An interesting yarn

By Carole Sloan, founding editor-in-chief -- Home Textiles Today, 8/11/2003 12:00:00 AM

It was small but full of good stuff.

It being the Yarn Fair held in New York late in July. And since fiber and yarn are where the whole fabric thing begins, it was a chance to see well in advance what fabric trends are evolving.

First off, this yarn fair was truly global in character. In fact, quite a few Asian yarn suppliers were showing product that rivaled some of the Europeans who have dominated the fashion end of the business — and they were doing it with a truly upgraded cachet in presentation that caught one's eye.

In terms of product, those looking for basics were almost out of luck. But then again, in today's market environment, who needs another "basic" when fashion and differentiation are the things that sell at one end — and existing basics at lower prices dominate the other? In the latter, there were things like a bit of stretch or technological nuances that make producing the fabric more efficient or cheaper.

Overall, the predominant fashion statement was tactile — thick and thin yarns, exaggerated chunky yarns, lots of depth created with multi-level and bulky effects, layered looks — and all with an almost sensual soft hand.

Then there were the fashion statements, such as eyelashes, lots of very, very subtle glitter, understated silky sheen and ombre effects.

And for a change, this was a yarn fair where you didn't fall asleep from the absence of color. If nothing else struck you, color had to. It prevailed, and it was terrific. Beiges, blondes and off-whites were hidden in the background.

Almost every stand used color as the magnet for attention. And it didn't matter what specific color was featured — as long as it was colorful.

We're definitely in for a brighter, more colorful era. Even if what was shown was primarily apparel-driven, it definitely will morph into the home textiles business sooner than later.

We're already seeing the emergence of brights, the many shades of pink, oranges and purples in home textiles fashion looks. The next step is more intense saturation of colors and the added impact of these new yarn constructions for a whole new fashion statement of texture, dimension and color.