At Kingpins Amsterdam, Newness Tried to Cut Through Cautiousness
The TENCEL™ Denim team had a busy week in Amsterdam that started even before we arrived at Kingpins Show.
We kicked off the festivities on Tuesday at a Transformers Foundation event with the title “Equity in Innovation: How do we balance the scales with the value chain?” Part of the meeting’s goal was to gather insights for a report coming out later this year. In a series of three different sessions—including one moderated by our own Tuncay Kilickan—attendees were asked questions about the topic of equity. The gathering fostered valuable exchanges among the supply chain partners, including brands, mills, chemical firms, fiber companies, NGOs and more.
That afternoon, Denim Deal held an event that updated the shareholders about the initiative’s achievements. Denim Deal also showcased collections made with the partners during Kingpins Show.
Tuesday evening, Advance Denim held a 10 Year Anniversary party for its Amsterdam office. This event started in the office and continued with a canal trip. In attendance were brands, supply chain partners and media representatives, and TENCEL™ was a sponsor to the event.
Continuing our Netherlands whirlwind, Kingpins Show Amsterdam was held from Oct. 15 to 16. At the show, we kicked off the global brand launch of our new TENCEL™ Lyocell – HV100 fiber with a collaborative collection of 17 mills from five different countries. Brands had the chance of get to know HV100 either at the TENCEL™ booth or at the 17 mill partners’ booths. Tuncay joined a panel to give further details of the new fiber to the denim community, and HV100 was also promoted through different printed press and social media. The response from mills, brands and retailers was very promising, and the industry walked away understanding the clear distinction of HV100.
Along with the TENCEL™ Lyocell – HV100 fiber collection, we debuted our new PerformX collection. To explore the idea of performance denim, we partnered with four mills from China, Pakistan and Brazil to present a collection of high-performance denim fabric using TENCEL™ fibers. The textiles developed not only boost the functionality of denim garments with cooling, water resistance and more features, but they also bring a comfortable feeling to customers with soft, stretchy fabric. Brands were inspired by the concept, which further enhances the value of jeans with functional qualities.
Over the two-day show, Hugo Boss, G-Star, We Fashion, Zara, Hessnatur, Just Brands and Mud Jeans were among the many brands that visited the TENCEL™ booth.
As the first day wrapped, we sponsored the happy hour. It was great to connect and celebrate with our friends from around the globe.
The overall mood at Kingpins was clouded by a challenging environment for the entire supply chain from brands through to the raw material suppliers. Tariffs, geopolitical tensions and wars are adding complexities, and companies are having difficulty navigating their business. Of course, such a climate pushes for more compromises from sustainability and circularity goals. Besides, companies’ guarded and survival-focused positions do not engage well with novelties or risky decisions.
All in all, the denim industry tends to play it safe. And yet, the buzzword at the show was “new.” We saw updated varieties on the stripe concept, digital prints, flock coatings, jacquards, alternative dyestuffs and coatings presented by various companies to drive some conversation. The ongoing “softness” trend was present in most fabrics with different faces like authentic, workwear, Y2K and others, which made it easier to find TENCEL™ denims all around.
Beyond the booths, we checked out “Roots: Women Weave the Future,” a capsule collection by House of Denim’s incubator program and US Denim Mills. The Vintage Showroom from Doug Gunn, LaundRE and Lab Denim exhibitions also took great interest.
This edition, Kingpins brought back the Japanese exhibitor section and debuted a new category for Spanish denim companies and/or their joint-venture collections present at the show like Royo, Santanderina, Recover and more.
Between panels, workshops, break-out sessions and other activations, the schedule gave attendees tons to do, see and learn. We walked away inspired and cautiously hopeful for a turnaround led by innovation.