What We Saw: Highlights from the Show Floor
The Lenzing Denim Team has seen it all—literally. The team traveled from Amsterdam to New York back to Barcelona to discover the latest innovations and themes denim has to offer.
From new blends to creative marketing concepts, here are the highlights you need to know for the Autumn/Winter 2017-18 denim season.
Clean Act
After seasons of athletic-inspired denim, mills took a notably more polished approach to denim with tailored looks. Instead of chasing the latest activewear trends, mills swung in the opposite direction with constructed jackets, herringbone details and overall clean looks.
Italian mill Candiani summed up the aesthetic best with its winning collection from the 2015 Global Denim Awards which was on display in both Amsterdam and New York. The capsule was designed in collaboration with Sanatoria Diletto designer Andrea Diletto, a bespoke tailor based in Milan, and played with gender bending ideas in suiting and tailoring.
Imatex, NK and Atlantic Mills also cleaned up their act with examples of refined ready-to-wear denim that went beyond casualwear. Advance Denim showcased a TENCEL® and Lurex indigo blend for an outstanding “dressed-up” look.
Meanwhile, other mills, including Santanderina, Shasha, Blue Farm and Prosperity increased their amount of TENCEL® chambray products. The fabric in the garments is instantly and uniquely recognizable under the banner headline “Softness you can see”.
Secret Science
Fibers are fueling innovation. All fibers, from recycled polyester, silk, wool, acrylic to high-strength, high-abrasion resistance fibers like Cordura, were present on the show floors, opening the door for creativity and new or expanded product lines.
Standout examples include Toray’s MicroModal® and TENCEL®MICRO blend which redefined the meaning of lightness plus softness in denim. Wool blends by Prosperity, Calik, Orta and Blue Farm gave a soft yet warm aesthetic for fall.
Mills gave stretch fabrications numerous names—bi-stretch, 360-degree stretch, 4-way stretch to name a few—but most had cellulosic blends like TENCEL®, Lenzing Modal® and cotton in common.
As texture becomes a bigger story, Bossa used Modal to achieve different weave structures, meanwhile Kilim Denim favored TENCEL®. Low-twist yarns by Mou Fung and Prosperity offered extra bulk and softness.
Orta, Calik and Kipas selected sustainable Lenzing Modal® black fiber to tell a darker story for the season. In fact, mills agreed that sustainability was no longer a separate concept, but was ingrained in their overall design. Bossa’s sustainable efforts spilled over into a second booth at Denim Première Vision and included organic cotton, recycled cotton, TENCEL® containing fabrics, as well as vegetable dyed and coated fabrics.
Storytelling
Jeanologia and Francois Girbaud unveiled HEMotion in Barcelona, a highly-marketable concept designed to draw attention to the bottom of jeans with laser and cut details. Jeanologia CEO Enrique Silla explained that idea was to “think upside down” about denim design in a practical way that can be applied to a variety of silhouettes. The goal? Give consumers a new reason to buy jeans. Lenzing’s Carved in Blue skinny jean was incorporated into the presentation featuring a fine laser design hem.
With 16 fabric innovations aimed to change the way denim works for the wearer, Calik described their AW 17-18 collection as a D’enaissance. The Turkish mill introduced new concepts like Deelux, a high-end denim with the brightness of Lenzing Modal® and the smooth touch of TENCEL®, under the creative moniker.
Artistic Milliners presented the tough side of TENCEL® in its latest collaboration with Cordura, Invista’s brand of tough and durable fabrics. The collection, called Authentic Alchemie, features technical denims created from blends of natural and manmade fibers that can withstand the wear and tear of commuting, climbing, biking and more. The collection reaffirms TENCEL® as a strong and soft alternative to cotton. Denim Dudes author Amy Leverton worked with Cordura to ensure the collection was on trend.