Impressions - March 2023 - 20

Art by Tartila
From fi nding the right fi t to fashion detailing,
today's options are upscale and varied
By Marci a Derryberry,
Contributing Writer
I
n the decorated-apparel space, the womenswear market
continues to evolve. From those days when the female
consumers persuaded manufacturers to create a ladies' fi t
basic T-shirt to avoid wearing oversized and ill-fi tting
men's shirts to today's fashion off erings, we've come a long
way. Th is progress, in turn, aff ords embroiderers, screen printers
and digital decorators that many more sophisticated products
to off er their customers, thereby creating the potential to garner
ever bigger profi ts.
What's trending for 2023? A lot, according to manufacturers
and suppliers specializing in the market. " Look for a more consumer-driven
aesthetic with the caveat that everything is still very
comfortable, " says Vicki Ostrom, trend editor at SanMar Corp.
(sanmar.com) " Th e athleisure brands are mimicking brands like
lululemon athletica and Nike...taking their workout wear and
changing the silhouettes to be more of a lifestyle look. "
Along these same lines, for Lane Seven Apparel (lanesevenapparel.com),
the oversized, an equally comfortable, more urban fi t
has been a successful style.
" For our company, we see the longer crops with unisex pieces
very popular among women, " says Milissa Gibson, Lane Seven
strategic accounts executive. " Th e hi-lo crop trend that was so popular
last year still has a bit of infl uence, but the longer, even crops
are trending for 2023. We do a lot of fl eecewear with the idea of
taking that basic and elevating it into the atheleisure-wear space.
It was happening before COVID but seems to have accelerated
with sweatshirts and pants being elevated from day to night wear. "
Meanwhile, over at S & S activewear (ssactivewear.com), matching
sets, color blocking, ribbed fabrics, shirt jackets (shackets),
Sherpa and eco-friendly styles are the hot trends, according to
Andi Goeing, content strategy specialist.
" Matching fl eece sets that create activewear that matches dad's
or kids' sets are very popular, and we're stocking them in several
brands, " Goeing says. " Also, the preppy-varsity look is coming back
into play, with color blocking continuing to be really big this year. "
Goeing notes leggings " still rule " as far as women's bottoms go,
with fl ared-leg yoga pants making a comeback, " but adds: " Another
big trend for 2023 is ribbed fabrics in both tank tops and
long-sleeved shirts as well as shirts with fashion fringe trim; shirt
jackets, or shackets, have come on strong in the past two years as
well and continue to grow and evolve. "
According to Goeing the Western infl uence is also proving
popular, whether it be in decorating trends or the apparel itself.
With this in mind, she says the lines her company is carrying show
a lot of fringe detail, paisley prints and cowboy hats as mainstays
in today's fashion.
Finally, there's what she and other industry professionals refer
to as a kind of " joyful " dressing-wearing bright colors and mixing
diff erent prints and patterns, a result of coming out of the
pandemic during which people were cooped up for too long and
now want to wear " happy " colors.
Sust ain able Fash ion
Of course, these days, there's a lot more to fashion than just looks,
with everything from sustainable production practices to workforce
diversity factoring into many buyers' purchasing decisions.
" Eco-friendlier " apparel, for example, has been popular for years,
and continues to be at the forefront in the eyes of the decorated
apparel market, especially among companies like the cutting-edge
shirt manufacturer Allmade (allmade.com), created in 2017 with
sustainability as its main focus.
" We say our shirts are good for the planet and people, " says
marketing manager and cofounder Mel Lay. " We started with
a group of 10 founding screen printers who wanted to make a
shirt that was eco-friendly, well-priced and better to print on. We
then thought about the people making the shirts and created a
company that was a great place to work with ethical wages and
factory conditions. "
Today, Allmade off ers a number of diff erent fabric types, including
its original Tri-blend line, in which each shirt is made out of
a combination of six recycled plastic bottles and a mix of organic
cotton and Tencel Modal; a 100 percent certifi ed organic cotton
line; and, new for 2023, a line the company calls Mineral Wash, a
100 percent certifi ed organic cotton line dyed with actual minerals.
" Less synthetic materials are used in the dyeing process and it
saves water, " Lay says of Allmade's new Mineral Wash garments.
" Th e colors are really quite beautiful and are diff erent than anything
we've created up to this point. We're expanding our lines
so there's more than just T-shirts being off ered. "
More generally, S & S activewear's Goeing says brands across
the industry are " going more sustainable, " adding, " Th ey're basiP.20
ImpressionsMagazine.com
March 2023
http://www.sanmar.com http://www.lanesevenapparel.com http://www.lanesevenapparel.com http://www.allmade.com http://www.ssactivewear.com http://www.ImpressionsMagazine.com
Impressions - March 2023

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