Since I received really good reviews about my previous blog post, INSIDE THE FASHION INDUSTRY - Woven, Knits & Leather, I decided to put together another post about textiles, but not just about different fabrics! Let’s talk about textile technology.
To help me illustrate what textile technology is and how big this is in the fashion industry right now, let’s start this post by looking at some of the brands that invested hard in textile technology during the past Fashion Weeks around the world.
ANREALAGE
Let me start by saying that this was one of my favorites! Between all fashion weeks around the world!
As I said, I LOVE textile technology and this brand illustrated what it means perfect in this collection.
When the models entered the runway, the clothes were all white. Nice cuts and shapes, but all plain white. Once the special light hit the garments, the colors changed and the entire collection had prints in different colors and shapes.
How is this possible? Let’s just start with the fact that this cannot be made out of any natural material. The fabrics need to be pretreated before receiving any dye, then the dyeing colors also need to be made out of special treatment - otherwise, the colors would fade and go back to white after the special light hits the garment.
You know when detectives are investigating a crime scene, they use the UV light to show hidden digitals or details that our eye alone cannot catch? Well, almost the same situation here. The difference is that the dye is specially prepared to not fade once we do not have the light hitting on the garment anymore.
PS: no, I do not know the composition of the garments nor the special treatment used on the dye, or the special light used for that matter, but the process to make that happen is pretty much based on what I mentioned above - pretreated fabrics and special dyeing.
AVAVAV
Even though this designer invested in multi-functional clothes and construction more than in textile technology itself, the fabrics that were chosen for each one of the styles that changed during the runway, were certainly chosen for a reason!
Since the idea was to rip the clothes apart and present a whole different style when taking parts of the garment out, silks, laces, and chemise would certainly not be a good idea. Why? The entire garment and, most likely, every seam in the garment would rip as well as the fabric itself.
It was necessary to work with particular materials that were more resistant to the pulling pressure while the models walked the runway, without ripping the entire garment. Not every type of fabric would make this possible.
Iris Van Herpen
This is one of my favorite brands and not just because of their style. Iris Van Herpen was one of the first brands to blow up when the fashion industry decided that technology should be an ally and not an enemy and they presented an entire collection created in a 3D printer.
This collection came out back in 2010 (if I am not mistaken), so it has been a minute and certainly was not presented at the past Fashion Weeks around the world, but still, to this day, one of my favorite representations of fashion and technology working together.
One more thing, the designs in this collection turned out to be aesthetically pleasing and perfectly fit the human body, which is not (or at least it was not) easy to achieve - especially with the designs drafted by the brand. Everything was a representation of the human body and lightweight fabrics.
Read more about this collection here https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2021/07/iris-van-herpen-earthrise/
HELIOT EMIL
Ok, this designer pretty much broke Paris Fashion Week. Literally the definition of “coming in hot”, no doubt!
Let me start with: do not, under any circumstances, try doing this at home! Nor think that you will buy clothes that say “heat protection’’ or “flame protection”, set yourself on fire and everything will be ok. IT WON'T! So, please, you need to understand that this was not created overnight and it was certainly tested to its core, before being put to use during Paris Fashion Week.
Now, is this real? Is it really possible to make it happen? Absolutely! This is the kind of high-performance garment used by the army, navy, firefighters, and most of the jobs/sports that involve extreme exposure to different temperatures.
The materials not only have to be pretreated with special coatings, but the fabric itself needs to be knitted using a special dye, with special chemicals and the garment needs to be structured in a certain way - seams need to be articulated as well as placed in strategic places, so flames would not get through and, in case you need to get out of the garment, you have easy and fast access to the closure.
Even though this designer nailed the entire collection, this is the type of garment/ material that was not created to be aesthetically pleasing. This has a whole different purpose of making the garment strong and prepared to handle what it is made for, and not only to look “trendy”.
Read more about the brand’s appeal on the last PFW here https://hypebeast.com/2023/3/heliot-emil-fall-winter-2023-connected-forms-runway-model-fire-paris-fashion-week
Ok ok, I know that the fashion weeks around the world are done since February, so I might be a little out of timing here, BUT I had to look back to these references because nothing would illustrate this blog post better than these designers and their latest collections. And let’s face it, involving textile technology is not something that every designer/brand can do, so when something like this happens it needs to be brought into the spotlight.
Why do I say that? Because using technology does not always mean you will have the most beautiful aesthetics. HELIOT EMIL is a great example because, even though his design was impeccable, creative, and aesthetically pleasing, the one garment set on fire was black, was not fit to the body and the model needed a mask. So even being SUPER innovative here, it is still quite hard to mix technology with clothing.
Textile has always been one of my favorite topics in fashion school. I guess, somehow, I always knew that I would end up in product development. I understand that this is not a very popular subject and not a lot of people are interested in it, but textile technology is as important as making sales, for example. If you claim that your materials are all recycled, you need to make sure that you understand what it really means to be recycled. Not only that but also know your vendors and their development process. Do they meet production standards to call their goods recycled? Understanding the textile production process will also help you understand why certain fabrics do not work well together and why, in reality, the construction of your garment will not look like what you envisioned in the sketch.
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