Spring/Summer 2025 Preview: Key Colors to Watch in Denim
Color factors into why consumers decide to purchase new apparel, even for traditionally blue denim. The way brands achieve color is becoming just as important, however.
Spring/Summer 2025 fabric collections are dense with new colors and dyeing processes to achieve authentic wash downs and fades.
More from Sourcing Journal
Spring/Summer 2025 Preview: Mills Develop Denim for Heat Waves and Comfort
Spring/Summer 2025 Preview: Mills Ramp Up Use of Recycled Fibers, Regenerative Cotton
Advance Denim is betting that color will be a pivotal theme for S/S ’25. Mark Ix, Advance’s director of North American marketing, said the company is approaching new shades from many different angles to give customers more options, including “inventive indigo shades that add a twist to traditional pure indigo.”
Highlights include Lake Blue J6, a mixture of dark pure indigo that reveals a hint of emerald as it’s abraded and washed down. “It is reminiscent of a deep dark blue lake with star grass or algae just below the surface,” Ix said.
Copper Green M11 is a dark rich mix of indigo and sulfur creating a blue-green that almost reads black when unwashed. The color washes down to a copper green that finally gives way to an olive green. Vintage Purple R2 is another mixture of indigo and sulfur that starts as a dark indigo. Stonewash brings out hints of purple in the twill line and can be bleached into a vintage French workwear purple.
“The new shades were created to be whimsical twists on true pure indigo shades that open endless opportunities to play with wash effects,” Ix said.
A trio of innovative applications is also part of Advance’s color arsenal. The mill’s Colorix is a soft, flexible double-sided coating that creates clean, vivid shades on both sides of the fabric. Zcolor applies a thin coat of color on the fabric face and is formulated to feel smooth and cozy. Coshift adds a thin veneer of color layered on indigo to lend a dimensional glaze to traditional indigo.
Calik Denim’s new colors include Baltic Blue, an indigo with gray shades that enhance its frosty appearance, especially in the light washes. Re Soul Blue is an upcycled hue achieved by recycling existing textiles.
Aero Blue captures the summer spirit with its light, pure indigo tone. With Stream Blue, the mill offers an indigo with green highlights that nods to classic vintage denim.
Naveena Denim Ltd. (NDL) Lahore draws inspiration from gold rush classics—with just one color. Called One Hue, Endless Possibilities, the single shade “seamlessly shifts from vibrant, authentic blues to soothing and revitalizing shades of grey retaining the classic denim aesthetics,” said Rashid Iqbal, NDL’s executive director of marketing.
Cone uses Colourizd technology to achieve a range of colors and textures while minimizing processing steps. Compared to reactive dyeing, Cone reports that Colourizd has a 98 percent water savings and a 73 percent reduction in carbon footprint. “It is a unique process in that the pigment creates the yarn texture,” said Pierette Scavuzzo, Cone’s design director.
To play into the season’s oxidized denim wash trend, Cone has a bright, turquoise-casted indigo shade called Lagoon Blue. The color, which Scavuzzo said “stands out in every wash level from dark to light,” is available in rigid and high-stretch constructions.
Cone is one of three mills featured in Sake, a collaboration between Italian machinery firm Tonello and U.K. creatives Kelly Harrington, Sadia Rafique and Mohsin Sajid. Seaglass, the rigid version of Lagoon Blue, as well as Cone’s Blaze and Bonzai fabrics are used in the project. The collaboration features artwork made with various mediums like paint, batik, AI and more.
For a touch of novelty, Raymond UCO Denim offers ghost prints. The Indian mill’s Reveal technique means prints emerge on the fabric after it’s washed. Raymond also focuses on light coatings to give fabrics a sleek appearance.
Earth tones are the focal point for Mexico’s Global Denim. The colors inspire the mill’s coated fabrics in yellow, sand, olive and brown. Global is experimenting with natural and organic sustainable dyes for PFDs and natural fabrics as well as color, weft dying, coating and polyester dyeing to “add an extra layer of creativeness to our line aimed for a younger audience and a premium segment,” said Anatt Finkler, Global Denim’s creative director.
