Festival
Immerse yourself in the future of the fashion and textile industry: Experience how AI and digital tools are enabling 3D designs, virtual collections, and sustainable processes. Companies and experts will share practical insights into successful projects and the opportunities that are opening up for the future.
Your added value:
- Concrete insights into AI applications, from 3D simulations to smart textiles to personalized shopping experiences.
- Inspiration for your own pilot projects – e.g., with Clo3D, virtual fashion shows, or digital materials.
- Strategies for building digital competency and securing long-term competitive advantages.
Highlight: A spectacular fashion show – both physical and digital – followed by an awards ceremony honoring the most innovative ideas and designs from young, up-and-coming designers.
Find out more about our mission now and download the information folder here.
Get your tickets! Ticket sales start on September 15, 2025
Ticket Explorer 1
- Full access on November 6, 2025
- All festival themes & exhibitions
- Entrance to the dress rehearsal at 6:00 PM
- Access to the Bruno Banani Lounge
- Students only €3 / Schoolchildren free
Exhibitors
Our exhibitors will showcase the latest developments in digital fashion, AI, and smart textiles—from intelligent, sensor-based fabrics to practical applications with Clo3D, demonstrating how technology is transforming the fashion and textile industry.
the exhibitors:
Vizoo is a global leader in material digitization. With its xTex technology, fabrics are quickly and consistently transformed into digital materials. Visitors to the exhibition space will experience how digital materials form the basis for efficient, sustainable processes in design, prototyping, and marketing.
In the Digital Fitting Lab, Hohenstein combines decades of fit expertise with cutting-edge 3D technology. Virtual avatars and simulations help brands optimize fits early on and develop collections faster, more cost-effectively, and more sustainably.
BOTSPOT stands for precise 3D scanning “Made in Germany.” Photorealistic 3D models of people, clothing, and objects are created in seconds – the basis for virtual fitting, digital fashion, and many other applications.
Julian Blockschmidt presents a best-of of his 3D works and invites the audience to participate: Wearing Rococo gloves, visitors control an avatar in real time – and experience how virtual fashion and live animation merge.
The Digital Mobile Classroom DigiMoK stands for digital education, creativity, and innovation. It combines technology with learning and opens up new spaces for ideas – from the classroom to digital textile design. At the FashionTEX Festival, the glass classroom will be presented as part of the European Capital of Culture 2025 – demonstrating how education, fashion, and digital innovation converge.
Threads of Unity – An exhibition that impressively unites past and present. Unique jackets, designed and sewn by young people in creative workshops with designers, tailors, and artists, are showcased, complemented by moving portraits of former textile workers from the GDR. Their stories bring to life the significance of the textile industry for the region and demonstrate how deeply intertwined work, identity, and everyday culture are. An inspiring dialogue between tradition and future, craftsmanship and innovation – and the question of how we want to shape fashion sustainably. Concept and implementation: Sandra Cienkowski, Emma Kirmse, Valentin Mici
The brand stands for courage, individuality, and true character. With iconic design and provocative style, bruno banani celebrates people who go their own way—confident, free, and distinctive.
Fine, bold, modern: Modespitze Plauen stands for textile passion “Made in Saxony.” Here, genuine craftsmanship meets digital innovation, sustainability meets style, and fine lace becomes a statement. Whether fashion, interior design, or design, Modespitze Plauen imbues every detail with character, class, and soul.
CLO is the industry-leading 3D fashion design software trusted by designers, small businesses, and industry giants alike to achieve a seamless digital workflow. With over two decades of research and development in precise garment simulation, CLO’s mission is to support users at every stage of the clothing process – from ideation and design to production, marketing, fit, and styling. With CLO, garments can be designed faster, easier, and more accurately than ever before, creating hyper-realistic virtual clothing that can be transferred to games, the metaverse, and real life.
Deutsche Telekom shapes change with responsibility, innovation, and passion. Through projects focused on artificial intelligence, media literacy, and digital learning environments, it prepares people for tomorrow and creates opportunities for all generations. Digital education is the key to the future.
The Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Chemnitz brings digitalization to life. It supports small and medium-sized enterprises in implementing digital technologies and AI in a practical way. As an exhibitor in the Makerspace, the center demonstrates how smart innovations strengthen SMEs and shape the future.
KulturWerk Schneeberg is a creative space where craftsmanship, design, and technology come together. As an exhibitor at the Fashiontex Festival, they will demonstrate in a practical way how 3D printing and digital design are shaping the fashion world of tomorrow.
When fashion comes to life, it’s the faces that wear it that make all the difference. Valentino Models from Chemnitz presents itself at FashionTEX as a strong partner for brands, designers, and creative visions.
The Dorothea Michalk studio in Dresden stands for timeless elegance, exceptional craftsmanship, and sustainable production. Unique dresses and bespoke garments are created from exquisite fabrics, combining style, quality, and personality. Each creation is an expression of individuality and modern femininity.
Sara Linke GmbH stands for modern design, sustainable production, and the highest quality Made in Germany. With its brand SARA LINKE and Studio 1912, the company combines creative fashion, innovative textile development, and regional manufacturing. This results in responsible fashion that unites style, comfort, and sustainability.
OMIMAI represents a new and innovative generation of textile companies that combines industrial precision with individual design. The company stands for a new, innovative generation of textiles that are technologically advanced, sustainable, and unique in design.
The SME Digital Center for Smart Circular Systems prepares companies for the future: digitally, sustainably, and networked. It supports small and medium-sized enterprises in efficiently utilizing resources, digitizing processes, and developing new business models in line with the circular economy – in a practical, free, and future-oriented manner.
Speaker
Inspiring speakers will demonstrate how AI and digital tools are revolutionizing the textile world. From smart fabrics with sensors and virtual fashion designs with Clo3D to sustainable high-tech solutions for sports, health, and industry – experts will provide exciting insights into the future of the industry. Practical examples will demonstrate how visions become reality and which strategies companies, designers, and students are already successfully using today.
Martin Semsch
Vanessa Fuhrmann
Timothy Erley
Blockschmidt
Thomas Schmidt
Lena Müller
Jan Jassner
Manja Reinhardt
Daniel Mohr
Doreen Friedrichs
Jonas Kolbenschlag
Luca Stehle
Anita Michaluszko
Mathilde Cadoux
Ines Tacke
Larisa Markov
Prof. Dorette Bárdos
Antonio Lo Presti
Carl Tillessen
Dorothea Michalk
Sara Linke
Christine Werzner
Saman Khodabandeh
Dr. Thomas V. Fischer
Dr. Steffen Seeger
Julia Braun
Andreas Reinhard
Two Days, Two Stages, Countless Ideas
The FashionTEX Festival 2025 is the must-attend event for fashion designers, textile companies, startups, and industry professionals who want to actively shape the future of fashion. Tradition and innovation, craftsmanship and high-tech, fabric and light merge here. The festival showcases how artificial intelligence, 3D technologies, smart textiles, and sustainability are transforming the textile industry – and the opportunities this creates for the next generation of creative minds and entrepreneurs.
Visitors can expect an inspiring mix of digital fashion, smart textiles, AI, 3D innovation, networking, and knowledge transfer – bundled into two days full of future perspectives.
Thursday, November 6 – Inspiration & Innovation
The event at fabrik Chemnitz begins with the official opening and exciting panels on AI in education and design. The exhibition “Threads of Unity” will be an emotional experience, linking textile memories with modern visions of the future.
In fascinating keynote speeches, experts from Hohenstein Laboratories, Botspot, Vizoo, and CLO 3D will demonstrate how digital material simulation, 3D printing, networked smart fabrics, and AI-supported workflows are transforming the path from idea to production. The panel “AI between Fashion Atelier and Algorithm” will bring leading European fashion schools, technology partners, and companies into dialogue about education, responsibility, and new business models.
In the evening, the dress rehearsal of the FashionTEX Show will offer initial glimpses of an impressive symbiosis of physical, digital, and smart fashion. Rooftop networking above the rooftops of the Capital of Culture will foster new contacts, collaborations, and creative ideas in a relaxed atmosphere.
