The Wool Lab A/W 2013-14 (with Some Notes on Wool Denim)

Between June and July quite a few posts on this site focused on new yarns and wool products for the Autumn/Winter 2013-14 season. While I do hope they were useful, if, as a fashion design student or a designer you find more useful moving from themes and then exploring the yarns and fabrics connected to them, check out the new trends suggested by The Woolmark Company for the next autumnal season.

Though Woolmark has been focusing in the last few seasons on technological innovations in treatments and finishes but also on high performance yarns dedicated to the active sports sector, some of the yarns and fabrics for the next collection are modern reinterpretations of some key pieces from the company's archives.

The Wool Lab's Autumn/Winter 2013-14 season includes nine trends: "Dandy" (classic weaves and colours for 100% wool fabrics or blends with other noble fibres ideal for suits), "Brooklyn" (natural tones and colours with highlights of teal and burgundy), "Witness" (merino wool in heavy weights, with dark colour combinations and severe structures), "Black Swan" (100% wool or blends including wool and lightweight fibres such as viscose, silk and cotton in predominantly dark shades including graphic elements and surface elaborations, embossed effects and avant-garde yarns and stitches), "Murano" (100% wool or wool blends with cashmere, camel, mohair and silk in a pastel palette inspired by the colours of the houses in the Venetian lagoon), "Pure" (eco friendly yarns with no artificial dyes and chemical treatments) and "Urban" (divided in three subthemes).

The above-mentioned trends go from slighty romantic to theatrical/cinematic inspirations and it would be easy to isolate the “Urban” theme as the less interesting one since this adjective is widely employed (and overemployed…) to define a wide range of street styles.

Yet, in this case, this is actually the most interesting trend since it's divided in three micro trends – Asphalt, Berlin and Detroit.

"Asphalt" moves from grey nuances and a palette borrowed from roads, pebbles and stones and includes 100% wool or cotton blends; “Berlin” looks at military inspirations with shades of green mixed with orange, ochre and burgundy for heavy weight flannels and felts that hint at architectural rigidity, while “Detroit” is directly linked with the automobile industry and the workers' attire with fabrics in blue and green shades and blends of wool and cotton/linen.

The most interesting textile included in the "Detroit" micro-trend is a wool denim fabric that may actually lead to interesting experiments when matched with ordinary denim or if employed to create contrasts with fabrics featuring rusty effects.

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