CELEBRATION: Italian denim mill Candiani celebrated its 75th anniversary at the Kingpins Show in New York. Pictured (left to right), Candiani’s Damian Dall’Anese, Alberto Candiani, Kingpins’ Andrew Olah, Gianluigi Candiani and Candiani’s Simon Giuliani. (Photo courtesy of Kingpins)
TRADE SHOW
Kingpins Sees Attendance Boost at New York Show
With nearly 872 attendees and 370 exhibitors, the recent July 16–17 run of Kingpins was the best attended in the boutique denim trade show’s history, organizers said.
The show, held at Center 548 studios in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, featured a mix of denim mills, manufacturers, washhouses, fiber manufacturers and trim suppliers.
Kevin Maldonado, owner of Los Angeles–based Studio Bert Forma, was at the show with his Spanish denim mill Santanderina. [The company was also showing some of its lines at Première Vision New York, which ran concurrently (see related story, this page) and had shown some of its lines at Texworld USA in New York the previous week.]
“Kingpins New York was great,” Maldonado said. “We saw all the big people we wanted to see—and we had a serious conversation with Target.”
Cone Mills was showcasing new developments, including some of its sustainable products, such as Cone’s Food Tray Black denim, which is woven with yarn made from recycled food trays. Available in stretch and rigid fabrications, the Food Tray Black yarn gives the finished product a dark, saturated look, said Kara Nicholas, Cone’s vice president of new product and marketing.
Cone also partnered with Crailar Flax fibers to create fabrics made from a blend of cotton and Crailar Flax, which are grown and harvested using a patented process that uses less water and fewer chemicals.
“You have the attributes of the flax and the cotton working together,” Nicholas said. “It makes a really beautiful-looking product.”
Nicholas said the company was also continuing to work with Tencel denim, including introducing 12-ounce mid-weight rigid fabrications for men’s jeans and women’s boyfriend styles.
“We’re keeping some of the gutsiness of traditional denim, but you have the added benefits of the hand and drape of the Tencel fiber,” she said.
Cone was showcasing fabrics from its U.S., Mexico and China facilities, including selvage denim from Cone’s White Oak facility in North Carolina and the Gemini Collection from Cone China.
“Our Gemini Collection [uses] a clear cationic coating on the back to give you the opportunity to [dye] the weft and warp yarns in different colors,” Nicholas said. “It gives customers a lot of flexibility and the opportunity to use one base fabric to have many different looks.”