Friday, November 7 – Shaping the Future
The second day will focus on practice, research, and vision. From digital pattern development with CLO 3D to AI as a creative partner to Plauen lace in digital transformation, companies will experience how Saxon textile tradition, smart textiles, and modern technologies combine to create new value chains.
Panels and presentations with top industry experts, including Carl Tillessen (German Fashion Institute), star designer Thomas Rath, the successful fashion subsidiary bruno banani, and Modespitze Plauen, provide valuable insights into innovation, sustainability, branding, and digitalization.
In the evening: the grand FashionTEX Show, featuring the presentation of the European “Next Generation Fashion 2025” award, is a highlight for creatives, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers in the European textile and fashion industry. Afterwards, the after-show party in the rooftop bar invites you to celebrate and network.
Innovation Exhibition – Hands-On Future
Alongside the festival, leading companies, startups, and research institutes will present their latest developments in textile technology, digitalization, and sustainable design.
Look forward to exhibitors such as:
- Deutsche Telekom – as an innovation driver, shaping the future of digital education and promoting media education and AI understanding in schools and creative training centers
- Hohenstein Laboratories GmbH – textile testing, sustainability certification & smart textiles research
- Vizoo GmbH – global leader in material digitization with xTex technology
- Botspot Berlin – high-end 3D scanning for fashion, fit & avatars
- CLO 3D – digital pattern development & real-time 3D visualization
- Modespitze Plauen GmbH – craftsmanship meets AI in embroidery
Show
The grand finale of the FashionTEX Show will take place on November 7, 2025, at 8 p.m. – a spectacular competition showcasing the innovative achievements of European fashion schools. This will put the young generation of designers and their visionary designs in the spotlight and demonstrate how creativity, fashion, and technology are shaping a new future.
A special highlight of the evening will be the ceremonial award ceremony for the European Prize Next Generation, which will honor outstanding talents and pioneering ideas.
The participation of the fashion label bruno banani – an international fashion brand with roots in the region – will add further appeal. Together with young designers from the surrounding area, this will create a unique bridge between global brand presence and regional creativity.
The FashionTEX Show will thus become a showcase for inspiration, innovation, and the fashion of tomorrow.
Location
Walls with over 150 years of history
Where history meets the future: “die fabrik” in Chemnitz is more than a building – it is a living monument to Saxon industrial culture.
Opened in 1867, the former Sächsische Strickmaschinenfabrik Kappel initially produced clothing and machine tools. Just a few years later, in 1886, the first tulle machine was built here – a pioneering piece that carried the factory’s reputation far beyond the region. Later, typewriters were added, and during wartime, armaments were manufactured. During the GDR, the factory became the heart of VEB Schleifmaschinenbau Karl-Marx-Stadt, where high-precision machines were manufactured for the entire world.
Today, this historic industrial monument is being revived. Its imposing walls breathe the spirit of more than a century and a half of innovation, change, and energy – creating space for creativity, encounters, and new ideas. A place that preserves the past and shapes the future.
Award
Under the motto “Fashion for Future“, the European Cultural Forum honors Europe’s boldest young talents. Visionaries who are exploring digital, sustainable, and unconventional paths and thus redefining the fashion industry.
We were looking for ideas and projects that demonstrate what the future of fashion could look like:
• Outfits developed with 3D tools,
• Virtual collections and digital avatars,
• Smart materials and textiles with technology,
• Immersive runway experiences and interactive concepts,
• Innovations that radically rethink fashion
The award is more than just a prize:
It is a signal for the future: Creativity meets technology – creating a new fashion reality. From sustainable high-tech solutions to groundbreaking innovations in design and production, the next generation will demonstrate how their visions become reality. The awards ceremony will take place on November 7, 2025, at 8 p.m. at the “fabrik” in Chemnitz.
Our finalists:
Jury
Digital fashion and AI are among the most exciting fields of the future: They enable new creative expressions, sustainable production methods, and data-driven design processes. The winners of the European Next Generation Award are selected by an expert jury. Each member contributes their own expertise, ensuring a diverse assessment of innovative projects.
