Although s/s 2018 menswear was the main focus at the trade shows in New York last week two important, concurrent textile fairs previewed the fabrics that will play major roles in future season’s men’s (and all other) collections. TexWorld USA, which is produced by Messe Frankfurt, and the Manhattan edition of Première Vision from France both showcased what will be on offer fabric-wise for the fall/winter 2018-19 season.
TexWorld USA
TexWorld took place for three days at The Javits Center alongside the men’s shows Project/MRket, Liberty and Capsule and served up a vast assortment of exhibitors across five halls. Its dedicated Denim section included mostly Asian mills, including China’s Changzhou Showsha Textiles Co. Ltd and Y&T, a Vietnamese mill that was set up in December 2013 and will soon reach a production capacity of 2,200,000 meters per month. Both offered a wide array of denims from 100% cotton ones to those that blend Spandex, linen and Tencel.
In addition to pavilions/aisles dedicated to specific countries such as Egypt, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Pakistan, Turkey, India and Taiwan, the show offered the Lenzing Innovation area, with 20 booths/companies dedicated to the modern textiles that are possible from that company’s fibers such as Tencel and Modal. Among the exhibitors there was Design Knit, Inc., a 33-year-old producer based in Los Angeles. Its marketing manager, Pat Tabassi, noted that there has been a huge leap in interest in Tencel fabrics from her clients of late and she added that being one of the rare local suppliers of fabrics there has been advantageous to the company as it cuts down on wait times for LA-based clothing manufacturers. She added that the interest in activewear isn’t waning anytime soon and that the company’s active-friendly fabrics continue to climb as bestsellers.
Texworld also included a Showcase area spotlighting new trends and a live series of “Textile Talks” featuring VIPs discussing trends and topics that are pertinent for the industry and upcoming seasons.
Première Vision
The North American version of the famous European textile show returned to its home at Pier 94 for a two-day run. Once again small and carefully curated it was divided into five areas: Fabrics, Leather, Accessories, Manufacturing and Designs (aka prints). As always, its Trends Area (which does not allow photography) gave an invaluable glimpse about what to expect for fashion’s future. Key fabric themes for a/w 2018-19 will be space-themed patterns and floral prints with dark backgrounds, “Vibrating Lights” (sparkles/sequins) and portrait-inspired graphics in a theme it dubbed “Art Gallery” as well as textiles based on architecture.
The show’s other special areas highlighted brands from Peru and the top color palette choices for the upcoming season.
A big attraction at the show was a booth by French sneaker brand Bensimon, which distributed complimentary pairs of shoes that could be customized with accessories provided by companies showing in the Accessories area. In addition, PV ran a dozen live hour-long onsite seminars that covered everything from the season’s trends to optimizing one’s digital presence.
Also interesting:
For more information on trade shows check out DFV Group’s expocheck.com.
