Among the suppliers joining Textile Forum for the first time this autumn in our new, bigger venue, will be fabric companies Bella Tela, Anbo Textiles and Yuwa Shoten, as well as button specialists Jones and Co (Nottingham) and printers Standfast & Barracks.

To find out more about these companies and other suppliers showing this autumn, check out the Who's Exhibiting section of the website.

If you are planning to visit the exhibition in October, register today for your e-ticket and you will also receive regular show news.

There's also a handy map within the registration section to show you  how to get to our new venue - One Marylebone, opposite Great Portland Street tube station.

Textile Forum exhibitor Insley & Nash, specialists in bespoke screen printing and dyeing, is a finalist in the textiles section of the NatWest UK Fashion & Textile Awards 2013.

The Fashion & Textile Children's Trust has given us with a few examples of what the £300 raised during the show last week can provide.

Last year, a grant of this sum bought:

• School uniform for  two children, whose parents faced financial hardship after being made redundant
• 20 performing arts therapy sessions for a child overcoming domestic abuse
• A specialist laptop for a child who is profoundly deaf
• Specialist clothing for a child with cerebral palsy

According to Jill Robertson, the charity's marketing and communications manager, although £300 may seem like a small sum to some it is "truly life changing to the children we support".

Regular Textile Forum exhibitor Carrington Fleet Textiles (Carringon Fabrics) won the Best Fabric Supplier Award at this week's The Bridal Buyer Awards 2013.

The Awards, which take place during the British Bridal Exhibition  in Harrogate, included a fabric suppliers category for the first time.

Two other Textile Forum exhibitors - Michael's Bridal Fabrics and Pongees - were shortlisted for the Award.

Congratulations to all.

A big thank you to exhibitors and visitors for raising £300 for the Fashion & Textile Children's Trust by donating a suggested £1 in exchange for a cup of tea or coffee and a yummy mini cupcake, sponsored by Blueberry Foods.

The deadline for entering the textile category of the UK Fashion & Textile Association’s Awards has been extended to 15 March.

Open to any textile business - be it fashion, interiors, technical - the judges will be looking for evidence of innovation and how the business is rising above its competitors.

Full details can be found at www.ukftawards.org/categories.php.

Textile Forum has closed its doors on this week's show - another successful event - and will be entering a new stage in its development with a move to a larger venue for the October exhibition.

The autumn show will be held from 16-17 October 2013 at One Marylebone, close to Regent’s Park.

 “In 2012 we celebrated 10 years of delivering high quality fabrics to the designer market; this year it is about capitalising on this success and offering a greater selection of fabrics from both UK and Continental mills," says Linda Laderman, co founder and organiser.

 “We will expand gradually, initially taking the first floor of One Marylebone for October, which will allow us to increase the number of stands by around 40%. However, we have the option to use other areas in this historical venue in the future. The move also enables us to upgrade the level of presentation for visitors – and exhibitors."

 One Marylebone is easily accessible by many tube lines (Great Portland Street tube is opposite and Regent’s Park and Warren Street a few minutes’ walk). Closest mainline stations are Euston, Kings Cross and Paddington.

Final year students from the University of Brighton have put together trend boards comprising knit, woven and print fabrics for the forthcoming Textile Forum.

The knitted textiles board focuses on women’s wear with layers, pleats, graphic structures, discreet graduating textures, modern Arans, Celtic knots and metallic mixtures.

The woven textiles trend board, showcasing men’s wear fabrics from Georgina Sury and Penny Gray. It combines sportswear and heritage themes, with bleached hessian surfaces and wools with rubberised finishes, woven mohairs and leathers, traditional suitings with ‘surprise’ finishes , shaggy/pile surfaces and plastic/ wool combinations.

There is a strong emphasis on layering light and heavy weight fabrics and colours that incorporate  faded neutrals and rich darks with neon

Georgina's  work explores textiles through the narrative of her grandfather’s letters as he travelled from England to Australia: shirtings and suitings are weathered, mended and augmented creating a relaxed textural menswear story.

Penny was inspired by dark, urban industrial spaces and the tension between the natural and man-made combining luxury fibres, mohair and leathers with technical finishes.

 

Seen here is the knitted textiles work from Lily Eden, Kate Jopling, Alice Liptrot, Jasmine Nicholls and Lucy Willoughy.

 

If you think you could be the Textile Business of the Year then do enter the new UK Fashion & Textile Awards. Open to any textile business - be it fashion, interiors, technical - the judges will be looking for evidence of innovation and how the business is rising above its competitors.

The deadline for entries is 8 March  and the Awards ceremony will be held on the evening of 23 May in London.

