California Apparel News

Isko, the Turkish denim maker, scouts the globe year-round for denim and fabric trends to help it invent and improve on 300 different new fabric offerings per year.

Already, one of the world’s largest denim suppliers is developing its Fall/Winter 2016 fabric collection, which it hopes will be snapped up by some of the biggest names in premium blue jeans.

Isko’s trend forecasters believe the skinny silhouette is here for a while. “The skinny jean is not going anywhere,” said Baris Ozden, Isko’s director of product development, referring to information gleaned from the company’s trend consultants, who are out on the streets of some of the world’s most fashion-forward metropolises, including Los Angeles, New York, London and Tokyo.

Ozden was speaking at the Isko Denim Vibes workshop, held Nov. 6 at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. With the skinny jeans comes a need for super-stretch denim fabrics that hold their shape. “According to our research, we see that more than 85 percent of the ladies are washing their jeans because they are losing their shape,” the product-development chief reported. “Maybe people on the streets don’t know technically what is happening to their jeans, but they know how they should look.”

That’s why Isko, as well as other denim fabric makers, are working on developing super-stretch fabrics that will bounce back when you sit down and not bag in areas such as the knees or backside.

Isko has various stretch fabric offerings whose elasticity ranges from 35 percent to 100 percent for leggings and jeggings.

It is a trend that will only move forward. Even men are searching for stretch jeans. “We have seen young guys wearing super-skinny jeans like they were wearing their girlfriends’ jeans. Maybe they were,” Ozden said with a twist of humor. “Men want super-skinny stretch fabric. But most men don’t want to look feminine. We need super-stretch fabric that looks very masculine and even better if it looks like non-stretch.”

That is where Isko Reform XP comes in. It provides 80 percent elasticity but looks very similar to regular denim. Isko Reform and Isko Reform XP have been updated with more authentic denim and big twill looks achieved with the introduction of Modal/Tencel blends for soft and luxurious performance stretch.

Those updates capitalize on another big trend in the denim area: comfort and softness. “Softness is very, very important, and I can tell you it started from Los Angeles,” Ozden noted. “It is getting more important now. Even though some European brands refused to use these soft fabrics, they are now asking for soft fabrics.”

Before, Isko was using only cotton to obtain that softness. Now it is working with Lenzing, the Austrian fiber and fabric company, to mix in Lenzing Modal and Tencel.

Isko forecasters also believe that denim treated to look like leather is a very strong trend gathering momentum. To cater to that need, Isko has developed Isko Vintage Jeather, which has various coatings to help denim mimic vintage leather and suede looks. The leather look is part of the Isko Hi-Shine group, which includes a denim treatment that incorporates a glitz coating with a soft hand.

Denim jeans are also venturing into the world of sweatpants. Isko has a patent for its Future Face fabric, which creates an authentic denim look with the comfort of sweatpants. It was first used by Diesel to create the Diesel Jogg jeans line. Isko has an updated version of this fabric too.