Which trends offer opportunities or pose threats on the European home decoration and home textiles market?

Source: Maison&Objet Barometer – Issue 1

Opportunities

• Recycling/upcycling materials from local consumption/production can be an opportunity. Waste or offcut materials from the industry are often readily available and relatively cheap.
• Consumers are interested in the story of your value chain. Not just to make sure that materials are really recycled, but because consumers appreciate knowing that an item used to be part of something else.
• Using your cultural heritage to introduce new patterns and colours to buyers and consumers makes your products unique. You can mix these designs with cultural elements.
• Being well-prepared for the new legislation can give you a competitive advantage.
• Social/environmental certification can add value and credibility to your concept.
• Positive gender values can make you stand out.

Threats

• Sustainable products do not automatically sell for higher prices. Price is mainly influenced by design value, quality and finish.
• Western brands are also creating concepts based on recycling/upcycling. This means that design expectations are quite high, and that you will also be competing with European designers.
• You must be able to support any sustainable claims you make, preferably with certifications. Many buyers already require this, and the proposed Green Claims Directive could make it mandatory.
• Taking a stand on political or social issues creates a following, but you also risk losing some customers. Non-confrontational communication is important.
• In the long term, buying local (‘Made in Europe’) to reduce environmental impact could become a threat to you.

3. Wellness

The search for health and happiness has become an important focus. Many people, especially younger generations, live under stress from peer pressure on social media and struggle to find homes. The climate crisis is a major concern. To improve their mental and physical wellness, a key question is: ‘How can I buy better to feel better about myself?’

This includes:

• Feeling more connected to others;
• Improving one’s knowledge and skills;
• Living a more active, healthier lifestyle, closer to nature;
• Becoming more creative.

Products that help achieve these goals will appeal to millennials and Gen Z. For them, climate change is more personal than for their parents’ generations. As such, sustainability has become a core personal wellness issue. This makes it a stronger reason for buying for these generations than for any before. They want products with social and environmental benefits, so they feel good about their purchase.

For 73% of consumers in an international survey, wellness is an essential element of any brand's strategy. 89% of people did more to improve their wellbeing in 2024 than in 2023. In 2024, fragrance and wellness products were some of HDHT retailers’ best-performing product categories.

The home is closely connected to mental wellness. In an IKEA survey, 40% of respondents who felt more positive about their home also saw a positive impact on their mental health. Many associate clean, decluttered spaces with a greater sense of calmness. In fact, decluttering can reduce stress and make people feel happier, less anxious and more confident. According to the IKEA survey, sleeping and relaxing (for example by reading under a warm blanket) are the most important activities for achieving a sense of wellbeing at home.

Video 5: Ethically produced bed textiles of tencel and linen

Source: URBANARA

This focus on wellness translates into several important HDHT market trends:

• Wellness categories (like yoga, spa, leisure and the garden) will be in demand;
• Social and environmental values are part of the primary wellness values;
• Marketing communication should highlight specific wellness benefits and take a stand on important social and environmental issues but in a gentle tone of voice;
• Storytelling will focus on stories that allow consumers to learn about new (sustainable) materials, techniques, processes and cultures;
• Design trends will attempt to be ‘bio-centric’ (with full consideration for the planet), for example through natural dyes and timeless designs; 
• Convenience through digitalisation of the shopping journey.

Forecast

Wellness will continue to be the main trend in HDHT for the coming decade. In 2024, mood boosting and wellbeing were the main reasons for British consumers to redecorate. All developments described above will start, continue, grow stronger, and need a more central place in the business practices of both European companies and their suppliers.

Opportunities

This trend offers opportunities for products/product groups that:

• Are related to the various aspects of wellness, like spa and yoga items (soap, hammam towels), candles, garden furniture, easy chairs, bed textiles and travel accessories;
• Include natural raw materials or colours;
• Are related to leisure, hobbies, sports, toys and games;
• Appeal to the new ‘young old’ consumer;
• Offer attractive stories;
• Are sustainable and transparent.

Threats

• Sustainability has become a personal issue directly linked to consumers’ wellbeing, especially for younger generations. Products without clear social/environmental benefits may be ignored.

