Narrow Down Those Fashion Trends With This Detail

It’s too soon to be talking about winter fashion, given we’ve just about walked into spring and summer is just around the corner, but there is this one super-fun detail that we noticed on the London Fashion Week Autumn Winter runway that needs to be mentioned, and if possible incorporated in fashion wear early. Fashion enthusiasts, pay attention, you’re going to love this.

Ever heard of something called narrow fabric?

Well, we’ll spare you one Google search and tell you a little about it. Narrow fabric is this elastane blend fabric that is used in fashion and functional garments all the time. We’ll give you an example. Underwear waist bands. The elastic cum lace-ish waist band that runs along your favourite boy shorts or g-string (etc.) uses narrow fabric and sometimes is narrow fabric itself. Bare spandex and a hard yarn are woven together to create it.

This bare spandex cum lace-ish fabric, is narrow fabric, much like ribbons and, well, lace too, as long as the width of the fabric manufactured is between 1mm and 320mm.

Narrow fabrics may or may not be woven using bare spandex. Two hard yarns, of the same or different categories can be woven together to make narrow fabric that serves various purposes like straps for bags, laces and more.

But let’s not digress from the topic here, we saw on the Versus Versace runway, strips and strips of narrow fabric making statement neck-piece chokers and placed in a sports like fashion on several garments. Perhaps you would like to give this iconic look a try?

Denim Saree Got Us Thinking “How Will I Move In This Stiff Fabric?”

Imagine if you had to walk out of the house wearing a denim saree like Sonam Kapoor did just last week. She made the headlines with that quirky albeit bold fashion statement, but if one considers the attire from a comfort point of view, the appeal of it may drop more than just a tad. A saree in itself has a snug fit leaving very little room for freedom of movement, wearing a denim saree could might as well be a restless person’s worst nightmare.

What is the solution to this predicament?

Stretch denims to your rescue!

Stretch denims have the one thing that regular denims don’t. A key ingredient-- covered spandex yarn

Whether it is cotton or synthetic, stretch denims ustilise a blend of spandex and a hard yarn to create a fabric that maintains its structure but moves with the body as much as you would want it to. You can thank manufacturers like Indorama Industries for creating covered spandex yarn that is the core component of most of your stretch denims. It is also used in the creation of active wear, intimate wear and performance wear among other garments and accessories.

So, now imagine wearing a saree that is made with denims constructed from high quality covered spandex yarn. While they may not be considered the attributes of a lady, running, stretching or jumping a fence in a saree, in our culture, who cares? It’s a denim saree that stretches and lets you hustle it out. Feel free in a denim saree! 

All For Socks In Summer

Ask the person who told you socks are a winter-only accessory to put a sock in it! Socks are as much a summer accessory as one for winter. Socks are evergreen! You can wear socks all year round, all you need to do is a fair bit of research on the kind of patterns, textures and materials for each season-- we pulled our socks up and did that for you. Here’s all you need to know before you go on a sock shopping spree…

It is imperative you understand that plays a huge role in the construction of socks and that is why, you must make sure to read the hosiery composition on the packaging of your socks.

Socks don’t just look good during summer-- like in winter, socks serve as feet warmers, their primary functionality in summer is to keep your feet protected from excess heat and absorb sweat to keep even the sweatiest of feet dry when the temperatures reach an all time high. Additionally, they provide cushioning to the feet.

Now, how much support and absorbency your socks can provide you will depend on the yarn quality. If the Hosiery Yarn used in the production of these socks is of poor quality, naturally, you can’t expect them to last long or provide appropriate absorbency.

Then, if the socks aren’t knit properly and the hosiery yarn develops slubs (clumps of fibre sticking out) during the knitting process, the socks will not only be uncomfortable to wear because they’d poke your feet throughout the wearing duration, they might even lead to injuries.

So all you need to do is check your socks for smooth insides so they don’t hurt you and see that they stretch and retain shape. Also try them on to see if they don’t suffocate your feet and feel light as summer. Stripes, shapes or solids, wear ‘em flaunt ‘em!

The Importance Of Covered Spandex Yarn In The Garment Manufacturing Industry

Covered Spandex Yarn is not a commonly heard term for many, but for those who are involved in the manufacturing of yarn or garments, it is a resource to swear by. Why?

There are majorly two types of garments in the market-- fast moving high fashion garments or evergreen and less dynamic functional garments. Fashion garments are stylish dresses, shorts, trousers and spunky socks, to name a few. These go in and out of style very fast. Functional garments on the other hand tend to stay in the market for long with very few modifications like regular intimate wear, sports wear and more. Then somewhere there is a niche category for both fashionable and functional garments that pack the good qualities of both. The significant bit in this is that all of these three categories, in the current era are heavily dependent on covered spandex yarn.

How do you think your stretchable jeans gets its stretch as well as structure?

How do you think your bodycon dress fits like a second skin but still manages to give you breathing space?

How do you think your pantyhose manages to give you the perfect texture as well as freedom to move around like you have nothing on?

How do you think your intimate wear supports your body and retains its stretch?

All of this comes from the presence of good quality covered spandex yarn, like that brought to you by Inviya by Indorama, in your garments.

Can you imagine your life without this ingenious creation now?

Did You Know This About Spandex?

Here are some facts about spandex that will blow your mind

Spandex is a more popular name for elastane fibre

Spandex is capable of stretching up to 500% its size and recovering, without snapping

Elastane fibre was discovered by polymer chemist Farbenfabriken Bayer in the 1950’s as a cheaper alternative to rubber during the world war. Rubber was expensive and would weather easy. Since it was being used extensively for the construction of equipment, finding a cheaper alternative that would be stable in atmospheric shifts, was necessary. That is also why

Spandex does not weather in the presence of oil, sweat or mild detergents. Yes, it can be molded through heat setting at very high temperatures of 240 degree C

Spandex fabrics are more eco-friendly than natural fabrics because they are easy to recycle and use up less natural resources in their production or recycling process

While spandex blends may have either a 2 way stretch or a 4 way stretch depending up on their construction, spandex itself alone has a 4 way stretch which means that it can stretch in both horizontal and vertical directions at once

In the past people have complained of being allergic to spandex wear. That spandex causes allergy is a myth. Spandex does not trigger allergies but at the point of yarn twisting or fabric construction, if the elastane fibre is treated with substandard chemicals, those chemicals may trigger an allergic reaction.

Saving the best for last:

Spandex is actually an anagram of the word expands