California Apparel News

    Jared Maziarz of Lion Button leads a customer through his offerings.
  

The West Coast edition of Messe Frankfurt’s Texworld and Apparel Sourcing Los Angeles as well as Printsource at the California Market Center blended textile manufacturers and suppliers with a comprehensive roster of the shows’ Textile Talks. Guests attended the Los Angeles events, which debuted in July 2023, from regions including the local Los Angeles area, the Pacific Northwest and East Coast, Colorado, New York, Texas, Japan and Australia.

The Textile Talks educational seminar series included panel discussions including “State of Play: An Update on Legislation Impacting the Fashion Industry” and “Sourcing 2024: The Second Half,” in addition to the trend presentation “Fall/Winter 2025/26: Inspirations on Color, Trend, Textiles and Apparel from Doneger | TOBE.” During “The Rise of Next-Gen Bio-Based Materials” discussion, moderator Thomasine Dolan, director of materials, innovation and design at the Material Innovation Initiative, led a panel composed of Megan Beck of Rheom Materials, Alissa Baier-Lentz of Kintra Fibers, Sara Pink of von Holzhausen and Amanda Turner of ettitude at the Aug. 13–14 event.

“The best thing about all the Texworld shows is Textile Talks,” said Dolan. “Eileen Small [market development, fashion and apparel textiles at Messe Frankfurt] always puts together interesting people and relevant topics, and they’re always well attended.”

    Attendees learned about sustainable options at the Next-Gen Innovation Hub.
  

According to Baier-Lentz, sustainability remains important to brands, but it must be offered in addition to other solutions.

“Sustainability is nice to have. But we’ve seen some big market indicators that show sustainability isn’t enough to cut it nowadays. You have to outperform the existing materials—at Kintra we do—and you absolutely have to show a clear path to price parity,” explained Baier-Lentz. “You need to demonstrate it to the brands and their tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers, and be able to show that it’s not only easy to integrate but you’re going to get them wins.”

Attendees at the show agreed. Traveling to Los Angeles from LYDG in Kirkland, Wash., Alice Chen, senior product manager, and Kata Kékedi, senior design and innovation lead, were prioritizing hand feel and wearability.

“It’s all about the comfort,” said Chen. “And sustainability.”

If a sourcing partner is able to deliver comfort, hand feel and affordability, in addition to sustainability, Chen and Kékedi said they would be more willing to collaborate.

“Everyone wants to have a say in fabric innovation and sustainability—it’s almost a competition of who can come up with the next thing,” Kékedi said. “Sustainability is always the cherry on the cake. If that is a choice, we feel better about it.”

    Unique designs from Nalini Asha Biggs of Nalini Asha Design Studio.
  

Chen and Kékedi were drawn to California Love by the Fallbrook, Calif.–based Nalini Asha Design Studio, which features hand-painted graphics from Nalini Asha Biggs.

“My love for what I do comes through,” Biggs said. “People are connecting with the handcrafted art of it.”

Another concern for attendees was minimum-order quantities as this issue can prove challenging for startups and emerging designers.

“Many are conscious of cost and what it would take to develop a button,” said Jared Maziarz, the New York–based national sales manager for Lion Button, which boasts sustainable products. “We try to alleviate some of that pressure. If they don’t meet the MOQs, we do have a small surcharge of $45, which is pretty fair and reasonable.”

Whether a brand is a startup or established label, Dolan remains optimistic regarding sustainable growth. In addition to leading the bio-based materials panel, Dolan organized and managed the Next-Gen Innovation Hub, an installation featuring ecological offerings from select exhibitors.

“I like having the innovation hub here because I think the Texworld shows, in general, are more mainstream,” Dolan said. “This is where more mass-market places are shopping, and that is important to me and all these innovators to get things moving.”