Trend Tracking in the Denim Market
Denim veteran Adriano Goldschmied of Los Angeles–based Goldsign warned jeans makers to never relax when it comes to producing or selling denim.
The denim designer spoke to attendees at the Dec. 12–13 “Fashion Garment Washing: Trends, Fabrics, Technologies and Sustainability” symposium, organized by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) and held in Long Beach, Calif.
Goldschmied pointed to the short life span of skinny jeans as an example.
“Everybody was talking about it running five years. In less than one year, everything has changed. Never underestimate the eclectic taste of the consumer,” he said.
Wider, flare-leg styles are currently gaining favor, noted Goldschmied, and higher-waisted silhouettes are replacing low-rise ones. Denim is actually taking on characteristics of the luxury market as it’s no longer a basic item that can be replicated over and over again, he added.
As for fabrics, lighter and stretch versions are gaining favor.
“When a woman puts on a pair of jeans, there has to be a wow factor. It has to have a soft hand. Goldschmied said the 13- and 14-ounce denim is only for cowboys now, as most are opting for 11- and 11.5-ounce denim. Demand is also rising for thinner yarns.
“The industry is moving away from 7-count yarns into 10- to 14-counts. Some are using 20-count yarns,” he said.
Goldschmied said it will be important for denim producers to be part of the green movement, but it will take time to figure out how to adapt. He experimented by producing a pair of “green” jeans using non-toxic chemicals, but the process used five times the water and didn’t look as good.
Another option is dry-denim processing. Luca Scapin of Modus s.r.l., based in Asolo, Italy, explained how the company developed a silicon mold process based on digital patterns to create effects such as whiskering and creasing. The molds have built-in ridges that increase the friction points during finishing. The denim slips over the mold, and the brushing and sanding process is done in a single load. The result is a more uniform finish and a reduction of production time by up to 33 percent, Scapin said.
GFK, based in Valencia, Spain, showed its laser system, which burns jeans with lasers to create a number of antique and wear effects such as whiskering, back-knee creasing, starbursts, chevrons and gouges.
Enrique Silla of GFK said the process saves time and money because one person can process 3,000 pairs of jeans a day.
On the textile front, new fiber technologies were seen in Dow’s new XLA fiber, which was introduced first to the swimwear and shirts markets but is now being carried over to denim and other sportswear, according to Dow’s Eileen Abajian. In independent testing, XLA showed better stretch recovery and bleach resistance than spandex, Abajian said.
“There’s no pigment migration, [there are] limitless design opportunities and it maintains a hand feel,” she said. “It’s a different kind of comfort. The fit models love it. It gives consumers a reason to come back to the store.”
Invista representative Jean T. Hegedus gave attendees a primer on Invista’s evolving T400 fiber, a nylon spinoff that is selfcrimping and features two polymers in each filament. The effect is a stabler garment with better recovery, less wrinkling and better resistance to chlorine, Hegedus explained.
Among the new performance agents being touted was Cocona, a byproduct of coconut shells that offers odor-resistant, UVblocking characteristics, said Jim Hind of Cocona Inc.
The eco trend will remain important going forward, noted Arnold and Fran Sude of Los Angeles–based trend agency Design Options. “You have to let the consumers know you care about the planet,” Arnold Sude said.—Robert McAllister