Video 6: CBI webinar on wellness in HDHT

Source: CBI

4. New circular business models

With their commitment to sustainability, millennials and Gen Z also introduce values like ‘sharing over possessing’. These topics are key drivers of new circular business models that extend the lifecycle of HDHT products. Full circularity is generally not yet possible for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. But there is much innovation in the industry. Recycling, upcycling and experimenting with alternative materials are popular options that you can participate in.

Another way to extend the lifecycle of HDHT products is through retail concepts like sharing, leasing, buy-backs and reselling. These business models minimise environmental impact by keeping products in use for as long as possible. They also provide flexibility and make products available to consumers with smaller budgets. Second-hand furniture is a well-established market in many European countries. Strong growth is expected.

Source: YouGov

The combination of sustainability and affordability makes these concepts especially popular among millennials and Gen Z. These environmentally conscious generations value sharing over owning. They generally have less disposable income than older consumers. The flexibility of these concepts also makes it easier for them to adapt to life events like moving house (often rental) and starting a family.

An example of a company rolling out such new business models is IKEA. The company aims to make its product range 100% circular by 2030. It focuses on products that can be repaired and reused before being recycled or remanufactured. Besides offering spare parts and publishing disassembly instructions, IKEA has launched buy-back (and reselling) programmes. It has also been piloting leasing/rental concepts.

Video 7: Why the future of furniture is circular

Source: IKEA

Besides large retail chains experimenting with circular business models, companies are emerging with circularity as their core business model. For example, Selency and Whoppah are popular online marketplaces where European consumers can buy used home furnishings.

Forecast

With the growing influence of millennials and Gen Z, the popularity of circular business models is expected to rise. In a 2019 study among customers of German interior design shop Connox, the most common reason for never having rented furniture before was not having thought of it (PDF in German). This supports a 2018 study by the European Commission, suggesting that increasing consumer awareness of second-hand, renting/leasing and repair markets enhances engagement in the circular economy.

As circular concepts become more common, consumer awareness increases. In 2023, HDHT professionals reported a growing demand for circular products:

• 80% noted a growing demand for recycled products;
• 72% for upcycled products;
• 63% for pre-owned items.

In 2023, most HDHT retailers offered upcycled products and products made with recycled materials. Nearly half of them sold second-hand products. 64% of HDHT retailers thought it will be essential to offer second-hand/pre-owned products in the future, compared to 41% in 2021.

Opportunities

• Using pre-/post-consumer and post-industrial waste can reduce material costs.
• Circular business models can open up new markets.
• Teaming up with distributors to create buy-back/reselling and refurbishment programmes facilitates longer-term buyer loyalty.
• Recycled/vintage materials allow you to create a luxury positioning based on a ‘limited edition’ concept.

Threats

• Recycled materials may run out. This could force you to phase out popular product lines.
• Using recycled materials may create concerns about the precise material content and the relevant legal requirements. New sustainability legislation may pose a challenge especially if the materials’ origins are not traceable.
• ‘Big Business’ usually has more control over the product lifecycle. For SMEs, it can be difficult to compete.
• Concepts like refurbishment and reselling may decrease the need for new production.

5. Changing global supply chains

In marketing, distribution channels are becoming shorter. For example through manufacturers selling straight to retail. Physical distribution is concerned with the logistical supply chains of materials and semi-/end-products. Here, different forces make supply chains more complex, and sometimes longer.

Global supply chains have been under pressure. European importers have realised that political shocks can severely disrupt distribution and markets. Governments have imposed bans and tariffs, and consumers want to know where products come from.

Importers have been trying to make their supply chains less vulnerable, through: 

• Second sourcing – contracting multiple suppliers for the same (or a similar) product;
• Vertical integration – taking more control over their supply chain by building the capacity of their existing suppliers, or actually taking over suppliers;
• Pre-stocking – building inventory which can be sold in case of new disruptions, often asking manufacturers to keep such (unpaid) stocks; 
• Reshoring – contracting European manufacturers to produce (part of) an existing collection that was previously imported;
• Longer lifecycles – extending product lifecycles.

According to McKinsey, value chains shifting away from their current top producers (like in second sourcing) could present a real opportunity for some developing economies in the HDHT sector. Reshoring may be a hot topic, but it is not that easy in practice. Redesigning supply chains takes time, and effects may not be visible in the short term. Also, the value for money of reshored HDHT products often disappoints. 5 years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, only a few dozen European companies across sectors have reshored some of their production.

