VISION 2030: European Textile Solutions for Future Mobility

1. Introduction

Since Janu­ary 2024, Gherzi Ger­many has been act­ively sup­port­ing the trans­form­a­tion of Europe’s tex­tile industry to meet the evolving demands of the mobil­ity sec­tor. The ini­ti­at­ive, Car­TexEurope 2024, is backed by European struc­tur­al devel­op­ment pro­grams and focuses on the stra­tegic repos­i­tion­ing of the tex­tile industry towards becom­ing an innov­at­ive sup­pli­er for the future European auto­mot­ive land­scape.

Key top­ics include Glob­al­iz­a­tion 2.0, Digit­al­iz­a­tion, Decar­bon­iz­a­tion, Autonom­ous Mobil­ity, and the restruc­tur­ing of sup­ply chains. Cir­cu­lar eco­nomy prin­ciples and mater­i­al recyc­lab­il­ity are also emphas­ized, align­ing with expect­a­tions from indus­tries, con­sumers, and European poli­cy­makers.

Amid pro­found glob­al shifts, Europe’s tex­tile sec­tor holds tre­mend­ous poten­tial: by com­bin­ing its pro­duc­tion expert­ise with new mobil­ity demands, Europe can play a pivotal role in shap­ing sus­tain­able indus­tries. Through sur­veys, inter­views, and work­shops, Gherzi Ger­many developed stra­tegic found­a­tions aim­ing to secure the tex­tile industry’s role with­in tomor­row’s value chains across Europe.

Vis­ion 2030 aspires to trans­form Europe’s tex­tile hubs into lead­ing cen­ters of innov­a­tion, diver­si­fy­ing bey­ond auto­mot­ive solu­tions and cre­at­ing new indus­tri­al oppor­tun­it­ies amidst sec­tor con­sol­id­a­tion.

2. CarTexEurope Today

The European auto­mot­ive industry is under­go­ing a fun­da­ment­al trans­form­a­tion, mov­ing away from con­tinu­ous growth towards con­sol­id­a­tion and stra­tegic reori­ent­a­tion. Driv­en by new mar­ket demands, glob­al eco­nom­ic shifts, and rap­idly chan­ging con­sumer beha­vi­ors, tra­di­tion­al OEMs and sup­ply chains face mount­ing pres­sure.

The tex­tile sec­tor, espe­cially with­in auto­mot­ive sup­ply, faces exist­en­tial chal­lenges. Com­pan­ies must rethink their busi­ness mod­els, regard­less of their depend­ency on the auto­mot­ive sec­tor. Infla­tion, con­sumer restraint in key mar­kets like Europe and China, and com­pet­i­tion from low-wage regions intensi­fy the crisis.

Pro­duc­tion relo­ca­tions to coun­tries such as Romania, Poland, Por­tugal, Morocco, and Egypt have placed high-wage regions under immense cost pres­sure. Con­sequently, European tex­tile sup­pli­ers must rethink their strategies, focus­ing not solely on innov­a­tion but also on effi­ciency, pro­ductiv­ity, and sup­ply chain agil­ity.

Des­pite the chal­lenges, the crisis opens oppor­tun­it­ies. European sup­pli­ers pos­sess the tech­no­lo­gic­al expert­ise to diver­si­fy into future-ori­ented mar­kets — provided they adopt a mar­ket-driv­en and eco­nom­ic­ally viable approach. Innov­a­tion without mar­ket viab­il­ity offers no sus­tain­able future.

The EU Com­mis­sion’s Action Plan of March 2025 under­scores the import­ance of invest­ment in digit­al­iz­a­tion and sus­tain­ab­il­ity but insuf­fi­ciently addresses struc­tur­al crises with­in European sup­ply chains. Europe’s tex­tile auto­mot­ive sup­pli­ers must there­fore not only innov­ate but also devel­op com­pet­it­ive cost struc­tures to main­tain their rel­ev­ance.

