Designtex is a leader in performance textiles for commercial interiors and is known for its innovative, sustainable approach to material design. With a deep understanding of how interior designers work, and the rise of the use of digital tools in the material selection process, Designtex was seeking ways to support its clients’ online search for the right materials, intelligently and efficiently.
With Stylib’s Image Search technology, Designtex now offers a fast, visually-driven search experience, to explore the company’s catalogue and find the perfect match from a vast array of products.
Meet Designtex
Part of the Steelcase family, Designtex develops industry-leading textiles and wallcoverings used in workplaces, healthcare environments, education spaces, and beyond. Its products combine beauty, utility and sustainability helping designers meet strict performance standards while staying visually distinct.
Designtex’s forward-thinking spirit extends beyond design and into specification excellence, with each of the company’s products being backed by extensive assets and sustainability certifications with the intent of putting information at its clients’ fingertips to aid and speed decision-making. Robust filtering offered on its website allows clients to hone their search within highly specific project parameters to express their design vision, meet the performance needs of their clients’ spaces and achieve sustainability goals.
In seeking to offer another method of product discovery, Designtex was inspired by the visual references interior designers use as the basis for product discovery and specification.
“Our clients often work with visual references – from images found online to photos captured by the designers themselves. Our sales teams regularly receive requests to match design and color inspiration to a product from our catalogue, so providing designers with Image Search made absolute sense for us.”
Claire Mann
Director, Digital Projects + Strategy
The opportunities
The Designtex team identified several key opportunities in supporting the way designers search:
- Search for what you can see
With visual-first products, some specifiers start from an image and want to find similar options. While Designtex offers robust, well-structured filters and categories, these methods don’t facilitate how some designers prefer to explore. - Meet evolving user expectations
Specifiers increasingly expect faster, more intuitive search tools that align with their creative process – and more ways to explore independently. - Accommodate more ways of working
The traditional journey – from category to filter to product – needed to evolve into a more flexible, organic research experience. - Build on our product data and processes
To streamline Designtex’s internal processes, any new solution needed to work directly from existing product data without adding overhead for the team.
The solution
To address these opportunities, Designtex partnered with Stylib to embed Image Search on its website, using a lightweight widget styled to complement the existing site experience.
“We selected Stylib as a partner given their expertise in our industry, the nature of our product data and understanding our customers well. It was a seamless collaborative process and integration.”
Laura McIntyre
Creative Project Manager, Designtex
Stylib’s AI technology powers the experience behind the scenes. When a designer uploads an image or selects a swatch, the system analyses the visual content to detect architectural surfaces and match them to relevant Designtex products. It then suggests relevant products based on visual similarity and application intent – helping specifiers find what they’re looking for.
The widget has been seamlessly integrated across key areas of the Designtex website. Designers can now click directly on any swatch image and instantly explore visually and technically similar products from the full catalogue. This turns static assets into active entry points – encouraging deeper exploration and making it easier to move from inspiration to specification in a single click.
This delivered several key benefits:
- Search with any image, anytime and from anywhere
Designers can now search independently using any visual reference – a fabric detail, an interior photo or a sample scan. The service works both on desktop and mobile devices, making it quick and simple to find Designtex product options. - Supporting more ways of product discovery
The search experience is expanded to include visuals as inputs for searches with inspirational references. Designers can click any swatch or product image and explore similar alternatives instantly – supporting a fluid, exploratory approach to product research. - Zero maintenance for the Designtex team
There’s no duplication of effort and no need to manually update product data – search results are always in sync with the catalogue.
The transformation
Since launching Stylib’s Image Search, Designtex has unlocked a new kind of product discovery – intuitive, fast, smart and aligned with the design process.
Specifiers can now find the exact product they need by simply uploading a visual cue. Whether they’re searching late at night, building a concept board, or trying to match a real-world material, the experience feels natural and empowering.
Integrating Stylib’s Image Search activates new pathways into Designtex’s digital catalogue aligned with the way specifiers’ workflows are evolving.