Figure 4: Obstacles to reshoring HDHT

Source: Maison&Objet Barometer – Issue 4

The changes in supply chains create a more secure distribution system to Western Europe. But they also make the supply chain more fragmented, less efficient and more costly. These costs will be passed on to companies and consumers. For example, if Western importers second-source end-products from Southeast Asia but manufacturers there still source components from China, the supply chain becomes more tangled, less transparent and possibly more costly.

Forecast

Governments will increase their direct involvement in trade through tariffs and by facilitating sourcing closer to home. Their aim is to increase security in the delivery of goods and improve sustainability in distribution chains.

At the same time, increased US-China trade tariffs could indirectly affect the European market and your opportunities too. Chinese producers may redirect their exports towards Europe at lower prices (‘dumping’). This could lead to more competition, especially at the lower ends of the market. To protect the EU internal market from harmful imports, a new import surveillance task force will monitor import trends. The European Commission can use the EU’s trade defence toolbox, including anti-dumping measures.

Consumers will become used to longer lead times, higher prices and items not always being available. They may favour quality over quantity when buying products (timeless rather than trendy), learn to like a product longer, and/or share and exchange items with others. Younger generations in particular will ask more questions about product origins and whether these align with their values.

Opportunities

• Importers will look for second sources – especially in East Asia – to become less dependent on single sources.
• This may also lead to a more favourable financial context for East Asian exporters, including government subsidies and improved terms for working and investment capital from banks. 
• Businesses with verifiable sustainable practices have a competitive advantage.
• Focus on design, craftsmanship, sustainability and storytelling to add value and avoid competing with low-end mass-produced items.

Threats

• East Asia’s dependence on China for inputs may limit its bargaining position. 
• Some production may be re-shored to European suppliers.
• Chinese direct investment may replace the original ownership of East-Asian manufacturers and exporters. 
• Chinese dumping practices may lead to more competition at the lower ends of the market.

6. Home sweet home

In times of disruption, consumers appreciate the comfort and safety of their home, family and friends. This means a revival of ‘cocooning’. The ‘home sweet home’ trend involves people (across generations) enjoying each other’s company, entertaining, cooking and dining, or simply relaxing. This relates to items that create a cosy atmosphere, as well as cookware and dinnerware for ‘slow dining’. In a 2025 Maison&Objet Barometer, kitchen and gourmet products remained as some of the best-performing categories in HDHT.

This trend also involves disconnecting from the troublesome outside world. For older consumers with a relatively high disposable income, the home forms a retreat. It is a place of luxury, with high-quality furniture and decoration, often in nostalgic styles. Popular materials include comfortable, heavy textiles, dark wood, and metal. Patterns are bold and colours are cosy and warm, including darker rich reds and purples, sophisticated blues and browns.

Video 8: Retro revival

Source: John Lewis

The way consumers decorate their home reflects their personality. In this context, both consumers and buyers appreciate good storytelling that evokes an emotional connection. The story behind your product and company can highlight key aspects like your environmentally and socially responsible values and activities. As European consumers travel to more distant places, they are discovering new stories.

When products are handmade from sustainable materials, this further adds to their sustainable concept. HDHT products can reflect their origins in their materials, techniques and meanings. They can have cultural stories to tell, especially in the fair-trade segment. These products can also tell the story of the importance of meaningful work and income in developing countries – especially for women. This has kept many interesting artisan skills alive.

Forecast

As millennials and Gen Z start new families, cocooning will become a mainstream lifestyle trend. Spending time with friends and family is the main stress reliever for European consumers, who say it brings them a lot of pleasure.

In addition, one of the things that makes many consumers feel most content is cooking or eating homemade meals. The cost-of-living crisis has led 44% to plan to cook more at home. Luxury retro styles need to attract younger affluent consumers to stay relevant.

Opportunities

• The luxury aspect of this trend may offer good margins. 
• The luxurious ‘home sweet home’ style is based on supreme craftsmanship and a stable colour palette.
• Interior decorators carrying this style are found at all major European HDHT trade fairs.
• The cocooning aspect has growth potential and will move along with the preferences of younger generations.
• Cocooning is particularly promising for specialists in home textiles, home accessories, Christmas items and cooking/dining. 

Threats

• The luxury trend is fading. Margins may be good, but volumes relatively small and turnaround low. 
• The cocooning trend will become mainstream and mid-market, attracting high-volume/low-cost suppliers.

