ThreadCheck | Fashion in Flux: The 2025–2028 playbook for trends, tech, and the machines that will matter

By the ThreadCheck editor-in-chief

If you feel fashion is moving in two speeds at once—maximalist mood on the runway, operational sobriety in the back office—you’re not wrong. Executives expect only modest growth in 2025 and are laser-focused on margin, efficiency, and compliance. Translation: fewer vanity projects, more investments that fix fit, speed, waste, and traceability. McKinsey & Company

Below, my take on what’s genuinely moving the needle—and what it means for textile machinery and production tech you should be shortlisting.

1) Macro mood: cautious growth, sharper execution

• Low single-digit growth, tough consumer sentiment. The BoF–McKinsey State of Fashion 2025 flags muted demand and a market where share gains come from superior execution, not hype cycles. Expect tighter buys and faster in-season reads. McKinsey & CompanyThe Business of Fashion

• Supply chain volatility is back. Tariff noise and policy swings are pushing brands to diversify sources and get nimbler. Nearshoring talk is real (Mexico/CAFTA, North Africa/Eastern Europe), but capacity and skills are constraints—so the winners are investing in automation close to market. Vogue Businesssupplychaindive.comMcKinsey & Company

Machinery takeaway: Equipment that improves yield, uptime, and agility (automated cutting, on-demand knitting/printing, rapid changeovers) will beat “faster but fixed” high-volume systems.

2) What people actually want to wear (and buy)

• Lyst Index heat: Q2-2025 skewed to expressive, story-first brands; Miu Miu retook #1, with freaky footwear and elevated sandals topping products. Track this not just for merchandising but for material/upper constructions the market is rewarding. lyst.comELLEfashiondive.com

• Maximalism rounds back: Media signals show a swing from “quiet luxury” to bold Italianate prints and color—useful for planning print capacity and color libraries. The Wall Street Journal

• Resale is a structural channel, not a side hustle. ThredUp’s 2025 report pegs global secondhand on a path to ~$367B by 2029, growing ~2.7× faster than the broader market. Designing for repair, authentication, and durable finishes now creates downstream value later. cf-assets-tup.thredup.com+1FashionUnited

Machinery takeaway: Keep digital print and finishing flexible—small drops, rapid color swaps, and abrasion-resistant finishes for products meant to live multiple lives.

3) Regulation is (finally) shaping specs

• Digital Product Passports (DPP) are coming. Under the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Commission published its first Working Plan in April 2025. Textiles are among the first categories; multiple sources point to early adoption from 2027, with full EU-wide DPP coverage by 2030. Start building the data pipes now. European CommissionTextile WorldIntertekVogue Business+1

• Waste & EPR: The EU’s targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive advanced in 2025, pushing separate textile collection and Member State EPR schemes. Design for disassembly and mono-material choices will be rewarded. Parlamento EuropeoEnvironmentH2 Compliance

• U.S. import scrutiny: UFLPA enforcement (entity-list updates in 2025) keeps traceability non-negotiable for cotton/synthetics. Expect more audits, not fewer. U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionFederal RegisterGobierno de EE. UU.

Machinery takeaway: Prioritize hardware/software that can serialize products, print/encode QR or RFID at speed, and sync bills of materials and process data into your PLM/ERP/DPP stack.

4) Tech that’s maturing fast (and why it matters to your floor)

a) Automated cutting & yield optimization

Lectra’s interconnected Cutting Room 4.0 and similar systems are using AI to nest more tightly, cut faster, and cut right—a direct lever on margin and waste. If you’re still low-ply manual on core programs, you’re leaving money on the table. Lectra+2Lectra+2

b) On-demand knitting (fewer seams, fewer steps)

