VF, the American clothing company’s next generation of jeans is Cool Vantage and JadeFusion based on a marriage of market intelligence, textile and design innovation, which keeps you comfortable even in the height of summer. Stephen Dull, Vice-President, Strategy & Innovation, VF Corp, says their customers want performance comfort and style, which is a magic formula. And there are different ways to make denim, some of which are lighter and others heavier. Dull eplians first they did a global scan of technologies and fabrics, and took the most promising ones and tested. Consumer research said that burning, heaviness, wetness, were all problems and people wanted to be cooler, drier and more comfortable.

Dull stressed on consumer insight vehemently saying that VF was good at combining technology with design and consumer insight. With consumer research they got to ‘refreshment’ in denim; cool is a lower level benefit, he states.

However, it was not just about developing the fabric, design and fit were important too as eventually it is all about how comfortable and functional the garment is. Recalling the process Dull states that after they developed the fabric they used Kansai design techniques in Japan had Kansai consultants who helped with the design aspects of comfort.

Besides, the concept of this new denim was also a strong part of VF’s strategy. However, for the brand, it does not end with the product. They have a lab that uses cognitive neuroscience, so there was a lot of work involved through the commercialisation with a 360 marketing campaign, said Dull.