Trends

Back to the future in 2006

The new buzz-word around athleisure sketchpads is ‘retro’. Summer 2006 sees the return of retro, combined with performance fabrics that imitate sport styles. Seen on catwalks, designers are increasingly looking to the past for inspiration.

The lines between sportswear and athleisure wear continue to become even more blurry, with athleisure brands incorporating sports-influences into their designs.

Thus, there are two main styles to look forward to this summer; each one bringing with it its own fabrics and colours. Both the retro and sporting looks are influencing fashion.

Brands launching their ranges at ispo Summer this year showed that the yachting-style is making a come back in fashion. Designers are making use of bright colours, colourful prints and details in contrasting colours — not to forget the trade- mark horizontal stripes. Cotton and linen are the materials of choice.

This year’s ispo Summer also showed that golf wear is receiving a makeover. Golfwear is becoming younger and the transition between on-the-course wear to evening/after-work wear is becoming smoother.

The retro look is in, but is broken up by unconventional material and colour mixes that focus on the ‘50’s.

The ispo Summer and ispovision fashion shows showed that men’s golfwear is becoming more casual with loose, flowing polo shirts and oversized Bermudas. The shirts make use of bi-colour sections. The classical piqué polo shirt has new interesting colours and different wide block stripes and/or buttons that contrast with single-colour pieces.

The pullover, which can be integrated into everyday wear, boasts a new, super-low neckline. Cargo pants with elaborate knee shapes are the most noticeable item amongst the bottoms. There are saddle yokes on the back and they have patterned pockets.

For daywear, vests have oversized pockets. To spice up the outfit, the casual club blazer has intricate embroidery, which reminds one of the British landed gentry of yore.

Women’s golfwear is becoming even more individualised and luxurious. The tight blouses have multicoloured knitted welts and are made of satin. These blouses are made functional with the use of ventilation slits and zipper bags.

An alternative to the blouse is the vest with a stitched front part, adjustable side loops, two-way zippers and contrasting piping on the collar.

Basic shirts are given a make-over with details such as side slits or cut-out sections that are enclosed by corded ribbon. Tight polo shirts with tapering sleeves are made of stretch piqué. These shirts have snap-fasteners on the collar.

In the bottoms-department, the shorts are wide and are without cuffs. The lean Capri-shorts are made of techno-gabardine and have a stretch.

Overall, colours are somewhat subdued with a soft, subtle and fragile effect, but they still appear vital and fresh. The most important colours are pistachio, coral, champagne and violet.

However, as with most fashion, there is a daring side as well. Checkered clothes with contrasting, almost wild, colour combinations are experiencing a revival.

On the tennis front, cool white is hot for summer 2006. The classic white is back in a big way, but in no way is it a boring white. Except for classic white, browns and chocolate variants will also be appearing on the court.

In addition to the usual conventional tennis shorts, suits, vests, t-shirts and polo shirts, designers are giving the classic look sex appeal, with new cuts, hot pants, tank tops with exposed stomachs, sassy slit skirts, simple dresses with low necklines suitable for tournaments and interesting dress and strap variants.

The retro look will also be seen in lifestyle clothing ranges.

Reebok’s new Heritage line draws its inspiration from retro English athletics. "The feeling of the retro trend is focused on lifestyle, with vintage sport elements being incorporated to retain the athleisure feel," says Reebok SA's PR Lauren Mamet.

Reebok’s colours are loosely based around the Union Jack, with navy, white and red as the base colours. These styles are embellished with Union Jack graphics, sometimes combined with the English lion.

he styling has a retro handwriting with stripes and colour blocking adding to the feel. Fabrics for the look are single jersey, polyester fleece and nylon.

Breathable or wickable (play dry) fabric, that aid or enhance performance while on the field, are now being integrated into the athleisure sector. Part of Reebok’s inspiration comes from athletics and soccer with the seam detailing, colour blocking and engineered polyester detail adding to the sporty feel.

The colours for this look are muted primaries, offset by bright accents. The fabric, combined with performance styling, give an overall sporty-look.

The New Balance palette for ladies apparel has soft lilac, hibiscus, pink, brown, beige and sky blue. The palette for the men’s apparel has white, charcoal and dark slate. Fabrics are soft with polar fleece, cotton and moisture management materials being the main choice.

At the SA Fashion Week, at the end of July, Nike showed that they are also heading in the retro-direction. Men and women’s retro court shoes will be a big hit, says Justin Maier. There is also a strong soccer influence among Nike’s men’s shoes.

The Women’s line is influenced by track and field shoes. Overall, Nike has opted for a predominant black and white range, however there is also a lot of bright pinks, greens and yellows as well as metallic gold and silver.

Reebok’s footwear is seeing a lot of bright, vibrant colours, in both men’s and women’s footwear. The ladies colour palette includes colours like Green Gleam and Hot Lips Pink. A lot of beach brights over a spectrum of colours will be seen. Ladies footwear sees strong influences from golf, beach sports and yachting.

The more technical and performance orientated shoes feature advanced technologies for better performance. Mamet says Reebok is launching "the Pump 2.0 Run, the most comfortable shoe that pumps up as you walk… and the Romulus, the evolution of the Pump 2.0." The Romulus allows the wearer to customise their fit by inflating when running and deflating when not. The Travel Trainer, a very stylish shoe that folds up on itself to half its size, will also be launched next year, says Mamet.

Collections are becoming lighter, more elastic and breathable. Asics is heading into a new market with their comfort-shoe gel sensation tennis collection — designed by Tommy Haas.

New Balance’s summer 2006 palette for ladies footwear consists of powdery pastel colours. Grey and silver is very prominent in the men’s footwear. The breathable mesh in the uppers have smaller holes than those used for 2005.

Jeremy Nel of K-Swiss says the hot colours for their summer 2006 ranges are pink, brown, green and blues. Although they will be focusing on classic styles, there will also be original new designs, says Nel.

Their shoes are made of printed and stressed material and leathers – with a focus on classic leather shoes.

Salomon’s softshell footwear, the first of its kind, received positive feedback at ispo Summer 05. Softshell is a well known concept in the textile sector. The advantage of using softshell is that, even with proper water resistance, ventilation and elasticity of materials is considerably higher than when constructed with membranes. By using softshells, most seams in the shaft area are no longer necessary. Combined with the soft feel of the material, and the production method, it is possible to create an optimised fit.