Textiles are one of the most under-used and underappreciated tools in
the designer’s tool kit. They soften the hard edges of modern materials and interiors to add comfort, intimacy, acoustic buffering and pure sensual pleasure. And every January, Frankfurt’s giant Heimtextil exposition asserts itself as one of the world’s most important bazaars for this most tactile of design elements. Along its hundreds of fabric-lined corridors, the seduction is relentless and palpable. In one section, you feel like you’re strolling through some ethereal Moroccan souk, and then, in the next hall, a jungle of shimmering curtains, and then a labyrinth of puffy duvets.

But the textile industry also grapples with the same issues — economics,...