What?
In 2004, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung ran the headline: ‘Chamtz’ is still Germany’s textile capital! Chemnitz will be the European Capital of Culture in 2025. Reason enough to revitalise the topic of textiles in Chemnitz and the region in many facets. Especially as the ‘Saxon Manchester’ owes a large part of its current culture and identity to textile production, which made Chemnitz an industrial metropolis – until the upheavals of 1989/90 ... and beyond!
In the Capital of Culture year 2025, the Chemnitz Industrial Museum will highlight relationships with other European textile regions such as Manchester, Mulhouse, Łódź, Tampere and Gabrovo. While the Industrial Museum’s main exhibition ‘Tales of Transformation’ highlights exciting differences and similarities in the historical development, ‘Textile? Future!’ 2025 shows the textile today and tomorrow in Chemnitz and the surrounding area as well as the partner regions.
This offers the opportunity to establish (supra)regional networks and to inform a broad, international audience about the surprising opportunities and new challenges of the current textile industry. True to the Capital of Culture motto ‘C the unseen’, textile history, but above all the textile present, will become visible!
How?
‘Textile? Future!’ is a show ‘to touch’ because haptic qualities are essential here. Equally important is the diversity of the exhibition participants, who allow visitors to look to the future in places with an overwhelming textile past: to the textile industry as – still – a powerful, innovative sector with surprisingly versatile products. Textile? Is mobile, vital, green! Textiles can do more than just fashionable clothing! This is demonstrated here by traditional companies with over 100 years of experience as well as experimental start-ups. Research institutes and training centres also open up new perspectives from fashion to high-tech, because: Textiles can also be a profession! Educational museum programmes have been developed to provide career guidance as well as dialogue opportunities in terms of ecology and sustainability.
In 2025, the Capital of Culture edition of ‘Textile? Future!’ will present Saxony’s textile players – updated and even more multifaceted – in the Chemnitz Industrial Museum and at satellite locations of textile-historical significance in the city and the surrounding area.
There are also spotlights on the partner regions of Manchester, Mulhouse, Łódź, Tampere and Gabrovo – places with similar industrial-historical prerequisites, often the ‘Manchester’ of their country thanks to the textile industry.
Exhibition islands and activities make it possible to showcase the textile locations and their currently outstanding textile creators and products, training opportunities and research successes and to bring them into dialogue – networking them regionally and throughout Europe. Iconic objects are presented together with a short portrait and profile of the players. There is also information on the region/location, consumer expertise, training, sustainability ...
From 2020 to 2023, the exhibition at Tuchfabrik Gebr. Pfau in Crimmitschau provided information about the future of textiles in western Saxony – and travelled to the textile stronghold of Großschönau in eastern Saxony in 2024.
Where?
The Capital of Culture edition of ‘Textile? Future!’ uses both the central reception area of the Chemnitz Industrial Museum for a brilliant start and the museum’s ‘Textile Street’ for in-depth information. Activities and events are possible in various (exhibition) rooms as well as in the outdoor area.
There are also satellite locations in the city and the surrounding area of Chemnitz. These are places with interesting textile connections, especially outstanding museums on the most diverse facets of the textile cosmos. Another exciting satellite is Chemnitz University of Technology with its Master’s degree programme ‘Textile Structures and Technologies’ as well as research expertise in lightweight textile construction and regional raw materials. All satellite exhibitions will refer to the central show in the Industrial Museum – and vice versa, but individually adapted to the local players and focal points.
![[Translate to English:] Regionale Einordnung Textil?Zukunft!2025](/fileadmin/mediamanager-tf/content/Karte-Museen.jpg)
Map: Geoportal Sachsen
Who?
As part of ‘Textile Boom’, the 4th Saxon State Exhibition 2020 at the Tuchfabrik Gebr. Pfau in Crimmitschau, stakeholders from the fields of culture, education, research and business got involved. For the accompanying exhibition ‘Textile? Future!’, the Zweckverband Sächsisches Industriemuseum and the city of Crimmitschau laid the foundation stone together with the Free State of Saxony – Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Arts (SMWK), Saxon State Office for Museums (SLfM) and Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport (SMWA) – and the Association of the North-East German Textile and Clothing Industry (vti).
The Capital of Culture edition 2025 is funded by the Free State of Saxony. The project is managed by the Association of the North-East German Textile and Clothing Industry (vti).
Contact: Anke Pfau, anke.pfau@vti-online.de, +49 371 836534-31.
The partners are the exhibiting museums and the exhibitors.
![[Translate to English:] Logo der wirtschaftsförderung Sachsen GmbH](/fileadmin/mediamanager-tf/content/Logo_Wirtschftsfoerderung_Sachsen.jpg){kind=logo}
