INDUSTRY ISSUES
Earth-friendlier Materials Are at the Heart of Trending Style, Design
By Dorothy Crouch, Contributing Writer | February 6, 2025
California Apparel News asked fiber, yarn and fabric experts: What ecological advancements in fiber, yarn and fabric are also trending as the foundation for stylish fashion designs?
TEXTILE TRENDS
Electric Avenue
Fuchsia can be a polarizing color if only because no one can ever remember how to spell it. But these electric fuchsias beckon to be tried by all due to their ability to inject electric energy into whatever you’re wearing. It’s all but guaranteed to shock your mood back to the positive spectrum should it dip.
Frozen in Amber
Amber has the ability to fossilize ancient life forms (remember “Jurassic Park”?), and in the coming seasons you’ll see it crystallize fashion as well. These warm honey shades speak of positivity and remind us that amber has been used for millennia in oils, perfumes and incense to raise our spirits.
Celestial Aura
Blue is the color of heaven, whether on a sunlit day or in the dark indigo of night. As a result, it’s always a soothing color capable of conveying stability, as in a navy blazer, or more-dynamic feelings. These blues are as happy as a perennial summer sky but are often adorned with modern motifs.
NEWS
Lycra Publishes Goals to Be Reached by 2030
Lycra has taken a giant leap into the stratosphere of environmentalism with the recent unveiling of its first-ever Planet Agenda Report, which outlines the company’s strategies to become a more sustainable organization by the year 2030.
Pulp Friction: To craft a more circular supply chain, Renewcell grinds old apparel into new
What is the future of fashion? No, not the next style but the actual process of making and selling it. Increasingly it’s looking like a new paradigm based less on the fast and disposable and more on the durable and recyclable.
LYCRA and Browzwear Enter Partnership to Save Time, Reduce Waste
When it comes to wearing clothes, one of the highest virtues is simplicity. When it comes to making them, it’s efficiency. And now The LYCRA Company, the global textile giant, plans to make that a lot easier for designers thanks to a new partnership with Browzwear, a pioneer of 3D software for the apparel industry.
Industry Focus: Textiles, Fiber & Yarn - Textile Experts Weigh In on Sustainability and Circularity, Transparency and Accountability
At the foundation of every garment is a choice regarding fabrication. This commitment to a certain textile that relies on specific fibers helps to tell the story of a collection.
3M Develops New Yarn to Enhance Outdoor-Wear Properties
Adding to its evolving mix of textile solutions, 3M has introduced 3M-Specified Water Repellent Greige Yarn, which joins its other fabric-based innovations including 3M Thinsulate Insulation and Scotchgard Protector.
Solstiss Returns to L.A. With a New Showroom
Fashion goes round and round in cycles, which is not so different from the way Earth orbits the sun. Solstiss may sound like the twice-annual event that occurs at the height of summer and depth of winter, but this kind of solstice is perennial.
Supima and TextileGenesis Form Strategic Partnership for Cotton Traceability Standards
If you’re going to be part of a fashion scandal, it’s much better if you’re, say, the designer of a risqué dress worn on the red carpet since a little notoriety can be a boon to business. The kind you don’t want is the kind that befell red-logoed retailer Target six years ago when it turned out a bunch of fashions from so-called Egyptian cotton it was selling that were not, in fact, from the land of the pyramids.
Fashion Snoops: Denim’s Craft Revival
For decades, crafted denim was a topic for a niche audience of denim connoisseurs—inside knowledge that felt foreign to the average consumer. Today, an increasing awareness of sustainability and rising consumer interest in heritage and tradition are influencing a denim renaissance that honors the process of creation, putting the focus on the journey of design itself as much as the end result.
Attention-Grabbing Textiles to Stand Out This Season
Fashion is continuing to create garments in alluring fabrics that ensure style mavens will make large statements without saying a word.
Industry Focus: Denim - Denim Experts Weigh In on Design, Responsible Manufacturing, Vintage
As fashion embraces vintage-jean styles and the resale segment booms, are there any elements of classic denim making that you still love and can align with the modern need for responsible manufacturing?
Thermore Launches New Material Using Hybrid Technology
Milan-based Thermore has announced the launch of EVOdown Recycled, a new material made of 100 percent recycled fibers from PET bottles.
