Carved in Blue Team Looks Back on 2025 Highlights
It was a busy year for the team behind Carved in Blue. The Lenzing executives traveled the globe, launched and marketed a new fiber and collaborated with the industry on trend-centric collections.
Read on for their reflections on a challenging yet momentous year and their hopes and outlook for 2026.
Tuncay Kilickan, head of global business development, denim
We are closing another chapter in our lives and we are excited for a new story: 2026.
Looking back on 2025, probably the most impactful incident both within and beyond denim was the widespread use of artificial intelligence. It seems like nothing will be the same in the future, and we don’t have any choice but to adopt it, just like the internet or mobile phone in the past.
For sure, it was not an easy year for anyone. Among the various issues were tariffs, uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and climate change and its early warnings, like the wildfires and the floods throughout the year. However, we all know that we will have new or similar hurdles in 2026, and the only way to overcome these is science, solidarity and common sense.
In the case of the TENCEL™ Denim and Carved in Blue team, 2025 was full of activities. We visited many shows and alternative regions, hosted experts on our channels, amplified great initiatives both local and global, supported educational programs that are creating know-how and pushing fashion beyond and started new blog series to spread the word about sustainability and circularity news.
The denim community lost another legend in 2025: Luigi Martelli. He will definitely take his place in denim history.
As the denim team, the recently launched TENCEL™ Lyocell – HV100 fiber was the biggest topic for us in 2025. In such difficult times, when most companies are playing it safe, introducing an innovation was a bold decision, but I guess we did the right thing since the response was very much encouraging. HV100 offers an obvious product improvement and an easy and valid story, which was rapidly spread in the industry. Right before the end of the year, brands started their test orders in shops. I guess the long-lasting trends put the buyers off and they are somehow willing to work on some newness. All in all, we are happy and thankful at the same time to the denim community.
And yes, I haven’t used AI to draft this text after reading the report of Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries-Gao about the carbon and water footprint of AI. He basically claims that the carbon emission of AI in 2025 is just as much as the same of New York City in 2025 or 8 percent of the global aviation emission. Besides, AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand. Seems like we have one more topic to watch out for in 2026.
Dennis Hui, global business development manager for denim
2025 was another year with many uncertainties. Under the shadow of the tariffs, all industries are living under changes. The textile industry is not the only field influenced, but the trade shifts have created some negative impacts for the whole supply chain.
Nevertheless, the denim blue field has kept on with momentum! We never stopped our innovations and activities in 2025. Apart from the new fiber launch of TENCEL™ Lyocell – HV100 fiber at the October Kingpins Show, The TENCEL™ denim team traveled around the world for trade shows, exhibitions and visits to brands and designers as well as supply chain mill partners for idea exchange.
Back in March this year, it was our first time to bring our innovations and collections to a South American country: Brazil. It was a great experience for the denim team to visit our key denim manufacturers, brands and designers and to explore cultures in São Paulo with the denim community and people, wonderful food and drinks. We will surely be coming back in 2026.
It was also the first time for the team to travel to Indonesia, where the denim business is growing in both the domestic market and also exports to international brands. We connected with the key players to exchange ideas and knowledge, we made friends with people in the local denim community and sought chances for future collaborations. We listened, we explained and we acted.
This year, we completed a series of collaborative projects.
For Application Innovation Collection ‘25, we teamed up with 11 denim mill partners to showcase up-to-date applications of TENCEL™ and LENZING™ ECOVERO™ fibers focused on the trend and demand from global brands. New ideas are presented in a variety of outfits with different wash effects.
For the PerformX Denim Collection, performance jeans wear that looks like traditional denim but feels like technical attire fits perfectly into this new norm. Denim that offers stretch, a comfortable fit and a polished look without sacrificing mobility is in high demand. To explore this idea of performance denim, we launched the PerformX Denim Collection at the October Kingpins Show, working with four mill partners to develop 12 articles of clothing.
The collaborative Jiā Yóu Collection was a crossover with Sum London and Advance Denim, creating utilitarian looks with a modernized interpretation of naval workwear as an homage to the 20,000 Chinese sailors who fought for the British in World War II. The capsule collection was presented during New York Fashion Week in September, with a second showing at the Advance Denim AMS 10th Anniversary Party in Amsterdam in October.
We are forecasting for 2026, and we are ready to explore the opportunities and ideas with denim partners and players around the world. Let’s make the blue continue!
Deniz Mutlu, head of global B2B marketing, supply chain
2025 has been a year where Lenzing sparked the global denim stage with its innovations and trendsetting ideas. The highlight of the year was the launch of TENCEL™ Lyocell – HV 100, marking an important milestone. The denim launch in October demonstrated how innovation, responsibility and industrial feasibility can come together to meet evolving market needs. It is truly an honor to witness the birth, launch and development of this new fiber—which can shape the future of denim.
During the year across key denim fairs worldwide, we connected with mills, brands, garment makers and partners, reinforcing the role of our fibers as a core partner for responsible denim innovation. These platforms enabled meaningful dialogue, knowledge exchange and collaboration across the denim supply chain.
Looking ahead to 2026, we see clear momentum toward deeper supply chain collaboration and transparency-driven design. Expectations are shifting to holistic solutions that consider fiber choice, fabric engineering, garment finishing and end-of-life impact together. The denim community continues to move toward smarter water use, energy efficiency and circularity as shared priorities.
It is truly a pleasure to be part of this dynamic denim world and to work alongside such a dedicated denim community and team. We are also happy to share our journey and latest developments with the Carved in Blue community.
As we close 2025, we would like to thank the entire denim community for the trust, partnership and open collaboration throughout the year. We look forward to continuing this journey together in 2026—driving innovation, embracing responsibility and shaping a more resilient and future-ready textile industry.
Wishing everyone a successful, inspiring and collaborative year ahead.