New York City Blues: Kingpins NY
Mills are demonstrating their latest denim advancements using TENCEL® and Refibra™ branded lyocell fibers, proving that sustainability and performance in denim needn’t be mutually exclusive.
Count Basie, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis were just a few of the great jazz artists drawn to New York City, the Big Apple, home to the defining American bebop era. “For me,” Miles once said, “music and life are all about style.”
New York City, of course, is also all about style, and the first metropolis, 13 years ago, to ever host the now-legendary Kingpins show. The city’s particular diversity of cultures, architecture and style provides an ideal backdrop for denim. New York is open, round the clock, to the high, the low, the haute, the street — and denim just fits right in. The blues, after all, are a feeling.
A number of mills are bringing their latest innovations, featuring 100% TENCEL® and Lenzing Modal® fibers. With sustainability now elevated to an essential consideration in the market, TENCEL® fibers fit with mills’ increasingly more responsible production, adding to cutting-edge styles while subtracting much less from the environment.
The advancements are in color, texture, and weight. Cone’s Future Black+ features Lenzing Modal® BLACK, with 50%-60% lower environmental impact than conventional dyed fabric, fewer chemical energy use and 64% less water use in the dye process. Blue Farm will roll out a range of luxurious indigo lightweight fabrics utilizing TENCEL® and Lenzing Modal® fibers in a variety of constructions and contents. The blends will be featured in all types of novel applications, including indigo stripes, dobbies and jacquards, and have been added to many of its classic stretch qualities for added softness.
Mills are also demonstrating the versatility of TENCEL® fibers through blends. Arvind is bringing its collaboration with Lenzing into focus with its Spring Summer’19 collection, “ELEMENTS,” which interprets denim trends into stories filtered through the mighty elements of our universe— Earth, Wind and Fire. The collection features a special line of products with TENCEL® fiber in various blends and multiple weaves, transformed into tasteful silhouettes and washes, which includes top weights and bottom weights, from rigid to high stretches.
Kingpins NY will see the new Refibra™ fiber put to excellent use. This new generation of TENCEL® fiber—the first commercial-scale cellulose fiber derived from post industrial waste—has already been embraced by none other than the “Godfather of Denim” himself, Adriano Goldschmied. Adriano recognized the importance of TENCEL® fibers a quarter of century ago in creating designs with the environment in mind, at a time when sustainability was not even a word used in common parlance. At Kingpins NY, he is bringing the capsule collection commissioned by Lenzing, which worked especially closely with Textil Santanderina during its initial development. Fabric mill partners showcased in the capsule also include Advance Denim, Artistic Milliners, Blue Diamond, Candiani, Orta, Prosperity and Tejidos Royo. Knitted fabric bases were supplied by Hallotex.
Fiber blends continue to debut as a feature by Artistic Milliner’s CORDURA® brand denim and the “Imagination Without Limitation” collection developed by Materials Move CEO and founder Linda Keppinger. Meanwhile, Candiani—“the greenest mill in the blue world”—has turned to Refibra™ fiber and recycled cotton for its denim.
As these mills and designers know, embracing sustainability cannot mean giving up technical prowess. Performance and technology are still key, and remain a TENCEL® fiber forte. Advance Denim Limited has turned to TENCEL® fiber for its Freecross, a new technology of four-way stretch. Calik Denim has a large variety of fabrics with Lenzing Modal® and TENCEL® fibers, with looks that are not 
only clear but also authentic. Indigo Istanbul is presenting beautiful 100% TENCEL® fibers or blended fabrics in both mens and women’s shirting, along with jacquard TENCEL® fiber blends. Global Denim is debuting “Into the Blue—” with a theme of movement and freedom, tinted in beautiful indigo blue. Within this collection is their newest concept, Ecolojean, and the RealSoft collection, which carries the beautiful TENCEL® fiber and its benefits into the fabrics. Lucky Textiles is unveiling its OSM fabrics—resistant to odor, stains, and moisture, with expedited drying time.
New York is ready for Kingpins, and Kingpins is ready for New York.