Top colour & trim trends

Beer leather 

Leveraging chemistry and materials science, London-based Arda Biomaterials transforms waste barley grain from the beer brewing industry into a leather alternative for use in fashion, home goods, the automotive industry, and beyond. This novel material is called New Grain™. Beer brewers and whisky distillers extract sugars from barley to ferment into alcohol, leaving behind a protein-rich biomass known as “brewers spent grain” (BSG) or “draff” in the whisky world. 

Arda uses proteins to replace plastics, replicating the complex fibrous structure of animal leather using plant-based proteins instead. New Grain™ is being developed to meet diverse applications in fashion, automotive and furniture upholstery, offering a high-performance material that excels in scalability, style and functionality. It can be finished in similar ways to animal leather.

Spray on shoes 

Swiss brand On is reinventing running shoe construction. Its LightSpray Cloudmonster 3 Hyper replaces traditional uppers with a robotic system that sprays a single continuous filament onto a foot shaped mold. In just three minutes, the upper is complete with no seams, laces, or glue bonding directly to the midsole. 

The entire shoe uses only eight components, compared with the usual 30-50. First tested in 2024 when marathoner Hellen Obiri won the Boston Marathon wearing a prototype, the technology has scaled to a factory in South Korea with 32 robots, boosting production dramatically. Design highlights include a featherlight, spray-on upper paired with a thick, cushioned midsole. At 205 grams (men’s US 8.5), it’s about 90 grams lighter than the standard Cloudmonster 3. 

On removed a carbon plate which increased comfort on long runs, instead relying on foam and rocker geometry for support. The simplified construction also has sustainability benefits: fewer parts mean less material waste and easier recycling, with the upper’s CO₂ footprint reportedly up to 75% lower than traditional racing shoes.

4D Knit Active TextileTailoring 

The Ministry of Supply, an apparel company founded at MIT, and the Self Assembly Lab at MIT have created a novel system called Active Textile Tailoring. In response to heat and moisture, the fibres in an entirely new method for “smart” textiles alter their structure and shape, opening up a whole new realm of fi t and style personalisation. 

The 4D Knit Dress integrates multiple technologies, including heat-reactive yarns, computerised knitting, and six-axis robotic manipulation to develop a garment that is sculpted for a tailored fi t or a distinct style. Heat-reactive yarns are woven into a unique knitting structure, allowing for controlled transformation while preserving softness, stretch, and durability. 

By utilising an efficient tubular knitting method, a six-axis robotic arm commonly found in the automotive industry selectively heats specific regions to alter the fabric, emulating the traditional dressmaking technique of pinning and tucking, to dynamically adjust the dress for an ideal fit or a customised appearance.

Bidri metal inlay craft

Nolwa works with designers from all around the globe, bringing together two very different worlds to create original takes on traditional crafts. Bidri is an ancient metalworking craft of Karnataka in India, known for its visually striking motifs and patterns that are created by delicately inlaying silver and brass fi laments into a blackened alloy. 

A specially-made mold is filled with a special molten zinc alloy. The foundational piece that the artisan works on in later phases is created when this cools and solidifies. The soil of Bidar Fort, a historical site in Karnataka, is special because it has oxidising qualities that, when dipped, convert base metal zinc into sheer black ware, while the pure silver inlay keeps its original colour.

Responsive wear 

Across both performance wear and fashion, garments are increasingly being engineered as responsive material systems rather than passive textiles. Recent innovations from Nike illustrate this shift. Footwear concepts such as the Nike Mind 001 and Mind 002 apply neuroscience-informed design, using distributed foam nodes that stimulate sensory receptors and subtly enhance body awareness through tactile feedback. 

In outerwear, adaptive thermal solutions are emerging: the Nike Therma-FIT Air Milano Jacket and Adidas Climawarm System Jacket integrate inflatable air chambers and embedded heating elements to dynamically regulate body temperature. Meanwhile, Coperni explores bio-interactive textiles with its C+ Regenerating Top and Legging, incorporating probiotic treatments designed to interact with the skin. These innovations point to a shift toward material intelligence, where textiles are designed not only for aesthetics and protection but for continuous interaction with the body, into responsive material ecosystems.