Brands looking for a head start on the coming season’s leading legwear looks can turn to The Lycra Company for insights and inspiration. Each year, the company partners with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam to release a global legwear trends forecast and accompanying capsule collection of socks, hosiery and leggings featuring their latest fibre innovations that deliver fit, comfort and performance.

The just-released Autumn/Winter 2021-2022 legwear trends forecast and garment collection, highlights emerging styles into fashion-forward legwear featuring buzzworthy colours, styles and functionality benefits. The forecast tells a story of creativity, inclusion, enlightenment, liberation and possibility. It embraces size diversity and addresses younger shoppers’ sense of urgency to bring change to the world.

“For over 20 years we have been inspiring our customers with our legwear trends forecast,” said Jenifer Strong, senior strategic account manager for legwear, The Lycra Company. “It’s a value-added benefit of working with The Lycra Company that our customers appreciate.”

Four key themes address the hopes and dreams of the modern consumer, with accompanying looks rooted in progressive design and technologies developed to satisfy unmet legwear needs:

Vanity

With a focus on digital natives who are humble, modest and self-effacing, this trend embraces self-love, empowers all women to be comfortable in their bodies and shows how legwear can facilitate new ways of self-expression.

Look 1: A Little Bit of Shine

LYCRA FUSION TRUE TO YOU technology offers ladder-resistant hosiery and a comfortable, three-dimensional fit that keeps its shape while enhancing legs’ natural shine. LYCRA DRY technology brings all-day comfort to even the most glamorous of legs by transporting moisture away from the skin and delivering quick-dry comfort and long-lasting fit.

Look 2: Diagonal Styling

Bold and eye-catching diagonal lines create an optical illusion, enhancing this look similar to a digital photo filter. This look brings a touch of self-expression and fun to otherwise formal attire. The addition of LYCRA T400 EcoMade technology helps make the garment more sustainable, while LYCRA SOFT COMFORT technology helps create a highly comfortable cuff that stays up with less red marks or digging in.

Homework

This trend aligns a trusted, comfortable classic with looks that invite women to showcase their style as lines between home and work life blur.

Look 1: Creative Entrepreneur

The work-from-home (WFH) generation expects it all: comfort, functionality, style and environmental responsibility. COOLMAX EcoMade fibre, made from 100% recycled resources combined with LYCRA T400 EcoMade fibre, helps people move and perform their best while feeling reassured that their apparel is environmentally friendly. THERMOLITE EcoMade technology helps deliver lightweight, sustainable warmth, and LYCRA SOFT COMFORT technology delivers comfortable sock tops that are easy to put on and stay in place.

Look 2: College Influence

Fashion merges comfort and traditional style in this smart classic college and club style look. LYCRA SHAPING technology with LYCRA fiber type 962L allows for more flexible sizing and easier donning by simultaneously sculpting and refining the silhouette, combining shaping performance with exquisite comfort.

Softspot

Wellness is the focus of this look, which encourages women to slow down and embrace holistic well-being via natural, pared-down tones.

Look 1: Inside Outside

Multi-taskers need comfortable, fashionable and durable clothing that adapts to the range of activities they take on each day. With the addition of spun-in minerals to reflect body temperature/heat back to the skin, THERMOLITE FIR technology helps keep legs warmer for longer, while LYCRA 16AL fibre delivers deeper, more saturated colours for an always-new look.

Look 2: Minimal Design

Less is more in design and in nature. Neutral colours and time-defying minimalist design offer flexibility and durable style. Made in part from recycled materials and renewable plant-based resources, LYCRA T400 EcoMade technology gives new life to plastics once destined for landfills, while offering comfort stretch and excellent shape retention.

Footloose

This future-focused trend leans into the global shift towards creative fashion that tells a story, reflecting on the challenging events of the past year.

Look 1: Random

Confident, humorous or random patterning cut ties with traditional structures and expectations and highlight a desire to shape the future. Made from 100% recycled resources such as plastic bottles, COOLMAX EcoMade All Season technology helps keeps the wearer in their comfort zone at different levels of activity by transporting moisture away from the body.

Look 2: Logo & Slogan

Today’s young fashionista expresses her views and alliances through apparel slogans and logos. LYCRA SUPER SUMMER SHEER technology powered by LYCRA FUSION fibre delivers this comeback style with a transparent look, coupled with excellent durability and fit. The ultra-sheerness creates the illusion of logos and imagery tattooed onto the skin.

View The Lycra Company’s recent webinars on sock and hosiery trends…

The Lycra Company