PARIS — Brace yourself for more color. That was the message at the latest edition of Expofil, the European yarn fair held in Paris earlier this month.
Buyers and exhibitors alike have trumpeted color for the last few seasons, but they said the trend to bright hues has shown staying power. They added that the shift has sparked sales, since women are now tempted to buy clothes in colors other than black or gray, the staples of the minimalist palette.
“More color means more sales,” quipped Paola Bisaro, designer of women’s classic apparel at 3 Suisses France, a mail-order firm. “Women already have tons of black and gray. Color is good for business because it makes them want to buy new clothes.”
Bisaro said 3 Suisses has more than doubled its offer of colorful apparel in the last few seasons.
Other key trends buyers at the show singled out included super-fine luxury fibers, such as cashmere, shiny yarns in nylon or polyester with a metallic sheen, and soft, feminine looks. Exhibitors featured yarns for the spring-summer 2002 shopping season.
“This will be a season about fun, lively yarns,” said Bisaro as she examined yarns at French mill Nelly Rodi. “Women want happy, colorful, yet sophisticated clothes. Even classic clothes have moved away from basic to brighter colors.”
Colors that buyers cited among their favorites at the yarn fair ran the gamut from pale pastels, such as dusty blue and pink, to vibrant yellow, electric blue and purple. “Everyone is looking for new colors, something different to set them apart,” said Paris-based designer Patrick Van Ommeslaeghe. “Expofil is important because you get a sense of what colors will be big.”
Added Nadja Noack-Barbara, accessories designer at Givenchy, “I always ask myself what colors I want before I come to the show.+If I see those colors on display here, I feel I’m moving in the right direction.”
Noack-Barbara, who was interviewed while looking at bright metallic yarns at Somelos Fois, a Portuguese mill specializing in fancy cotton and acrylic yarns, mentioned chalky pastels among her favorites this year.
“I don’t think there are really a lot of new colors, but there is a movement toward softer, more feminine looks. I’m really interested in high-quality goods with a lot of creativity,” she said. “Still, we don’t want anything over the top. Yarns have to be subtle and fine, not exaggerated.”
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Noack-Barbara added that tubular threads in natural and synthetic fibers as well as plastic, ribbon-like threads had both caught her attention. “They are playful, yet sophisticated,” she said.
As in recent seasons, cashmere mills showing fine luxury yarns continued to attract buyers’ attention.
“I love really luxurious yarns,” said Parisian designer Adeline Andre. She explained that she likes the juxtaposition of fine yarns with more bulky ones. In recent seasons, cashmere mills have featured extremely thin yarns alongside bulkier, but still lightweight, ones.
“It’s playful to mix the two extremes,” she said.
Andre also cited color as an important trend. “We all still want color,” she said. “I want something out of the ordinary.”
Andre said she wasn’t overly impressed with the level of innovation at the show. “There’s a lot of continuity with recent seasons. I haven’t seen anything to knock me off my feet that I haven’t seen in the past.”
Other buyers trumpeted natural fibers with a luxurious hand.
“Natural is very important,” said Giancesare Conca, a Milan-based fashion consultant with Strategic Resources Procurement & Management, after looking at upscale cashmere-and-wool Italian mill Loro Piana. “Fluid, but not shiny yarns that are very feminine and delicate are among the most interesting.”
Conca added that contrasting yarns had also caught his eye.
“Yarns that look rustic, but are still very refined are important,” he said. “Exaggerated opulence, on the other hand, is no longer a trend. Rather, plain, yet natural, yarns that are light and clean look interesting.”
According to organizers, 6,856 people attended the three-day event, which wrapped up Dec. 7. That marked a 2 percent decrease from the same season last year. Organizers attributed the decline to lower British attendance, caused by the “grave crisis tearing through the British textile industry, due to the strong pound, sourcing, restructuring and distribution problems.”
In total, 56 percent of the visitors were French, with the remainder coming from overseas. Meanwhile, Expofil is preparing for a major move this spring. For its upcoming edition in May, the show will vacate the Espace Eiffel Branly, the show’s long-standing venue in central Paris near the Eiffel Tower, to take up residence at the Villepint exhibit hall, just west of Paris.