The 32nd edition of INSPIRAMAIS, the leading trade show for materials launches for the footwear, apparel, furniture, automotive upholstery, decoration, and jewelry industries in Latin America, concluded with over R$44.5 million (US$8 million) in international business alone. With more than 150 exhibitors, the event took place on July 15th and 16th at the Pro Magno Event Center in São Paulo/SP. The attendance of over 8,000 buyers and industry professionals was a record for all of its 30+ editions.
Walter Rodrigues, visionary designer and head of the Design and Research Center at Assintecal (the Brazilian Association of Companies for Components in Leather, Footwear and Artifacts), emphasized that INSPIRAMAIS is far more than a materials trade fair — it’s a cultural map outlining fashion’s direction. His research provides the foundation for each season’s launches, guided by the Product Development Pyramid, divided into 3 parts:
- 10% – Human: This focuses on innovation and emotional restoration, expressed through soft textures and comforting tones like yellow, salmon pink, and blue. It draws from thinkers such as Byung-Chul Han and Ursula de Castro, promoting hope and empathy in response to burnout and crisis. These materials are ideal for bold creative statements, fashion shows, or social-first brand content.
- 30% – Burnout: A reflection of societal tension and fatigue, this introduces deeper and denser color palettes—navy, dark wine, false blacks—that convey emotional gravity. Materials reflect an intermediate level of industrial processing, balancing conceptual depth with practical design applications.
- 60% – Peripherals: At the commercial apex, this level celebrates the vibrancy of the Global South. It blends industrial efficiency with cultural richness: bold colors, expressive textures, and animal-free materials that echo handmade origins. Think gold tones, tropical prints, and high-speed design ready for mass appeal.
This methodology structure supports design teams in moving from experimental ideas to widely marketable products, grounded in human experience and global diversity.
One of the most attractive projects of Inspiramais is the Hub Creative Connection:
Which is an initiative designed to identify, support, and stimulate new approaches to materiality, with innovation and sustainability as guiding principles and to provide scaling opportunities for the Hub participants within the fashion and design industry.
More than just supplier, the hub brings together innovation partners in design to address the environmental challenges of our time, committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and aligned with ESG practices.
2027_II preview of next theme of Inspiramais Turning Point :
The Turning Point research is divided into two main themes: Gaseous and Rupture. In the Gaseous theme, we have two subthemes - the Biological, which presents surfaces with organic textures inspired by microscopic images, giving fashion an air of amorphousness, futurism, and gelatinous aspect. In the creations, a lot of lightness, fluidity, and 3D prints appear, along with materials and surfaces that behave like air, vapor, light, and emotion. The Holistic subtheme, on the other hand, is based on "new femininities" forged in a systemic vision and an ecological perspective. "Here, design emerges as a means of contemplation, affection, and regeneration," said Walter Rodrigues.
The second theme is Rupture, which goes against standardization and the conventions of the status quo. "In these times of algorithms that homogenize everything, a transformation is necessary, a powerful response that aims to recover individuality, identity, emotion, and the freedom to be what one wants to be," stressed the stylist. In Rupture, what the researcher calls "revisiting the form" appears. In the creations, the research materializes in classic bases, with the body as a support for new geometries ("things" to wear), three-dimensional constructions of a new language, abrupt folds, deconstructions, and overlays. In The Turning Point color palette, mainly blue, yellow, orange, dark green, and purple tones appear.
INSPIRAMAIS was organized by Assintecal in partnership with the Center for the Brazilian Tanning Industries (CICB), the Brazilian Association of the Textile and Apparel Industry (Abit), and the Brazilian Association of Furniture Industries (Abimóvel). It was produced by Brazilian Materials and partnered with Sebrae Nacional. The next edition of the event will take place on January 27 and 28, 2026, at the FIERGS Events Center, in Porto Alegre/RS.
