Masses looking for cheap prices, yet sensitive to sustainability
Italtex is a leading studio publishing fabric trend-books since 1959. Based in Biella, the Italian capital of high-end menswear fabrics, the company is particularly skilled in both menswear and womenswear trends. The trend-books, its core business, show the latest fashion trends in colours, materials, yarns, weaves, patterns and finishes for apparel fabrics. CEO Cinzia Gremmo discusses new fibres, latest fabric technologies, and textile innovations in an interview with Fibre2Fashion.
How has trend forecasting evolved over the years?
In the past, there were a few key trends. They were stronger, and there was much less segmentation. Today, besides some main themes, there are many specific niches, each one with its own trends in terms of colours, materials, etc.
Do Paris, London, New York, and Milan still hold their fashion capital status?
The main fashion capitals keep their positions, but there are a number of new cities that are becoming more and more important, like Shanghai, Seoul and Rio de Janeiro.
What are the major trends for S/S 2019 in menswear and womenswear in terms of fabrics, weaves/knits, colours, prints, and embellishments?
The study of new qualities features the spring-summer season 2019 conceived in different fibres. It includes the natural fibres of linen, cotton and wool, and the artificial and synthetic materials of viscose, polyester and polyamide. Worth noting are the combinations of linen with the above mentioned fibres. The trend is for a young sportier style, emphasised with mixture and different contrast twist yarns. The use of neppy, fries and fine boucle yarns as decoration or in the ground create new looking qualities, particularly suitable for jackets. The suit, present to a small extent, will be made in different materials and particularly in cotton-linen, wool-linen, woolcotton in the conventional designs. The formal, elegant dress will be made in more precious materials such as pure wool or wool-silk.
Which regions are making headway in fabric and yarn innovations?
Italy, Japan with fibres like orange fibre, crabion-a viscose made with the inedible parts of crabs, vegea, pinatex-made from pineapple, seacel-made from seaweed.
How big is the team at Italtex? How do they identify something to be a trend?
There are several stylists and designers. The way trends come out is the result of the continuous contact with the market, the continuous selection and observation of the most important fabric collections, the constant contact with the main fabric designers, and at the same time the habit of using all the means available today to also check what happens at the consumer level.
Which new natural fibres are on the rise in textiles? Where do you see the applications growing?
The most important natural fibres are organic cotton and hemp. The latter is interesting because it is a natural thermal insulator material, strong yet soft and comfortable. It also reflects UV rays and shields from electrostatic fields. Additionally, it is hypoallergenic and antibacterial.
Where is the sustainable fashion movement strong?
It is important especially in two areas:
Fast fashion, because that's where sustainability is more critical for the production processes used and for the underpaid work. However, the masses are looking for cheap prices, but at the same time are very sensitive to sustainability.
High-end qualities, where it is easier to work on sustainability because the price of the goods leaves margin to make investments in it.
Which have been the top three innovations in fabric technologies in the last five years?
Food fibres, the fibres created with food leftovers, recycled materials, polyester obtained from ocean plastic, conductive fibres, 3D print fibres changing their colours according to the movements made.
What is the next big thing in fabric engineering and technology?
Companies have new products on a continual basis and, in order to offer products very quickly, marketplaces are an excellent solution because on the one side they enable customers to get new products immediately when available and, on the other, they allow brands to interact with suppliers requesting the latest modifications according to the just-in-time model. To make production sustainable, which is an essential theme from the market, companies have implemented a circular process: produce-recycle-produce. To know more about the latest fabric trends visit italtextrends.com (HO)
Published on: 29/08/2018
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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