ROSEMONT, IL (Oct. 28, 2026) – The Inspired Home Show® and the International Housewares Association (IHA), the global sponsors and organizers of the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program, announced the Global Honorees for the gia Top Window Awards during the “Retail Opportunities Tied to AI and Visual Merchandising Trends” presentation by gia expert jurors Wolfgang Gruschwitz and Denise Foley earlier today. The 2026 Global Honorees are:
Small Company Category
Opinel – France
gia Expert Jury commentary: Wonderful use of motion and dimension, creating a strong sense of depth and visual interest.
Large Company Category
Hankyu Department Store Umeda Main Store – Japan
gia Expert Jury commentary: Excellent continuity of theme and color story, with strong lighting, symmetry and balance throughout the windows. The craftsmanship, movement and flow are especially well considered.
“The most recent gia Top Window Awards competition had entries from 13 countries, and it is incredibly encouraging to see the creativity and passion that retailers are placing into their window displays,” said Derek Miller, IHA president & CEO. “We look forward to hosting the gia Top Window Award Global Honorees at The Inspired Home Show in Chicago next March, along with more than 30 additional retailers from around the world that were selected as winners in the national gia competitions this year.”
The gia Top Window Awards is a special program under the gia umbrella. As with the general gia Retail Awards, the Top Window competition is structured on a two-tier level – national and global. Co-sponsoring the country-specific gia Top Window programs with IHA are housewares trade publications worldwide who sponsor national gia programs in their respective countries, nominating the best windows for the global competition.
The global jury, consisting of the four gia Expert Jurors, Denise Foley, Scott Kohno, Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen and Wolfgang Gruschwitz, evaluated home and housewares windows from around the world based on:
- Originality and Creativity (theme, concept, special effects)
- Merchandise Presentation
- Professionalism: Execution and Technical Aspects (lighting, attention to detail, signage, copy)
The two gia Top Window Global Honorees of 2026 will be invited to The Inspired Home Show 2027 in Chicago and honored at a festive awards dinner on Tuesday, March 9, together with the other gia winners of 2026-2027.
The gia program was created by IHA and The Inspired Home Show to foster innovation and excellence in home and housewares retailing throughout the world. Since the launch of gia in 2000, there have been over 600 gia retail award winners, from 60 countries on six continents.
For more information about the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program, the co-sponsors or participating in 2027-2028, contact Piritta Törrö at piritta.torro@inspiredconnection.fi. Additional information on the gia program is also available online at TheInspiredHomeShow.com/Awards/gia-Retailing.
The Inspired Home Show, IHA’s global home + housewares marketplace, will be held Tuesday – Thursday, March 9-11 at Chicago’s McCormick Place Complex for one final time before moving to its next chapter in Atlanta in 2028. For more information about the 2027 Show and to register for a free Show entrance badge, please visit TheInspiredHomeShow.com.
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Editor’s note: Images of the 2026 gia Top Window Global Honorees are available for download at https://ihagia.smugmug.com/Gia/2026-Top-Window-Global-Honorees
The International Housewares Association (IHA) is the 88-year-old voice of the home and housewares industry, dedicated to bringing buyers and sellers together. IHA will host its premier exposition of products for the home, The Inspired Home Show, in Chicago in March of 2027 before the Show moves to AmericasMart Atlanta in 2028. Each year, the Show brings together thousands of unique brands and hundreds of thousands of products with both global and domestic buyers; U.S.-based attendees alone represent more than 100,000 retail locations and nearly $75 billion in buying power. The not-for-profit, full-service Association also offers member companies a wide range of services including industry and government advocacy; export assistance; trend reports; executive management peer groups; group buying discounts; and an independent news and information platform, HomePageNews.com.
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