IMPORT & EXPORT
Import Scares, Supply-Chain Snares—How to Navigate Tariff Uncertainty
By Dorothy Crouch, Contributing Writer | September 19, 2025
California Apparel News asked experts in fiber, yarn and fabric: How have you navigated through proposed and implemented tariffs that impact your business from raw materials to finished goods?
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
Unifi Announces Achievement of Sustainability Goal Ahead of Target
As 2022 approaches, many people are considering the resolutions they will make ahead of the new year, but for fiber innovator Unifi, Inc., a major milestone that was originally planned as a 2022 target has already been achieved.
Material Exchange Acquires Olah Inc. Agency
Material Exchange, the fast-growing international virtual marketplace, announced it has acquired the agency division of Olah Inc., a New York–based firm focused on the denim and sportswear industries.
FABSCRAP Expansion Includes Opening of Philadelphia Location
Following the May announcement of its partnerships with URBN and Nordstrom, which afforded it extensive funding, the textile recycling and reuse nonprofit FABSCRAP has opened a location in Philadelphia. In addition to bringing the group’s services to Philadelphia, FABSCRAP’s new location will allow the New York City–headquartered nonprofit to serve the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, including Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Md.; and Southern New Jersey.
NILIT Joins The Ocean Foundation’s Blue Resilience Initiative
Nylon brand NILIT has partnered with The Ocean Foundation on its Blue Resilience Initiative, which aims to reestablish and safeguard essential ocean meadows and other coastal habitats.
Nearshoring and Sustainable Options Tick During LA Textile Return
During the return edition of LA Textile at the California Market Center in downtown Los Angeles, apparel makers and creatives were welcomed back to the trade-show floor to find inspiration following the event’s hiatus, which began after its March 2020 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ralph Lauren and Dow Collaborate on New Process to Dye Cotton More Sustainably
Ralph Lauren and Dow are open-sourcing a new platform that aims to transform how the apparel industry dyes cotton.
Industry Focus: Fiber, Yarn and Fabric—What features in fiber and yarn are your clients demanding, and how is this trend shaping the future of your business?
Within the foundation of every garment constructed, at the core of each piece of clothing that is made, is the cornerstone of fashion that lays the groundwork for apparel from fiber, yarn and fabric. While consumers of the past were simply satisfied with the composition listed on the tags of their clothing, today’s customers want more.
Fabric Alternatives PLNT FIBER and FRUT FIBER Introduced by Pangaia
Seeking to combat the negative impacts of pollutive textiles in the fashion industry, materials-science company Pangaia unveiled its latest innovations in the fabric space. Manufactured from plant fibers, Pangaia’s PLNT FIBER and FRUT FIBER were introduced as the company commits further to a mission of moving apparel manxufacturing away from nonorganic cotton and synthetics created from petroleum-based resources.
Ambercycle and Avery Dennison Work Together to Close the Supply-Chain Loop
The end of life for clothing often leads to the landfill, creating an enormous fashion-waste problem for the industry.
5Loc Promotes Cotton Transparency, Traceability 'From Field to Fabric'
Responsible cotton has been Brent Crossland’s passion throughout the industry expert’s nearly 40-year career. After working with a number of companies including Wrangler and Bayer CropScience—where he created the e3 sustainable cotton program that affords guidelines to farmers—Crossland recently founded 5Loc Cotton.
Lenzing Makes Strides in Fiber Identification Within Its E-Branding Service
Known for its commitment to sustainable-fiber cultivation, Lenzing has announced the expansion of its identification capabilities within the company’s E-Branding Service.
Leigh Fibers Partners With Tidal Vision to Produce Bio-based Textile Treatments
Solving issues of the toxicity that could result from traditional textile treatments, Leigh Fibers and Tidal Vision have announced a partnership that will rely on sustainable, ecologically sound resources to improve this segment of the industry.
ISKO, Soorty Team Up for Unique Collaboration
ISKO and Soorty have signed a landmark technology-licensing agreement that partners the two competitors on the production of fabric and garment collections.
