textile network: JEC World is established as one of the leading trade fairs for composite materials. What makes the event so special for the industry?

Thomas Lepretre: JEC World is special for the industry for three main reasons:

• It is the only place where the global industry is gathering as a whole, we have more than 100 countries participating each year, so it a real chance to have a look at everything that is being made with Composites around the world and meeting the global industry under one roof

• It is the place of innovation for Composites, the venue for product launches, with around 600 new products coming to the market each year. The place you have to visit if you want to see all the innovations in this industry.

• It is the only event around the world that gathers the whole value chain of composites materials, all materials, all processes... But also the OEMs of various industries (Marine, Sports & leisure, transportation), that use or do not use composites yet and that come to learn how composites can be used in their field.

JEC World 2025 is more than an event – it is the epicentre of innovation, collaboration, and transformation in the global composites sector and for many end-user industries. With the participation of over 1,350 exhibitors from major corporations to startups, and an expected record attendance of 45,000 professional visits.

textile network: Which topics are in focus at the trade fair this year? And why these topics in particular?

Thomas Lepretre: The main theme of this year will be “pushing the limits”, and it is a theme that we chose as the show is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The industry has been pushing limits constantly during the last 6 decades, to qualify and incorporate composites in every product that needs to be lighter, tougher and more performant. So, this is what we will focus on.

textile network: According to your observations, which countries have made a particularly strong contribution to the growth in visitor and exhibitor numbers in recent years? Are there any countries that have grown significantly?

Thomas Lepretre: In recent years, the composites industry as a whole has been growing in all countries, this resulted in a global growth of the number of exhibitors in each country. In 2025 specifically, we have a significant growth from India, Japan and the US.

textile network: What developments and trends do you expect to see at the upcoming JEC World, and how are these reflected in the exhibitors and innovations?

Thomas Lepretre: The most significant trend now in the industry is sustainability. The whole value chain has a sustainability target and focuses on recycling, reparing, reusing and repurposing but also in making the production of composites itself more efficient and more sustainable. A good example seen at the end of 2024 was the first glass fiber melting process by Hydrogen from Owens Corning.

Composites can definitely contribute to making products more sustainable and durable and the industry is embracing this trend massively, exhibitors will showcase their latest progress in that direction.

textile network: Which application areas for composites are developing particularly fast and are in high demand at the moment?

Thomas Lepretre: The growth of composites come from the replacement of traditional materials (metal, concrete, wood...) in an existing application or from making more things that can only be made in Composites (pressure vessels, wind blades...)

As of now, the growing application areas depend on the geographical markets, if we look at the Middle East or India, the Construction, civil engineering and building market are supporting the development of composites, with composites rebars being used massively, bridges and building being built with composites in various places. This drives the composites market in these two countries to grow at twice the pace of the industry as a whole.

On the other hand in Europe and the US, the power grid and the replacement of old infrastructures will also be a massive market for composites in the near future.

textile network: How do you think the market will develop in the coming years?

Thomas Lepretre: The market will continue to grow in the coming years, composites have key competitive advantages that cannot be ignored. And with the sight to net zero in 2050, composites can provide the solution to a lot of challenges.

If we look at Aerospace for example, the next generation of medium range single aisle aircraft will incorporate composites massively to be lighter and more fuel efficient and we are talking about 70 units of aircraft per month while the A350 which is a composites intensive aircraft is planned to be at 10 units per month in 2026. This will be a massive game changer for processes, materials and the workforce, but also a fantastic opportunity.

textile network: What opportunities, but also challenges, do you see for the future of the industry, particularly with regard to material development and the use of textile composites?

Thomas Lepretre: The main opportunity will be mass production and turning limited volume processes and materials into mass production processes such as Resign Transfer Molding and compression molding. This can be already seen in some markets such as sports & leisure (ski production) or Automotive. Textile composites are a key part of those processes. And the Aerospace industry is looking at it seriously to adapt production to the volume defined by the new programs.

The main challenge will remain, the time and resources needed to qualify the materials and bring it to full scale production, specifically for small and medium companies that are often very innovative.