Trend Suite Explores the Tactile Trend that's Weaving richness, depth and sensory experiences into AW 25/26 Collections
As we look ahead to the Autumn/Winter 2025-26 season, one textile trend stands out with remarkable resonance: the return of elevated, tactile textures.
Think rich jacquards, plush velvets, 3D embellishments, and multi-layered weaves, which offer a visually striking and profoundly sensory experience.
With a focus on tactile depth and intricate detail, these textiles not only showcase skilled craftsmanship but also evoke a sense of nostalgia mixed with modern innovation, a duality that’s capturing the imagination of both avant-garde designers and luxury houses alike.
The Power of Touch: Why is Texture Key?
The interest in tactile textiles speaks to a cultural moment where people are craving comfort, connection, and grounding experiences—especially as digital lives become more abstract and virtual.
Fashion is responding by offering materials that invite wearers to touch, feel, and connect with their clothing in more meaningful ways. Textured textiles embody an understated opulence, moving beyond the shiny lure of sequins and metallics that defined recent seasons. Instead, they find richness in fabric construction, weaving techniques, and layered embellishments. This new focus on textures is redefining luxury by emphasising not only how a garment looks, but how it feels.
Designers Leading the Texture Revival
Many designers and brands are already pioneering this trend, creating collections that will shape the fashion landscape in 2025/26.
Chanel: Known for reinventing heritage fabrics, Chanel’s A/W 2025-26 pre-collections have been teasing intricate tweeds with heightened texture, layering lurex threads, woollen loops, and metallic accents to transform classic tweed into something fresh and tactile.
Erdem: With a longstanding passion for romance and nostalgia, Erdem’s latest collections incorporate raised floral jacquards and lush brocades with three-dimensional florals, creating garments that seem to bloom as you move. The delicate textures and bold motifs are crafted through layered embroidery and rich, painterly dyes, redefining textile artistry as wearable fine art.
JW Anderson: Celebrated for pushing boundaries, JW Anderson’s recent collection showcased 3D knits with chunky textures and unusual structural elements, creating pieces that seem to break the mould of conventional knitwear. Anderson’s focus on bold, unconventional weaves and cable knits reimagines traditional techniques, inviting wearers to rethink what modern knitwear can be.
Dries Van Noten: Known for sophisticated, textural mastery, Dries Van Noten has incorporated luxurious velvet and satin combinations, blending glossy and matte textures within the same garment. This play on contrasting textures elevates each piece, creating a harmonious balance that offers both visual interest and a premium feel
How Texture is Shaping Fashion’s Future
This shift toward intricate, multi-dimensional textures signifies a broader movement in the industry—one where consumers are increasingly valuing depth, craftsmanship, and authenticity over disposable fashion.
Textured fabrics, by their very nature, require a high level of expertise to produce, whether that’s through hand-loomed jacquards, elaborate brocades, or even digitally engineered fabrics designed to mimic organic forms. As such, textured garments signal a return to slow fashion, where fewer, more considered pieces hold a stronger place in one’s wardrobe.
The Impact: A Transformation in Consumer Expectations
As we move closer to A/W 2025-26, this trend toward tactile textiles will spur shifts in production, marketing, and retail across the fashion industry. Brands that prioritise quality craftsmanship and embrace textures are poised to gain consumer loyalty as people seek out items that feel authentic and lasting.
In the retail space, expect to see collections emphasising experience-driven designs, as textured pieces are not only eye-catching on display but also irresistible to touch—a compelling combination in a marketplace that’s becoming increasingly about physical, immersive encounters.
A New Era of Luxury and Expression
The return of textured fabrics for A/W 2025-26 marks an exciting period where the artistry of textiles is celebrated as much as silhouette or style.
This trend challenges designers to think beyond surface beauty and to delve into the materiality of fabric itself, making the act of wearing clothing a truly immersive experience.
From complex weaves to unexpected knit structures, the rebirth of texture in fashion signals a season rich in visual and tactile pleasure, one that reflects a growing desire for sophistication grounded in craftsmanship.
In a world that often feels intangible, textured textiles bring back the beauty of connection—reminding us that true luxury isn’t just seen; it’s felt.
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About Tiffany Hill
Tiffany Hill is a fashion trend forecaster, providing established brands, studios and designers with seasonal fashion trend insights.
After enjoying over two decades of success as a fashion designer for major UK retailers, she now delivers trend information in an easy to understand, actionable format.
With her craft and eye for detail as a designer, and her curiosity and vision as a fashion forecaster, she sells digital trend books to over 2000 clients across 40 countries in every corner of the globe.
Tiffany’s specialist blend of design, vision and creative thinking helps fashion brands become the authority within a competitive industry.
She has over 65,000 followers across social media and her insights have been featured in British Heritage and Yorkshire Living magazines as well as on Euronews and other news platforms.
Tiffany understands that fashion moves fast and enables fashion professionals to stay relevant in an ever-changing marketplace.
Tiffany lives in West Yorkshire, UK with her husband and beloved pug “Queenie”. She has grown-up twins – a daughter and a son, who are also successful in their chosen fields.
