Paris’ Parc des Exposition has hosted the last edition of Premiere Vision held on 8-10 February 2022 hosting textile, accessories and leather industry companies’ s/s 2023 collections.

Despite some contra including the fact that many non-European countries - especially Asian ones - could not travel yet, Milano Unica had taken place a week ago and manufacturers and brands have to deal with increased prices for electricity, gas, transportation and shortage of raw materials, the show was attended significantly, slightly less on its opening day, and more on the following ones, though the atmosphere was friendly, optimistic and showing many insiders willing to connect again, speak with each other and learn about market’s novelties.

“This is the edition of the restart for the industry,” commented Gilles Lasbordes, managing director of PV. “We are happy as we are hosting 1098 exhibitors, of whose about 1,000 physically present at the show and 90 through our Digital Platform. There are 30% exhibitors more than in September 2021 when we hosted about 750 ones. Unfortunately, we still cannot welcome exhibitors and visitors from China, Korea and Japan, but we hope we can go back to pre-pandemic levels with our show in 2023…” Visiting booths and speaking with exhibitors they showed satisfaction despite important groups and companies, including for instance, Brunello Cucinelli, Giorgio Armani and Max Mara, still are not letting their employees travel for security protocols.

Despite this the physical show remains an indispensable tool for getting back to normality and running business. “Today, more than in the past, companies have to discuss and find agreements with their clients and the best and easiest way to do it meeting face-to-face,” continues Lasbordes. “In days when costs - and products - are growing and a company’s offer needs to be always more sustainable, insiders need to speak with each other, discuss, try to find negotiations and increase their achievements in terms of environmental friendliness,” he added. “By meeting here, they can do it.”

PV wants to meet its customers’ needs, too. For this, the next edition will not take place in September, as in the past, but in July 2022, as the production of collections is requesting anticipated production timings. For its July 2022 edition, PV will host again Maisons d’Exception, an area dedicated to expert artisans. Along with novelties, the show will also organize a new event - Fashion Rendez-Vous - scheduled for September 2022 in Paris’ Carré du Temple, near the Marais. “It is a new smaller-size additional event that will host about 200 exhibitors and is meant to meet the needs of companies and brands that continue to need to get in touch with manufacturers later,” added Lasbordes.


Are trends still existing?
The show’s trend forums appeared more essential and down-to-earth than in past seasons, though not less inspiring. “There has been a significant change in recent seasons,” commented Desolina Suter, newly named fashion director of the show. “Right after the pandemic, only six months ago, we noticed that companies wanted to offer strong fashion statements and a series of very new ideas stating the desire to come back to normal life again. Now, for this season, we notice that there are many new aspects emerging from fabrics and materials but caring also to offer products that can last longer and guarantee longevity to products…in-keeping with the sustainable cause to avoid that pieces are worn for a few weeks or months and then thrown away,” she added. Among some of s/s 2023 trends seen on show  there were, obviously, bright colors - especially bright greens, yellows and orange, but also and pastels and delicate hues. Among patterns, lots of huge printed motives, especially vegetal ones - often tone-on-tone. Also, others focused on animals played a role as a form of celebration and defense of nature.


Learning sustainability from nature
Nature is asking to be protected, but is also offering solutions. It emerged from exhibitors participating in the Smart Creation Area of the show. Among them, Nova Kaeru, presented BeLeaf, special huge leaves from a widespread plant from Brazil,  Elephant’s Ear. These leaves are treated and - to a certain extent - tanned to be used as an alternative to leather. More solutions come from cactus leaves treated as leather by the Mexican company Desserto and used for bags, accessories and apparel. Among brands that have already used this material, there are Fossil and Levi’s.

The company Frumat from Trentino Alto Adige, an Italian region where they cultivate apples and use them to produce apple juice, has found a way for recycling waste from this industry, including skin, seeds and other remains, and uses it to produce a material very similar to leather used for sneaker uppers and accessories. Banana skins and pineapple leaves are also used by Bananatex, a Swiss company that produces another alternative fiber similar to cotton used for backpacks, t-shirts and jackets.

