Metallics and muted colors top Cotton Incorporated’s denim forecast

Cotton Incorporated provides a wide range of information, technical support and innovations to assist companies in various aspects of their cotton business, including trends in denim.

In a recent webinar, trend forecaster Lauren Williams and Christie Rhodes, women’s product manager at Cotton Incorporated, explained how lifestyle trends—from food to technology to architecture—are influencing denim color palettes, fabrics and styling directions in 2025 and 2026.

Here’s a look at the upcoming denim releases.

Echoing the embellished denim looks from the Spring/Summer 2025 collection seen during Men’s Fashion Week this summer, Williams said more embellished and detailed denim is on the way. Feminine touches like ruffle trim on a cotton jean and jeweled hardware on a lightweight twill set, as well as constructions like pleats, speak to a “more decorative aesthetic” and add “avant-garde elegance” to denim.

Rhodes added that fabrics like a machine-pleated 100 percent cotton indigo chambray add movement to the garments. Another decorative option is to laser a pattern onto the back of a left-handle twill denim fabric to create a frayed surface.

Cotton Incorporated has pursued metallic denim achieved through finishing and construction for several seasons, but the look is evolving toward a more futuristic aesthetic for 2025-2026, Williams said.

Denim with indigo yarn as the warp and black yarn and gold lurex yarn as the weft gives a subtle shimmer. Metallic blue foil printed on the surface of a black base creates a cool look. Gold foil adds an antique finish to a cotton denim garment. Rhodes highlighted a textured honeycomb fabric with natural warp and weft structure, accentuated with pink foil only on the higher surface areas.

Coatings are making a comeback, especially those that give denim a laminated effect. Clear polyurethane coatings provide a high-gloss look and finish, Williams said. Others offer a new take on vintage. Williams described a product development fabric that has a white coating and is then hand-sanded to the shape of the garment, revealing a very light blue indigo tone underneath.

The influence of artificial intelligence is evident in the glitch and glow effects. “We found a wide range of denim garments with prints and finishes that we believe are inspired by this technology,” said Williams, adding that examples range from pixelated digital prints to washed and overdyed garments.

Ozone technology can be used to give fabric surfaces a “spotty, blotchy” effect, Rhodes said.

Traditional checks come into play in unexpected ways. Williams highlighted an intarsia check fabric in a denim-inspired colorway and a pair of black jeans that were lasered with a window check pattern and then overdyed brown. Laser engraving can also be used to create a checkered texture or an ombre check pattern.

Denim is also being mixed with traditional suiting fabrics. “We’re seeing this in a wide range of silhouettes that range from very sophisticated to a little more edgy in their appearance,” Williams said.

Rhodes described how a blue yarn dye in the warp gives a blended dobby herringbone weave an indigo effect with a matching look and feel. A yarn-dyed fancy twill with an exaggerated twill on the surface can be brushed to mimic the look and feel of corduroy.

After the post-pandemic color explosion that saw red and Barbie pink everywhere, designers are moving to a calmer palette. Williams praised unique constructions and washes that give denim a muted, powdery, chalky look.

This idea can be implemented in fabrics through special washes and yarn selection. Extreme washes give a sun-bleached effect to jeans with sulphur-black yarn in the warp and indigo weft. A striped pair of jeans made from cotton dobby with natural yarn in the warp and weft can be pigment-dyed and then overdyed, she said.

Fabrics containing recycled denim naturally add a muted color to fabrics, allowing brands to eliminate additional processing steps in clothing, Rhodes added.

Williams added that colors like rust, orange and brown are taken from nature.

In addition to denim silhouettes that look like they’re made from real leather or suede, Williams said more designers are “blurring the lines of the traditional denim look with prints and finishing effects that really show there’s more to it than meets the eye.”

A fabric from Cotton Incorporated’s product development hides the twill seam of a 100 percent cotton pair of jeans by pinholes on the back of the fabric, making it difficult to tell if it’s a knit or woven fabric. Trompe l’oeil prints of denim on other materials also give men and women a surreal aesthetic, she said.

“Digitally printed denim allows for realistic and very unrealistic effects as an alternative to traditional indigo denim,” said Rhodes.