Ecofriendly merino sportswear, luminescent jackets and regenerated cashmere and leather are the newest developments from the fabric and fashion industry. Discover what's new from the textile and leather industry.
Stone Island shines through
Stone Island continues to celebrate its 40th anniversary by launching new special edition projects.
On the inner face, the application of colored cotton cupro twill inserts define the geometry of the garment. In the same fabric, the jacket can be added with a detachable vest padded in Primaloft Gold that can be worn separately.
Additional details complete the jacked like, for instance, a hood lined in cotton cupro twill, two lined hand pockets glued on the front of the jacket closed by flaps and inner pockets that can be accessed through two side slits.
For f/w 2022, Italian brand Sease and The Woolmark Company collaborated to reinvent classic fabrics traditionally used in the formal world, reworking them to develop an urban and skiing essential kit consisting of Woolmark Blend certified jackets, sweatshirts and T-shirts.
The project was designed to follow up on The Woolmark Company Award for Innovation won by Sease as a promoter of sustainable innovation during the Italian Fashion Chamber Sustainable Fashion Awards 2022.
Sease, a brand focused on creating products with ethical and sustainable features, chose to use Merino wool, a natural fiber that is 100% biodegradable, recyclable, and at the same time durable.
"The fabrics used have been coupled with high performance membranes mainly polyurethane where the presence of the polymer is in a bio-based percentage therefore non-polluting," explained Franco Loro Piana, CEO, Sease emphasizing how the collection also has sustainable features. "The water-repellent treatments made on the outer surface of the fabric are all fluorine-free, thus meeting the compliance standards of the European community therefore without Florine, a microplastic that is highly harmful to the environment."
Part of the collection is the Balma Jacket, an ideal companion to be worn both in the city and on the ski slopes. It is made with Solaro Sunrise, a laminated wool fabric that has improved thermoregulation and breathability properties. The Drone Hoodie sweatshirt is made of Merino wool pinstripe fabric, inspired by Italian tailoring, and complemented by a built-in neck warmer and reflective edges.
“We have found in Sease and this project the future of wool,” said Francesco Magri, regional manager, Central & Eastern Europe at The Woolmark Company. "In the last few years we have changed our lifestyle, discovered new potentials, acquired new habits, and above all we have learned to recognize, and make our own, the values of quality and sustainability. Sease opens the door to a new approach to sportswear because it helps connect the quality of traditional woolen fabrics, with the sustainable soul and the multiple performance qualities of Merino for different apparel segments," Magri continued.
YKK Corporation has developed Aqua Guard Natulon, an environmentally friendly water-repellent zipper. Since October 2022 and for one year, YKK will be gradually replacing the conventional water-repellent AquaGuard zipper with the environmentally friendly AquaGuard Natulon zipper, which has a tape made of recycled PET plastic.
For this recently developed zipper model, YKK not only adopted a recycled PET and fluorine-free water-repellent tape, but also improved the zipper’s opening/closing operability as well as the appearance of the zipper.
YKK also recently announced the YKK Sustainability Vision 2050, which is the Company’s sustainability goal for achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The global company set up goals under five themes: climate change, material resources, water resources, chemical management, and respect of people. YKK is engaged in initiatives to achieve ten Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to these themes.
FTC has achieved the Made in Green by Oeko-Tex label, one of the few acknowledgements to include various areas of sustainability such as environmental, safety, social and traceability.
The brand, whose name stands for Fair Trade Cashmere, is a knitwear specialist in the premium sector that was founded in 2003, by the Knezovic family that still runs the business from Switzerland.
FTC operates through production sites in Shaanxi and Hebei provinces, in China, according to a fair policy by paying what it considers fair wages to its workers, long-term employment and good working conditions and long-time close partnerships and a deep understanding of local needs have thus been formed. FTC actually invests not only in its own company but also in the local people, for example by supporting and building schools.
FTC has been in the process to achieve the Step by Oeko-Tex (Sustainable Textile Production) recognisement since the beginning of 2022. Since then, all process steps within the company's own production facilities have been audited for environmental friendliness and working conditions have been inspected for social responsibility. The Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex certificate is required for the Made in Green by Oeko-Tex label, a certificate that had been already implemented at FTC in 2021.
Since November 2022, a QR code attached to each item of the collection will help access information about the brand’s life story and value chain.
Malo is an Italian cashmere knitwear brand whose name has Latin origins from “ego malo”, meaning “I prefer”.
For f/w 2022/2023, the brand launched garments made entirely from regenerated cashmere, that is, obtained from post-consumer yarns destined for disposal that are recovered and carefully sorted by color, creating new nuances and minimizing dyeing processes.
The yarn is GRS certified. The Global Recycle Standard is promoted by Textile Exchange, a leading international nonprofit organization for responsible and sustainable development in the textile industry. The standard recognizes the importance of recycling for the growth of a sustainable production and consumption model, with the goal of encouraging the reduction of resource consumption (virgin raw materials, water and energy) and increasing the quality of recycled products.
The production of these garments saves resources such as water, electricity and carbon dioxide emissions compared to traditional cashmere garment by 90% less water, 80%less electricity and 95% less CO2 emitted.
Gruppo Mastrotto, an Italian specialist in the production and tanning of bovine leathers for sectors such as apparel, footwear, leather goods and automotive, has reached Carbon Neutrality at Gruppo Mastrotto Express, its major logistics hub for ready-to-deliver leathers with more than 40 collections and 1,500 colors available.
At the last edition of Lineapelle in Milan, it unveiled an exclusive new patent pending product called Reviva. It is a material born from the recovery of leather processing waste that gives rise to a new product that can be easily customized and used by all those brands, particularly in the fashion world, that have put sustainability at the center of their industrial path.
Reviva is the result of a project that employs finished leather trimmings that are normally considered waste, ennobling them according to a circular economy and upcycling logic.
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