7. Shared living and tiny spaces 

About 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and the UN expects 68% by 2050. Europe will mainly be home to small- to medium-sized cities, growing at twice the rate of megacities. This will create pressure on urban space and raise housing prices. As a result, consumers are adjusting to tiny urban properties. They are adopting new forms of shared living more and more, often with multiple generations together. Homes are adapted to or designed with shared and private spaces. This creates new directions in HDHT.

In their private spaces, consumers like to display their personal style. Values related to differentiation, eclecticism, personal taste and style are important. These are mainly associated with mid-high/premium markets. Items for tiny/shared living spaces must be more flexible, convenient and multipurpose. Such values are found primarily in the mid-/lower-end market.

To improve their wellbeing, consumers in small urban spaces are creating a closeness to nature through flowers and plants. In 2023, 74% of specifiers reported an increasing demand for green outdoor spaces and/or terraces in residential projects. Tiny balcony gardens are trendy, offering clever seating and gardening solutions. Urban consumers are also increasingly working from home. This further adds to the required multifunctionality and flexibility of their living space.

Video 9: Adjustable desk

Source: OAKO Denmark

Forecast

As urbanisation grows and hybrid working becomes the norm, urban consumers will be looking for suitable solutions. For example, increasing functional space was a common reason for British consumers to redecorate in 2024.

Opportunities

This trend offers opportunities for products/product groups that:

• Can be used around the house, like occasional furniture;
• Are lightweight, collapsible, flat-pack and easily stored;
• Are multipurpose; 
• Feature flexible components or several style options.

Because shared living creates demand for both volume (shared spaces) and value (private spaces), there are opportunities across the market.

Threats

• Products with values related to convenience and functionality are often price-sensitive. This means you can expect price pressure and high-volume requirements.

8. Playfulness

Playing is essential. It strongly connects to 3 human priorities: a stress-free and happy life, (children’s) self-love and advocacy, and connection and family togetherness. As such, playing is closely related to happiness and mental wellness. People play to have fun and fulfil their need for optimism, escape and invention. It stimulates social connection, reducing loneliness and isolation and providing a distraction from worries. Because of this, consumers welcome new opportunities and concepts to imagine, escape, explore, create and connect.

Playfulness at HDHT product level has various expressions, including:

• Bold colours, shapes or patterns – like Jonathan Adler’s style;
• Functional items that are figurative as if to play with – like Alessi kitchenware;
• Modular items that let consumers ‘construct their own product’ – like HAY’s kaleido trays;
• Items that use cultural styles in a surprising way – like Kitsch Kitchen’s style;
• Items that look badly made or damaged – like MAARTEN BAAS’s Clay chair;
• Items that use ‘dark’ or surreal humour – like those by Ibride.

Video 10: Rearrangeable fabric vases made with traditional hat-making techniques

Source: MOBJE

Forecast

The younger generations are playful and creative, and will push this trend further. The combination of play as an essential human need and the current crises makes this an enduring trend.

Opportunities

• This trend represents an expressive style in all segments and has a deep permanent link to European consumers’ tastes.
• It encourages consumers to practise playful interaction and co-creation through flexible and customisable concepts. Creativity is deeply connected to wellness.

Threats

• Humour and light-heartedness can come across as inauthentic when they are adopted just to be trendy.
• What is considered funny is personal and/or cultural. Your humour may appeal only to specific niches.

9. Digitalisation in marketing and services

Digital technology is becoming more important in every aspect of our lives. The pandemic has accelerated this. In 2024, 19% of EU consumers ordered furniture, home accessories and garden products online (in the 3 months preceding the survey), up from 15% in 2023. This varied from up to 10% in mainly Eastern European countries to about 30% in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands.

Consumers generally prefer to buy from brands with both an online and a physical presence, so that they can gather information and inspiration online and in person. Online is considered ‘better’ than offline across many criteria, including variety, reviews, price, comparison of brands and products and – perhaps surprisingly – fun. Online is inferior in only 2 aspects: the ability to try the right product and get advice from staff. This is why shoppers still visit physical shops: to try that chair or feel that cushion.

