Trends Defining The Future Of Textiles

🌟 What’s Next in Textiles? 5 Emerging Trends to Watch in 2025–2026

The textile world is changing fast — and not just in terms of style. Heading into 2025 and beyond, the industry is being reshaped by innovation, sustainability, and smarter tech, whether you’re a designer, a manufacturer, or just someone who loves keeping up with what's next. What's next in textiles?

Whether it’s fitness apparel that monitors your health or jackets that adapt to weather conditions, wearable tech is becoming wearable fashion. I have found some interesting companies making real change in the direction of smart, sustainable fabrics.

Here are some of the trends defining the future of textiles.

Philip Ross - "SCHOLAR'S FUNGUS" (2014)

1. 🌱 Sustainability Isn’t a Trend — It’s the Standard

Sustainability is no longer optional — it’s expected. Brands are going beyond “organic cotton” and exploring seriously innovative materials. We’re talking fabrics made from algae, leather grown from mushrooms, and even new textiles created from old clothes.

The Future of Materials

MycoWorks began with its co-founder and San Francisco artist Phillip Ross, who has worked at the intersection of art, design and biotech for decades. Phillip began cultivating mycelium as a material for art and design in the 1990s, inspired by the beauty and life cycles of mushrooms. He learned to forage for wild mushrooms, and Phillips' work as a hospice caregiver during the HIV crisis introduced him to the immune-supporting benefits of reishi mushrooms, which he began growing for medicinal use. He discovered a rich diversity in form, texture and colour - expressions of Reishi's dynamic response to the everyday forces of light, air, gravity and temperature. Phillip began working with Reishi as a material for creating sculptures, growing living works of art. Phillip collaborated with fellow artist Sophis Wang, to start a company. Sophia stepped forward to lead their efforts to bring mycelium to the wider world, and MycoWorks was born in 2013.

MycoWorks experimented with vegetable tanning and finishing techniques adapted from the leather industry and customised for mycelium.

MycoWorks has partnered with people and brands dedicated to achieving artisanal excellence and quality in every product made with Reishi Fine Mycelium. In close dialogue with fashion and footwear brands seeking to improve their supply chains with sustainable materials, MycoWorks advanced a process for growing uniform sheets of interwoven mycelium customised for thickness, surface features and dimension.

This really is an exciting shift in the textile market.

There’s also a big move toward plastic-free alternatives. Take Yulastic, a stretchy material made from natural rubber. Or EcoMade Lycra, a bio-based fibre that’s helping brands ditch petroleum-based spandex. The goal? Clothes that don’t cost the planet.

2. 🧵 Smart Fabrics

Technology and textiles are becoming inseparable. Fabrics are now capable of tracking your heart rate, regulating body temperature, or even changing colour. Yep — clothing that responds to you and your environment.

Check out 'ChroMorphous'. A New Fabric Experience, and their partners, who are challenging the industry. ChroMorphous is a new innovation in the textile industry. Their fabric is an active, user-controlled, colour-changing e-textile. With their new fabric, you can control the colour and patterns of your clothing and accessories at any time, using only your smartphone.

User-controlled Colour Changing Fabric Tote

Chameleon International – Since 2001, the Chameleon team has been a leader and innovator in colour-changing pigments and materials. ChroMorphous products are made with Chameleon’s one-of-a-kind colour-changing formulations.

Hills, Inc. – ChroMorphous fibres are made using the high-tech extrusion equipment from the engineers at Hills, Inc.

Inman Mills – ChroMorphous fibres are woven by Inman Mills into durable, high-quality fabrics.

WETESO - Is a wearable tech design firm, developing inspirational prototypes and media assets that highlight the capabilities of the ChroMorphous textiles.

3. ♻️ Waste is out, circularity is in

Recycling isn’t just for plastic bottles anymore. Textile-to-textile recycling — turning old garments into new ones — has been around for a while, though it is now gaining real traction. Major players are teaming up to build better recycling infrastructure, and designers are jumping on zero-waste patterns that cut down on fabric scraps during production.

4. 🔍 Fashion With A Conscience, No Longer Niche — It’s Becoming The Norm

Today’s consumers want to know where their clothes come from — and they’re not afraid to ask. Blockchain Tech is helping brands offer transparency throughout the supply chain, so shoppers can trace a garment’s journey from fibre to finish.

Ethical labour practices, responsible sourcing, and traceability are becoming major selling points.

5. ☀️ Fabrics That Do Something: Energy-Generating Textiles

Advances in Energy Harvesting Technologies for Wearable Devices

One of the most futuristic (and pretty cool) innovations? Solar-powered fabrics. These textiles can actually generate electricity from sunlight, meaning your jacket could someday charge your phone while you walk around. The potential here is massive, especially for outdoor and tech-forward brands. At their core, they employ various energy conversion technologies integrated into fabric structures. - I'm not sure I'm totally comfortable with the idea of being wrapped in electrically charged fibres all day, and the health implications of this technology, another medical issue to study in the next few years.

These technologies can be broadly categorised into a few main types.

For example:

Photovoltaic Materials → Similar to solar panels, but much more flexible and adaptable to textile formats. These fabrics capture sunlight and transform it into electricity.

Piezoelectric Materials → Which generate electricity when subjected to mechanical stress or pressure. Imagine walking, and the movement of your clothing generates power.

Thermoelectric Textiles → These fabrics convert temperature differences into electrical energy.

Triboelectric Textiles → Based on static electricity principles, these textiles generate charge when two different materials are rubbed together.

The next couple of years in textiles are all about smart design, circular thinking, and sustainable innovation. These fabrics won’t just look good — they’ll be ethically made, tech-enhanced, and environmentally responsible.

I hope that ethically made fashion becomes truly affordable and accessible for everyone.

Stay tuned, because the way we create, wear, and think about textiles is about to change — for good.