Brighter directions for autumn/winter 2027/28

Pitti Filati yarns play a strong hand for next season. Janet Prescott reflects on this summer’s Florence showcase.

The new Spazio Ricerca.

© AKAstudio-collective | Pitti Immagine Filati

Pitti Immagine Filati 99 the regular hosts for high fashion and business to survey the colours and yarn trends for next year also introduced Ivano Cauli, new CEO of Pitti Immagine. The upbeat start set a clear direction for the next years Autumn/Winter 2027/28 yarns for knitwear and performance textiles, showing luxury and innovation emerging as the season’s key drivers for international fashion and luxury brands.

Trend areas  

Spazio Ricerca’s theme Discipline, technique and horsemanship initially prompted some scepticism, but the connection soon became clear: the sport’s precision and rigour mirrored the season’s focus on detail and excellence.

Key highlights included Angelo Ficus’s Custom Easy particularly interesting for decorating knitwear. The Knit Club’s showcase of leading high-end knitters, and the bold designer collections for the Feel the Yarn competition. These ideas were presented to 3,300 buyers and designers from major Italian and international companies, who saw a refined, lighter winter direction in which yarn, material innovation and garment design are increasingly interconnected. The message was clear: “We are the opposite of fast fashion.”

Technical developments 

2027/28 citing renewed clarity on current requirements from official areas of the market, particularly in technical developments for sportswear, activewear, lingerie and next-to-skin which involve many different yarns and fabrics. Knitting Machinery does more complex tasks.

The emphasis on performance, comfort and discreet elegance showed the symbiotic nature of today’s sport and fashion. Eco pioneers Botto Giuseppe are now tackling, for instance, water management, electricity and renewables, a list of changes to diversity in manufacture and more stringent certification and rules now developing means every step monitored.

What about social media?

Menswear saw new constructions, use of knit, and stronger colour than usual connected for men’s jackets and trousers with a lot of movement on thicker wool knitwear, cashmere and mixes, with a greater demand for colour, intricate patterns and raised surfaces, some tracing rugged origins in far flung fishing areas around the world.

The influence of social media continues to accelerate the movement of ideas and colours, crossing into international markets. Trends can now be adopted, adapted or rejected within a short time frame, increasing pressure on producers to respond while maintaining quality and coherence.

Knitwear benefits from this shift; relative speed to market, combined with ability to express colour texture and tactile elements makes it particularly responsive to current fashion moods. Speed required by premium international brands, which now move much more quickly than before. ‘Merino knits’ making the grade for the current soft clothing. Pattern and 3-dimensional styles making knits a story board of colour and pattern.

Sportswear for outdoor pursuits and more, moves towards more informality in the form of colour and performance see ever more interesting constructions leaving a broader mix of fibres to be used.  The Wool Secretariat has pioneered the development the innate qualities of wool easily joining the hard areas of protective garments.

Creative direction 

Creative knitwear moves towards a more prominent role with renewed fashion interest in sustainability colour and pattern. Pitti Filati remains an important forum for reading seasonal direction, bringing together creative interpretation, technical development, a touch of experiment.

Knitwear beyond softness was a particularly useful slogan – direction moves between soft, mineral tones and deeper natural shades. Lilac, clay, pink and denim blue and muted yellow, ginger and bark, while deeper greens, red earth, aubergine, maize and mustard introduced a grounded, vegetal quality.

Many colour stories referenced natural origins and botanical influence. Wool, alpaca, cashmere and linen reinforced this direction, with hemp gaining attention as a fibre with growing relevance for future collections.

Fancy yarns remained central to the season’s expressive knitwear direction, including cashmere-silk blends, mouliné effects, bouclé textures, superfine Merino, silk-based fantasy yarns and subtle decorative elements such as micro sequins.

The use of alpaca, bouclé, lamé, wool, lurex and mohair pointed to returning pattern and decoration in premium knitwear. Lineapiù’s Knit Art direction reflected this interest bringing together pattern, surface, colour and fibre mix. Machine knitters. Fashionsize.it and others praising the offer.

Yarns with a story

Across the fair, suppliers continued to invest in yarns with a clear narrative. Collections allied to specific places, included Knoll Donegal Yarns, Shepley Yarns UK   Industria Italiana Filati near Florence, Kyototex the value of provenance, fibre knowledge and specialist spinning expertise.

This narrative approach was visible across the fair, where the intrinsic value of fibre is processed are becoming increasingly important parts of product storytelling. Much use of colour from plain to highly decorated knits with seaweed like openwork, robust and knit works at Fashionsize.it and sculptural effects hinted at for next year.

Mohair teams

Mohair South Africa and Sophie Steller Studio teamed with international spinning partners to demonstrate the potential of South African mohair across lace, soft knitted structures and refined yarn developments. Participating partners included SAMIL, Stucken, IGEA, Ilaria, BeMiVa, Filpucci, Cofil and Accademia, among others, reflecting a broad international network around mohair innovation.

Cashmere remains important worldwide and the many spinners test out their new collections with well advised customers and reciprocate with newer ways of using Cashmere.  Zegna Baruffa, Loro Piana.

Todd & Duncan presented a strong winter cashmere direction built around softness, featuring mélanges, visual depth and unusual colour combinations. Some reminiscent of seaweed and sea. Tweed remains a resilient influence across collections, with archive references reinterpreted for contemporary knitwear.

The many exhibitors famous for cashmere did not disappoint – the main exhibition had seaweed colours, layers of draped clothing artfully and successfully catching attention.

The main set piece for the season was homage to the concept of Discipline, described as akin to horse riding, with meticulous knit using strong but cleverly chosen colours and geometric patterns, for full scale military jackets etc with playful add-ons and colours not at all Royal Ascot.

Looking ahead after 150 years, Botto Giuseppe CEO Silvio Botto Poala framed innovation as a continuous discipline: “The future belongs to those who continually challenge themselves and never stop innovating.”

The above content is reproduced from“Knitting Industry”