Fashion goes fast, but collections of yarns go even faster and, at the latest Pitti Filati yarn fair in Florence, manufacturers showed their A/W 2023-24 collections.
Despite being an autumnal collection, Todd & Duncan's is full of bright colours. In fact, this collection looks almost more energetic in terms of colours than the Spring/Summer 2023 season.
The main inspiration for the new collection was a clash of natural and imaginary worlds, and in particular images of Swiss Nicolas Party's colour-saturated paintings and murals and bright painted sculptures. There were also other inspirations for the new collections, namely the abstract compositions of American artist Sarah Giannobile, and the delicately fragile pieces inspired by deep sea creatures and made with thin gossamer fabric created by jewellery designer Mariko Kusumoto.
All these artists play with colour, texture, shape and form and that's what prompted the Loch Leven-based yarn manufacturer, to come up with two collections of cashmere yarns – Luxe Tints and Signature Twists – characterised by a variety of colours and consistencies. The two lines complement the company's staples, such as the Winter Marls and Cashmere Naturals.
The Luxe Tints collection features 12 delicate winter pastels with a retro twist as they evoke the colours of vintage knits. The collection is also sustainable: made with 100% cashmere fibre certified by the Good Cashmere Standard (GCS), the colours in this collection only use a small percentage of dyestuff for every kilo of yarn made.
This means that there is less waste in the production process as each colour takes less time to make and uses less energy through the mill (the company has been strengthening its sustainability credentials in the last few years, researching the possibilities of biodegradable cashmere yarns and repurposed 100% cashmere twisted yarns).
The Cashmere Colours yarn line has also been enriched with colours characterised by a surprising intensity of a bold mix. Bright shades of fuchsia and crimson such as Red Ribbon, Neon, Cricket and Mural, are directly inspired by Nicolas Party and Sarah Giannobile's works, while Bijou, Heather, Shearwater and Studio Blue, evoke with their tones of blue and aquamarine, the delicate shades of Mariko Kusumoto's wearable sea creature sculptures.
And there's more good news if you are a knitwear designer in search of your own unique and exclusive yarns: the company can actually customise yarns in terms of colours, materials and composition. The choice is wide and it is possible to pick solid or mélange colours, while marls can be twisted from two or more colours and across weights and materials – from cashmere and wool to linen and silk – to your precise specifications.
