The winners of the Apparel and Textile edition of the ISPO Textrends Awards for Autumn/Winter 2025/2026 have been announced during this week’s ISPO sports fair in Munich (October 29-30).

The overall best product was judged to be Aurora by Japan’s Yamamoto Corporation – a high-performance material with which it is possible to produce wetsuits that change colour above and below water as a result of the company’s proprietary SCS coating technology.

SCS is coated over closed cell polychloroprene to provide multiple functions including abrasion, chlorine, saltwater and UV resistance, as well as quick-drying properties and thermal insulation.

Aurora is hydrophobic in air and hydrophilic in water. The micelle-structured molecules on its surface repel water when in contact with air and reduce the surface resistance when in contact with water.

The material is lined with Greenwave, a plant-based polyamide fabric, which via SCS coating, makes putting the wetsuits on and taking them off extremely easy. Greenwave is also quick drying, with low thermal conductivity and improved heat retention when in use.

The weight of the wetsuits also does not increase in water, making them extremely lightweight for improved performance.

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Further products received ISPO Textrends Awards in eleven separate categories, including Portugal’s Acatel in the Accelerated Eco category for 1836 Circular Pigmentura, a fleece made of Circulose fibre and coloured with Acatel’s Pigmentura dyeing process. This eliminates water for soaping and rinsing, saving 96% of water compared to conventional dyeing and using 60% less energy, with zero effluent. The dyeing process makes vivid fluorescent colours possible with minimal environmental impact.

Polygiene received the Performing Finishes award for ShedGuard, a textile finishing compound designed to reduce microfibre shedding during washing and improve resistance to fabric wear, while Sri Lanka-based Hayley’s Fabric won the Base Layer award for Eco Stretch.

Eco Stretch is an intricately knitted fabric employing crimped yarns to emulate the mechanical stretch usually obtained adding elastanes in blends. As such, the 100% polyester fabric provides ample stretch while being fully recyclable.

Best Second Layer was N2SA00843 made in the USA by Ashford Textiles and characterised by high compression and a powdery, soft surface, while Multi-Sandwich, a five-layer woven structure developed by China’s Anta was judged best Outer Layer.

Thomas Dynamic Material (Jiangsu) claimed the award in the Membranes and Coatings category for TDMW-0946/Terra, a 100% bio-based polyamide construction, and a 100% recycled polyamide product, 68630, was successful for Portugal’s Sampaio & Filhos in the Street Sport category.

Best Product in the Soft Equipment category was Filie, a new kind of artificial leather made from PVN – a raw material extracted from used car windshields by Taiwan’s Chang Wong Industrial.

YKK Germany’s DynaPel Zipper, which offers water protection without the use of polyurethane, was voted best product in the Accessories category and Japan’s Takayama received the Fibres and Insulation Award for its Stealth Sheet, which incorporates 3D printed aerogels into its structure for light weight and highly insulative benefits. Finally, the Textrends Award for Product Trims went to Germany’s Maxim-Korte Label and Packaging for Eco Trac – a traceable label with an integrated smartlink that allows materials to be followed from a very early stage of production through to a final article. 

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