The top textiles seen on the runways

Tagwalk, the fashion-specialized search engine, has conducted an analysis on the most frequent textile materials across the last fashion weeks in Paris, Milan, London and New York. The study was commissioned by the European Confederation of Flax and Hemp (CELC), who will be hosting the second World Linen Forum in Paris, between February 9-10.

The study found that yarn was the most commonly used material, across the four main fashion weeks. It represented 18.7% of the looks, with a strong lead on leather, its runner-up found in 11.2% of the looks. Satin followed with 10.3%, followed by sequins at 10.2% and denim not too far behind, at 8.5%. Silk was only featured in 7.9% of the looks, similarly to lace at 7.6%.

Fishnet came in eighth place, with a 2.9% presence, closely followed by feathers at 2.7% and tulle at 2.4%. Linen is the 12th most frequent textile, behind metallic fabrics at 1.9%, with a 1.7% presence in the looks from the latest collections. That was followed only by brocard at 1.5%, velvet at 1.4% and mesh with a 1.3% presence.

Tagwalk concluded that linen fiber is the material with the most growth across the 2019 and 2020 summer collections, moving up by 11 places in the textile ranking.

“While non-sustainable materials such as vinyl, plastic and PVC are in decline, respectively decreasing by 13, 11 and 11 places,” added Tagwalk.

In Paris, linen is used in 22% of collections from major labels and in 5% of those from peripheral labels. This number reaches new heights in Milan, where 73% of major label collections use the material. In London and New York, linen represents 10% and 5%, respectively, of the peripheral collections.

For the spring-summer 2020 collections, the study found that linen was featured in 12 of the 51 Prada looks, in 10 of the 43 looks offered by Acne, in seven of Miu Miu’s 54 looks, three of the 55 looks from Jil Sander and finally in two of Jacquemus’s 64 looks.

Among these looks, Tagwalk identified a rapid rise in “new trends” that break with former trends, traditionally associated with linen. Minimalism stands as one of them, as seen in the looks from Prada and the Acne Studio “nomads.”

Other new trends include the use of linen fiber for office wear, as seen by Victoria Beckham, Prada’s eveningwear and even Miu Miu’s “doll” looks, the analysis revealed.

The study was published as the CELC gets ready for its second World Linen Forum, which will reunite international representatives of the linen industry. The goal is notably for linen to reach the 1% mark in the worldwide textile market, in particular in light of its qualities as a high-quality and sustainable material.

The top textiles seen on the runways

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