The Lenzing Denim Team Looks Back on 2024
As 2024 draws to a close, the Lenzing denim team is taking a moment to reflect on the year. Below, two of the team members discuss the highs and lows of 2024, from successful partnerships to pricing pressures in the market.
Tuncay Kilickan, head of global business development, denim at Lenzing
2024 was another unique year with its own challenges, opportunities and progress. Some topics—such as high inventories and inflation—are fading, but new ones are emerging for 2025—including tariffs, geopolitical issues, changing sourcing routes and upcoming legislation.
While consumer interest in denim remains strong, overall customer confidence is low, keeping price pressures across the supply chain.
Authentic and vintage styles continue to be staples for denim brands, yet we see significant differentiation in fits, with wider silhouettes dominating. TENCEL™’s added softness enhances these trends, making it the perfect finishing touch.
Parts of the industry made notable strides in environmental and social initiatives, while others seem stuck in place—expending effort but showing minimal tangible action.
This year also marked important milestones for the Carved in Blue community. We participated in Sourcing Journal’s Sustainability Los Angeles event, which brought together brands, suppliers and thought leaders to tackle the industry’s pressing challenges, highlighting the power of collaboration in driving change. Additionally, the updates to the TENCEL™ Laundry Manual showcased advancements in sustainable garment finishing, featuring next-generation technologies like ozone, nebulization and laser as valuable tools for the industry.
As the Carved in Blue platform, we’ve worked to spotlight the most compelling topics in the denim industry through our Instagram account, Blue Cast podcast and Blue Lenz YouTube channel. We truly appreciate your support and interest and look forward to driving positive change in 2025.
Dennis Hui, global business development manager, denim at Lenzing
2024 has run very fast. The denim industry is picking up, and we feel much better momentum from the community with idea exchanges, innovation and activities. Although the business situation remains tough, we still can find the smiles from our denim buddies.
The TENCEL™ denim team traveled around the world for tradeshows, exhibitions and visits to brands and designers as well as supply chain mill partners for idea exchange. We showcased in Kingpins Amsterdam, New York and Hong Kong. Also, the China Show was back after five years, and the TENCEL™ team joined and presented our Sustainable Wash Collection at the show.
This year we completed a series of collaboration projects.
For our Application Innovation Collection, we teamed up with 11 denim mill partners from countries including Pakistan, India, China and Vietnam for a 20-piece collection that debuted at the April Kingpins Show. This showcased application innovation by using TENCEL™ Lyocell, Modal and LENZING™ ECOVERO™ in different weights ranging from light—appropriate for shirting or dresses—to medium- and bottom-weight fabrics. In addition to typical denim looks, the collection features faux-knit textiles as well as knit garments made from TENCEL™ Modal with Indigo Color technology. Among the pieces are cargos, indigo-colored leggings, denim skirts, a romper and tops—including a vest and denim jacket. This variation reflects the current trends in denim, as consumers look for head-to-toe denim dressing.
For Saisei Collection, we collaborated with Kaihara Denim and Roica by Asahi Kasei to launch a recycled concept collection with the Japanese craftsmanship of high-end stretch denim. The line features circular LENZING™ ECOVERO™ fibers with REFIBRA™ technology and Roica EF yarn, allowing for less resource consumption.
The Fancy Denim Collection encouraged manufacturers and brands to think outside the box. Our team worked with seven global mills, together with our Lenzing development center, rounding out the 20-piece collection with non-traditional denim construction. The collection includes garments in varied weights and styles. Mills incorporated unexpected fibers such as lurex and special constructions such as jacquard weaves, dobby and knit-like constructions. There are also piece-dyed indigo jersey articles, bringing the denim hue to a different textile.
We also collaborated with certain mill partners for capsule collections. For instance, TENCEL™ x Advance Denim x Roica™ combined Roica™ V550 with Lenzing’s low-impact, biodegradable TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers. The collection, dubbed LoopTy, made its debut at the Kingpins Hong Kong Show in November aimed at sustainable denim.
As part of XDD’s raw material diversification, we collaborated with XDD by using TENCEL™ fiber innovations to make denim that is comfortable, soft, colorfast and sustainable. Playing around the structured silhouettes and wash styles, we combined modern vintage with workwear cargo designs.
From the Lenzing Denim team, we want to thank our friends and community at mills, manufacturers, brands and the denim industry at large for your support in 2024. We are looking forward to a positive, fruitful 2025 filled with more collaborations and innovations.