A&A Textile: High Fashion Denim Elevated
Taiwan is home to one of the textile industry’s most historic denim facilities, A&A Textile. With over 50 years of heritage in the nation’s apparel sector, A&A Textile develops cutting edge fabric that is transformed into beautiful, high fashion denim.
As a top fancy denim supplier, A&A Textile is known for its delicate textile design, unique production methods and its world renowned clients, including 7 For All Mankind, Chanel, Chico’s, Club Monaco, J Crew, J. Jill and Marc Jacobs to name a few.
“We started as a small company that is focused on the needs of every one of our customers. Now that we have grown into a larger production unit, we still keep in mind what helped us become successful, which is our focus on each customer,” A&A Textile General Manager Dollen Yao said. “To this day, we always make sure everything we produce is beyond our customers’ expectations.”
A&A Textile generates over 20 million denim fabric yards each year. From ring spun denim to foil coating, A&A Textile provides denim brands with many unique jean styles. Traditional denim fabrics are the mill’s core materials that are turned into various finishes and washes. An Ultra Light Weight collection by A&A Textile is composed of 100 percent cotton denim and an additional Fancy Casual collection incorporates pigment coating for chic denim workwear. A&A Textile’s latest denim collection will highlight emerging jean trends for the upcoming Spring/Summer 2017 season, including discharged stretch denim, TENCEL® jacquard denim, power stretch denim and athleisure TENCEL® ultra stretch denim.
Sustainability is also top priority of A&A Textile’s mission. As Taiwan’s largest TENCEL® denim producer, A&A Textile incorporates eco-friendly fibers in every pair of jeans, from production to final product, to reduce the denim industry’s carbon footprint.
Carved in Blue spoke with A&A Textile General Manager Dollen Yao about the company’s roots, unique production techniques, new TENCEL® fabrications and the future global denim market.
Carved in Blue: How are A&A Textile’s denim production techniques different from other brands?
Dollen: Compared to traditional denim mills, A&A focuses on producing fancy and innovative denim such as jacquard, discharge print and functional fabric.
Carved in Blue: What are some of the new TENCEL® fabrications you are introducing for F/W 17-18?
Dollen: TENCEL® tweed denim, TENCEL® Coolmax stretch denim, TENCEL® wool denim and TENCEL® Umorfil® denim.
Carved in Blue: How has A&A Textile contributed to sustainability in the denim industry?
Dollen: Over 80 percent of our products use TENCEL®, which is composed of sustainable materials.
Carved in Blue: What are some notable additions A&A Textile has made recently?
Dollen: We will add jacquard to our product collection and also add 14 Jacquard looms to increase our jacquard capacity to 100,000yards/month.
Carved in Blue: Do you see a shift in global sourcing?
Dollen: I think it will slowly shift to Southeast Asia. But A&A Textile mainly focuses on fancier and more innovative products, so we don’t really feel any impact, as our orders are still increasing.
Carved in Blue: Where do you see the most potential for growth in the global denim market?
Dollen: I think China and some Southeast Asian countries, like Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, will have the most potential for growth in the global denim market.
Carved in Blue: When did you receive your first pair of jeans?
Dollen: I don’t really remember when I received my first pair of jeans, but when my oldest daughter was born, I bought the very first pair of jeans for her.
Carved in Blue: What do you love most about the denim industry?
Dollen: I believe denim is the most versatile type of fabric. Besides different washes, and different vintage styles, denim can also take a variety of post-processing procedures, such as discharge print, foil print, flocking and coating.
Carved in Blue: If you could wear one denim style forever, what would it be?
Dollen: I believe comfort is the key, so I would definitely pick a pair of jeans that are comfortable and look good on me.
Carved in Blue: What does ”carved in blue” mean to you?
Dollen: It captures the artisan spirit in the denim industry. Like an experienced artisan carving unique shapes and patterns on a piece of denim fabric.