Today’s textile trends reflect the current sentiments of society on navigating uncertain times, the influence of technology in daily lives, and the desire for a sense of community.

Independent natural dye artist Diana Jean Katigbak highlighted the value of sustainability through conscious choices in materials and biophilic designs, where prints and textures embrace the dark side of nature and highlight rawness and imperfection. 

“The intersection of creativity and technology gives way for new expressions in craftwork,” she noted. “Geometric motifs and blending of contrasting colors blur the lines between tradition and modernity.” 

Textures, cutouts, natural prints, and heirloom crafts will remain with a shift in focus to bold yet subdued color choices and hyper-realistic fabric textures. This is in contrast to last year’s hand-made treatments, such as embroidery, eco-printing, painted brush strokes, and beading embellishments. 

“Unconventional combinations will create a sense of novelty and modernity, blending the natural with imaginative explorations in design,” she expounded.

Katigbak, the textile educator under the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, likewise stated this move affects the overall materiality in the fashion scene.

“Certain sub-themes mirror the emerging trend in retro fashion, using simple silhouettes and tailored designs as canvas for displaying rich fabric treatments, playing around traditional colors and prints of the period reimagined through unconventional compositions and surreal textures,” she added. 

To guide the general public, the expert rounded up the latest according to the giant trend forecast WGSN. 

Common Connections, which are rooted in the values of authenticity, storytelling, and community, inspire zero-waste crafts, fun and functional basics, and low-key luxury for textiles. 

“We embrace anti-perfectionist and anti-curated sentiments, as well as inclusive and empathetic values, with a celebration of honest and escapist messages, and chaotic pairings in design,” Katigbak explained. “Craft and storytelling will be reinforced in the virtues of local techniques, ornamentation, and traditions.”

To achieve a decorative grain, Katibgbak recommended a blur on color-woven stripes and checks with painted warp ikat designs and dip-dyes, and also in are braid-like geometric dobbies and jacquards, as well as added texture via floating yarns, over-embroideries, and hand-blocked prints. Retro quaint is back through updated gingham and windowpane checks with mosaic-inspired compositions and crafted passementerie. 

The pursuit for a sense of balance in an unpredictable world is very much evident in Restorative Realms, which has nature as its focal point. It calls for calming softness, new naturals, freshly salvaged looks, and artistic garden themes. 

“Nature is the nucleus of this trend, and it will manifest in the form of biophilic designs and plant-based materials and ingredients, as well as aesthetics and textures that have elemental, excavated or murky qualities,” she added. 

For this category, Katigbak suggested investing in regenerative fibers and non-toxic pigments as an approach to re-nurture people and the planet. For a disco elemental look, hyper-realistic interpretations of mineral and rock formations make for a surreal story. There is likewise beauty in the raw side of nature. Think: Distressed and decorative imperfections in wovens. 

Digitopia, an examination of the intersection of technology and creativity, likewise takes the rein. Here, textiles come in color-shifting effects, digital intricacies, hyper-haptic finishes, and playfully chunky profiles. 

“Expect to see a flourishing of products and spaces — both physical and virtual —  that dissolve the distinction between fantasy and reality, embracing dreamy colors, liquid lines, sensorial textures, exaggerated shapes, and cartoonish or characterful elements,” Katigbak described. 

“Beyond synthetic flights of fancy, we will also witness the rise of more sophisticated, engineered and precisely personalized products and spaces that reduce waste and supercharge innovation,” she added. 

Future craft narratives remain at the fore, with skeletal and lace-like textiles that appear close to real or virtual. Hues likewise expand to ombré with the help of intriguing CMF method, whereas quilts take a contemporary approach. There is more versatility in puffy, rounded shapes and stitching patterns. For a cleaner, cushioned volume, heat-pressing is the key. 

WGSN comprises a team of over 250 experts and data scientists that curate an immense online library of insights and inspirations in fashion, retail, and the whole lifestyle industry. BoF, on the other hand, presents its authoritative and analytical point of view on the fashion industry provided by over 100 reporters, editors, analysts, engineers, designers, marketers, and brand strategists.

With globally available information on hand, Benilde continues to provide innovative learning tools and experiences for its students.