Issue Story

From the January 1 2010 issue of MR Magazine

Features

Textile Report: Green Advances

John Jones

AirDye technology helps vendors conserve in more ways than one.

During last September's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York, women's design duo Costello Tagliapietra showed a spring collection that not only impressed fashion editors and buyers, but also caught the attention of the "green" press. The stir was caused by their deft handling of innovative fabrics created using AirDye, a printing technology developed by Colorep. The fabrics were not only colored and patterned with a technique requiring no water, but the technology also permitted the duo to print exactly as much fabric as was needed to create the runway samples. Then, once the selling season was over, the same control factor meant they could create exactly the amount of fabric required to fill all orders, without creating a yard more than necessary. Besides eliminating waste, cutting precisely allows a company to maintain markup, creating a different kind of green.

The process is also fast. Costello Tagliapietra's first conversation with AirDye was on July 14, 2009. The runway show was September 11th—just 60 days later, 48 "working" days. The designers wanted the collection to have an "organic" look, so they gave AirDye photographic images of water and a sunset to use as the basis for the surface design. The opposite side was dyed to a saturated, coordinating palette, so the fabric could be twisted and reversed in draping. Of 21 pieces in the collection, 14 used AirDye fabrics. Barneys New York reportedly loved the collection and bought only the AirDye pieces. A hangtag identifying the amount of water and energy used to create each garment will be attached to each—at Barneys' request.

The process begins with the use of "polyester-rich" white greige goods, in both woven and knit constructions. These fabrics are all commonly available through AirDye licensees and, with the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), they are nearby and easily accessible, further decreasing the fabric's carbon footprint. The company has licensees up and running in Belgium for European supply.

To allow for an even smaller footprint, some fabrics are created using a 50/50 recycled polyester/recycled cotton blend. In traditional dying processes, the dye would be taken only by the cotton which would, eventually, wash out. With Airdye, the polyester takes the color, and it never washes out.

There are currently eight products within the AirDye line, including AirDye Solids: Wovens (which simulates jacquard and dobby weaves), Contrast (which dyes opposite sides of a fabric two different colors), Print-to-Solid (which dyes one side of fabric and prints the other) and AirDye Imprints (which dyes or prints an image or logo on the fabric). Menswear retailer and custom tailor Bruce Julian (Editor's Note: Julian is the husband of AirDye VP of Marketing and Design Bonnie Julian), of Chapel Hill, N.C., has created a line of custom men's lining fabrics—the fabric can be printed with a store's logo, or even an individual customer's signature!

Bonnie Julian and Paul Raybin, AirDye's chief sustainability officer and chief marketing officer, are also showing an impressive collection of prints that simulate three-dimensional woven fabrics such as corduroy or raw silk, keeping pricepoints down while maintaining an expensive look and enabling an easier penetration to value-oriented markets.

Surf Naked...Or at least feel like it.

Oakley's new Prismatic boardshort is made from their new 4-way 'O' stretch fabric, which is so light it feels like wearing air! The 80/20 poly/spandex blend features 120 percent stretch capacity, 72 percent less water absorption and is 53 percent lighter than other boardshort goods. The lightweight blend is quick drying for comfort and convenience—just get out of the water and go! The shorts retail for $70 and are available in three colors: Aloe, Blue Mist and Helio Purple.

Dormeuil-vous

Making the best even better.

When Gordon Gekko finally gets sprung from the joint in next spring's Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, he and the other financial district denizens will be sheathed in the very finest mohair suits, tailored by Leonard Logsdail from Dormeuil's Tonic 2000 collection. Dormeuil, the British luxury fabric mill, will buck existing trends and, rather than developing more affordable "value"-oriented cloth, will actually increase quality (and prices) making a firm commitment to be at the high end of the luxury spectrum. "In the short term, we're going to take it in the teeth," says Dormeuil's Luke Mayes, "but we cannot become a commodity fabric house. For about 12 months things have been pretty static in our market, but we see things coming back now." Dormeuil is the only remaining mill that still weaves all their goods in the U.K.

"It’s all the artisans that make a British mill cloth unique," says Mayes. "Wine is probably the best analogy: you can drink sparkling wine from anywhere, but you're only going to get the very best vintage Champagne from one place."

Mayes points to their year-old Vanquish fabric, a vicuña and pashmina blend, which Brioni has been making up into suits costing $42,000—and reportedly, they've been selling! How to top that? Vanquish II, of course! The new cloth adds Royal Qiviuk to the blend, an "arctic luxury fiber" made from the fur of the musk ox. The cloth comes in 18 to 24 patterns; only 58 to 60 yards of each is woven, so only 12 suits can be made in each, meaning that there will be only around 220 Vanquish II suits in the world.

"This guy wants something new every season. In that way we're kind of like a sports car manufacturer," says Mayes. "The 400 tailors that we serve have clients that say 'Don’t call me unless you have something new and exciting from Dormeuil.' We’re going to be the only people servicing that customer."

The Vanquish series and Tonic 2000 won't be Dormeuil's only exotic offerings. Guanashina, a blend of baby cashmere, single 200s wool, pashmina and guanaco (a South American relative of the llama and camel) and White Light, a wool, silk and kirgyz (from Kirghizistan, a goat and sheep hybrid, originally bred by Genghis Khan) round out the offerings.