Online channels can also help consumers (and professional buyers) find out where products come from and how they are made. The HDHT sector has digital solutions specifically for those looking for sustainable options. For example, consumer platform Avocadostore brings together sustainable fashion and home items. Sourcing platform Linking Maker & Market showcases SMEs from CBI programmes. Ambiente’s Ethical Style Guide lists sustainable trade-fair participants.

Important European HDHT trade fairs have now become hybrid, hosting permanent online business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces. Examples are Maison&Objet’s MOM and Messe Frankfurt’s affiliated nmedia.hub. These allow for convenient B2B sourcing and one-stop-shopping. Other relevant marketplaces include Faire and Fairling.

Forecast

Millennials and Gen Z are already online-focused, and consumers in general are increasingly comfortable with digital technology. 58% of all shopping worldwide is online. This is predicted to reach 64% in the coming decade. Growth is driven by working from home, as 65% of consumers report shopping online more as a result.

Digitalisation and digital technology will become more relevant for exporters from developing countries, in areas like marketing, communication, sustainability and production. The new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation introduces digital product passports, and the Regulation on Deforestation-free Products requires geolocation data of the production area. The home is also becoming ‘smart’, playing into the consumer’s need for convenience. IKEA is a frontrunner in this.

Opportunities

• Online marketplaces can be a cost-effective way to achieve global distribution.
• Exporters gaining experience with e-commerce in export markets can exploit this in their domestic markets and create effective online concepts, and vice versa.
• AI can be useful in creating marketing campaigns, especially across language barriers.

Figure 5: The use of AI for business among HDHT professionals

Source: Maison&Objet Barometer – Issue 10

Threats

• Digitalisation generally speeds up communication and service delivery, as well as expectations concerning response time.
• In online shopping, price is a leading reason for buying. Price competition is expected to grow.
• There is much discussion around digitalisation and mental health, which may create a countertrend.
• AI could help with basic communication but cannot replace your authentic tone of voice and story.

10. Handmade under pressure

HDHT product prices heavily depend on the cost and availability of raw materials, energy and transport. Occasional cost increases are not usually passed on to the consumer, but put pressure on margins. However, current disruptions have resulted in longer-term cost increases. This has forced many HDHT businesses to raise prices. At the same time, the cost-of-living crisis has made consumers hesitant to spend.

The combination of high prices and low consumer confidence may lead consumers to trade down towards the lower segments. This may lead to a race to the bottom, with increasing price competition. It may also put the handmade segments in the mid-high and premium markets under pressure, in a potential countertrend scenario.

Forecast

HDHT retailers order conservatively. They order similar items from familiar wholesalers to avoid risk. In the next couple of years, the retail landscape is expected to consolidate in favour of retail chains and towards lower price segments.

One possible negative scenario would be consumers buying more affordable mass/industrially produced HDHT products. This would lead to fewer handmade products being introduced into the market. As a result of more limited availability, consumers would no longer ‘understand’ how products are made. This could lead to less appreciation for handmade craftsmanship and a less prominent role for producers. This, in turn, could lead to a lower value perception and less consumer engagement with the handmade segments in the mid-high/premium markets.

The first signals of this are coming from the home textiles market. Here both professional buyers and consumers are less aware of and focused on the beauty of handwoven and hand-dyed products. Price premiums for handmade are already small. This may become a new reality in HDHT unless storytelling urgently becomes a priority. Consumers’ desire to increase their skills and knowledge is a key aspect of improving their wellbeing, which offers opportunities amongst millennials and Gen Z. They are very open to ‘making’ and ‘maker’ stories.

Opportunities

• Lean and cost-effective exporters who can supply large volumes for the mid-/lower-end markets should focus on larger importers, catering to large networks of retailers. They have the continued buying power and trust among retailers to help them sustain their business.
• Smaller exporters can sell directly to small and individual retailers. This may require keeping stock in Europe and using fulfilment services.
• Consumers will always celebrate and give gifts. This area in HDHT is stable and relatively unaffected by economic hardship. 
• Connecting or reconnecting with the domestic market may make sense.

Threats

• Professional buyers and consumers may become less aware and appreciative of the added value of handmade products if their focus shifts towards the lower-end market.
• Eastern European countries are strong competitors – especially in the mid-/lower-end markets.
• European consumers are focusing on experiences like travel, which may affect HDHT sales.

Globally Cool carried out this study in partnership with GO! GoodOpportunity and Remco Kemper on behalf of CBI.

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