Fashion guest: Sabine le Chatelier’s sports fabrics selection for Autumn-Winter 22-23. The 17 July 2021 - Fabrics - Première Vision Paris

Both intuition and a firm conviction confirms the emergence of BROWNS in sport.

But how did these browns, bisters, chestnuts and sepias we see popping up on technical fabrics get there? And why are we noticing them?

This question came up again and again during the Première Vision brainstorming sessions. What you started out thinking of as just a personal hunch, an “I’m not sure, but…” feeling, an observation of feeble market signals, suddenly gets confirmed and strengthened by the meeting’s other participants, who come from every continent around the world.

And at this moment, all roads lead to brown!

Earthy browns, intense sepias, smoky bisters and woody browns –  such as the sorrel, raw copper, brown beyond and precious earth from the Première Vision AW22-23 range – are emerging as alternatives to the traditional, almost obligatory navies and the – perennial and slightly tiresome – beiges and mastics of outdoor wear.

These browns venture into cold depths, mahogany highlights and coppery shimmers. They lend a fresh, contemporary look to high-performance fabrics  –  waterproofs, windproofs and waxed textiles.

We’re all dreaming of sport garments with the sleek, streamlined look of high-design objects.

Browns perfect for heading out into the city with the same kind of functional elegance spawned by the new mobility possibilities, and equally at home on the ski slopes.

Brown is a fresh way to inject new life into the graphic harmonies of active sports, teaming up with whites, greens and reds like blue-less flags, and combining with soft blues, turquoises, neon yellows and powder pinks for fitness and softer sports. Brown will re-arrange fanciful visuals, give an offbeat look to prints and graphic color wovens, camouflage and spray gradations. When used on details, it can serve to highlight cuts and create contrasts in faux blacks.

Funny 3D XXL volumes: Amazing ribbed textures, expanded and aligned like tiny rolls, fun weave-plays or stitch effects on over-sized, over-inflated knits, almost like tufted fabrics. Spectacular effects that are both visual and highly tactile! Plains and monochromes with lots of personality, and an almost cartoonish quality.

Here we can imagine articulated placed details, on elbows or necklines for example, and giant outdoor or indoor sweatshirts, and ultra-comfy, loose-fitting pants.

Ecological concerns are ever-present, and recycled synthetics and clean finishings are now widespread in the collections.

So what’s new? How can we take sustainability further in the products we offer?

To me, the answer seems to be thinking about the end of a garment’s life cycle, especially a commitment to an eco-design approach from the very start of developing a textile.

Showing a concern for a product’s biodegradability – thanks not only to new and improved synthetic polymers, but especially by choosing cellulosics such as lyocell, which is becoming more and more popular in high-performance products and polar knits. Cellulosics offer the advantage of breaking down in the environment without producing micro-particles.

As for natural fibers, linen and hemp are positioned as virtuous fibers, due to their specific production and life cycles.

100% compositions –  or no more than binary blends – and selecting components that are more compatible with each other are also high on the agenda, to facilitate recycling and biodegradability.