Spring-Summer 26 Preview: A Season Guided by the Theme “Restore” The - Spring-Summer 26 - Première Vision Paris
Three major themes – Refresh, Reset, Restore – shape the Spring-Summer 26 trends.
In each theme, the prefix “re-” goes beyond signaling a mere restart – it calls for reinvention, transformation, a deeper exploration of what has already been set in motion. It’s a manifesto for renewal. Restore, the third theme of the season, invites us to regenerate natural and cultural ecosystems and revitalize craftsmanship. It’s a theme encouraging restoration—of everything from our connections to objects, soils and even our industry by adapting products to needs and re-adapting processes to resources.
Read also: Season Preview Spring-Summer 26: “Refresh” Designing to cool down
Repairing objects
Today, the industry is invited to design with longevity and circularity in mind. Long product life is becoming a fundamental factor, whether we’re talking about classic items designed to last a lifetime, or products that can last through several lives. While repair and resale now form an integral part of today’s business models, they require that, right from the design stage, a choice be made in terms of durability, and opting for a timeless strength. Summer 26 encourages us to increase the durability of fabrics via resilient materials and timeless visuals, and to ensure the traceability of qualities, from a material’s origins to its reuse.
Reopening a dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary technologies.
In this context, drawing on ancestral knowledge emerges as a response to the future. Traditional processes, materials and know-how are re-employed, and reexamined through the lens of modern technologies and esthetics. In an age marked by over-consumption, the idea is to draw on past practices to find models and inspiration, in keeping with contemporary challenges.
Adapting and rationalizing
As part of a process of rationalization, adaptable, multi-purpose garments will play an increasingly important role. One-size-fits-all pieces explore cuts and techniques to accommodate a variety of body types. This approach has already been explored in the past – for example, Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please or Philippe Stack’s StarckNaked dress – but today it offers a relevant and appropriate solution to the needs of a workable and sustainable fashion industry.
Modular pleats
The developments for Summer 26 focus on versatile clothing pieces adaptable to multiple body types, thanks to expandable and stretch materials, with weave structures replicating origami, permanent mechanical pleats, woven pleats or ambiguous interplays of knit pleats gathers and ruffles in double-bed knits.
In leather, pleated structures are also sought after. Neat little pleats, permanent pleats or even, large-format embossings offer greater freedom of movement and lend themselves perfectly to leather clothing. This season, pleats also encourage the development of new expandable volumes in leather goods and footwear.
Exceptional craftsmanship and cutting-edge technologies
Exploring fruitful new alliances between exquisite craftsmanship, rare skills, and cutting-edge technologies, the fashion industry pushes boundaries with outstanding creations. Leathers and skins are molded, pleated, embossed, and intertwined with cutting-edge technologies. Laser printing and engraving, 3D printing, and high-precision perforation pave the way for imaginative designs with high added-value.
To minimize chemical impact, tanners are adopting mechanical finishing techniques for tone-on-tone three-dimensional decorations, offering an alternative to traditional grains and embossing. Carved, engraved, or cracked effects are treated as refined embellishments. An artisanal influence also plays out in weaving. Braiding and caning designs, evoking contemporary mosaics.
Industry players draw on textile heritage and local traditions to revitalize weaving expertise, whether artisanal or industrial. Geometric constructions take inspiration from local craftsmanship, resulting in graphic yarn-dyed patterns enriched with naturally expressive textures. Additionally, local partnerships foster the development of “signature” products.
Textile accessories such as braids or ribbons also highlight traditional techniques. Passementerie, braiding, and macramé are reimagined in versions incorporating unexpected elements, such as feathers – a key feature of Summer 26.
Clever circularity
A creative circularity is taking root in the fashion industry. Waste is cleverly transformed, thereby reducing the footprint of producing new materials. This Spring-Summer 26, recycling and upcycling are re-energized by a more luminous approach to color. Forgotten fabrics, knits and yarns reveal their potential in fancifully creative developments.Embellishments are over-cycled in textured fabrics randomly woven through with colorful yarns, while over-printings unify designs by creating a chromatic blur.
In accessories, the reuse of production waste for decorative purposes creates a speckled and amalgamated esthetic, for bold graphic formats tailored to sporty wardrobes, particularly sneakers. New composite materials from the fields of architecture and design inspire decorative elements for accessories and textile panels which are woven, braided, laminated, or worked in graduated hues.
In leather, the circular approach gives rise to innovative materials made from scraps of finished or semi-finished leathers, such as new generations of regenerated leathers or technical meshes for footwear, crafted from blends of recycled leather fibers and textiles.
This circular approach complements a collaborative effort that emphasizes the sharing of expertise and craftsmanship.