SHIMA SEIKI’s WHOLEGARMENT® continues to compress the knit supply chain—knitting 3D pieces in one go, reducing linking/sewing and enabling hyperlocal micro-runs. Adoption is broadening as brands use 3D design + knit-to-shape for minimal waste. shimaseiki.com+1textiletoday.com.bd

c) Digital textile printing (DTG/DTF) scales responsibly

Data points converge: DTG/DTF growth is accelerating from 2025 onward, with vendors pushing water-minimized workflows and local, agile production. For capsule drops and personalization, it’s the most defensible path to cutting overproduction. textile networkGlobal Market Insights Inc.fibre2fashion.com

d) Waterless & lower-impact coloration

Supercritical CO₂ dyeing (e.g., DyeCoo) is still niche but maturing, with verified impact reductions vs. conventional dyeing in polyester. Keep an eye on pilot economics and fabric constraints. TEXINTELDyecoo

e) AI across the product lifecycle

From demand forecasting to creative iteration, gen-AI is now a margin tool—not a lab toy. McKinsey estimates $150–$275B in operating-profit potential sector-wide; brands are prioritizing AI for inventory, pricing, and targeted marketing. On the creative side, Adobe Firefly case studies show real design-throughput gains with digital twins. Caveat: governance and IP rules are catching up. McKinsey & Company+2McKinsey & Company+2business.adobe.com

Machinery takeaway: Pair capex with data infra. A smart cutter or printer underperforms without clean demand signals and closed-loop feedback from sell-through, returns, and fit.

5) Circular materials: from pilots to purchase orders

• Textile-to-textile polyester is stepping into the market. Ambercycle’s cycora gained momentum with offtake deals (Inditex; Ganni targeting meaningful substitution), and broader coverage across performance brands. This is one of the few next-gen streams hitting commercial scale. ambercycle.comTIMEVogue Business

• Enzymatic PET recycling (for fibers) is commercializing. CARBIOS’ Longlaville plant is feeding biorecycled monomers into r-PET supply with Indorama; it’s not panacea, but it’s real industrial capacity pointing at textile filaments. carbios.comYahoo Finanzas

• Mycelium and plastic-free “leathers” mature. MycoWorks opened commercial channels for Reishi; Natural Fiber Welding’s MIRUM is positioning as plastic-free. Still watch cost/scale, but the material playbook is diversifying beyond PU/PVC. FashionUnitednfw.earth

• Reality check: Even with progress, <1% of fibers used by reporting brands came from true textile-to-textile (post-consumer) feedstocks in 2023; total fiber output hit a record 124M tonnes. The gap is the opportunity. Textile Exchange+1

Machinery takeaway: Finishing, dyeing, and cutting systems must tolerate more recycled and alternative substrates (variable hand, shrink, and dye uptake). Run qualification trials early.

6) Fit, returns, and the race to zero waste

Expect aggressive testing of virtual try-on and avatar-based fit to cut returns—Zalando’s 3D avatar pilots are instructive. Returns reduction is the hidden P&L lever that pays for a lot of transformation. corporate.zalando.comVogue Business

Machinery takeaway: When you know demand and fit earlier, you can confidently move to micro-batches with on-demand print/knit and quick-change cutting lines.

7) Compliance & ethics: non-optional, machine-readable

Between ESPR/DPP in the EU and UFLPA enforcement in the U.S., traceability is becoming machine-readable law. Plan for: serialized labels, QR/RFID at scale, and data capture from fiber blend to finishing chemistry. Early DPP pilots (Kappahl, Marimekko, Nobody’s Child) show the data burden—~100+ attributes per product—so integrate now, not in 2027. GS1 SwedenVogue Business+1

Buy sheet: the 8 capabilities to prioritize in 2025–2028

1. AI-assisted cutting rooms with automated nesting and MES/ERP hooks. Lectra

2. 3D knit-to-shape (WHOLEGARMENT-class) for localized, low-waste knit programs. shimaseiki.com

3. DTG/DTF print lines built for small lots, fast switchover, and water-minimized processes. textile network

4. Inline QC & color management that stabilizes outcomes on recycled/alt materials.

5. DPP-ready serialization (industrial QR/RFID encoders + middleware). Textile World

6. Closed-loop material pilots (textile-to-textile PET; alt leathers) with production-grade test plans. TIMEcarbios.com

7. Virtual fit/3D design to collapse proto cycles and improve buy accuracy. corporate.zalando.com

8. Water/energy-light coloration (evaluate CO₂ dyeing where fabric mix fits). TEXINTEL

   
   

The bottom line

The vibe shift is clear: less spectacle, more systems. The smartest brands are using tech + process to make fewer, better bets—then producing them with flexible, low-impact machinery, close to the customer, with paperwork that stands up to a regulator’s scanner.

If you want, I can turn this into a ThreadCheck checklist for capex planning (vendors to demo, KPIs, and a 12-month pilot roadmap).