Also zipper and button specialist Riri has developed a series of sustainable products including zippers whose ribbons are made with hemp, linen, silk and certified organic cotton along with man-made ones obtained from recycled nylon and bio-based polyester.


Science-based solutions
The Swiss company Helixa can provide DNA-based solutions that provide full marking and traceability of fibers. The marker it uses is invisible to the naked eye and does not affect the product properties in terms of quality. It is also harmless for humans and the environment, GMO-free and GOTS and Oekotex Standard 100 compliant. Acatel, vertical fabric manufacturer part of the Impetus Group from Portugal, has partnered with Fibretrace and Good Earth Cotton to launch a collection of carbon positive and traceable knits and fabrics, added with the bio-based finishing processes Eco-Print, they consider as the first compostable pigment printing system made from a water-based printing paste, and compostable colors. They added it to Acatel’s E*Retrace collection, a material made with 20% cotton waste from Impetus Group and Ecovero fibers, among other sustainable fibers.

Within this project they also developed a special Good Earth Cotton knit that uses a bio-based finishing process made of 85% vegetable ingredients, 92% of these being biodegradable and complete with full Fibretrace traceability.

Naia, a family of cellulosic fibers from Eastman Group, has presented an enlarged selection of Naia Renew, a filament and staple fibers produced from 60% sustainably sourced wood pulp and 40% certified recycled waste plastics. As part of this strategy, it has introduced fibers for three new segments - T-shirts, loungewear and sweaters - and, among its aims, it has set the new target to offer 50% Naia Renew fibers out of its total offer by 2025. Polygiene is a Swedish chemical specialist known for various treatments, including Viral Off, an antimicrobial treatment that reduces 99% of microbes in a textile, and BioStatic, an antimicrobial technology that inhibits the growth of odor-causing bacteria found in sweat, heat or moisture.

During the last PV edition, it launched Polygiene Odor Crunch, a treatment that removes environmental odors such as cooking fumes and cigarette smoke from textiles.


Denim is on the scene
Denim is constantly involved in offering its own idea of ecofriendly solutions. Among others, Evlox is offering 80% of its collection made according to eco-friendly criteria, while it also uses alternatives to organic cotton such as hemp, bamboo and linen. The company has also presented a pair of jeans from its Re_Design Collection made with 100% recycleable denim and accessories. Prosperity has launched a special denim dyed with its 3D technique meant to reduce water consumption and, Once More, a line of denim that includes 20% fibers from recycled apparel (but may soon reach 50%) and cellulosic fibers from Södra, one of the main wood growers of the world.
Calik Denim bets of offering fabrics made with 100% recycled cotton denim, of whose 80% is from pre-consumer denim waste and 20% post-consumer.
How circularity can be beautiful
Among companies committed to producing new textiles from secondhand and  preconsumer ones, there is Imbotex. This Italian enterprise is specialized in producing responsible paddings made from noble fibers including silk, wool, yak, alpaca, camel, cashmere, vicuña, but also plant-based fibers like hemp, nettle, lyocell, kapok, organic cotton, PLA. It can also offer paddings made from recycled fibers such as polyester, silk, cashmere and camel, alone or blended, recycling companies’  preconsumer production waste or post-consumer recycled items, like, for instance, cashmere sweaters. Among those that have started collaborating with Imbotex there are Max Mara, Loro Piana, Montura, Pontetorto and Maloja. Manteco has developed  Armor by Manteco, a new line of hyper-performing and long-lasting cotton fabrics inspired by workwear items from the company’s own archives and reinterpreted them by using sustainable cotton yarns. The new collection is GRS certified and uses certified organic cotton. Another new selection of fabrics launched by Manteco is the Leaf family of materials, whose name stays for Leading Edge Aged Fabrics. This collection is characterized by soft hand fabrics, as made with Lenzing Tencel Lyocell fibers, and showing purposely small surface imperfections recalling the “imperfect perfection” of nature.



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