Spring/Summer collections are always on a lookout for new fabrics to develop new styles. Cottons, Viscose and Rayons have been summer staples since years and exporters have now started putting pressure on choosing new fabric options. With runways pitching in new fabric ideas and designers experimenting with new fabric mixes, four types of fabrics have appeared to be in the front line. These fabrics are being used in variety of applications.
Be it a dress, blouse, trousers, skirts or shorts, these fabrics are the most important part of this season’s collections it seems. In the quest of being creative, this season’s fabric choices have become a crucial design element as well. Moving ahead from the simple cottons and poly mixes, the summer of 2017 will bring with it 4 fabric options which will impress the world in the upcoming seasons as well…
Becoming huge favourites with designers and now picked up by export product development teams, the following four fabric choices are becoming the talk of the industry.
Knitted Denim
Amid varied technological advances, fabric manufacturing has also touched new heights, and with customer’s growing need to wear something new season after season, fabric manufacturers have tried and developed many new versions. One such version is the knitted adaptation of our own archetypical denim. Indigo knit denims are made in more or less the same way as denim. Being a knit, knitted denims have more elasticity, comfortability and flexibility in comparison to normal woven versions.
Knitted denim also has the desirable knit properties of air permeability and wicking. One of the cons of this fabric is its tendency to fade with repeated use, but in one way the garment will gain character with wearing, washing and more washing. Ganesh Ram, GM – Marketing, Bhaskar Denim says, “Knitted denims are constructed in many different structures like, single jersey, interlock, pique, honey-comb, fleece, plated, cross-strings and all possible design structures. Knitted denim has certain special characteristics that make it suitable for creating a wide range of garments and accessories like tights, glues, underwear and other close fitting garments.”
The Burnout Fabric
Being almost negligible in the last few seasons, suddenly exports and buying houses have been noticing the growth of burnout fabric, a.k.a. brasso in the upcoming season. Joyline Pvt. Ltd., a buying house dealing with brands like Dunnes, River Island, Zero, M&Co, Penneys and Primark, has been receiving enquiring about using brasso fabrics in the S/S ’17 collections. “We are in the process of sampling for S/S ’17 season, and till now, all the mood boards we have come across, have one thing in common in terms of fabric options – brasso. As the season is moving away from laces to find a better replacement in terms of cost, brasso is the fabric type to look out for, along with brilliant aesthetics,” says Shalini Singh, Assistant Merchandiser of the company.
Tweaking the basic brasso technique to suit their collections, designers surfaced a wide range of garments in magnificent interpretations. In the S/S ’16 collections, Lela Rose, showcased a variety of polka dots and ikat striped motifs in brasso on floor-length dresses and skirts. Michael Kors presented a range of skits in brasso which created the trompe-l’oil effect of embroidery.
Double-sided Jersey
Regarded as the most preferred knits in summers, due to its airy structure and construction, Jersey is used predominantly for summer clothing manufacture. Named after the island of Jersey, the fabric was originally made of wool, but is now created with cotton and synthetic fibres as well. Jerseys are very stretchy, made using single knitting process and are usually light-weight. The most popular application of this lightweight fabric can be seen in regular T-shirts. Ankit Nair, MD, Kanchan International, adding further says, “Other than single knitted, jerseys can be double knitted as well which have less stretch and is heavy as two single jerseys are knitted together to form a double jersey, which is the most popular amongst other varieties of jersey fabrics. Jersey is considered to be an excellent fabric for draped garments, such as dresses, and women’s tops. “Some common uses for jersey fabric include T-shirts and leggings. The fabric is cool, flexible, stretchy, and very insulating, making it a popular choice for the layer worn closest to the body. Jersey also tends to be soft, making it very comfortable.
Crochet
With sudden revival of crochet on the runways, and exporters incorporating them in their collection in every possible way, crochet seems to have a very bright future ahead. Devang Seth, Head Designer, Intime Knits Pvt. Ltd. talking on the similar lines, mentioned, “From last few years, there was a comparatively low demand of crochet products, but now a better future seems to be around the corner. Buyers are getting exhausted by seeing the repeated use of nets and laces on garments, and are now ready to pay more for the crochet products even if they are expensive than other mediums. And these products are also into entirely made-ups of crochet, some are hemmed, some the ruffled and some are panels with crochets.”
Scattering the beauty of its handmade nature, crochet is still being carried out by hand, even after the launch of varied machineries in the industry. Anil Sehgal, Proprietor, Suneeta Knitwears, praising the uniqueness of this technique shared, “Crochet is our forte and today the products are selling fine owing to the technique’s exclusivity. It takes about two months for completing 6-7,000 pieces by hand. Though similar work can be replicated by machines, but the difference is quite noticeable.” With an experience of more than three decades, and working with top retailers under the brand ‘Apsley’, Anil has observed an amazing growth in demand of crochet-based apparels.