Vicunha is introducing bright blues achieved through more environmentally conscious dyeing techniques. The Brazilian mill is launching products with new laser-friendly grey shades as well.
Karachi, Pakistan-based Naveena Denim Mills added green-blue and brown to its Colortech concept. Colortech fabrics have “great contrasts in different washes and keep an authentic look,” said Berke Aydemir, head of R&D and technical sales. The concept already includes Bordeaux and olive. Naveena also has a special black color that is compatible with laser applications. The color does not turn to crimson or yellow after washing.
Artistic Milliners updated its proprietary Ice Breaker Pro tech to offer more vibrant colors while further reducing energy usage. The mill also worked with Archroma to bring Evolution Black to market, which features a variety of wash-down effects especially on bleach and PP application.
DNM Denim introduces Ibizablue, a bright and vibrant shade inspired by summer. The color allows for a range of washes that maintain their vitality after multiple wash cycles and has an “easy fade out” feature that achieves light washes with less water and chemicals. The mill’s new Arcticblack has a blue cast. Its unique formulation ensures that the blue cast is preserved in lighter washes, preventing a black appearance with a yellow and red tint.
A collaboration with DyStar allows US Denim Mills to offer clients a sustainable dyeing method that is salt-free and requires minimal water usage. “With its authentic aesthetic, characterized by a marble crunch texture and vintage shade, it embodies the essence of old-school vibes while prioritizing [a] sustainable mindset for a better tomorrow,” Intizar Ali, US Denim Mills general manager, research and business development, said about the dyeing process.
The collaboration with DyStar is in addition to US Denim Mills’ EcoZero Dyeing, a process audited by UK-based BluWin that provides smart usage of water, electricity, and steam to develop eco-friendly fabrics, and Rapid Clean, a finishing process that minimizes water usage and pollutants.
US Denim Mills also teamed with Archroma to develop a new shade of black called Evolution Black. Ali said the color creates unique washdowns. Other colors in the S/S ’25 collection are Volcanic Blue, which transforms from a dark shade to brighter blue; Blue Sea, a light and bright shade of blue that is laser friendly; and Vintage Indigo, a color that achieves an authentic and aged appearance without any tint.
Siddiqsons’ new Free Fade collection is dyed without using a traditional dye bath, meaning it’s nearly water-free. The process produces zero wastewater liquid discharge containing dye residues or pollutants—a significant environmental benefit.
Free Fade colors offer denim in almost any color imaginable, providing customers with a wide array of choices beyond traditional indigo, said Abbas Jan, Siddiqsons’ director of sales and marketing. It’s available on a variety of fabric options including chambray and twill.
Siddiqsons has also partnered with Archroma to utilize Diresul RDT LIQ, the chemical company’s pre-reduced liquid dyestuffs that have minimal sulfide content. The mill has access to an exclusive selection of vibrant colors from these dyes.
Along with continuing its Black Theory concept, an overdye technology that significantly reduces energy, steam, water and chemical consumption compared to conventional methods, Soorty is introducing a coating achieved with the “cleanest black pigment on the planet.” Made of wood waste from FSC-certified sources, it is a direct replacement of petrol carbon black dispersions, PAH-free and reduces CO2 emissions by 70 percent. The coating is applied to fabrics made with Circulose as well as SOCI, Soorty’s traceable organic cotton, and Second Life, its brand of denim-to-denim recycled cotton.
Besides dyes, Soorty is launching a denim laundry system called FadeO for S/S ’25. The system requires less manual labor, provides safety for operators and consumers and enables the mill to work in shorter processing times while unlocking an endless range of aesthetics and looks. Eda Dikmen, Soorty’s marketing and communications manager, said FadeO offers a consistent, stone-free process, delivers high contrast with a low liquor ratio, and consumes less water, chemicals and electricity.
