Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/847384
DENIM | FABRICATIONS 22 • Textile Insight ~ July/August 2017 textileinsight.com Stronger Interest in Performance Attributes Takes Denim Outside. By Debra Cobb hile denim maintains its street cred, consumers today have bought into the comfort and performance of athleisure apparel, and as such are demanding the same from their jeans. Denim makers are responding by adding performance attributes including stretch, moisture management, water repellency, odor control, thermal regulation, and increased durability to their products. Unsurprisingly, these performance denims are crossing over into the outdoor market, where functionality and durability are a necessity, particularly when it comes to rugged pursuits such as motorcycling, climbing, mountain biking and hiking. Comfort on the Trail Stretch is the price of entry for today's outdoor denim, engineered via fibers such as spandex, elasterell-P, and Lubrizol X4zol-J. "Performance and fashion brands value the comfortable compression and perfect fit denim fabrics that X4zol-J provides," says Lalith Suragani Venu, applica- tion scientist, Lubrizol Advanced Materials. X4zol-J is a monofilament, with a higher molecular weight than multi-filament spandex. Venu explains that this results in a thinner, stronger, softer fabric that deliv- ers a balanced stretch and recovery and comfortable fit for the wearer. At Toad&Co, head men's designer Katie Hodgdon is keen on the company's Wingman Denim jeans for men for Spring '18. The 10-ounce denim is woven from organic cotton and elasterell-P, a stretch fiber that happens to be recyclable, unlike spandex. The jeans also feature a fluorine-free DWR treatment. "We all wear jeans, so it makes sense to have a technical denim jean that you can wear from trail to town—and it doesn't look like a safari suit," muses Hodgdon. Durability and More Denim is inherently durable, but now the development of denims using high-tenacity fibers such as Dyneema and Cordura, at mills such as Cone Mills and Artistic Milliners, is grabbing the attention of outdoor brands. Cindy McNaull, global Cordura brand and marketing director, calls out some of the additional performance attributes being engineered into Cordura brand denims, including area-specific abrasion resistance via Schoeller Textiles' ceraspace technology; moisture management developed with Cotton Incorporated TransDRY; and Outdoor Indigo Dish & DUER technical jeans for urban outdoor.