With the country attempting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and lives trying to cope with the “new normal,” there is a new meaning being given to the old expression, “the times, they are a-changing.” An example can be found in a recent issue of Vogue magazine about men wearing skirts, a matter discussed in a prior article of mine.
Quoting from that Vogue article, “For as long as there have been garments, there have been men wearing skirts. And yet American hang-ups about gender have effectively killed the idea in a mainstream way, soloing pelted minis and swooshing maxis to the womenswear section. Even Jean Paul Gaultier’s spring 2002 tie skirt — what one might consider a perfect hybrid of masculin-féminin tropes — didn’t get the movement going in broader pop culture. But since the spring 2018 season, skirts have been gaining traction on menswear runways, and no one is more to thank than Thom Browne.
“The kilt-loving designer has dutifully put a dude in a miniskirt in most, if not all, of his runway shows. It’s paying off. Today’s Lyst report of the hottest items of 2021’s second quarter ranks Browne’s menswear skirt in the top 10. It’s the first time in Lyst history that a skirt has broken the top 10 for menswear.”
I ran across a company in Baridhara, Bangladesh called “Generation Next Fashion, Ltd.” It is one of the largest vertically-integrated knitwear manufacturers in Bangladesh with a diverse customer base in both the North American and European markets. Furthermore, Bangladesh’s exclusive GSP (duty-free) access to the Europe- an Union has catered to the company’s extensive growth. Its diverse product range in fabrics include jersey, pique, fleece, rib, interlock, thermal, pointelle, French terry and semi-jacquard, among others, in cotton, polycotton, blended fabrics, viscose, Lycra, Spandex, bamboo, rayon, poly-rayon and manmade fibers.
The company provides a large range of special finishes such as sueded fabrics, soil release, wrinkle-free, stain resistant, cool max and moisture management, among others. Generation Next provides a modern infrastructure and professional environment with strong emphasis on corporate, social and environmental responsibilities. Its facilities include a European effluent treatment plant, in-house disaster relief teams and a full-fledged clinic for employees. It is a model factory in the compliance department.
Generation Next also has one of the most sophisticated laboratories in Bangladesh. This state-of-the-art facility consists of technologies such as Ahiba lab dyeing, a robotech dispensing system and spectrophotometer from Data Color of USA, as well as color crocking, light fastness and peeling tester from SDL Atlas of UK. The lab plays an essential role in matching and surpass- ing quality requirements as well as in the development of new products for its customers. It currently employs approximately 5,000 people and has an annual turnover of U.S. $50 million. The approximate capacity is two million pieces (pcs) per month, or 70,000 pieces per day. The lab certainly has enough capacity to clothe the next generation around the world!
In her Vogue article “From Berets to Baseball Hats: French and American Street Style Trends at the Paris Men’s Shows,” Trishna Rikhy summarizes the next generation’s trends as “red, white and blue,” as they are translated in French and English. At the menswear shows in Paris, the accessories games were divided along national lines, with cowboy boots and baseball caps on one end, and ankle boots and berets on the other.
Rikhy’s article contains photographs from France showing men with berets wearing long coats, colored sneakers, short pants and suit jackets, carrying purses with knee-high stockings, multicolored pants and ankle boots. The photos — which appear to have been taken in America — show men and women in baseball hats, casual and dress clothing, and what looks like multi-patterned with cowboy boots. One photo is of a woman wearing a white dress with black cowboy boots.
As far back as 2019, Susan Sontag talked about “camp” clothing and dressing. Sontag said, “Camp is a woman walking around in a dress made of three million feathers … the whole point of camp is to dethrone the serious. Camp is playful, anti-serious.” In a Runway article by Emily Farra in 2019, she discussed Sontag’s “Notes on Camp,” defining camp as “the love of the exaggerated, the ‘off,’ of things-being-what- they-are-not.”
All things considered, the next generation will have a myriad of ways to dress for any occasion.
Benjamin S. Seigel, Esq. is Of Counsel to the firm of G&B Law, LLP. He specializes in matters related to the textile and apparel industries. He can be reached at bseigel@gblawllp.com.
