Close connections
A highly focused show, Mare di Moda attracts top buyers and suppliers in the swim, beach and athleisure-sports sectors. In addition to its mission to support the European textile industry, it has the added draw of offering the industry an opportunity to build business in the desirable destination that is Cannes.
From young designers to beach and fitness wear makers, and from fabric mills to accessories suppliers, the entire beach, swim and athleisure ecosystem heads to Cannes once a year in November to present new collections, and to meet up with customers and fellow manufacturers. In this sense, Mare di Moda is similar to Performance Days in that it is the place where a highly specialised and close-knit (pun intended) community enjoys exchanging views and conducting business.
“We are a trade fair, but we are also a community, we support students entering the market and we are loyal to manufacturers and mills based in Europe or in the wider geographical region. We are all members of a same ecosystem,” says Claudio Taiana, president of Mare di Moda. He is convinced, as are the exhibitors that Sportstextiles talked to, of the importance of supporting the local industry. “The European focus is the secret to our success. The market is difficult, confused, and many companies are suffering. Those that are successful need to be even more efficient, present, active and reactive by exhibiting at shows like Mare di Moda and Performance Days.”
The Cannes textile exhibition, like its functional fabric counterpart in Munich, mirrors the market it represents. Maintaining high exhibitor and visitor numbers is a challenge. Cost-cutting measures means that brands are sending fewer buyers and designers to trade shows. Representatives from 763 companies made the trip to see the products made by the 100 companies exhibiting at the 22nd edition held in November 2024. In Mr Taiana’s view, key buyers continue to come, although he admits that fewer young brands and companies looking to diversify into beachwear or athleisure attended the 2024 edition.
“The market is difficult for the textile industry in general,” he says, “but the swimwear sector is somewhat protected as it is part of the holiday and travel market that is suffering less than other industries.” He has nonetheless a clear vision of the show’s role: to promote European production, expertise, quality, innovation and creativity.
Sustainability on the horizon
Compared to other sectors, the swim, beach and athleisure markets have been slower to embrace sustainability, notes Mr Taiana. Their reliance on synthetics, mainly polyamide and elastane, is arguably the main reason why progress on the green front is less visible. Recycled or biobased polyamides are not as common as polyester made from recycled PET plastics. The one shining exception is Aquafil’s Econyl, a recycled polyamide 6 that has been on the market for close to 15 years now, and can be found in the collections of many mills.
The Lycra Company made a strong showing at the event to promote its bioderived Lycra Ecomade which is now in the starting blocks. As the official partner of the beachwear and athleisure fabric show, and with plans for future large-scale production of the new fibre, The Lycra Company is reaching out to all possible future customers to prepare for the transition. Alistair Williamson, European and South Asian market lead for the company, presented its strategy in developing the new Lycra EcoMade yarn. Its make-up is 70% derived from industrial corn as opposed to “finite fossil fuels,” he says. The company expects it to be commercially available in 12 months’ time. It is also expected to be available in all of the company’s ranges, including Lycra Xtra Life, Lycra Adaptive, Lycra Black and Lycra Adaptive Black. These references are widely used in beach and activewear.
The fibre producer expects to be able to switch 20% to 25% of its global production to the bio-derived yarn, which it insists will be a drop-in solution for the industry. “The beauty of Lycra EcoMade is that we can scale a product that doesn’t require any change in processing for mills and offers exactly the same performance. No compromise whatsoever,” says Nicolas Banyols, head of sales for The Lycra Company. There is a price difference with conventional petrochemical Lycra yarns, but he notes that its additional cost would be “marginal at garment level”. Although oil prices are now low, they are volatile. This would not be the case with industrial corn, says Gary Smith, CEO. He insists that the new yarn will offer the industry “consistency and reliability”.
Lycra EcoMade is certified bio-derived by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), backed by ISCC, a traceability standard, and its carbon footprint has been found to be 44% lower than conventional Lycra yarns by a third-party agency. “This will help The Lycra Company reduce its carbon footprint, and for brands, it will contribute to reducing their scope-three impacts,” says Mr Williamson, who adds that the bio-derived fibre also meets growing consumer demand for more sustainable products.
