textile-to-textile (T2T) recycling is still in its early stages: it is technically complex and requires significant infrastructure, yet it is essential for the long-term sustainability of the sector. Recycling companies are at the center of this transformation, developing technologies to reintroduce fibers and materials back into the cycle.
This Focus Topic provides a comprehensive overview of the current landscape and future prospects of T2T recycling, highlighting challenges such as scalability, quality assurance, and traceability, as well as opportunities. The European Union provides strong political support, making separate textile collection mandatory from 2025 and promoting investment in sorting technologies and digital product passports.
New Areas and Creative Inspiration
The October 2025 edition expands its concept with new special areas:
- Creative Area & Inspiration Walk: debuting as a curated experiential space, it invites visitors to embark on a journey designed to showcase design ideas, materials, and future perspectives.
- Innovation Area & Innovation Hub by FFE: the Innovation Area provides a platform for “never-seen-before” products and young brand innovations. Complementing it, the Innovation Hub—curated by the Future Fabrics Expo (FFE)—will showcase the latest sustainable solutions.
Program and Specialized Sections
The program is enriched by forums, talks, and specialized areas:
- Trend Forum: the heart of the event, presenting fabric highlights for the Fall/Winter 2027/28 season, pre-selected by a jury of experts (including members of Woolmark, Diesel, and Thru Dark). The forum will also present awards in five categories: Innovation, Wool, Eco, Performance, and Bodywear Award.
- Expert Talks: the stage will focus this autumn on circularity and T2T recycling, featuring specialists such as Adam Gardiner (Textile Exchange), Katy Stevens (European Outdoor Group), and Andrea Rosso (Diesel).
- Footwear Area: this section introduces an expanded concept, with a curated program of workshops focusing on the sustainability of soles—the largest, most complex, and most environmentally impactful component of footwear.
- Wool Area: for the third time, the fair will highlight the natural fiber wool, emphasizing its versatility, breathability, thermoregulation, and ecological benefits, in collaboration with partners such as The Woolmark Company and IWTO.
- Sustainable Area: the Sustainability Lounge will present the latest progress and visions for a sustainable future, while the Bodywear Area, in collaboration with the London Contour Experts Group, will highlight the most innovative developments in the sector.
