Resilience and 'community' dominate Kingpins Amsterdam
The spring-summer 2027 collections-edition of Kingpins Amsterdam has drawn to a close, and despite prevailing conditions – including geopolitical worries, lower global buying sentiment and tariff uncertainty – the mood at the show was surprisingly buoyant, as suppliers and buyers reconvened to view the latest novelties and test the temperature of the global denim market.
Installations and initiatives this time included Focus on España, featuring collaborations with technology maker Jeanologia, recycled cotton provider Recover, enzymes and dyes producer Asutex, yarn-focused machinery maker Pinter Group, dye specialists Tintes Egara and mills Textil Santanderina and Tejidos Royo, with displays inspired by the Spanish landscape, artists and the Mediterranean Sea.
Inside Denim’s guest commenter, Miles Johnson, presented ‘Heroes of the Past & Future by Soorty’, analysing occupations from the past and reinterpreting garments for the present – particularly through the lens of often-overlooked female roles including fisherwomen, cowgirls, lumberjills and ‘pit brow lasses’ (miners); the display befitting the new exhibition space, The Glass House.
Also centred on female leadership, US Denim-led ‘ROOTS: Women weave the Future’ was coordinated by creative director Maryam Amin alongside female students from House of Denim Amsterdam, which featured in the Boxes displays near the entrance and combined Pakistani and Dutch cultural references with sustainable fabrics and processing: regenerative cotton-heavy selvedge, dyed with the mill’s own natural indigo supply.
As a general theme, mills evolved the buttery-soft fabrics dominating SS26 presentations, this time highlighting more balanced collections, still focusing on softness but providing vintage-looking fabrics that retain comfort through mechanical stretch, elastane or lyocell blends. Linen blends, coated fabrics, “playful” options in terms of colour and effects, and green/brown fabrics featured on many stands.
Printed denims were more prevalent this time – an impressive collection by Adriano Goldschmeid and Artmill included fabrics printed front and back with designs replicating vintage Japanese kimonos and artist-drawn florals, while Sharabati showed some of its 75 exclusive print options per season.
Select mill partners presented fabrics they had tested with the new fibre developments, aimed at boosting authentic-look denim: Lycra’s VintageFX, which allows more control in comfort stretch and promotes vintage aesthetics due to its dual-core make-up; and Lenzing’s Tencel Lyocell HV100 – the uneven fibre length creating less sheen and a less ‘drapey’ hand-feel, more in tune with cotton's characterics and vintage aesthetics, while proving benefits for dyeing and washdowns.
Over at Turkish mill Orta, a unique fabric that is currently undergoing testing that has produced “promising results”: a biobased finish absorbing carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen. AGI Denim’s technical developments included the Chip Off, which accentuates indigo highs and lows, following customer requests, an evolution of its Ceramic Blue dyeing innovation.
Siddiqson’s patent-pending dye technology CryoBlack involves a room-temperature yarn dye process, with excellent crocking results (less colour that rubs off) combined with an organic reducing agent, which creates a much cleaner effluent than standard processes. It can also eliminate the need for potassium permanganate (PP) spray on black fabric as it works well with laser, because of the dye penetration, said the company.
Whether the sector can move away from PP was also under discussion at the chemicals booths – Officina39, Soko and Dystar/ Kaiser – all of which offer more responsible alternatives.
‘SAKE: The Purpose for Doing Something by Tonello X Endrime’, led by Sadia Rafique, Mohsin Sajid and Matt Duckett, once again demonstrated the beauty that can be achieved crossing creative vision with the right tools. The large-scale denim canvasses and garments showcased the beautifully dyed and lasered design and wash techniques, also “brought to life” when viewed through an app.
The Vintage Showroom’s Doug Gunn chose the work and wardrobe of Jackson Pollock, as well as the sun’s bleaching effects, as an inspiration for A Shimmering Sun Fade, with garments from the past inspiring the designers of today.
In the Jeanius Hub, LaundRe’s Salli Deighton and Rowan Hunt presented the multiple capabilities of the recently opened washing and education hub – a London-based facility for finishing or refinishing unsold stock or raw denim, a place to breathe life back into discarded jeans, and a centre to educate and inspire. Biobased dye provider Chloris Biochem – whose technology we cover in the biotech indigo feature in the latest issue – was also present in the Hub, alongside companies such as LAB Denim, Tejidos Royo and FibreTrace.
On the sidelines of the show, Advance Denim celebrated 10 years of its Amsterdam showroom with a river cruise, and Tonello and Officina39 hosted an event at the House of Denim. ‘An Italian Affair’ demonstrated the breadth of effects and synergies that can be achieved when innovative chemistry and state-of-the-art processing combine.
Inside Denim will cover these stories in greater detail, and more, next week.
