What did the fabric fairs tell us?
Be ready for hybridisation. We have talked about the development of the parallel wardrobe for the last two seasons, which hit a small pause during the pandemic, but the creativity and the impact of new technology is overwhelming and pushing the boundaries of wardrobes even further. We, at Concepts Paris, started by looking at the current era of bodywear and our own lingerie specialisation, widening our scope now with the launch of a Resortwear book; in actuality, this is the birth of enormous development of a more casual wardrobe for Home & Away. After the athleisure boom, where we now see the effect of saturation, resortwear and beachwear are in full development. Casual now means much more than careless and slouchy - it is for the home, the night out, the city, the beach. Everything that brings pleasure and satisfies the senses. The consequence is a total disappearance of seasons, which demands rethinking merchandising, buying seasons and stock volumes. We have seen a huge build up of unsold stock recently, so in general we must think about shorter runs, being more flexible and looking at where creativity brings new openings. The most interesting fabrics at Interfilière and Première Vision directly related to new lifestyles and the fading away of seasons.
Most significant is the comeback of Leavers lace, both real and emulation in fine jacquardtronics. Then there are the coarser laces and embroideries are in big scales, of which many of the specialist manufacturers are in the Mediterranean and Turkey, but we also see developments happening in Asia. An interesting area with much room for expansion for resort, which allows the freedom of scale and shape. We also see that loungewear and homewear focus on traditions such as quilting, corded decorations and embroidered insets. In lingerie and resortwear, there are a lot of interesting textural effects such as strong comeback of guipure motifs and decoration, both on catwalks but also retail collections, and a large demand of narrow laces - both cotton and bobbin laces. Have a look at the most recent Fendi collection, with their vintage lingerie inspired layering.
The interest in knitting techniques together with yarn developments is huge for loungewear. We are seeing a strong resurgence of wool in most categories; warmwear, underwear and loungewear. Knitted jacquards in general are also very important. We are very impressed by developments at Naia™ from Eastman, which include wool blends for ultimate warmth. We talked with spinners who confirmed that the combination of cellulosic (rayon) fibres and wool/cashmere is in high demand for upmarket loungewear.
Lots of jacquard developments in the the re-establishment of the woven silks. We are also astonished at how the softer lurex yarns continue to enliven the whole jacquard industry, including the lace industry, which focuses more on scales and graphic designs. In general, we see the influence of new developments in brands such as Livy, Chantelle X, and the latest collaboration between Aubade x Elie Saab - a significant move away from traditional lingerie designs with a link to ready-to-wear.
All big retail brands, almost without exception, are launching into the enlarging of the homewear collection - pyjama wear, long hostess dresses and kaftans which allow big and colourful designs. In contrast to this, there is another trend towards frilly cuteness which we saw at the Salon de la Lingerie, which is according to us, very strongly related to Gen Z's love of mixing contrasting elements. We saw an ongoing fascination by young people for Japanese kawaii developments.
Whilst we enjoyed the vast selection at Première Vision Paris, it does not compare to the atmosphere and the masses of information you find at Interfilière Paris, which still remains the number one trade show to visit for lingerie specialists.