Performance Days returns to Messe München on 13–14 October 2026 with an education programme built around the compliance decisions functional textile sourcing teams now face: PFAS replacement, EU sustainability legislation, and the shift from fossil-based to bio-based materials.

The show will run three education platforms across halls A4–A6 — the established Expert Talks, a new Breakout Stage in Hall A6, and the Sustainability Exchange — alongside its material sourcing exhibition.

This season's Focus Topic, Bio-Based Materials – From Fiber to Fabric, anchors the Expert Talks. Sessions will examine bio-synthetic materials across the value chain and the transition from fossil-based to plant-based alternatives, including the technical hurdles in developing fossil-free performance textiles.

For the first time, Performance Days CEO and founder Marco Weichert joins an Expert Talks panel. In The Road to Fossil Free Performance, he appears alongside Dominik Fuss of The Natural Laboratory and Satish Tailor of Vollebak to discuss where future material innovation will come from and what performance textiles need in order to move off fossil-based resources. Weichert brings more than two decades in functional textiles and collaborations with textile, yarn and finishing manufacturers worldwide.

Further Expert Talks sessions address waterproof performance beyond PFAS, the potential of cellulosic materials, repairability at scale, and the future of European fine wool. Trend content includes Forum Insights for Autumn/Winter 2028/29, Performance Colors by Nora Kühner, Bodywear Trend Intelligence and digital colour communication. The latest Performance Award winners present their products on 13 October.

The Breakout Stage, new for this edition, uses a compact Silent Conference format. It targets sessions on innovations and technologies directly connected to sourcing and product development: digital design with CLO Virtual Fashion, textile circularity, cellulose, odour management, wearable technology, electrospinning for PFAS-free textiles, and bio-enzymatic recycling. According to the organiser, the shorter format gives innovators and specialists a direct platform for technologies moving from concept toward practical application.

The Sustainability Exchange dedicates space to sustainability regulation and implementation. Its Sustainability Stage programme covers evolving EU legislation and compliance, biodiversity, circularity, product data and Digital Product Passport readiness, Extended Producer Responsibility, collection and sorting, and approaches to scaling bio-based materials.

Interactive workshops complement the stage, covering human rights due diligence, biodiversity and nature-positive strategies, circularity, and credible sustainability communications. One session, Navigating EmpCo: Aligning Sustainability Messaging Across the Value Chain, led by Gabriel Arthur of Suston, examines how suppliers, ingredient brands and consumer-facing brands can align sustainability communications as regulatory requirements shift.

Performance Days frames the three platforms as a response to the increasing need to connect material sourcing with broader knowledge of technology, legislation and supply chain developments.

For sourcing and compliance teams, the programme offers two practical takeaways: a first look at PFAS-free waterproofing and bio-based material routes to feed autumn/winter 2028/29 development, and direct briefings on EU rules — Digital Product Passport readiness, EPR, and human rights due diligence — that will shape supplier selection and product data requirements before they take full effect.