The last round of fashion and fabric-focused events—and in particular the July 2026 edition of Milano Unica—has shown how the Italian textile industry is evolving and reaching significant heights in terms of new sustainable developments, high expertise, and craftsmanship.
Among others, aliveandkiki.com has selected some of the most interesting projects, products, and strategic achievements aimed at making high-end fashion distinguish itself thanks to the Italian technical competence, excellence, and R&D.
Most innovative examples we picked include ACM-Next Printing, Bemberg, Botto Giuseppe, Eurojersey, European Linen & Hemp Alliance, Iluna, Minerva Hub, Ratti, and Vitale Barberis Canonico.
Special effects only for ACM and Next Printing
ACM–Dettagli di moda is a long-standing company from Grumello del Monte, near Bergamo, with over 40 years of expertise in designing, engineering, and producing a varied and unique offer of buttons, leather goods, and accessories aimed at haute couture brands. NextPrinting is the digital printing division of Next, the production area of the ACM group, sharing its headquarters in the same location along with its key values like innovation, creativity, sustainability, and Made in Italy.
For f/w 2027/2028, ACM presented special accessories characterized by materials and color combinations along with embossed details, hot stamping, brushed finishes, and metal elements. Metal accessories also evolve towards a softer, more sophisticated aesthetic, with new rounded shapes, animal-inspired textures, and frame double-plating finishes.
Next Printing is launching a selection of double-printed materials presenting, for instance, denim effects on both sides of the fabric—like the outer and inner face of the fabric. Moreover, it can recreate special leather surface effects, including studs, buttons, and crystal trompe-l’oeil effects, enriching both the visual appearance and the tactile experience of fabrics.
That was Bemberg’s debut in Milan
For the first time, Bemberg exhibited with its own dedicated space at Milano Unica. The showcase put the spotlight on the unique qualities of Bemberg and the latest fabric innovations created by Bemberg’s leading Italian and European textile partners for f/w 2027/28.
Produced only in Japan from cotton linters, a natural pre-consumer byproduct of cottonseed oil, Bemberg is manufactured through a traceable closed-loop process. Combining refined sensorial performance with responsible innovation, it remains among the rare fibers in the world, accounting for only 0.01% of global fiber production.
Its commitment to circularity and environmental responsibility is supported by internationally recognized certifications, including RCS, Oeko-Tex Standard 100, and ISO 14001. Bemberg is biodegradable and compostable in soil and biodegradable in marine conditions, according to third-party audits.
The Japanese specialized company presented innovative materials made with Bemberg by a vast number of partners, including Bardazzi, Brunello, Ezio Ghiringhelli, Gianni Crespi Foderami, Infinity, Jackytex, Lanificio Faliero Sarti, Manifattura Pezzetti, Matias & Araújo, Nalya, Sidónios, SMI Tessuti, Staff Jersey, TBM, Teseo Como, Tessitura Luigi Uboldi, and Tessitura Marco Pastorelli.
Botto Giuseppe continues to innovate after 150 years
Botto Giuseppe e Figli S.p.A. has been producing fine yarns and fabrics since 1876 in the Vallemosso area, near Biella, in the heart of the wool district. Today, the fourth generation of the family runs a company that works with some of the world’s most prestigious luxury customers while hitting its 150th anniversary.
The company’s focus continues to concentrate on new yarns, fabrics, and jerseys—all characterized by strong research, traceability, and reduced environmental impact—from its Naturalis Fibra collections made with the finest wools to other blends mixing wool with silk, produced in the family-owned Cascami Seta factory in Tarcento, as well as cotton, linen, and bamboo.
Within the last Milano Unica, the company released its 7th Sustainability Report, published on a voluntary basis, despite the company having begun developing sustainable products, yarns, and fabrics as early as 2015. Among its most recent achievements, they increased the reuse of water to 30%, renewable energy generation now covers 108% for its two production sites, and they reached an 82% compliance of the production chemical inventory with the voluntary international ZDHC standard for hazardous chemical management.
“Celebrating 150 years is an opportunity to look back with pride—never forgetting our history or where we came from—while at the same time looking ahead with ambition. We live in an age of accelerating change and increasingly complex challenges. Yet if there is one lesson these 150 years have taught us, it is that the future belongs to those who continually challenge themselves, who never stop innovating, and who remain true to their values while evolving every day,” commented Silvio Botto Poala, CEO, Botto Giuseppe e Figli S.p.A.
Hemp takes the stage
During Milano Unica, the Alliance for European Flax-Linen and Hemp presented the special program Hemp4Circularity. The project aims to implement an innovative, local biobased-fi ber – the long fiber hemp—as part of the textile value chain from the North-West European region involving growers, weavers, and knitters.
The project has set up pilot actions at several stages of the value chain in order to optimize every stage of the production process and ensure the sustainable development of the sector, from the fiber to recycling solutions.
Hemp has been grown and processed by humans for thousands of years, and today its use is being re-examined in the light of the modern challenges facing the fashion and home-decoration markets.
Technological innovation, environmental requirements, changes in the markets, and new consumer expectations are all reshaping the framework within which design operates, with a shared objective: to combine performance, meaning, and creativity.
