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"Drumze. Tibetan Carpets" is the title of an exhibition running from 16 October 2021 to 31 December 2022 at the Carpet Museum in Schloß Voigtsberg in southeastern Germany. 41 carefully chosen rugs from the 15th to the 21th century are on display, starting with old pieces that were part of the everyday lives of Tibetan farmers and herders and ending with the current "fashion"-oriented designer carpets. However, the exhibition's focus is not on the extraordinary, spectacular individual piece, but rather on the typical carpet.
Ingka Group has announced Ikea retail sales of EUR 37.4 billion for the financial year 2021 (ending on 31 August). Compared to last year (2020: EUR 35.2 billion), this is an increase of 6.3%. "Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the company continues to invest in becoming more accessible digitally and physically, more affordable and truly sustainable", it says in the press release. The pandemic has led Ingka to accelerate its digital transformation, this resulted in an increase in the share of online sales from 18% to 30%.
The German digital association Bitkom commissioned a representative survey of more than 500 bricks-and-mortar and online wholesalers and retailers in Germany. According to this survey, 85% of the retailers currently sell their goods online (2019: 58%) – either exclusively or in addition to what they sell in their shops. Online marketplaces such as Ebay, Amazon or Zalando play an important and ever increasing role. 92 % of the retailers operate their own webshops; this figure has remained constant compared to 2019.
Kasthall opened a new flagship store in Malmö, South Sweden on 15 October. The first Kasthall flagship store was opened in Stockholm in 2012. Since then, the rug creators have opened a showroom in Manhattan, New York, a flagship store in the Brera district in Milan. Now, Kasthall opened its second flagship store in Sweden. With the location down south, accessibility will be better for visitors from southern Sweden and Denmark.
View and bid on oriental carpets, textiles and tapestries online: from 13 to 19 October, the Dorotheum Vienna will be showing a large selection, from antique to new, from Anatolia, China, Iran, the Caucasus and Uzbekistan, among others.
On 1 October 2021, Ivonne Seifert (42) took over as Head of Marketing Communications for the Textiles & Textile Technologies segment at Messe Frankfurt. Her responsibilities include the leading international trade fairs Heimtextil, Techtextil and Texprocess, the fashion fairs Neonyt and Val:ue as well as communicative support for international brand management with around 60 events worldwide in the entire value chain of the textile and fashion industry.
After a one-year break, Milan's Salone del Mobile is back with a special event, the Supersalone. In early September, 425 mainly Italian exhibitors were showing their creative ideas in four pavilions on almost 70,000 sqm; 70 international suppliers were also exhibiting at the show.
Consumer sentiment is improving again, according to the September study conducted by the German market research institute GfK. On average, people are expecting higher incomes and are more inclined to consume, there is also a declining tendency to save. The consumer climate has thus reached its highest level in almost one and a half years. The employment situation is extremely stable; emerging discussions about inflation do not influence the mood significantly.