Silent Performance - Travel Easy

September 25, 2017 Jill Lawrence

Featherweight denims for travel in comfort achieved through clever fibre blending of super fine yarns with high stretch, breathability, anti odour. Never before have we been able to achieve so much in indigo denims. Where denim used to be uncomfortable to travel in now it is the fabric/garment of choice dependent on style. We can still look cool and travel in comfort.

......and as well as having all this performance we can also have shine and glamour. Super drape, super fit and super softness from Tencel and Lyocel with Lycra.

Touch and appearance are the drivers of indigo denim fashion but with added performance it does much much more. Blends of natural and synthetic such as linen & polyester; wool & nylon; Cotton & Dyneema all with that essential element of stretch creates cool fashion with cool performance. The two go hand in hand in todays denim world.

A 21st century take on jeans, made from the most ruggedly comfortable tech fabric around. A pant that stays dry in light rain, yet drys fast if it does get wet. A pant that shrugs off coffee and beer. A pant that looks and smells good even if you never wash them, but can easily be washed without compromising their core style. Pants we can travel the world in, through mud, dust and grime, and still walk into a restaurant looking sharp.

Trend Alert: Silent Performers

September 4, 2017 Jill Lawrence

Life continues in the fast lane for which we need enhanced performance. Performance fabrics are still the future of everyday wear.

Athleisure / Active Lifestyle dressing is shifting from leggins and performance knits to performance denims. You can now do in your jeans what you could do in leggins and look more polished instead of wearing sport gear with its sweaty connotations throughout the day. We want more refined clean denim dressing with added performance for all our daily activities through to evening cool.

Denim Fabrics, created by innovative Denim Mills, with added performances to be explained later are creating a new and exciting trend in denim jeanswear.

High stretch and bi stretch. Coated finish. Breathability. Are just three essential elements of denim sport performance wear. The key is indigo. The romance of indigo shades combined with classic denim texture are taking on a new life together with the excitement of added performance. Polyurethane coatings and spray finishes enable the fabric to breathe and to repel moisture. Hi stretch can be now bi stretch or vertical stretch. We create a stretch for all different uses. A common term is 360 stretch meaning all round stretch for ultimate movement and comfort in the denim jeans. Jeans such as have not been previously experienced.

Performance denims look just like your ordinary jeans either vintage character or refined and simple. The secret is in the performance of the fibres and finishes employed in the manufacture of the denim fabric that makes them performance jeans. Clever fibre blending is the current excitement, to achieve the touch and character of the natural fibre with the precision performance of synthetics.

Trend Direction: SHARP PERFORMERS

July 25, 2016 Jill Lawrence

Brand Spotlight - ALYFE

As we explore performance denim this month, we have taken the opportunity to showcase a technical denim brand born from lifestyle choices, experiences and the love of living life.

ALYFE's concept is to fuse form and function and inspire adventure in everyday life. They have created jeans to perform and let you live your active life. Working closely with one of the world's most creative and advanced denim mills and an innovative Turkish factory they have pushed the boundaries of product innovation. Tried and tested vigorously in active lives along with varying climates and environments, ALYFE jeans have been engineered with a perfect fit and clever hidden performance benefits. Currently their collection has been separated into 3 categories of technology; For Living, For Loving and For Lunatics.

Launching in Spring 2017, For Living, provides clever technology for every day life. The fabric has a water repellent coating providing protection from rain and dirt - the high tech coating increases surface tension allowing raindrops to run off the surface easily. While fibres in the denim respond to the body's fluctuating temperature allowing cooling or heating to regulate your body's temperature along with an anti bacterial finish to minimise the need for washing, thus prolonging the indigo colour and features of your jean. Cotton and elastane combine with polyester to give enormous stretch and movement but with massive recovery.

For Loving created for well being and body enhancing technology - they are the jean that hugs you back. A micro encapsulated coating is a new multi-ingredient active that synergises the benefits of aloe vera, Vitamin E, jojoba oil and creates a sense of well being. While their special finish has skin-smoothing effects, and is absorbed easily into dry skin, it also helps protect and repair skin damage whilst re-mineralising, re-balancing and moisturising. The vitamin E preserves skin from premature ageing. A perfect combination of cotton elastane and polyester has been designed to shape and slim your silhouette and maximise movement. The women's jean comes in a sophisticated dark and a heavily laundered vintage wash, with a high rise slim shape. These jeans have power stretch with excellent recovery. Which means we don't have to worry about dreaded baggy knees!

For Lunatics provides tough performance technology for adventure. The lunatic jeans come in two fabrics; NANO their strongest and most repellent jean yet and COAT OPC a unique black coated thermo regulating jean. Thermo regulating properties combine with nano water repellency, anti stain and tough fibres along with an anti bacterial finish to minimise the need to wash. For those who want a tougher jean that can react to any environment these two innovative fabrics deliver outstanding performance and comfort. All this clever technology is combined in a fabric with just enough stretch to really aid freedom of movement in all directions. Durable stretch fibres provide excellent recovery properties ensuring the silhouette of the jeans is never compromised. Both jeans come in a slim tapered fit for a street smart silhouette, with the back rise extended and contoured to provide better coverage while active, with additional secure belt loops on the back waistband for extra security.

ALYFE ... For LUNATICS Nano - Anti bacterial.jpg

A fun feature across all the ALYFE jeans that we love here at The Denim Eye is the clever reflective details - the brands A logo is stitched on the centre back waistband, and the back pocket so when you are scrambling to find your jeans in your dark tent just flash your torch and your ALYFE jeans will illuminate making them easy for you to locate. While a reflective A logo on the turn ups are perfect for all those cycling commuters.

Trend Direction: SHARP PERFORMERS

July 4, 2016 Jill Lawrence

Stretch is an essential element for active jeanswear. Super high stretch with lowest growth is a must for performance retention as well as slender silhouettes. Not only do these jeans look like they perform but they must really do so. Dual FX yarns or Lycra Beauty from Invista or simple spun polyester blends are some of the blends which will ensure perfect recovery performance in super high stretch denims. Some other key performance attributes are: water resistant, breathable coatings; moisture management fibres such as Coolmax; insulated denims with Thermolite; super strong denims with Dyneema or Cordura from Invista; Anti-bacterial treatments for odour control using Silvadur technology or microbial treatments from Archroma.

Invista makes Coolmax, Thermolite, Cordura, Dual FX, Lycra Beauty and other high performance fibres for denim. Dow chemicals makes Silvadur and Pulcra. NDL makes Fextreme performance stretch blends.

... And of course supreme high stretch in a MUST for the best performance both in and out of the gym for all your Athleisure needs.