As part of the project, they presented a highly inspiring trend forecast book focused on this fiber, along with a highly inspiring study on its most recent trends and employs.
Eurojersey has a new strategy
Eurojersey, the Italian manufacturer of high-quality knit fabrics, has started a new chapter in its history by interpreting its materials in a new and wider selection of uses and product declinations. Since 1959, the company has been offering materials aimed at the underwear and bathing suit market by interpreting its stretch materials—the so-called “Sensitive Fabrics” for various other end uses at the crossroads with fashion, sportswear, outer apparel, urbanwear, and many other interpretations.
As the market has been evolving significantly and asking for more new declinations, Eurojersey has developed many new solutions and end uses, like, for instance, shirting, bonded fabrics, and different touch and surface effects, along with more new effects like denim variant effects, microdesigns, warm effects, plaid, and ribbed surfaces, making Eurojersey become synonymous with more than a single fabric group.
Iluna launches new responsible lace
Iluna Group is an Italian specialist in the production of lingerie and fine fabrics. The company is known for its commitment to sustainability, using eco-high-tech materials and adopting responsible production practices. Its product line includes a wide range of lace, embroidery, and delicate fabrics.
Among its most innovative products, there is a bio-based article made with Evo by Fulgar polyamide and Roica V550 elastane, enriched with Lurex and dope-dyed Viscose.
This versatile fabric is mainly used for apparel, shirting, and many others as lingerie, outerwear, or beachwear. Stretchy and with an extremely soft hand feel, among its intrinsic characteristics, the fabric itself is also wrinkle-free, rainproof, and superfine.
Evo by Fulgar is a 100% bio-based yarn made from renewable sources. The origins are castor oil and industrial corn, both fully renewable resources that do not require large amounts of water or take away land for food use. Evo by Fulgar is ultra-light, super stretch and extremely breathable; it dries quickly and does not require ironing; it also has thermal properties and natural odor control characteristics.
Roica V550 is the degradable stretch fiber by Asahi Kasei. It partially degrades, decomposing into CO₂ and water, and is also a world-first, Cradle to Cradle-Certified stretch (elastane) yarn with a Material Health Gold Level Certificate.
Substance and appearance are one thing for Minerva Hub
During the last Milano Unica, Minerva Hub, an Italian industrial entity that groups several manufacturers of trimmings, materials, and processes for fashion and luxury accessories, presented its vast selection of new products and special effects by companies part of its stable, including Goretti, Itttai, Jato 1991, Quake, and Trapuntatura Belpunto, to name a few.
The company’s booth hosted a selection of very elaborate and high-craftsmanship vintage apparel pieces by Thierry Mugler, Comme Des Garçons, Mary Katranzou, Blumarine, and Amen. Along with it displayed some of the newest embroideries, ribbon applications, stud and crystal application effects, as well as unique matelassé effects showing that a sophisticate aesthetics cannot live for itself if there is not sound quality, expertise and competence, too.
Ratti—From the archives to the present
Founded in 1945 by the visionary entrepreneur Antonio Ratti, Ratti is today one of the most refined and exclusive companies in the international textile industry. The company operates across the entire production chain—from design to printing, from dyeing to weaving, and on to the finishing of fabrics and accessories—combining culture, creativity, manufacturing expertise, and technological innovation.
In Guanzate, near Como, within a 50,000-square-meter production complex, the company integrates its activities—from research in its archive through design to production—while adhering to a responsible approach throughout its entire supply chain.
The Ratti Archive stands out for its exceptional richness and diversity, ranking among the world’s most significant corporate textile collections. Spanning over 2,500 square meters and organized as a dynamic space for exploration, it houses over one million items, including fabrics, designs, and research materials—among them 600,000 fabrics and scarves, 120,000 designs and sketches, 840,000 digitized images, and a library of over 14,000 volumes and test swatches—all chronicling nearly a century of textile culture.
At Milano Unica, Ratti showcases the result of a journey born from the convergence of craftsmanship, savoir-faire, and dialogue with clients to bring to life contemporary fabrics of high aesthetic and technical value.
The Fall/Winter 2027–2028 collection is the result of this creative approach, where classic meets technical, feminine elements interact with masculine ones, and tradition embraces contemporary styles through unexpected combinations of yarn-dyed silk, tweed, and fringe.
Warmth and excellence are a must at Vitale Barberis Canonico’s chalet
Vitale Barberis Canonico, one of the world’s oldest wool mills with over 360 years of history, is still run by the same family that founded it, presented “Winter Memories,” its new Fall/Winter 2027 collection, inspired by the warm, cozy atmosphere of a mountain chalet—just like the booth that welcomed visitors by recreating a wooden setting, a warm and inviting space that evokes the authentic atmosphere of the Alps. With textured surfaces, soft lighting, and alpine charm, the space evokes the same sense of comfort and warmth as the collection itself, crafted from a skillful blend of materials such as Super 180’S wool and cashmere, or silk and cashmere in various proportions, up to 100% cashmere—all offering beautiful fabrics that express softness, luminosity, and textural richness.