Our 24SS analysis: How to revive old fabrics?
Wuman Textile
2022-1-24
Knitted fabric warehouses are everywhere. As a traditional B2B fabric merchant, how do we sell them? The recently released "2024 Spring and Summer Trend Book" has given us the answer. This trend book reorganizes the novel value that knitwear products can bring, from three dimensions: supplier side, consumption paradigm and industry trend. The following are some of our experiences and ideas, and we will discuss and exchange them with you:
Light inventory, heavy craft
The second half of last year made people anxious. Inflation in Europe and the United States intensified, the situation in Russia and Ukraine was repeatedly turbulent, and the volume of foreign trade orders has been in an unstable state. The Keqiao textile index shows that since the middle and early November of last year, the sales of fabrics in the textile market have dropped month-after-month, as well as the daily price and volume. After the opening of the market in the Spring Festival this year, the bosses who have stocked up in 2022 are all faced with a similar problem: how to sell the fabric and reduce the inventory. Even cloth merchants with low inventory are thinking hard about how to make the supply chain lighter and faster.
In the face of sometimes unavailable and protracted inquiries, price battles are no longer an option. What is more important is whether materials, styles, patterns, and craftsmanship can catch the eyes of clothing companies and brand owners. Assuming that we still have gray fabrics piled up like a mountain at the door of the workshop, we must quickly think about what kind of fabric the customer wants and whether the order can be placed before we dare to go online and put it into production.
How to play new tricks on knitted fabrics so that the inventory can become lighter? We must first see the unique texture and performance of knitted fabrics. With the rapid iteration of the weaving process, new and retro pattern jacquards and new pleated fabrics emerge endlessly. Coupled with the texture changes of knitted fabrics themselves, the combination of color matching and printed knitted fabrics, etc., knitted fabrics are a fashion kaleidoscope: the shapes and decorative effects are very diverse.
In this 2024 spring and summer trend, the Wuman Textile designer team explores the category potential and multiple presentation methods of knitted fabrics in various weaving methods such as lace, mesh, and warp knitting. Many categories are the latest technology in the industry.
Consumption Paradigm Changes
If we are not sure about the vision of business customers, let's look at what end consumers are thinking. The aftermath of the economic turmoil in 2022 has not yet subsided, and it can be said that it has already affected the vast majority of overseas consumers to varying degrees. According to factors such as disposable income levels, some people reduce the frequency of purchases and pursue high-quality, durable styles in clothing consumption; others will look for bargains or rent and buy second-hand products to meet the need for updating wardrobes. How to maintain the diversity and cost performance of products to cater to the diverse changes in this consumption paradigm should also be an important factor in fabric design.
In addition, consumers are rethinking how they dress for work, weddings and other occasions, as mentioned in the 2023 McKinsey Fashion Industry Report released earlier this year. To put it simply, you don’t have to wear formal clothes for work, and you can also wear cross-border outfits for other occasions. Europeans and Americans used to pay attention to what clothes to wear on which occasions, and the term Occasion Wear is beginning to seem a bit outdated.
Now that offices and formal events may become more casual, and clothing that shows individuality is beginning to compete with formal suits and suits, why can't we make some mixed and innovative elements from the fabric design side? For example, in this trend book, the #FormalJerseyDress series breaks the boundaries between traditional formal dresses and modern casual dresses, which you can wear to the office. And the elegant and harmonious style created by the #PleatedJersey series can still be used in elegant halls, weddings, banquets and other important occasions. For these attempts, we have to say WHY NOT!
Industry trends
In addition to putting on the thinking hat of consumers, we also have to observe the frontiers of the industry and think about future trends. At the Paris PV fabric exhibition in early spring, Apple noticed that many fabrics used a lot of luminous materials to create a rainbow-like flash effect, so we tried to create the #GlitteringLace luminous lace series. The nomadic utopian yearning inspired us to learn from #NuBoheme's new bohemian style, combining nostalgic elements and multi-colors to create a versatile holiday style series.
As green recycling, environmental protection and sustainability have gradually become the focus of the whole industry and even the world. We consider reducing the use of traditional decorations such as beads and sequins as much as possible, and empowering the product more through the processing of materials and new techniques, so as to maximize the details such as drape, ruffles, and matching. In the follow-up design, more organic, recycled fabrics and waste-utilized fabric accessories will gradually enter our field of vision, and we will do more explorations on the material itself.
In various fashion media, we have also noticed that large-scale industrialized fabrics with handmade texture are getting more and more respected. This kind of fabric not only has the rough and simple handmade feeling, but also can maintain a good cost performance in terms of quality and price. From this, we use knife-shaped pleats and other techniques on basic knitted fabrics to create three-dimensional and flexible styles, so as to get close to this fashion trend.
Old fabrics will always encounter new opportunities. The distribution of spring and summer trends in 2024 is an experiment and exploration we have made on how to make knitted fabrics in the current market environment and consumer trends. Welcome to consult the 2024 spring and summer trendbook, let's talk about fabric design and the next fashion trend!
Acknowledgment: The material of the article comes from the Wuman Textile designer team, and the picture material is taken from "Wuman 2024 Spring Summer Trend Book"