The focus on the new bioderived elastane yarn offered Carvico and Jersey Lomellina was a perfect platform to present fabrics made from the yarn. “Carvico has already launched industrial production of Lycra EcoMade in its VitaLife range, which is an evolution of our Vita collection, first introduced in 2012,” Romina Barelli, marketing manager tells Sportstextiles. The fabrics are made from a blend of 78% Econyl regenerated nylon from Aquafil and 22% Lycra Ecomade. Furthering their sustainability credentials, the fabrics are dyed with metal- and bisphenol-free colourants. Not all shades are available, she points out, but the fabrics offer the same performance properties as Vita fabrics. They are soft to the touch, grin resistant, offer UV protection, chlorine resistance and muscle control. It has been, she says, “a big step for the group, but also one that our customers, especially in the US market, have been requesting.”
Local focus
The European-centric nature of Mare di Moda makes it an important venue for suppliers whose business is based on quality, flexibility and proximity. SPW, which has received backing from a Madrid-based private equity group, Alantra, is one such example. Sales director Laurent Costella, who retains shares in the Catalan mill, tells us that the new backers support European manufacturing and intend to help SPW diversify into new market segments, such as woven fabrics and gripper tapes. “In the current context, local production and keeping stocks low are increasingly important,” he says. “We have to be very flexible and invest in new machines. Our strategy is to focus on local sourcing to maintain local expertise and skills for the niche markets we specialise in.”
French rubber specialist Plymouth is one of the few, if not the last, remaining manufacturers of natural elastic trims in Europe. The Lyon-based company has also patented a process for recycling natural rubber. “We can incorporate between 50% and 70% recycled content depending on end-use, and guarantee high performance for six years,” says Mounir Saad, CEO, insisting that Plymouth’s elastic trims do not yellow, a key feature of quality.
At Innova Fabrics, sales manager, Fabio Cescon, is looking to grow business with luxury brands, which makes Mare di Moda an important date in the company’s calendar. The mill highlighted its clean-cut polyamide and natural-fibre fabrics, which resist curling, and its interlock knits, which feel like a bonded fabric, and can be used in a wide range of products, from intimate apparel to outerwear.
Activewear and swimwear brands may use similar stretch fabrics, but their purchasing decisions are different, notes Matteo Taiana, product manager for Italian mill Taiana. “For beachwear fabrics the main task of the development teams is to focus on pattern designs and colour selection. Unlike sports brands that are always looking for new performance properties, buyers at Mare di Moda are more concerned with quality, trends and uniqueness,” he tells Sportstextiles. The beachwear sector accounts for roughly 40% of its sales, with sports making up the remainder.
Taiana’s sports fabrics target the cycling and running sectors. “The running market is changing, there is a lot of innovation, in footwear of course, but also in clothing,” he says. “Consumers want the same high-tech in their clothing as they have in their footwear. It is their way of showing their dedication to the sport.” He notes that many new brands are entering the market, and that these “smaller brands are very open to innovation. They are closer to their running communities. Their innovation comes directly from the field and that is a real driver of sales.”
Bikini Beach Concept, a manufacturer based in Tunisia, is seeing growing interest from sports brands, and this has inspired it to diversify for the first time in its six-year existence, says managing director, Karim Fertani. “The same machines and same skills are required for sports apparel,” he points out. Specialising in the mid- to high-end market, he notes the importance of proximity and speed to market, as well as duty-free exports within the EuroMed region.
After first specialising in sports and athleisure and now diversifying into beach and swimwear, Apparel Tasker, a manufacturer based in London, is taking the opposite route. “When fitness and athleisure went down, we picked up swimwear and resort wear,” says Alex Gorgan, who founded the company with Zach Sartor. But sustainability is the most important differentiation point for the zero-waste manufacturer. “Leftover fabrics are used to make scrunchies, and the rest is turned into insulation or new fibres,” she says. This is a sign that sustainability is slowly weaving its way into the world of holiday and resort wear.
More than 100 exhibitors, exclusively European, presented their collections for summer 2026 at Mare di Moda last November. The event includes a section, known as the Private Label – Outsourcing Show, dedicated to garment manufacturers based in the wider Euro-Med region.
All?Credits: Mare di Moda