Full details can be found at www.ukftawards.org/categories.php.

Would be great if a Textile Forum exhibitor won this Award.

This March, Textile Forum will be selling refreshments in aid of charity partner the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust (FTCT),   which supports disadvantaged children whose parents or carers work in the UK fashion and textile industry.

Visitors will be kindly asked to give a £1 donation in exchange for a cup of tea/coffee/water and a biscuit.

For every £1 given, this will boost the funds for FTCT’s grants which make a huge difference to the lives of many more children.

Children like Tom aged 8 years, who suffers from autism and diabetes. FTCT awarded Tom a grant of £380 to pay for essential clothing and equipment. 

Sally aged 13 years suffers from cerebal palsy and FTCT's £5000 grant went towards adaptions to the family home and a hoist for the bath.

By providing grants to support all aspects of a child’s well-being, including sickness, disability, bereavement and issues arising from financial hardship, FTCT helps hundreds of children every year.

As the recession continues to bite, FTCT has seen a 34% increase in the number of grants awarded, making fundraising even more vital, to ensuring many more families can receive their help.

So Textile Forum hopes visitors will give generously and support this wonderful cause.

For more information about FTCT visit the charity's stand at Textile Forum and have a chat with Anna and Jill, or go to their website, www.ftct.org.uk.

If you know someone whose child needs its help, please call the friendly team, in confidence on 020 7170 4117.

You can also follow FTCT on Twitter @ftct and on Facebook.com/ftct1853

 

The popularity of Textile Forum continues with the March exhibition sold out. There will be more than 35 collections on show from new and regular exhibitors.

“Fabric suppliers selling to designers at the top end of the fashion sector are generally still faring well,” says Textile Forum’s co-founder and organiser Linda Laderman, “so I was not surprised to be oversubscribed for space. While 2013 will not be an easy year, businesses seem to be more positive and Textile Forum will be bringing a broad range of innovative stock and forward order fabrics in small minimums to excite the designer market.”

Pictured here satin linings from new exhibitor Stabler International, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Plain or printed - that's the choice of leathers available at the March Textile Forum with the addition of The Deep Print Movement as a new exhibitor.
 
The company has been at the forefront of specialist leather print for more than 12 years working with many of the world's most prestigious fashion brands. Companies can have their own designs printed onto leather or choose from a selection of stock of images. The Deep Print Movement can also provides print consultation through to managing fully finished leather product manufacture.

Another skin specialist is long-standing exhibitor G H Leathers with its range of leather, suedes, sheepskins and exotic python, eel and stingray.

Pictured here is a selection of designs from The Deep Print Movement.

Among the new exhibitors at next March's Textile Forum will be Spanish silk company Jose Maria Ruiz and M Makower and Co, with its printed cottons and luxury occasionwear fabrics.

Returning to Textile Forum after exhibiting for the first time in October will be Liberty Art Fabrics, with both its classic Liberty print and Design Studio collections, and Tiss et Teint, the Belgian eveningwear specialists.

More than 30 collections will be shown at The Music Room in March offering a comprehensive range of fabrics - from wool jerseys to leathers and linings to labels.

For more exhibitor information, click here

Pictured here is a sample of fabrics from Jose Maria Ruiz.

Textile Forum's 10th anniversary show (17-18 October 2012) was a huge success with the highest percentage of first-time visitors  since the event was launched in 2002.

 Among the diverse designers and brands that attended were  Christopher Kane, Umbro, Holland and Holland, ASOS, Jenny Packham, Lyle & Scott and Pearce Fionda.

 The exhibition was busy from the moment that  the doors opened and at times people were queuing to get in which  augurs well for the next decade.

 Particularly impressed with the event was Andrew Fionda of Pearce Fionda. "We thought the show was brilliant.  We were looking for fabric for a small couture collection we are introducing and we saw some of the world's top fabrics at Textile Forum. We normally go to Première Vision but decided we wanted to try and do everything from London this season - and we did."

 As part of the celebrations, 14 companies which had shown at least 10 times were presented with framed posters featuring their fabrics as a token of their support during a party with themed cake (seen here), cocktails and Spanish guitarist.

 The UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) supported the anniversary by sponsoring a give-away bag for visitors, which was co-branded with the dates of the next Textile Forum - 6-7 March 2013.

Drapers has joined Textile Forum as a media partner in time to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the exhibition.

Drapers, the weekly fashion business title, which marked its 125th anniversary earlier this year, will be running a special textiles feature in September that will take a look at the new season’s trends and business issues gathering information from exhibitors and organisers of Textile Forum and Première Vision.

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