3. General Vision 2030 for the Sector

Transformation by 2030: Resilience Through Diversification and Strategic Renewal

By 2030, Europe’s formerly auto­mot­ive-depend­ent tex­tile sec­tor will have fun­da­ment­ally trans­formed. Com­pan­ies will serve diver­si­fied mar­kets bey­ond interi­or com­pon­ents like head­liners, seat cov­ers, and pan­els. Four busi­ness arche­types will emerge:

• Adapt­a­tion With­in Con­sol­id­a­tion: Com­pan­ies remain integ­rated with­in European auto­mot­ive sup­ply chains but face glob­al com­pet­i­tion, requir­ing best-in-class pro­cess effi­ciency and tech­nic­al excel­lence.
• Niche Play­ers: Highly spe­cial­ized firms will tar­get glob­al niches such as avi­ation, health­care, and cus­tom­ized mobil­ity, dif­fer­en­ti­at­ing through tech­no­lo­gic­al lead­er­ship and brand storytelling.
• Region­ally Autonom­ous Organ­iz­a­tions (DAOs): Com­pan­ies will build resi­li­ent, loc­al­ized value chains with­in Europe, min­im­iz­ing depend­ency on volat­ile glob­al mar­kets.
• Alli­ances Across Bor­ders: Tra­di­tion­al pro­du­cers will join inter­na­tion­al part­ner­ships and con­sor­ti­ums to achieve scale, effi­ciency, and glob­al reach.

Suc­cess will depend on stra­tegic foresight, mar­ket dif­fer­en­ti­ation, and attract­ive, flex­ible work mod­els to retain and attract tal­ent.

4. Vision 2030 — Europe as a Beacon of Industrial Transformation

By 2030, Europe aims to exem­pli­fy suc­cess­ful struc­tur­al trans­form­a­tion. Through col­lab­or­a­tion among com­pan­ies, poli­cy­makers, and aca­demia, Europe will secure employ­ment, estab­lish new eco­nom­ic per­spect­ives, and ensure sus­tain­able fisc­al rev­en­ues.

This trans­form­a­tion will reflect a dynam­ic eco­sys­tem where com­pan­ies integ­rate spe­cial­ized pro­duc­tion, digit­al pro­cesses, and sus­tain­able mater­i­als to com­pete glob­ally.

The Vis­ion 2030 demon­strates that tra­di­tion­al indus­tries, with innov­a­tion and bold entre­pren­eur­ship, can build a resi­li­ent, future-proof indus­tri­al land­scape.

5. CarTexEurope Stakeholder Landscape

Car­TexEurope cat­egor­izes stake­hold­ers into four main groups:

1. Indus­tri­al Play­ers: Tex­tile pro­du­cers, fin­ish­ers, tech­nic­al tex­tile man­u­fac­tur­ers, auto­mot­ive sup­pli­ers.
2. Pub­lic Insti­tu­tions: Eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment agen­cies, envir­on­ment­al author­it­ies, edu­ca­tion, and research fund­ing bod­ies.
3. Aca­demia and Research: Uni­ver­sit­ies, research cen­ters, innov­a­tion hubs.
4. Asso­ci­ations: Trade uni­ons and industry asso­ci­ations.

6. Strategic Guidance for Companies

The Car­TexEurope pro­ject iden­ti­fies four primary stra­tegic paths for tex­tile com­pan­ies:

• Con­tinu­ity with­in Auto­mot­ive Sup­ply Chains: Com­pan­ies main­tain­ing strong integ­ra­tion must focus on effi­ciency, pro­cess optim­iz­a­tion, and inter­na­tion­al net­work par­ti­cip­a­tion.
• Spe­cial­iz­a­tion in Glob­al Niches: Com­pan­ies must tar­get high-value niches (avi­ation, health­care) with tech­no­lo­gic­al innov­a­tions, brand-driv­en mar­ket pos­i­tion­ing, and premi­um ser­vice mod­els.
• Region­al Autonomy through DAOs: Com­pan­ies will devel­op decent­ral­ized, self- suf­fi­cient net­works, emphas­iz­ing European mar­kets and cir­cu­lar eco­nomy prin­ciples (Refur­bish, Recycle, Repair, Replace).
• Alli­ances and Ver­tic­al­iz­a­tion: Com­pan­ies will engage in inter­na­tion­al alli­ances, joint ven­tures, and mer­gers to ensure sur­viv­al and com­pet­it­ive­ness.

The era of “busi­ness as usu­al” is over. Com­pan­ies must adapt rap­idly or risk extinc­tion.

