a greener shade of blue

A greener shade of blue

The denim trend area at the recent Munich Fabric start exhibition offered a variety of ideas and inspirations, not least, the theory that denim is always re-inventing itself.

Of the approximate 45exhibitors within the Munich Fabric Start ' Bluezone ', around a quarter were offering an organic cotton section as part of their collections for Spring/Summer 2012. Amongst these,the standout features were an abundance of soft fabrics with a flowing drape that were predominantly targeting feminine lines. With a range of cellulosic fibres also fabrics no longer have to be pre-treated so intensively which means they begin to 'break' once they have been worn just a couple of times. The range of weights continued to be quite wide while colourwise, the trend was towards very urban and greyish tones.

Admittedly, some mills included just a couple of pieces,was of the lack of demand for organic cotton denim in the wake of increasing raw material prices. For others however, the organic selection was a key part of their offering.

Nowhere was this more apparent than at Spanish denim manufacturer Tejidos Royo which, as well as showcasing its hybrid brand of denim has also launched a new line featuring lenzing's new Tencel C fibre.

Tejidos Royo has a strong reputation for exploring sustainable denim options, particularly with it HybridDenim range of products which makes use of a number of environmentally sound fibres mainly supplied by local spinning mills.

The latest developments from the HybridDenim range included the new E4 rigid denim which is produced from a combination of organic cotton, Tencel, recycled cotton and recycled polyester. Described by Royo creative director, Panos Sofianos as the company's 'Upcycling Project ', HybridDenim is also making use of ozone bleaching technology to help reduce the environmental footprint of its denim production.

With this process using less water and bleaching as well as reducing energy consumption, Sofianos hails E4 as the result of intensive research to produce a range of fabrics with the maximum number of sustainable components in their composition.

"The motivation is clear," Sofianos said confidently," the global industry is turning step-by-step more and more eco-respectful in its production processes and the philosophy of new products. This (denim) is a sector that needs more than any other to change its mind and ensure that to maintain production in the future, it stops the use of environmentally harmful processes and materials and starts to produce under an eco-responsible philosophy."

Royo is also now using Tencel C on the reverse side of its denim fabrics to create a sustainable Wellness ＆Skin Care Denim range, which was also unveiled at the exhibition.

"We are always searching for new concepts since we see ourselves as an innovative European denim manufacturer," said Sofianos." in Tencel C, we see enormous potential. Denim is mostly worn directly next to the skin and if our denim now has cosmetic properties and beautifies the skin of the weaver,then it is just perfect."

According to Royo, the new denim line offers several ' wellness ' benefits including moisturiser ,skin protection, skin elasticity improvement and skin cell renewal. " With wellness denim the skin`s barrier is reinforced and acts like a moisture reservoir," Sofianos added. Elsewhere, at Italy-based Berto industria Tessile, there was evidence of a growing use of 100％organic cotton for the Spring/Summer season, both stretch and non-stretch along with several samples making use of natural indigo dyes. According to the company`s export manager, Stefano

Ometto, there has been a steady increase in demand for the company`s GOTS certified organic collection. " We have found a certain niche market for our organic lines," he said. " It does come at a premium but there are always some retailers and brands that are willing to pay. The last 12 months have definitely seen a surge in interest- a trend I see continuing in future seasons."

Egypt-based Fourtex was also among the denim mills promoting new organic lines. With a number of customers in Europe and Turkey including high profile French retailer Decathlon, the company has noticed a sizable shift in orders from conventional to organic cotton.

Bossa Denim and Sports wear meanwhile- a key supplier to brands such as Marks and Spencer and Next-confirmed that organic cotton fabrics now account for around 10 to 15％of its business,buoyed by increasing interest from Northern European brands and particularly, brands and retailers from around the Western Coast of the US. With a commitment to not using the sandblasting finishing process firmly in place, GOTS certified Bossa is also making increasing use of Tencel, particularly in its womenswear collections as it looks to offset the increasing cotton prices, an issue that continues to cause alarm amongst many denim manufacuturers.

"In a nutshell, global cotton stocks are currently much lower than they have been in the past and on top of that,current production has yielded an amount way below global demand." warned Gulperl Erkanli,marketing manager,Bossa Denim ＆Sportswear."Cotton prices are expected to stablise at this new high level for some time.The raw material accounts for around 50％of the total cost of typical denim fabric and these rises in price (which have also impacted the organic cotton market) are increases that cannot be supported or compensated by only the denim manufacturers any more. The question now is, if cotton prices do continue to rise, will it be the garment manufacturer, the brand or the end consumer that will be willing to bear the cost? "

Marco Lucietti, marketing manager at Turkey-based Isko agreed."Isko`s strategy when it comes to dealing with cotton prices is to carefully check quotations based on the future prices of raw materials, " he said, adding that particularly in the organic sector, the company was trying to absorb as much of the price increases as possible- admittedly, a process made easier by the company`s vertically intergrated setup."We think that in such times, a value chain effort, starting from raw material producers down to the brands and retailers with each member of the supply chain accepting that they may have to reduce their margins will leave the final customer happy to keep on purchasing organic denim," he said.

The specialised denim fabrics demonstrated by Isko included a new finish called 'self-dry' which provides linen and hemp fabrics with the look and touch of cotton. The company has also recently collaborated with French designers,Marithe and Francois Girbaud on its 'Recall' brand of denim which uses a production process that enables much faster recovery than conventional fabrics, limiting loss of shape and ensuring minimum restriction with high stetch performance ranging from 30 to 50％.

The key to this technique is the Wattwash treatment which uses laser light to give denim fabrics a 'Vintage' feel and acts as an alternative to stonewashing.

The process uses the concentrated energy of light to penetrate the fabric, creating different wear,pattern and design effects, thus avoiding the stonewashing process which requires around 150 litres of water per pair of jeans compared to five litres that are required with laser 'wattwash' .