Material Expressions: Aircraft Cabin Textile Trends
Share
This story was originally published in the March/April issue of APEX Experience magazine.
APEX Insight: Techy patterns and cozy textiles are in vogue this season. We catch up with cabin textile leaders rohi, Tisca Tiara and Lantal Textiles ahead of next week’s Aircraft Interiors Expo to get a glimpse into the thread trends they’re setting.
It seems that as aging baby boomers and digital natives take to the skies together, two very different trends have emerged. Cozy concepts that invoke the softness of home and technology-inspired looks will compete for the seat in 2016.
“Technical-looking fabrics, 3-D designs, clear structures and themes from the automotive industry will be big,” says Matthias Tischhauser, managing director at Tisca Tiara. “But so will fabrics coming out of the residential industry. We draw a lot of inspiration from there, as well as the furniture industry, where a lot of trends begin.”
Ilona Illing, director of Design at Lantal Textiles, agrees that these polarized demographic themes are key right now. “Digital natives are attracted by responsive textiles and designs that are dynamic,” she says. “Baby boomers or those from other mature generations appreciate quality, design and functionality above all.”
“Airlines know more about who they are or what personality they want to have now.” €” Philipp Dahm, managing director at rohi
Following its bold Create PINK! campaign last year, rohi will again encourage airlines to experiment this year, and drive them to further understand the role cabin decor plays in breaking away from conformity. “Airlines know more about who they are or what personality they want to have now,” explains Philipp Dahm, managing director at rohi. “Their approach to branding goes beyond just color and logo.”
This increased focus on brand, Dahm adds, has inspired rohi to think more about individuality – both from an airline and passenger perspective. Their Eclectic range is a great example of this. “An almost endless repeat of patterns, shapes and textures are based on a harmonic color concept,” he explains. “The beauty of Eclectic is that each seat cover will display a different portion of the pattern repeat, so each passenger will find his or her own seat to be different.”