7. Strategic Guidance for Research Institutions

By 2030, research insti­tu­tions must move bey­ond sub­sidy-driv­en mod­els to mar­ket-ori­ented col­lab­or­a­tion with busi­nesses. Key ini­ti­at­ives include:

• Cooper­at­ive Pro­duc­tion Net­works: Shared use of high-tech pro­duc­tion facil­it­ies.
• Shared Work­force Mod­els: Provid­ing engin­eer­ing and tech­nic­al expert­ise flex­ibly across mul­tiple firms.
• Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment Ser­vices: Trans­ition­ing from pure research to prac­tic­al indus­tri­al applic­a­tions.

Only mar­ket-rel­ev­ant research ini­ti­at­ives will jus­ti­fy their exist­ence amid glob­al com­pet­i­tion.

8. Strategic Guidance for Policymakers and Associations

Europe’s policy land­scape must facil­it­ate tex­tile sec­tor trans­form­a­tion through:

• Tax and Reg­u­lat­ory Relief: Redu­cing the tax­a­tion bur­den on labor, incentiv­iz­ing domest­ic pro­duc­tion.
• Invest­ment Incent­ives: Sup­port­ing sus­tain­able tech­no­logy invest­ments and mod­ern man­u­fac­tur­ing.
• European Trade Policies: Estab­lish­ing fair com­pet­i­tion frame­works through select­ive tar­iffs and pro­mot­ing region­al pro­duc­tion.
• Nar­rat­ive Build­ing: Pro­mot­ing Europe’s image as a hub for mod­ern, sus­tain­able indus­tri­al pro­duc­tion.

Europe must act decis­ively to cre­ate the con­di­tions for vibrant, future-proof tex­tile indus­tries.

9. Strategic Guidance for Education and Training Providers

By 2030, edu­ca­tion and train­ing pro­viders must:

• Devel­op flex­ible, mod­u­lar pro­grams aligned with indus­tri­al needs.
• Foster dual edu­ca­tion sys­tems com­bin­ing prac­tic­al and the­or­et­ic­al know­ledge.
• Intro­duce cooper­at­ive mod­els like “Shared Train­ing Ser­vices” across com­pan­ies.
• Integ­rate digit­al­iz­a­tion, AI, and agile meth­od­o­lo­gies into cur­ricula.

Future work­ers must be equipped with a wide skill set for both tech­nic­al and admin­is­trat­ive roles.

10. CarTexEurope Tomorrow: Automotive as One of Many Pillars

By 2030, the European tex­tile industry will be smal­ler but stronger — more pro­duct­ive, effi­cient, and resi­li­ent. Com­pan­ies that embrace digit­al­iz­a­tion, sus­tain­ab­il­ity, and new mobil­ity mar­kets will thrive.

Key areas of action:

• Pro­ductiv­ity and Innov­a­tion: Provid­ing ver­tic­ally integ­rated, high-value solu­tions for emer­ging mar­kets.
• Effi­cient and Resi­li­ent Sup­ply Chains: Build­ing diver­si­fied net­works across Europe and glob­ally.
• Future-Ready Work­force: Adopt­ing “New Work” prac­tices, lifelong learn­ing, and glob­al tal­ent attrac­tion.
• Cooper­a­tion and Star­tup Col­lab­or­a­tion: Essen­tial for driv­ing innov­a­tion and main­tain­ing com­pet­it­ive­ness.

Trans­form­a­tion is inev­it­able. Europe must act boldly to secure lead­er­ship pos­i­tions in glob­al mar­kets.

11. Project Structure: CarTexEurope Work Packages

Car­TexEurope’s stra­tegic found­a­tion is struc­tured through:

• Work Pack­age 1/2: Baseline ana­lys­is of Europe’s auto­mot­ive tex­tile sup­ply chains.
• Work Pack­age 3: Iden­ti­fic­a­tion of key suc­cess factors and bar­ri­ers.
• Work Pack­age 4: Stake­hold­er engage­ment and dia­logue pro­mo­tion.
• Work Pack­age 5: Scen­ario devel­op­ment for future path­ways.
• Work Pack­age 6: Com­pil­a­tion of stra­tegic guid­ance papers and action recom­mend­a­tions.

The project’s ulti­mate goal: secur­ing long-term com­pet­it­ive­ness, employ­ment, and innov­a­tion with­in Europe’s tex­tile auto­mot­ive sup­ply chains.