On Monday 18 May 2026, Prime Minister Bart De Wever officially opened the new Xperience Center of Sioen Industries in Ardooie. With this 3,000 m² high-tech experience space, the West Flanders-based family business is taking a new step in showcasing its innovative strength and international expertise in textile technologies.
The Xperience Center brings the entire world of Sioen together under one roof. Visitors can discover the wide range of applications for technical textiles, protective clothing and colour solutions. Everything is presented via interactive and digital displays. Visitors move through a journey that ranges from tarpaulins and multinorm protective clothing to colour pigments and bulletproof vests. The eye-catcher is the central “dome”: an impressive structure in the shape of Sioen’s round logo, which serves as a presentation and event space.
A high-tech experience tailored to each visitor
To create the Xperience Center, Sioen worked together with three other West Flanders companies: One-Night-Stands, Ocular and Whojo. This collaboration resulted in a fully integrated overall experience, in which more than twenty screens, hundreds of lighting elements and countless interactive applications are seamlessly coordinated. At the touch of a button, a fully tailored experience can be launched around a specific market, division or product group, such as “protective clothing” or “maritime applications”.
Sioen’s many textile solutions are thus made tangible. Examples include a catwalk featuring the clothing of the Belgian police, customs, fire brigade, army and Red Cross; a demonstration showing how a camouflage net makes people invisible to detection by thermal cameras; the heavy loading of an object made from technical fabric, after which it simply returns to its original shape; a “tiny house” whose entire interior uses Sioen’s colour technology, including an artwork by a local artist; and many other applications.
From vision to realisation
The construction of the Xperience Center took around one year, cost several million euros and required a thorough redesign of the existing infrastructure. Among other things, an entire wall was removed to create the necessary space.
“With this Xperience Center, we want to show what Sioen stands for today: innovation and international impact,” says Ion Dhont, Group Marketing Manager of Sioen Industries. “Here, we bring our decades of expertise in textile technology to life and make our protective innovations tangible in a single space.”
The official opening on 18 May took place in the presence of Prime Minister Bart De Wever and key figures from the Belgian business community, with a guided tour of the center and demonstrations of the various applications. Afterwards, the center will be actively used for customers, partners and stakeholders.
