2021 OCTOBER
PRODUCT INTELLIGENCE
2023 SPRING/SUMMER
SPORTSWEAR FABRIC
PLANNED BY | IAJ & STEAMDesign
EDITOR | YUFEI
WRITTE | LOLA
The long-awaited Tokyo Olympics was finally held on July 23 after experiencing many “difficulties.”
As usual, representatives of outstanding athletes from various countries were ready to go, ready to compete in this latest sports festival. With the development of modern sports technology, the Olympic Games were not only a competition of abilities between athletes, but also a competition of sports technology.
In this Olympic Games, Anta also undertook the design and production of award-winning sportswear. This seemingly ordinary white sports jacket actually contains some mystery.
This award-winning jacket is based on Chinese elements and integrated into modern sports fashion, giving people a magnificent and elegant oriental design; in terms of material selection, the clothing is made of high-gauge and high-density composite materials, which have anti-bacterial, anti-static and anti-wrinkle functions, with anti-snagging and pilling technology. These are all provided for the athletes with the most comfortable outfit.
In fact, since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, more and more people have begun to re-examine their lifestyles, hoping to add some strength into their lives through exercise. This has
also directly led to the increasing sales of sports items.
WGSN listed a total of 13 sports fabrics in the 2023 spring and summer fabric forecast report, showing the overall development trend of sports fabrics from the three dimensions—practical performance, health and skin-friendly, and renewable environmental protection.
As global environmental problems are getting worse, sustainable innovative design is still the focus of everyone’s attention; however, after experiencing the pandemic, people’s attention of health is becoming the focus of a new round of consumption.
01
Pragmatism
The highlight moment of synthetic fibers
Compared with pure natural fibers, synthetic fibers are “good companions” of high-performance fabrics. With it, professional performance such as waterproof, windproof, temperature control, and increase the luster of the fabric are not a problem.
The use of renewable and recyclable polyamide fiber to create a lightweight three-layer material to ensure that the material is completely free of perchlorinated carbon substances, so that the fabric has the advantages of mechanical stretch, high air permeability, and durable water resistance. It is high in the requirement of 2023 for the basic form of performance fabrics.
From the mountains to the ocean, the discarded garbage is collected all the way and used as raw materials to develop the bleed ECONYL® sportswear.
In order to cope with extreme weather during sports, fabrics with SYMPATEX® material will keep the clothes dry at all times and become a balancer of your body’s humidity.
While ensuring body humidity, having clothing that regulates temperature will also make you more engaged in sports.
Although RWS Merino wool with good air permeability has natural warming/cooling functions, bio-based constant temperature phase change materials are more suitable for creating multifunctional sports items.
It may seem like a fantasy to embed a built-in thermostat that automatically manages personal temperature in textiles, but the data proves that the use of OPTIMER ADAPT technical fabric is one of the most successful methods at the moment.
OPTIMER ADAPT uses natural phase change materials to re-use, restore and circulate the body’s thermal energy. When the body heats up, the ADAPT material will liquefy and store this energy, helping the body work hard to cool down. The material reacts to the cold environment, solidifies and releases the stored energy back to the body for warmth.
If you want to inject body temperature regulation or cooling technology into the fabric, you may wish to use Schoeller coldblack® processing technology to reduce the heat absorption of ultraviolet rays.
Courtesy of: Schoeller coldblack®
In addition to considering the relationship between comfort and fabrics in different sports conditions, sports occasions also need to be considered. As people’s lifestyle changes, the outdoor sports boom will strike again.
When people are exercising outdoors, they also prefer shiny fabrics in their clothing choices.
In order to show the colorful effect of clothing, Adidas uses flashing fabric technology, respectively interweaving warp and weft yarns of different colors into changeable colors.
In the choice of yarns, it is recommended to use environmentally friendly viscose or recycled polyester filaments to create a glossy texture; in addition, nano-level waterproof materials with environmentally friendly coatings can also make the fabric more eye-catching.
When you shuttle in low-light areas, the safety of sports also comes with it. A new generation of luminous fabrics may help alleviate this situation.
It is recommended to adopt a clean and environmentally friendly solution to improve visibility. For example, the Vollebak composite jacket uses the principle of solar charging and is composed of phosphorescent composite materials. The daily absorbed sunlight can release light in a dark environment; environmentally friendly inks can also be used to make clothing reflective strips.
For the future development of glossy materials, environmental protection must be the leader.
02
Healthy and Skin-Healthy
Intimate conversation with the body
As the second skin of the human body, the fabric is bound to assume the important responsibility of protecting the body. Antibacterial fibers are already very common, and perhaps the relationship between the body and clothing can be explored. For example, special fabrics that conform to the body shape changes, new fabrics with healing functions.
After tactile textures have been popular for several seasons, pleated designs are taking social media by storm. Its texture is very flexible and can adapt to different shapes and sizes of female figures.
Drawing inspiration from swimwear fabrics, seersucker and crepe textures are used. Eye-catching colors and prints can inject joyful design elements into a single product. When shaping the sense of visual volume, you may wish to use organic cotton, recycled ROICA and eco-friendly regenerated cellulose yarns, such as Lyocell and Modal.
Devan added vitamin C, vitamin E and ginger to its R-Vital multivitamin fabric to enhance the human immune system.
Beginning in the autumn and winter of 2022/23, beauty and fitness fabrics with comfort, moisture retention and functionality have continued to develop, and their materials usually have a lightweight skin-friendly surface and massage adjustment functions.
The “Young Skin” treatment technology developed by Carvema protects the skin from environmental aggressions.
Sportingtex collagen moisturizing fabric is added with peptide amino acids from recovered fish scales, and has natural UV protection.
03
Recycling and Environmental Protection
The ultimate performance of natural fibers
For brands that focus on sustainable certification and transparent traceability mechanisms, durable natural fibers have the characteristics of practicality, biodegradability, and regeneration, which can be called the ultimate performance fabric choice.
GOTS certified cotton, RWS Merino wool or RMS animal hair fiber will be the choice of most people.
Among these three types of fibers, the consumption of cattle hair will become more and more popular. Its texture is lighter than Merino wool, the hand feels softer, and the breathability and warmth retention also show excellent performance.
With the aid of innovative technologies and new processes, HempBlack is committed to producing full-spectrum odorless hemp fiber based on advanced seed gene technology and professional planting bases.
And through a special process, hemp stems are used to create the brand’s unique HempBlack™/eco6 sustainable water-based black ink, which can replace traditional carbon black and reduce environmental problems caused by oil extraction.
In addition to discovering the properties of known natural fibers, new agricultural fibers derived from food waste areconstantly being developed.
As the originator of this technology, the food must be pineapple. The fiber extraction of pineapple leaves can be traced back to the Philippines more than 300 years ago.
The natural fiber with a good texture exudes a natural atmosphere, and its inherent sustainable temperament makes fashion more environmentally friendly and transparent. This makes protecting animal welfare, actively improving human welfare and the global environment no longer just empty talk.
Facing the advancing future, sports technology will inevitably become the highlight of the development of sportswear; facing the ever-changing market, fabrics with technological performance will be the vane of the industry.
The collision between technology and materials can promote faster and more efficient product upgrades in the increasingly saturated sportswear market. In addition, environmental sustainability will still be the long-term development goal of the clothing industry, and continue to promote the reform and advancement of environmental protection.
Reference materials:
WGSN: “Prediction for 2023 Spring and Summer Sports Fabrics”
http://www.shinkong.com.tw/en/front/index
http://www.greenthreadsinc.com
https://www.schoeller-textiles.com/en/technologies/coldblack