I'm combining natural and synthetic all the time. I've been using a fabric with a cotton back, so it feels pleasant against the skin, and a nylon front to give it strength,'' says Jeff Griffin, a young British designer. Griffin is rated among the generation of streetwise designers using so-called ''technical'' fabrics, the most advanced of which are developed by Swiss and Italian companies. Many of these fabrics were first used in active sportswear for mountaineers, skiers, and snowboarders. The ''technical'' wave is set to run and run as the menswear business looks ahead to the next fall.
Designers believe the time is right to bring active sportswear into the fashion mainstream.
Their biggest inspiration is Massimo Osti, the pioneering Italian designer who first shifted padded, down jackets from the ski slopes to the streets in the '70s and went on to launch the Stone Island label in the early '80s. Osti has since moved on to other projects, launching the new labels Massimo Osti Production, ST95, and Left Hand, and developing new fabrics from protective clothing. These include Thermojoint, a fabric said to protect from nuclear radiation, and ''slashproof'' fabrics incorporating steel fibers. Among the most sought-after names for new fashion fabrics is the Swiss firm Schoeller, which began working with designers three years ago. Customers include DKNY, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada and Karl Lagerfeld. ''Our designer business splits between two categories - sophisticated reflective fabrics where a reflective thread is woven into the fabric, and the stretch market,'' says Vice President Christine Jenny.